Week 14 Post 2: Class Experience

CSIT 155 Class Experience

Before this class I thought I had rhythm and a good idea of timing for my posts on social media and promotions. Then Covid 19 happened. People were looking on Social Media different times and literally all day long. I had felt that I couldn't post anything, because nothing was happening! I had been so focused on the now and didn't think outside of the box.

Analytics have shown the the facts are in the numbers! Our Facebook account has been active for many years, well before I took over management of it 2 years ago. As a volunteer on a board of directors I just needed to report how many followers we had each month at our meeting. The primary focus before was to post pictures of us. I always thought... boring! Followers need to see a mix of pictures, videos, shared content, etc. Class has helped me create a color palate and uniformity to my posts. I want visitors to visit and say, oh that looks amazing. I can now, with the statistics, see when people are viewing and adjust. I can see that we also have locals (many followers are from San Diego) who want to see events that may be for them! Many times we do not explore our own city and this is our way yo connect to them. I will need to visit and examine our analytics on Facebook monthly and report to my team what I have found. This will, hopefully, grow our engagement with our current followers and create reach to gain new followers.

In this class we have been able to explore deep into who out follower and customer base is. As a non-profit, this was a little more difficult because I am not able to see sales from gaining an audience. Likes, comments and shares helped to show if people were really enjoying what I was posting. Te class assignments that pushed us to share stories and experiences in our posts were great for me to think back to why we are in the hospitality business. We are in the business to make a guest stay memorable. We create memories that last a lifetime. We gain repeat visitors. Sharing moments like these help to show that we an invaluable asset to a hotel and those who save up, maybe all year, to take a vacation. As many see the Concierge profession being taken over by the convenience of apps like OpenTable or Yelp, no one can replace a concierge (like myself) calling up the chef to create an off menu item for a 25th anniversary. We take pride in these special moments and we should share them on Social Media so anyone and everyone can see.

We will continue to connect with followers by posting stories in Instagram and Facebook, as these have been getting many views! Hashtags in Instagram stories have shared our content with a broader audience by being included in the San Diego Story on occasion. Polls, Asking questions and posting location brings attention to these posts. Everyone wants to be heard so I love reading any Direct Message feedback. LinkedIn and Twitter have always been a little more mysterious to me, so it was a fun introduction to these. As a business organization, I see the importance of these to gain friendships with other industry leaders to create networking.

I now have a better understanding of the tools available, most at a minimal or no fee to use. I look forward to reading more from Hootsuite and learn from their analyzers. I will finish our our book Likeable Social Media. I will now dive into the Social Media Marketing Toolbook that I purchased for the class and that we didn't really need. I kept it because it has a lot of sources to explore. I would recommend this class for anyone starting from step one. For a business that is already established in some Social Networks, this really shows how to use the tools to your advantage. If an advanced course was offered for the next steps, I would take it to create more of a rooted social campaign. I am confident in my future success in marketing through social media avenues.