600 Million Users Annually – Engage Them!

The number of social media users has risen to over 600 million annually, from one social media site alone.  There is no point in naming the site, we all know which site gets the most traffic.  People from all walks of life, from every cultural backgrounds and occupations has found a way to engage one another using social media.

Like most people I found the social media to be time-consuming and a total waste of time.  But some how I was drawn back, if only to see what other people were discussing and what’s going on in their world.  Soon came the time to register and engage them with a few words and phrases of my own,  just to see if anyone would respond. 

Now, well it’s almost a way of life, you turn the computer on and as much as you try to stay away, it just keeps pulling us back in.  Not only am I registered on one site, I have taken the time to register on several different websites. 

Some are more popular than others, some have a different purpose than others, but the end result is the same.  One can engage people from around the world to find out what their interests are, what’s important and what they’re doing in everyday life.

The Hospitality Industry has discovered that creating an identity allows them to engage and communicate with prospects, past customer and future customers.  We have learned the difference in Engaging Clients and Building a Business Relationship.

When we engage people the relations becomes one of mutual interest, more than just business.  A Business Relationship is just that Business.  We contact the client at regular scheduled intervals to maintain the “business relationship’.  We find out what’s changed since our last conversation, what’s new in their office and if you can make yet another sale, you know business.

The social media allows us marketers to learn more that we expected about our clients and prospects.  As sales people we want to have that unique relationship the clients so that they will automatically think of us first when they have needs or questions.  That’s easily accomplished when we manage our internet presence and engage online.

As sales professionals we often ask our clients for referrals, even if they offer a referral it’s often a single person.  However if we have effectively managed our hotel presence asking a client to retweet or like your business page opens up avenues for several hundred new clients and prospects.  We become connected to their internet presence and the internet presence of those they are connected to.  Think about hundreds of new prospect with one retreat or one like button.  How easy is that!

The task then becomes to engage those new connections so that they to will begin to follow-us or like us.  Although I don’t recommend directly soliciting them for business, I do however recommend creating marketing efforts that will allow them to reach out directly to you so you can solicit their business in the future. 

Be creative, establish surveys of interest to your new connections or create contests to get them to contact you to collect the prize or discount.  Travelers like packages that are offer real savings and discounts, so create one or two or even three.  The point is to manage your presence and build your brand. 

If you don’t have time then invest in the tools to better manage your time.  The right tools will build your brand and your online reputation  This will ultimately increase leads and generate sales opportunities.  The new opportunities will more that pay for the cost of the technology. 

Engaging our clients and prospects is much more effective when we engage them where are,  the Social Media websites!