CHLA Lodging News March/April 2019

6 CALIFORNIA LODGING NEWS www.calodging.com The Essence of Social Media and Hospitality By Todd Maxwell, Owner, eMaximize AS I THOUGHT ABOUT WRITING this article for California Lodging News and basically put it off all week like I was studying for a calculus exam in college, I thought about why I was procrastinating. I came to the resolution that I did not want to write the low hanging fruit article that we see everywhere—“Ten Tips To Improve Your Hotel’s Social Media.” It’s always written by someone who has never worked in a hotel. I was procrastinating because I didn’t want to be that guy. Well, I couldn’t exactly because I have been a hotelier, a California hotelier. I wanted to provide real value to CHLA readers and members and take a deep meaningful dive into the essence of social media and hospitality. Sure, like all aspects of operating a hotel there are best practices for social media as well, and they are effective. But amidst all the tips and strategies that digital agencies like mine explain to hoteliers, there is an underlying role for social media that is often missed. It is missed because hoteliers are so busy managing so many things that they don’t have time to think about why they are doing something; they just do it properly and quickly, then move on to the next task. The life of running a 24/7 business serving the public. The purpose of social media is not to drive traffic to your website to foster a conversion. A conversion is an action on your website that digital marketers measure as, well, a good thing. In this case the conversion is