Tune Into Twitter: Listen to What Tweeters Say About Your Hotel

Jul 26, 12 | 12:08 am

By Patrick McCarthy

One of the truisms regarding Twitter is: even if you aren't talking about your brand on Twitter, your customers are. Here at Blue Magnet, we come across a lot of nonsense and dubious claims regarding social media and how people use it; however, in this case, we have direct experience with the truth of the above truism. Due to the ephemeral and informal nature of Twitter, many users will tweet about anything and everything that they are doing, and when I say everything, I mean absolutely everything. If I wasn't a skeptic, I would give you my guarantee that your hotel has been mentioned on Twitter at least once at one time or another. As such, I will offer you my nearly unqualified assurance that that is indeed the case: People have/will/are talking about your hotel on Twitter.

Tweeting Behind Your Back

Another oft-repeated truism is that people say things behind your back that they would never say to your face. If this is true, just imagine what people are saying behind your back on the internet, where the discourse can quickly turn to extreme virulence and spitefulness. If this thought worries you, don't panic, just follow these easy steps to tune in to the Twitter conversation. It will take you an hour at most to get everything set up, and then, you will be able to sleep easy knowing that you know exactly what people are saying about your hotel.

Step 1: Create a Twitter account for your hotel (5-10 Min)

Twitter is one of the easiest social media networks to sign up for because unlike Facebook and Youtube, you can get away with a bare minimum of content. Here's how to quickly set-up your account:

• Go to www.twitter.com.
• In the "New to Twitter?" Section, simply enter in your hotel name, an e-mail address, and a new password.

• On the next page, you will be able to choose your Twitter handle (username). Try to make your handle as descriptive and concise as possible.
• e.g. Brand Name + Location = MarriottChicago
• If EmbassySuitesNewYork is taken or too long, try ESNewYork
• Once you have chosen your handle, Twitter will try to guide you through some introductory steps. Ignore them and press the "Skip this step" link until you are prompted to upload a picture. Upload a picture and that first step is done!

Step 2: Install and Sign-Up for TweetDeck (10 - 15 Min)

TweetDeck is a Twitter monitoring software that went through some growing pains when it transitioned from a third party offering to a Twitter-owned proprietary management solution; however, all of the issues have been fixed and TweetDeck is now one of the best Twitter managers on the market, and most importantly it is completely free! To get TweetDeck:

• Go to www.TweetDeck.com and click the Download button.

• Once the program file finishes downloading, open the file.
• Follow the steps to install the program and then open the program.
• Click on the Create Account button on the main screen of the program.

• Enter in your email address and create a password

• Click the Add Twitter Account button

• A window will open prompting you to authorize TweetDeck to use your Twitter account. To do this, just enter in your Twitter username and password to complete the signup process.

There's more… continue reading the complete article "Tune Into Twitter: Listen to What Tweeters Say About Your Hotel" on The Blue Magnet Blog.