INSIGHTS

Post with Purpose: why likes and followers are the wrong measure of success

Plenty of hospitality brands still judge their social media by likes and follower counts. It is an easy habit to fall into, because for a long time those numbers really were a good measure of success. But social has changed, and the figures that used to matter often do not tell you very much any more.

Following an account used to be a commitment. You invested your time in a business because you wanted to keep up with it, and following was the only way to see its content in the first place. That is no longer how it works. As advertising and the platforms have evolved, people use and follow accounts in a completely different way. The algorithm now shows people the content they want to see, rather than everything from the accounts they follow. The balance has tipped towards the audience, not the business. So a follower count tells you far less than it once did, which is exactly why we do not fixate on it. We believe in strategic content and targeted advertising instead.

Measure the campaign, not social in general

The shift we really want our clients to make is away from vague, general goals like “get the numbers up” and towards clear campaign objectives that can actually be measured. Rather than trying to lift your overall stats, the question becomes: how do we get the right people to watch, interact with and engage with a specific piece of content that carries a sales or business message? That means content that is specific, strategic, genuinely valuable, and posted with purpose. General conversations about what content should do are not much use any more. It has to be deliberate.

None of this means it is all about bookings. Brand awareness and engagement absolutely still matter, and they deserve a place in the plan. The difference is that awareness content should still be tied to a business objective rather than done for its own sake. Brands do not post just to post. There is always a reason, and it should always be aimed at the specific audience you want to reach. If the goal is to inform, then what are you trying to tell people, what do they actually need to know, and how do you deliver it in a way that is fun, educational and genuinely informative? It is about balance, and it is best looked at through a campaign lens.

Connecting content to real bookings

The honest picture on tracking is that the technology is there and getting better, but hospitality lags behind, particularly hotels and the big international franchises, where the level of detail and trackability simply is not there yet. That is not a dead end. There are other ways to join the dots, and more tools and software are emerging all the time that let us track bookings and links back to the activity that drove them.

In practice it starts with a conversation before anything is posted. What are we trying to achieve from a business point of view? Are we looking to increase revenue, drive website visits, or fill a quiet period? Once we know the target, we run the campaign and analyse as we go, setting benchmark points along the way so we always know whether we are on track. That way we are judging the work against the objectives it was built for, and the numbers that support them, rather than a general figure that looks nice but means little.