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Post it! Strategies for Social Media

Social media has gone from a way to post photos of your kids or your kittens, to a viable and valuable marketing tool. Just as new channels seem to constantly emerge and change, so too, do the ways in which social media can impact your business. Nicole French, VP of Sales and Marketing at Premier Transportation, reveals exactly how a sound social media strategy can propel business forward.

Q. Tell me about your organization and what you do there?

A. I’m vice president of sales and marketing at Premier Transportation, a worldwide chauffeured ground transportation company. I’ve been with Premier Transportation for eleven years now.

Q. How important is a social media strategy to your business?

A. Social media is extremely important. It allows us to tell the story of our brand as opposed to trying to sell our brand. Social media offers unique avenues and communication opportunities to reach customers that we might not otherwise have reached with traditional forms of advertising. For example, rather than creating an ad with a photo of one of our limos, we can post a video to social media that circles the car, showing both the exterior and the interior. That would be a much more enticing approach to our customers. For an audience of meeting and event planners, we would want to promote our worldwide services, so we might tell our story visually with a shot of 70 of our vehicles waiting for people to depart an event. That type of storytelling is more much effective with social media.

Q. Which social media channel do you feel works best for meeting and event professionals?

A. There is a social media platform that’s useful for every aspect of one’s communication efforts. For example, a meeting and event planner who is looking for creative ideas for décor, ambience, color schemes, or floral arrangements would benefit from Pinterest. If they’re looking to promote their event or increase attendance, they’d benefit from LinkedIn and Facebook. Or, if they’re looking for promotional capabilities in real time during an event, they should utilize Twitter.

Q. If you had one piece of advice to offer regarding social media strategy, what would it be?

A. Know your audience and be authentic with the story you tell them. Talk about not only your business, but engage with them about things that are relevant to their industry. Communicate information they want and/or need to see.

Q. Any other tips or advice?

A. It’s important to know your capabilities. Depending upon your personnel or expertise, you may not be able to work with all social media channels, so keep your focus on one or two. Also, it’s important to measure your success after a social media campaign to see if the strategy you put forth was worth your time. In that way, you can make adjustments and revise accordingly for future engagements.

Find Mentioned Suppliers

Nicole French, Vice President of Sales and Marketing | Premier Transportation | nfrench@premiertrans.com

With fifteen years of experience in the hospitality industry and business-to-business sales, Nicole French has become highly effective at relationship building, managing multiple accounts, delivering dynamic sales presentations and engaging decision makers. Starting her career in sales, she rapidly rose to the position of General Manager for a large hotel chain. In 2006, she became the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Premier Transportation. She has served on four nonprofit boards, including Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and International Live Events Association (ILEA) and has received multiple awards, including two EMPI's for "Supplier of the Year" and was named "Employee of the Year" by Limousine Digest. In her spare time Nicole Loves to travel, golf and practice yoga.

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