Social media never stops, and neither do the updates that shape the platforms our guests are frequently engaging with and in the past two weeks, we’ve seen exciting new developments from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and even Reddit that are all working to change the game just a bit.

Let’s take a look at all these updates and how they’ll affect hotels and resorts.

Facebook Releases “Unsend” Feature for Messenger

Facebook has rolled out a new “unsend” feature in Messenger, allowing you to remove a message within ten minutes after it was first sent. To delete specific blocks of text, tap on it and select the option “remove for everyone.” It will be replaced with an alert showing that a message was removed. This works for group conversations as well as one-on-one convos in Messenger, and it’s being released to a global audience.

What This Means for Hotels

We’ve all likely made use of Gmail’s “unsend” feature at some point, and now we have this functionality for Facebook, too. If you accidentally send incorrect information or need to revise a statement, you can use this feature when working with guests, but note that you should be careful of how you do it. Have a clear amendment and an explanation of what the deleted content was and why it was deleted so that guests won’t feel like you’re trying to cover up mistakes or pull one over on them.

Twitter Bans Follow-Unfollow Services

Twitter has announced that they’re suspending follow-unfollow services, cutting off API access to this software. Follow-unfollow software goes against Twitter’s terms of service, and is often used in attempt to quickly inflate someone’s follower count. Apps being suspended include Crowdfire, ManageFlitter, and Statusbrew.

What This Means for Hotels

This announcement closely aligns with the changes Twitter has been making recently to improve authenticity on the platform and the user experience along with it. Since follow-unfollow is more like an attempt at cheating the system instead of engaging with it, taking away from the user experience. If you’re using this software, go ahead and remove it now and focus on other strategies to connect with new followers.

Instagram Now Features IGTV Previews in Feed

Instagram has announced that previews of videos from IGTV accounts users follow will now appear in their main Instagram feeds. Creators will be able to share up to a minute-long preview to Instagram, and users simply have to tap on the preview to watch the full-length content on IGTV.

What This Means for Hotels

IGTV is a standalone app that integrates with Instagram, and now it will be much easier to usher users from one to the other to see your long-form content. Consider using IGTV to share longer videos showcasing your resort, highlighting events, and even highlighting amenities or doing Q&As and use your built-in Instagram audience to get more viewers.

LinkedIn Releases New Tools for Company Pages

LinkedIn has rolled out a lot of new updates this month, the first of which includes new features for their Company Pages.

The new changes include:

• More in-depth analytics that include more audience demographic information

• A Pages Toolkit that feature short, actionable guides about how to optimize advertising on-platform

• Content Suggestions, which provide information on what your audience may be interested in seeing

What This Means for Hotels

Company Pages historically haven’t been as useful as business profiles on other platforms just because there weren’t as many useful, actionable features for companies to use. LinkedIn is really trying to change that, and the new resources available for Pages could make them significantly more prominent for hotels and resorts looking to connect with B2B professionals.

LinkedIn Rolls Out New Recruiting & Job Searching Features

LinkedIn has rolled out more recruiting and job hunting features in attempt to streamline the process for both parties involved. Job searchers will be able to learn more about the companies they’re interested in working with, and even track them for future job openings. There are more developments in the works here, and hopefully we’ll have more news soon.

What This Means for Hotels

Social media isn’t just for connecting with guests; it can help you find great employees for your hotels and resorts, too. If you’re hiring, take a close look at LinkedIn. You could find some outstanding candidates and quickly review their job history and even testimonials from past colleagues or employers.

LinkedIn Announced “LinkedIn Live”

Live broadcasting is everywhere, and now LinkedIn has announced their own version. After partnering with a few third-party streaming services, they’ve created a native live feature. Right now it’s in testing with a small group of users in the US, but this will likely roll out to wider audiences soon, allowing users to share broadcasts with select groups or to all of their followers.

Image source: Social Media Today

What This Means for Hotels

LinkedIn is unique in that it’s a business-oriented professional network, so your guests will be using it differently than Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Make sure that the live content you share is created with that in mind. You can focus on information sharing and value-based lives to appeal to your guests. Consider starting with videos that offer information about how to choose a resort for your conference, or places to visit in their off-time when guests are near your resort for work.

Reddit Offers Advanced Features for Advertisers

Reddit Ads have been around for a while, but they’re now releasing a few new features to make the platform more appealing for advertisers. They’ve just rolled out App Install campaigns, which will be shown to users of Reddit’s mobile app for the highest chance of users taking action. They’ve also improved their ad tracking and reporting capabilities with a conversion pixel, giving advertisers more concrete data about how their campaigns are performing.

What This Means for Hotels

First, if your hotel or resort has a mobile app, consider testing out Reddit’s App Install campaigns to connect with new guests. And if you’ve used Reddit before but ended up unhappy with the lack of detailed reporting, consider taking another look. Reddit Ads has less competition than other social PPC platforms like Facebook and Instagram, so that could work in your favor.

About Lodging Interactive

Headquartered in Parsippany, NJ, Lodging Interactive is a full-service digital marketing and social media engagement and reputation management agency exclusively servicing the hospitality industry. Through its web design and search optimization division as well as its CoMMingle Social Media Division, Lodging Interactive provides effective Internet marketing services to hundreds of branded and independent properties as well as management companies, restaurants and spas.

CoMMingle has established itself as the largest provider of reputation management services for the hospitality industry, handling over 200,000 guest review responses. The company also offers fully managed Live Chat agents for hotel websites through its LiveChatForHotels.com division.

Lodging Interactive is an HSMAI Adrian Award winner and has won awards from the International Academy of Visual Arts, Interactive Media Awards, Horizon Interactive Awards, Web Marketing Association, Academy of Interactive & Visual Arts, and Travel Weekly’s Magellan Awards have recognized Lodging Interactive as an industry leader.

Lodging Interactive is a proud supporter of the Hotel Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) and the company’s president, DJ Vallauri, currently serves on the Board of Directors of HSMAI’s New York Chapter and is a Forbes.com Agency Council contributor. For more information, please contact sales@lodginginteractive.com, 877-291-4411 or visit the company’s website.