Proven Principles to Get More Likes, Comments, and Shares on Your Hospitality Content
By Daniel Zolinski | September 20, 2023
“How do I go viral?” is a commonly asked question nowadays. Social media is becoming flooded with not only young teens, but also older business owners. Why? Attention = Money. The only difference between one hospitality company performing better than the other is traffic. How do you get more traffic? By creating attention. How do you attract attention? Post on social media.
Today, I am going to lay out for you a proven strategy from a mentor of mine that will give you a framework of how to structure your hospitality content.
The Science Behind Viral Content
Viral content has less to do with how “perfect” it is and more to do with how “shareable” it is. Content goes viral because people start talking about and sharing it with their friends and family. You want to go viral? Focus on creating content that is shareable.
The STEPPS Framework
This framework is taught by Matt Gray, the founder of Herb and Founder OS, who has more than 1.6 million followers across all social media platforms. How’d he do it? Let’s take a closer look:
Social Currency – People want to be perceived as being cool, smart, and in the know. Create content that makes your audience feel good, and they will share it.
Triggers – Weave memorable themes into your content that cause people to think of you via association. For example, let’s say your logo for your restaurant is a cast iron pan. You may include it in each of your short form videos and now every time someone sees a cast iron pan, they think of you. Simple concept, but you get the idea.
Emotion – Try to arouse the emotions of your audience as much as possible. Emotional content frequently goes viral!
Public – People want to feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves. Create content that gives people a sense of connection.
Practical Value – Useful things get shared. Create informative and digestible content that is easy to pass along.
Stories – Bring your content to life by including stories that carry the idea for you.
Let’s look at an example together.
This post from Gray is his highest-performing post on both Twitter (now X) and Instagram. Let’s break it down:
“If I could go back and do it again” is an extremely common concept. It’s relatable and is a trigger. He then evokes emotion by touching on hot topics like drinking and smoking. He frames it in a negative light, which will create both positive and negative responses. Practical Value is implemented by sharing his 8 life lessons that others can learn from. Lastly, Instagram is extremely lifestyle oriented. Social Currency comes into play because this post provides insights that directly correlate to one “living their best life.” People who share it would be seen as helpful and conscientious.
As always, I hope you found this helpful, and I hope you found extreme value from this as you go on to post your own Viral hospitality content. Understand using a framework like this on a consistent basis will attract a larger audience for you and your company. Like bees to honey. I want to see you succeed. With any questions or concerns, I am one email away at danielzolinski@smarterthought.com. Now get to creating!
