This week's Thumbs Up Award shows that creative ideas can be easily executed on social media, and often the simplest ones have the greatest effect.
Recently I was followed on Twitter by The Glen Hotel, a hotel and restaurant on Brisbane's south side, and to be honest, my first expectations weren't too high. There are numerous local businesses that have a less than impressive social media presence, so it was fantastic to see some of the ideas that The Glen Hotel had implemented on their Twitter and Facebook profiles.
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Right from the first interaction with The Glen Hotel on Twitter, I got the impression they put time and effort into managing their profile. Check out the compelling copy in their auto-response message...
Free food? I'll click on that!
I was then taken to the following page and asked to fill out a few simple details to unlock the deal. There are probably a few too many form fields, but hey, it's a pretty clever way to get me through the door, and they're adding to their email database at the same time.
The general rule here is, for the first point of contact with new followers or friends, whether it be through a Direct Message on Twitter or a landing page on Facebook, try to include a compelling benefit and a clear call to action. It gives the user an immediate reason to take the next step in joining your social community.
After signing up for my free meal, I headed to The Glen's Twitter profile and noticed they have their Facebook Page listed in the URL of their bio, another simple and clever idea.
Once on their Facebook Page, I watched a couple of their videos featuring the Friday night specials.
Shooting simple videos like this is an excellent (and free) way to generate more engagement from your followers and deliver key messages in a rich media format. Why not try some out yourself? Even if it's a simple weekly chat with your CEO, receptionist, or local barista, video is always going to be more interesting than a text description or a photo of the same event.
The Glen Hotel has executed a number of simple and innovative ideas with their social media profiles, transitioning the user seamlessly from a Twitter follower, to an email subscriber, and eventually a Facebook Fan.
This week, I'm happy to give them the Thumbs Up Award. Well done guys!
Chris
is a specialist in Social Media Strategy and garlic bread enthusiast at
Traffika.
Follow him on Twitter
@chrispahor, or read more from Chris here.
