Golf Digest, has revealed 5* hotel and golf resort, Adare Manor, has been awarded a prestigious Editors’ Choice Award (since 2016) in the category of ‘Best Golf Resorts in Great Britain and Ireland 2020’ for the third year in a row.
The Best Golf Resorts lists from around the globe, review criteria beyond golfing, determining which locations provide a ‘well-rounded, multi-faceted experience that can be tailored to individual needs and preferences’.
Last year, The Oak Room at Adare Manor was also awarded a Michelin star, making it the only starred restaurant in County Limerick.
Andy McMahon, Director of Golf Operations at Adare Manor, said:
“We are delighted to receive this award once again and it is a testament to all our teams’ hard work and dedicated service.
At Adare Manor, we’re completely committed to providing each and every guest a truly unique and memorable experience, so it’s fantastic to be recognized by Golf Digest as one of the best golf resorts in our region and certainly something we will strive to retain again next year.”
Social proof trends in 2020
While I think Adare Manor has won rightfully this award and recognition, they should achieve recognition from other areas too.
I don’t want to talk about achieving high recognition on customer review sites (e.g. Leadingcourses.com, TripAdvisor, etc.) rather much more about
- the importance of authentic influencers;
- usage of employee advocacy;
- leverage user-generated content (UGC).
These will help you a lot to gain a sufficient amount of social proofs from those who matter to you the most: your customers.
Not so long time ago I had a discussion with Jacob Sjöman the well-known golf photographer about fake influencers and fake followers on various social media platforms (e.g. Instagram, Facebook).
Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing will not disappear in 2020 and in the future as the importance of peer-to-peer advice is growing.
You have to do 3 things to succeed:
- Look for influencers who authentically use your services and share it with their audience. Recommendation: use influencer analytics like Keyhole, Traackr, Meltwater, etc.
- Find where you can achieve meaningful engagements with the audience. In 2020, to collect LIKEs will not help your business, but rather conversations and content sharing.
- Create an influencer marketing strategy that clearly outlines your brand’s goals and content guidelines while still allowing micro-influencers (like me) to direct the narrative in a way that feels authentic to their audience.
Employee advocacy
An Altimeter Group study found these are the TOP3 benefits of employee advocacy programs:
- Increasing reach of brand messages in social media;
- Drive increased understanding and brand health of our organization;
- Engage employees more deeply in our company mission & their work.
By empowering your employees, they will power your brand!
Try to find internally such employees who are great communicators and have significant experience in social media usage. These people can easily turn into the voice of your golf club/resort.
Employee generated content helps build brand trust and reinforce relationships.
After you have selected the most suitable employees, provide them training about social media skills and a basic understanding of marketing.
A good example of an employee advocacy program from the hospitality industry is the Hilton Suggests initiative.
Think about employee advocacy, even if it is starting on a smaller scale with employees sharing Facebook / Instagram posts…
Leverage user-generated content!
For your customers, it is more interesting and trustworthy what their peer group members are saying and showing about your golf club/resort and its services.
Recommendations:
- Encourage your audience to tag your brand in social posts (e.g. #AdareManor). This will help you to track your brand and your campaigns too.
- Share your guests’ social media content about your golf resort/club. It will impress them that a leading golf club/resort shared their content. It is a kind of gratitude and appreciation from your side.
- Comment on those posts that your customers shared about you. It has a similar positive effect as sharing their social media content.
- Run contests that drive user-generated (UGC) content!