The holidays are quickly approaching, which means a busy time of year for most companies within the hospitality industry that call Southern California home. While the weather may not cool down for us much in the winter months, the influx of visitors marks the changing seasons. Your marketing and sales department is most likely in full holiday mode, all-hands-on-deck, to implement your seasonal marketing plans.
Once the New Year strikes and the holiday din dies down, it’s important to pause for a moment. Oftentimes we tend to launch straight into spring break sales and summer vacation planning before weighing the results of the holiday season. Consider blocking off some time to discuss with your team how you can capture some of the results from your holiday push.
For example, we know how communicative customers are on sites such as TripAdvisor, Yelp, Travelocity and more. With the holiday rush, oftentimes our monitoring of social media and review sites may get pushed to the bottom of the to-do list. With the surge of holiday customers, you no doubt have an influx of customer conversations online. Take some time to review recent posts and react or respond when necessary.
It’s important to perform some post-holiday maintenance online for a few reasons. First, you may be able to spot consistent concerns or complaints from customers that can help you better prepare for next year’s holiday rush. Second, your attentiveness to your customers’ needs will be visible, so future customers can see and appreciate how you took the time to address any issues during a hectic holiday. And third, you can turn your social media monitoring into a monetizing strategy. How? Consider using the best reviews as testimonials on your website. Or host a short social media contest asking customers to submit their reviews in return for a small incentive; by providing a discount on their next visit to your business, you may gain a long-term customer.
Taking proper time post-holidays to capture your finest reviews or to correct finicky issues can help your business start off on a positive foot during your next promotional seasons. And, as you gear up for summer planning, give us a call; we’re happy to help with your marketing and advertising outreach.
