The Grand Spa at the GrandAmerica Hotel in Utah
Image by newspapergrl via Flickr

I love to read newspapers and blogs on Sunday. It’s my catch up day. Other people visit friends and family, I read a lot. Here’s something I learned that might help you.

Tip: Use your social media profiles to welcome people.

What do I mean? Here are some examples:

Let’s say your blog is featured in the newspapers - welcome your new readers. I read about a web site for weight loss today and went to the site. I looked for an intro and guidance and found none. The blogger could’ve written a post welcoming new readers and I would’ve felt more at home instead of like a newcomer – a little disoriented and lost.

Here’s someone who got it right. GeekDad blog was featured on Time.com and writes:

Hello and welcome to any and all new readers of GeekDad! We’re glad you decided to check us out, and hope you find something here that interests you enough to return…Enjoy, and thanks again for stopping by!

The entire post tells readers what to they’ll find on the blog, links to archives and introduces readers to the team. It’s very welcoming.

Another example is if you’re a hotel on Twitter and you know there’s a big convention in town. Or a wedding party. Or, people told you they are coming via your Facebook Page. You should welcome them. It makes people feel special, appreciated.

Or maybe you’re a spa, or visitor’s convention or state that has a group of special guests coming. High rollers know that when they show up the venue expects them. It’s easy to recreate that feeling by welcoming the group on social networking sites the guests are on.

A Missed Opportunity
I let a local restaurant know that my husband’s company was coming to dinner that night. And the CEO was in town. On their Facebook Page. They could say welcome, please let us know if there’s any special requests we can accommodate for you in a message back. Or, they could greet us and ask if we were the people who wrote on their wall and welcome us and thank me for being a fan. They didn’t. The place wasn’t very crowded and we were obviously there straight from work.

Trump Las Vegas Tweets a Welcome
Trump Las Vegas welcomed people in town for conventions. This would be especially effective if the convention were held at the Trump. They could also give tips because while we’re there we’re going to want to know things like where to eat, the best shows, how to get a cab, etc.

Here’s the tweet:

This hotel gets it too

@GrandAmerica is a high end hotel that I love in Salt Lake. They are hosting a social media club meeting soon and giving us a great deal on lunch. They could send out a tweet welcoming everyone by Twitter name or by hashtag. We’d like that (and it really goes a long way to feed our giant egos). Social media people are social – we love knowing we got your attention. Give it to us and we’ll like you, friend you, etc.
The Grand America has room for events and they recently hosted the Cupcake Conference (which came about from a joke on Twitter and ended up being for real – probably the first and only cupcake conference ever) and other events for Utah bloggers. This creates tremendous good will. They are very good at engaging influencers so we love to give them positive PR. Other hotels could do the same.

If you’re active on social media sites – consider yourself the welcome wagon. Let guests know you’re glad they’re there. It’s a great way to do some online PR and build some loyalty by treating your guests like stars. It doesn’t cost anything to do — just some extra thought.

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