29 Oct 09 45 ways to use Twitter to your advantage in the hospitality industry?

So you’ve probably opened an account and not known how to make Twitter work its magic as you’ve heard it has for some others.

The varying ways in which you can use it alter based on whether you will be tweeting as an individual or a company and there is a ridiculous amount of help and assistance on what the best way to utilise Twitter and social media in general, but most of it might not be applicable to the way which you do business.

For example, many large companies such as Starbucks, CNN and Ford utilise Twitter to listen to their customers and respond to any problems, rectify any public mistakes or speak up when there is negative chatter about their brands in general.

This sounds good in theory, but as somebody involved with a club/bar/restaurant/venue, this doesn’t hold much strength for you.

Let’s have a look at what you should be tweeting about as somebody within the hospitality game if you want to provide direct value to your followers:

1. Announcement of specials and discounts on drinks, food or tickets
2. Welcome a new staff member and explain their upcoming role
3. Promote a new product in your bar, a new dish in your menu or a new act which will be playing
4. Run competitions and giveaways to gain participation from your followers. Do NOT make prize a gimmick or unworthy of participation (this is a double benefit because you will also be able to grow your database)
5. Recruit new staff by listing job vacancies
6. Post media releases on your venue or night, as well as any other media articles related to your business.
7. Promote happy hours
8. Retweet messages from friends within the industry
9. Thank everybody for coming to your night, event, the weekend
10. Promote your next event with a direct link for your patron to book/enquire
11. Get customer feedback (if you don’t have a large following this can be tough, but keep it in mind for when your follower base grows)
12. Comment on current affairs in relation to the hospitality industry
13. Share useful websites for your business and the industry
14. Link to your new blog posts (yes it’s time to get a blog as well if you don’t have one)
15. Broadcast updates made to your website
16. Promote your other social media networks eg. Facebook, LinkedIn
17. Conduct customer surveys
18. Notify customers to changes in upcoming events or nights.
19. Showcase your new radio or print ads
20. Tell your customers about great service you have received from another business within the industry
21. Get feedback on any new systems, software or equipment you plan to purchase
22. Search for new suppliers
23. Promote associations and organisations your venue/business belongs to
24. Booking/Enquiry/Guestlist availabilities caused by last minute cancellations
25. Give tips and free advice on drinks, meals, coffee etc. (e.g Mention a cocktail that one of your bar staff has created and list the ingredients. You can offer to give a free one to all who come this friday night
26. Broadcast news in relation to the hospitality industry.
27. Highlight your Twitter/Facebook milestones, eg. 1,000 Followers / Fans
28. Profile your staff members with some cool fun facts.
29. Post changes to schedules, timetables or opening hours
30. Discounts for mentioning your Twitter posts
31. Any appearances you are making, eg. trade shows, workshops, seminars
32. Seasonal greeting to customers, eg. Merry Christmas, Happy International Left Handlers Day
33. New address and phone numbers if you have moved
34. Any unfortunate outages or delays that will affect a day or night of trade
35. Highlight any community involvement or charity associations
36. Send reminders to your customers, eg. Melbourne Cup Weekend coming, NYE etc.
37. Give your venue/business a personality – share a joke or two
38. Link to photos from your latest event or night.
39. Promote a business award nomination or achievement
40. Link to forums you regularly participate in (yes, you should be doing that as well as Twitter updates)
41. Share cost savings for buying a “birthday” or “hens night” package from your venue
42. Use Twitter as a customer service/help desk for your business (will probably only work if you have many followers.)
43. Celebrate venue milestones, eg. 25 years in service
44. Encourage people to follow some of your favourite Twitters
45. Promote birthday packages