Facebook statz

[JBloggs]

Maybe we need a category called Social Media. and another Blogs, as I am putting these in OTHER B&B MARKETING all the time.

Anyway...
Back to Facebook
Do you check your statz on FB? I get an email and saw I had 105 visits to our biz page (and as you know I don't baby this page, it is just there with innfo and pix, and I did try a FB ad which was not worth the $).
It seems people search FB now for everything, they LIVE IN FACEBOOK.

• What have you found the best benefit of FB for your Biz?
• Do you engage your guests on FB?
• Do you use it for specials/deals?
• Do you use it as a blog and post renovation photos and updates?
• Links to sights of interest?

If you would be willing to share what you have found works, we would be happy to listen.

 

[Arks]

Are you a member of PAII? I notice a new post in their Vendors forum that addresses this. The post starts out like this...
Facebook is today's top FREE Social Media opportunity to share your business with past, present and future guests.
The question is, are you using all the features available to you as a small business owner to the Hilt?
What we will cover in this session...
- The need for a FAN page (Business NOT Personal)
- Customized Landing Pages
- Customized Tab Pages
- Recent changes in Facebook (Boxes / Tabs)
- Community Pages
- Cleaning your Wall (Watching Out for Spammers)
- Social Plug-Ins
- Open Graph Tags
- Strategies for Building your Fan Base
- Google Indexing of Facebook Page

 

[JBloggs]

When I post a question it is for everyone to glean from, those lurkers, or regulars. I am not apt to send them off the forum, it is for discussion here. So feel free to post any experience you have with Facebook for everyone to participate.

 

[Arks]

When I post a question it is for everyone to glean from, those lurkers, or regulars. I am not apt to send them off the forum, it is for discussion here. So feel free to post any experience you have with Facebook for everyone to participate..

Only been back one day and I'm already in trouble again!

Posts here send folks off the forum all the time to go read helpful articles around the Internet. Then they can come back here and continue the discussion.

 

[Samster]

I think B&B owners should really take advantage of this free marketing through FB. And use it well. I have just put up a page for an organization and am learning more about it before I flesh the page out. The automatic emails from FB are fantastic.
If you cruise around on FB, you can see how many B&B owners have really customized their page and it certainly allows you to do a lot of marketing with reciprocal links to your website. If I was still open, I could see probably putting energy into a FB page along with a blog and using the synergistic energy of both. The younger generations are on FB all the time and the baby boomers are joining in record numbers.
Sorry that I'm not contributing specific info..... :-(

 

[Breakfast Diva]

I have been doing FB fairly regularly for the past 8 months or so. There have been pluses and minuses. I really wish I could do the webinar that Acorn is doing tomorrow, but it's scheduled right during my breakfast time! Free for all Webinar
So far I've had just 1 booking (first time guest) that is directly related to our FB page. It has allowed me to keep more in touch with our loyal guests and gives us a greater exposure to our 1st time guests who have stayed, then go back home and "like" us. Overall, I think FB is a good marketing tool.
To JB's questions above, the answer is yes to all. I find it easier/quicker to do a quick post than to do a blog post which needs to be well thought out. I do less blog posts, but feed them into my FB page.
Many of you know that we don't have as much guest interaction as most b&bs. I think the FB page has allowed guests who want to get to know us better the ability to do that.
One thing I like about FB is that when a loyal guest books a reservation, many times they will mention it on our FB page, get excited and that can encourage others who are fans, but haven't stayed to get positive feedback.
I did the FB ads but didn't get any direct bookings at the time, but it did increase our "likes", so who knows....they may book in the future.

 

[JBloggs]

So BD then you are using a more personal touch with the FB page. This is good info, as I am not making mine personal and wondered how much I should.
Maybe this is a crazy place to put renovation photos etc. then. Hm, food for thought.

 

[JBloggs]

When I post a question it is for everyone to glean from, those lurkers, or regulars. I am not apt to send them off the forum, it is for discussion here. So feel free to post any experience you have with Facebook for everyone to participate..

Only been back one day and I'm already in trouble again!

Posts here send folks off the forum all the time to go read helpful articles around the Internet. Then they can come back here and continue the discussion.
.

Only been back one day and I'm already in trouble again!

Posts here send folks off the forum all the time to go read helpful articles around the Internet. Then they can come back here and continue the discussion.

Stop Arkie, you are not in trouble. I just really want people to share their exp with it, on here as innkeepers. Seriously, we can ALL LOOK UP info online and get tons of stuff re this topic. I posted it here as a discussion amongst this lot, to see what they have discovered on FB.
If you are in trouble, don't worry you will know it. Where is that cast iron frying pan?

 

[seashanty]

breakfast diva, you mention there are 'minuses' to doing facebook. can you say what they are?

 

[Breakfast Diva]

breakfast diva, you mention there are 'minuses' to doing facebook. can you say what they are?.

the minuses are very small. First, it's the time. It doesn't take too much of it, but it's another little nag in the back of my brain. My second complaint is that when I comment on other pages, even if I want to represent my b&b, it's only my personal account that is shown. How great would it be to be able to join some discussions as XYZ b&b to gain exposure. If you set up your account as FB says you have to, then your personal is your primary account and business is secondary.
For instance, there is a wonderful winery about an hour from us with a very active FB page and she's also got a great blog. I would love it if when I posted comments that her fans would see the post as a b&b and get interested in us. That can't happen. A few b&bs have theirs set up as the business name as primary, but it's against FB rules and even if I wanted to break the rule, it's now too late since our b&b page is set up and the fans are already there. I can't start over.

 

[seashanty]

thank you for sharing.

 

[Breakfast Diva]

So BD then you are using a more personal touch with the FB page. This is good info, as I am not making mine personal and wondered how much I should.
Maybe this is a crazy place to put renovation photos etc. then. Hm, food for thought..

One thing I do sometimes which seems to get the fans involved is to ask their opinion on what main course to choose for the next breakfast. I give them 2 options and they vote. Not only does it get them involved, but it also lets the rest of the fans see the glowing responses to the yumminess of the food.
JB, I do write with a personal touch and let them in on a few personal things. But not too personal! I just shared with our FB fans that we had guests stay and they had our last name....turns out the guy was a distant cousin with my husband and there's a whole branch of the family in the NW area we didn't know of.
As far as personal, I do write more personal on FB than I do on the blog.
I've posted a couple last minute cancellations, but so far I've only gotten people commenting that they wish they were available. No one has booked a last minute cancellation that way yet. I'm sure it will happen though!

 

[Breakfast Diva]

thank you for sharing..

Ohhhh, I forgot another small complaint. Sometimes the guest will try to "like" my personal profile. I will usually ignore those requests because I don't want them getting too personal. Even on my personal page I'm very aware of what I write because there are a lot of innkeepers and people I'm not close to that I have "liked" to be part of the community.
You always have to remember that whatever you say can be seen by many. I've had to ignore requests from my own family members because I can't be sure of what type of posts they would write.

 

[Emily Spiers]

Disclaimer:
I have no statz. I have no inn.
However, there are a couple of blogs that I follow that I also have "friended" in FBland. The Pion eer Wo man is one of them. She's too funny. But, she's more personable on FB than she is on her blog. Her latest question has over 3,000 responses. 3,000. That's nothing to sneeze at.
No, she's not selling anything like a room, maybe just a cookbook, but the concept is the same.
She's personable and short and sweet on FB...more long-winded and "farther away" on her blog.
Just mho.