Social Media Consulting
Social Media Strategy for the Hospitality Industry
Zachary Adam Cohen LLC is a social media strategy firm specifically tailored towards businesses in the hospitality industry. Social media is revolutionizing the relationship between businesses and their customers by empowering them in ways they never have been before. This idea of the “empowered consumer” is one that scares a lot of business owners. They are no longer the only ones in control of their brand’s image. I understand this fear, I understand this concern. But letting it paralyze you is not a solution. The hospitality industry has the most to gain from social media engagement. Why?
The rules have irrevocably changed
Because your entire business is based on customer engagement and satisfaction in the real world. It’s not any different in the social media world. Consider the following: Tomorrow, a blogger posts something highly critical of your business, and then shares it with 10,000 of their best friends. This new paradigm is not one that needs to be feared; opportunities abound for restaurants, hotels, spas, art galleries, music venues, bars and retail shops.
I am not an expert, I am not a guru
You might be wondering why I would specifically tell you that I am not an expert. Maybe that sounds unprofessional? Perhaps. But there are no experts in social media. How can there be experts in a industry that is brand new? To be sure, there are people who know a lot, people who have great instincts, people who are so amazingly creative and dynamic that they may appear as experts, but social media is a fluid world. It’s kinetic. Technology is constantly changing. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, FriendFeed, StumbleUpon, Digg, FourSquare, Tastecasting. None of these companies or services existed a few years ago. And they are the networks and technologies that are shaping our world a little bit more, every single day.
Don’t be caught flatfooted
What will be invented tomorrow? And how will it affect your business? We don’t know. But what we can do is work together to put you on a proactive path that will help you survive and thrive in this new world. It’s not about trying to know everything or execute the perfect campaign. Those are hollow ideals. The goal now is to inculcate a culture of experimentation in your business so that as social media develops, you are properly situated to capture new opportunities before and as they arise.
Social media is an extremely fluid world
It’s a world that is kinetic, not static. Nothing is ever done. Websites are never completed. Conversations are never over. When companies decide to consciously engage social media, they absolutely have to understand this. The work is never done. Everything flows into everything else.
At this point, I’ve spoken to over 50 firms. Some were just consultations and friendly sit-downs with no expectation of remuneration. Some were more formal. Each one has been different. Each one has had little perturbations that differentiate it from all previous discussions. I’ve learned something from every single one of these conversations.
And because social media strategy is a totally new business, as I learn, my clients learn. And constantly learning and evolving is something that has to be encouraged and supported in this environment. It goes back to that idea of “Never Being Done.” The work is never over. I like that. It keeps me fresh. It keeps me happy. It keeps me creative. So what exactly do I do?
My Services
Overview and Analysis of the Social Media Environment
This is where I begin to share my knowledge with you. I introduce and provide overviews of the various social networks, technologies and tools in a calm, deliberative way. Whether you are a tech neophyte or already Twittering, getting the lay of the land is an important first step. How do we use the scale of Facebook versus the sophisticated targeting of Twitter? The value of YouTube video’s as opposed to the benefits of maintaining a blog? We ask questions of each other, we brainstorm. I get to know you and your business; the people who work there, the management, the ins and outs. We map out a general idea of how to work together. We’ll decide what networks make the most sense for you to engage and begin to design a customized strategy that fits your business.
Web Design and Development
I consult with you on how best to project your brand’s image into the social world. Blogs, Twitter accounts, website redesign, Facebook fan pages. And even though I can and have built websites, I leave that to professional designers. I am even happy to work with your own in-house design team. I serve as liaison between your firm and high-end designers who can update and build relevant, scalable presences on the web so that our strategy is as effective as possible. We design sites and presences that work for today yet with a keen eye on tomorrow. I work with a handful of impressive designers and programmers that I have personally vetted and worked with to ensure your firm’s needs are prioritized and that projects do not exceed budgets. Too many brands, because of their inability or unwillingness to learn the language of web design, spend far too many resources on web design and development.
Search Engine Optimization
I don’t think it necessary to employ techno-gimmickry in my services, but that does not mean that your web presence should not be as “findable” as possible. I’ll explain how search engine’s work, as well as trends in how people are discovering websites these days. This is changing rapidly and what worked a year ago is certainly not true today. Furthermore, as the social web evolves, what works today may not be relevant tomorrow. It is part of my services to stay abreast of developments and keep you and your business in tune with emergent practices. I’ll take a full overview of your businesses web infrastructure and prepare a critical review of what is and what is not working, and what we can do to modify it. The goal is to make it as easy as possible for people to find your business. For businesses in the hospitality business, this means ensuring customers find you as close to the Point of Sale as possible.
The Mobile Web: Smartphones and Location-Based Marketing
The mass adoption of smartphones like the iPhone, the Google Android phones and many others is already changing consumer behavior. Applications like Foursquare, Gowalla, Hot Potato and many others are being used by empowered consumers to help determine where to spend their money, closer to the point of sale than at any time before. It is absolutely crucial that establishments begin to familiarize themselves with these tools, start experimenting with various kinds of direct and indirect marketing and measuring the results. Do you have the capability to do this? And even if you do, will you?
Community Building and Co-Branding
A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats
Whatever your niche, there is a community component to your business. Are you doing enough to foster the community to which you belong? If you are a restaurateur, what are you doing to help and assist other businesses like yours? Are you doing anything? The emergent value system is one that highly prizes community over purely self-interested pursuits. The two poles are not as disconnected as previously imagined. Promoting others is an indirect way of promoting yourself. Becoming a person of influence in your community, and FOR your community, will feedback positively on your own business. When you begin to act like a part of the community, you soon find lots of partners willing to team up and work together. We no longer live in a zero sum world. When your business wins, it not longer means that another business loses. That is 20th Century thinking at its most damaging. Let’s create a space together where when you succeed, your partners, even your competitors succeed.
