Some of us are obsessed with it. Others can’t stand it. Some, unfortunately, are clinically addicted to it. Wherever you stand, social media is a ubiquitous part of modern life. In Australia, 1 in 2 people uses Facebook every day, while 1 in 3 is a daily Instagram user. If you run a business in the hospitality industry, social media is something that you absolutely need to employ if you care about maximising your potential.

On a recent episode of That Bad Review, Joshua Clifton stopped by to explain why people need to stop ‘sticking their heads in the sand’ when it comes to social media and starts using it to their benefit.

Here are a few of his top ways to stand out online:

Be Resilient

If you had a bad customer 20 years ago, you did your best to appease that person and then made sure you didn’t repeat the mistake. Simple. You probably even forgot about it after a few weeks.

Now, bad customer experiences — and subsequent bad reviews — stick with us virtually forever. When you’re reading a business’ TripAdvisor page and you see a one-star review, do you stop to read it? If you do, you’re like pretty much everybody else. And even if that business does a great job, that negative review is likely to lodge its place in your head.

Bleak stuff. But Joshua says the best thing you can do is, well, suck it up. Bad reviews are a part of the industry, and the only way you can get over them is by making sure you deliver an outstanding service every other time.

Understand the Helicopter Analogy

Here’s how helicopters work: starting up their blades takes a lot of energy. But once they get going, they don’t require as much force to keep spinning.

Social media is a lot like that. Those first few weeks (or maybe years, but hopefully not) when you have next to no followers and poor engagement can be brutal. This is when folks get discouraged, smash their keyboard and say, “Damn those millenials and their Instabook.”

Calm down and don’t be that person. Understand that social media is a long game, and that you need to be putting out content and posts as much as possible early on, with no engagement, before you have any real results. Once you get going, it’ll be much easier.

Do Your Research

Take some time to look up businesses that you aspire to be. Maybe it’s your arch nemesis’ cafe down the street that’s had a line out the door for years. Don’t tell him that you’re doing this, but Google his business. Take a look at his social media. If he’s doing a good job, how can you emulate his strategy without copying him? Take notice of what people respond to and engage with.

While you’re at it, Google yourself. Is your business easy to find on Google and on Google Maps? If you’re in Melbourne, does it come up if you search “Melbourne cafes”? Oh, and be sure to do this sort of Googling on someone else’s computer. If you do it on your own, your results are likely to be skewed.

Joshua has the following to say about those who skip social media: “If you want to put your head in the sand, that’s fine; the world’s going to go straight past you.”

Don’t put your hand in the sand. Get on it!

Listen to my entire conversation with Joshua here.