Strategic social media in the real world
Posted by Roxann Kinkade, APR, Ameristar Casinos, Inc. on Apr. 5, 2012 / Subscribe 0
Nothing has changed the way I conduct my workday or the overall direction of my department than the advent of social media. While I still practice traditional media relations, planning for internal and external messaging to align with the business strategies of the company, my department is now the new face of customer service.
Our department was viewed as a support to marketing and human resources. We worked to become a strategic business partner working closely with company leaders as important business decisions were made. Social media suddenly thrust us directly into every aspect of our daily operations. My team, particularly those focused on social media, has become intimately involved in casino, hotel and food & beverage operations. Any decision that impacts the guest has the potential to be discussed publicly through social media. Our social media manager spends hours each week on departmental conference calls making sure she is aware of any decision which may impact our guests.
In the past eight months, I have hired two staff members and spent thousands of dollars on additional software to monitor and respond to guests through social media; and to monitor and respond to guests through hospitality review sites. Two years ago a service failure would prompt a guest to call customer service for a resolution. Now that service failure is posted to Facebook, Twitter, TripAdvisor, Yelp and Google Places. The communications team now works with every department to formulate responses to positive and negative posts. Departments are proactive in sending details of any issue that might be discussed on review or social media sites immediately to the communications team so they can anticipate and be prepared if the guest posts a comment in public.
Our communications team has also become a strategic partner to the planning and analysis team, spotting trends to be addressed by operations. We’ve become generalists and have greatly expanded our knowledge about how each department works. Now we have to understand how restaurant point-of-sale software works in order to manageFourSquareoffers and which offers are being made through Marketing each day so we can anticipate the resulting guest engagement on Facebook. Operating in six differentgamingjurisdictions, we also have to be very familiar with the regulations and laws that govern each property.
We look at every interaction, positive or negative as a gift, an opportunity to understand the wants and needs of our Guests. We will continue to shift resources to making sure we hear what our guests are saying and that we are finding all of the conversations. Leading the charge for exceptional customer service is exciting and challenging; and has placed communications in the middle of business operations.
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