How Last Night's Manic Twitter Rant Opened my Mind. Man.

I went to the doctor's last night and had a real buzz in the waiting room. Because the doc was running late I decided to have a mad tweetathon and it was a truly liberating experience. Though this blog may seem a little self indulgent please stay with it, as it does have a point in the end!

 

To put things in context I did around 20 tweets (with also replying to tweets from other people getting involved in the insanity) in 40 minutes. 

 

Tweet 1: "Just in doctors. 'What name is it?' I said, 'I don't know, what name is it? My name's Paul if that's what you want!' (I didn't say that)." 

A comment at the bastardisation of the English language.

 

Tweet 2 "Have half hour to wait in docs so gonna do a stream of conscious tweetathon for fun.."

As soon as I wrote this panic set in. I'm in the least inspiring place one could imagine and I've just told everyone on Twitter I'm going to have a tweetathon. 

I put myself in a silly situation. What on earth am I going to talk about? I've really dropped myself in it. I have nothing to say. Shit! I began looking around for things of any interest and trying to think quickly.

 

 

Tweet 3 "Tom Jones' new album is belting out. Really good, still got it as our Tom." 

Bit boring but current and relevant to demographic.

 

Tweet 4 "He's being interviewed on Radio 2. Says rock n roll came from gospel music and used to be called 'the devil's music' as it was so similar."

 

Then I noticed something that I found amusing the last time I went.

Tweet 5 "They have a bell at the doc's reception and every time she goes in back and sits down someone comes in and rings it."

Better. Observational comedy. I'll try and take that route.

 

Tweet 6 "There's some kids toys in the corner. If I go and have a play will I get funny looks?"

I seriously wondered how people would react if I began playing with the abacus in the corner.

 

Then a man began shouting on his mobile. This is my pet hate so how could I resist.

Tweet 7 "Man on phone next to me now speaking very loudly. Shouty phone people follow me around. I'm sure he's sat next to me on the train before..."

 

I looked at the magazines on the table trying to divert my attention from shouty phone man.

Tweet 8 "Why do they always have rubbish magazines in the doctors? Is it only fashion conscious women who get ill?"

 

Tweet 9 "Kerry Catona on OK! Magazine. Why don't all the alcoholic nutjobs in Manchester get on the front cover of crap magazines?"

 

Then comedian Jason Manford popped up on Twitter with something not very interesting.

Tweet 10 "I love @Jason_Manford on TV but he's not very funny on Twitter. Must be all the rehearsing they do on telly..."

Sorry Jason I was having an episode...

 

Then the doctor called me in and I told him I had Twitterettes (he didn't).

 

This exercise forced me to look at the world and find something worth talking about - in the most depressing of places! I had a time limit and threw myself in at the deep end and you know what, I think I managed to produce some reasonable stuff and could have wrote more!

So when you are sat there thinking of something to blog about or tweet or Facebook or whatever bonkers new way to communicate with the world you have, don't write about personal or business matters or indulge yourself in anthropomorphism. Look around you and paint a picture with words.

The bed and breakfasts I see every day look like the most amazing places, with wonderful, picturesque surroundings, wildlife and the most characterful buildings but rarely do I hear any descriptive (god I must stay there) words about them. 

What would be really nice to hear is some real life things that tell us what you love about the place. Things that you may take advantage of, or not even see when they are staring you in the face.

Make us hungry by describing the smell of locally produced bacon. Inspired by how the night sky looks over the mountains. Tell us about new guests sharing a joke together over breakfast, before they jet off on a popular tour of the area. 

Take us to your paradise and we'll want to come and join you.

 

If I can find inspiration from a doctor's surgery, by just looking around a room with three people and a receptionist, then I'm sure you can find something of note in your perfect spot on the earth if you just look. 

 

Take a step back, remove yourself from the situation and look at your world again with fresh new eyes.

Challenge yourself like I did. You might write a load of crap but it'll be fun and worthwhile because it will help you hone your observational skills. 

 

Give yourself one hour to throw yourself into a descriptive article about your surroundings and don't even stop for air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

10 Do's and 10 Don'ts of Social Networking For B&Bs to Attract Business

I understand that not all B&Bs use the networks for business and lots use Twitter and Facebook to talk to friends and network with other B&Bs, as well as attracting business. I believe though that you should try to separate business from pleasure and perhaps think about having a personal account as well to talk to friends with. Concentrate day time efforts on attracting business and evenings/weekends for personal. This sounds like it might be a pain but it isn't really. 

DO take all your guests' Twitter and Facebook details and follow them. Make sure you take this information and over a period of time you will have a large network of former and future guests.

DON'T send personal messages to former guests or any followers with 'offers'. People hate messages in their inbox and will block you. 

DO tweet and Facebook offers along with news of local events/activities. 'Come and stay for the ***** festival for half price'. Post offers once a week but NOT all the time.

DON'T forget about your audience with everything you write. Audience. Audience. Audience. 

DO think about what your audience wants to know about? Take them to your paradise, what do guests love about your place. Talk about your experience.

DON'T talk about things that are too mundane. Do potential guests care that you have just read a magazine and are now cleaning toilets?

DO talk about local events in your area. If people fancy an event you've told them about in your area, they will stay with you. Retweet local tourist board and information sources. Write blogs, post pics. Become the knowledgeable voice for your area.

DON'T just link Facebook and Twitter together to make things easier, unless you use Selective tweets. When you put a picture on facebook it tells Twitter like this: 'I've just posted a picture on Facebook' with a link. That won't make people want to look because they don't know what the picture is. Never post links without full descriptions.

DO (and this is a big do, that many people don't do and should) put lots of pictures on Facebook. What's the point of having access to the world and not showing every nook and cranny of your beautiful place.

DON'T make huge attempts at gaining followers that aren't potential guests. I know first hand that begging for more followers is a waste of time. Quality not quantity is the key. Networking with thousands of people who will never go near your establishment and bring nothing to the table is pointless. 

DO find the right people to network with. Post on Facebook sites where your potential guests will be. Perhaps fans of a festival or local venue, a local hiking group. Think about where your guests will network and find them. Spend a lot of time doing this. Network with the right people or social media will become a wasted exercise.

DON'T Tweet too much. Only tweet when you have something worth saying. Noisy people get deleted by others who only have small networks. Imagine if your guest only has 30 friends - if you are tweeting all day you will be the only person they see.

DO make some fun films and post them on Facebook. Don't be deluded into thinking that you have to produce professional promotional videos. If I saw a video of someone catching a big fish in your local lake I might think, 'I want to go fishing there, I'll ask them about rates'. Sell the sizzle not the steak. You provide an experience, show it.

DON'T forget to ENGAGE people in your network. There's no point in having followers if you aren't interacting with them. Build relationships, find common ground. It's hard work but if you don't network socially on social networks there's no point. This is why you shouldn't have 1000s of pointless fans, or it becomes pointless. Retweet your followers if they have something worth saying.

DO Run competitions/create promotions to give you something to talk about. Speak to local businesses and run a joint competition. 'Win a free day out at local theme park and a free stay in our B&B.'

DON'T play the stupid games on Facebook. The easiest way to loose followers is to beg for bits of wood to build your Farmville farm.

DO be human, be funny, be entertaining, sell your self as a humourous, light-hearted and fun establishment. No one likes a square and a fun social networker gets more attention than a dry one.

DON'T lose sight of your goals. It's easy to become distracted but your aim through social networking is to build traffic to your site by producing content and ultimately gain more visitors. 

DO have Twitter and Facebook links on your blog/website. If a potential guest looks at your page and sees this they may have a look at your presence on Facebook. If you've followed all the above, they'll see you as a great host and book. The very fact that you are on FB and TW will make some people think you are a forward thinking business and want to stay with you.

DO write down lists of all the content you would like to produce and what your ultimate objectives are. Lists make life so much easier.

DON'T forget to write a comment, retweet or 'like' this blog if you found it useful. Follow us on Twitter too: @bandbclub

 

 

 

The B&B Twitter TTSF Technique

As with all social media, Twitter can be highly addictive. To get the best out of it you have to set yourself certain guidelines and stick to them. 

Firstly a few words about Twitter etiquette. The old analogy of a cocktail party is a great way to help describe and understand what Twitter is. For a hotel like yours it’s like a cocktail party full of your old guests, future guests and probably a few gatecrashers you’re not too concerned about! 

If you were at a cocktail party, would you constantly be telling people about your cheap room rates and ‘sympathetically’ decorated rooms? Would you real of extremely blue jokes, or share pictures of your hotel to any stranger that would listen? No! Unless you were incredibly drunk!! 

Twitter has a code, that if broken will see you being ‘unfollowed’ by potential guests (the equivalent to having your back turned on in a cocktail party!)

Think carefully about how you should connect with strangers, (but don’t be overly concerned or you won’t do anything!) The trick is to be entertaining, interesting, engaging and fun to all. In 140 characters or less!

Before you begin using Twitter, or if you haven’t already, have a look at the business guidelines.

Twitter should be a small, but important part of your marketing plan to win guests.

 Remember you are now a Publisher, so think about each tweet carefully. Though there are exceptions, I don’t believe that most tweets should have a link to a picture or web site. Busy people only have time for 140 characters!

However tempting it may be to show pictures of a nice breakfast or something personal that you made, don’t do it unless what you've made is particularly exceptional. 

The first thing to do is gather guests usernames. This is fundamentally important to making Twitter work for you as a hotelier. Change your booking form to include the field ‘Twitter Username’. You’ll be surprised how many people will fill in the box and think it's cool. This will become far more useful than a phone number or email address.  If they don’t fill in the box, then your follow up email, (which asks guests to write a review on Trip Advisor if they enjoyed their stay) can also ask for guests’ Twitter ID.

Hopefully you have every email saved on your machine, of every customer who has ever booked with you on the internet. Send one mass email to all asking for their Twitter user IDs.

Now you have all your past guest Twitterer’s (?) user names, have found them online and started following them, (and some of them are following you) it’s time to start thinking about content.

 This will either make you or break you as a successful Tweetist (I’m making these words up now). Four tweets a day is probably a good rule to start with. Think what will interest people as well as jokes and amusing anecdotes. Talking about walking the dog or a picture of the pet rabbit just doesn’t cut it anymore. There’s so much to choose from out there that people will only remember you if you’re interesting. Think of each tweet in the same way that you would think about writing literature or advertisements. It’s important to get the right tone and not be too formal.

Lots of people tend to tweet three times in a row because they are on their PC or phone at the time when they have things to say. This is a mistake because only a small number of your audience are likely to be online at one time. Spread content throughout the day.

Here is what I think would make for a good day’s worth of tweeting from a B&B. By making sure your tweets fit into the following categories, you will ensure each tweet is successful at engaging your audience.

TOURISM - 10.00am Just heard on the radio that ‘my area’ has won an award for Most Beautiful Village in the county. Congratulations Paulsville! 

 TEASER - 2.00pm Guests have been out walking the fells. Lucky people, such a lovely day. Braised pheasant for tea. Mmmm.

SPECIAL DEAL (FOR TWITTERERS ONLY) - 5.00pm Guest cancellation for the 25^th! Would anyone like to stay for half price? Special Twitter deal, expires tomorrow!

FUNNY - 10.00pm Apparently the Disney Corporation are mounting a legal battle with Scotland, demanding they change the way they say 'Does not'.

Good magazine editors 'spike' content that is not interesting, informative, funny or engaging. Begin to think like a Publisher, because you are one.

If you have a Facebook account, save yourself time by downloading this application, which allows you to update FB and Twitter at the same time,  when you see fit. Not all your updates/tweets are suitable for both networks so Selective Twitter is a great idea.