In today’s digital landscape, hospitality marketers face an impossible-seeming challenge: create content that stands out in crowded feeds, captures the unique essence of your property, and delivers measurable business results. Many social media managers feel torn between their creative instincts and the pressure to report hard numbers. Should you prioritize beautiful, aspirational content that reflects your brand vision, or focus on what the analytics say will perform best? This tension leaves many hospitality marketers feeling frustrated, wondering if they’re truly making an impact or just posting into the void.
That’s why we’re thrilled to welcome LaRhonda Strong to the show today. As a dynamic hospitality marketing leader with over a decade of experience driving brand growth across multiple properties, LaRhonda has mastered the delicate balance between creative storytelling and data-driven results. Currently overseeing marketing for a multi-property portfolio at Peachtree Group Hospitality Management, she brings invaluable insights on building integrated campaigns that don’t just look good, but actually convert. A proud Howard University alum and committed mentor, LaRhonda represents the best of what strategic hospitality marketing can achieve.
Social Pulse Podcast host Mike Allton asked LaRhonda Strong about:
- Creative Foundations That Convert: Learn how to build a content strategy that maintains brand integrity while incorporating data signals that drive business results.
- Metrics That Matter: Discover which social media metrics translate to hospitality business success and how to structure your reporting to demonstrate true value.
- Balancing Act Techniques: Master practical approaches for making data-informed creative decisions without sacrificing the authentic storytelling that resonates with potential guests.
Learn more about LaRhonda Strong.
Resources & brands mentioned in this episode
Full Transcript
(lightly edited)
I’d love it if you could start by just sharing that journey in hospitality marketing and how you developed your approach to balancing creativity with analytics.
LaRhonda Strong: Yeah, I think I started—so, most of my career has a strong friend foundation in brand storytelling and public relations, where I got my degree. And I had by chance, the jobs were there. I moved over to the hospitality side on operational standpoint, I learned all I could at the property level, but I noticed where I can dive into marketing and where I was able to get myself promoted was I was able to join in and help them with that storytelling through reviews, which moved into social media as it continued to grow.
So a big part of that, I learned the balance of the creative content, showcasing what the hotel has to offer while delivering results with our data analytics through the different tools that we’ve used over the years. So whether it’s increased bookings or F and B revenue or just a stronger event conversion, that is where I’ve pushed my specialty to be.
I think developing that framework where creativity and analytics aren’t really opposing forces, but they actually inform each other, I believe that just really gives you a purpose, and it empowers creatives, which restricts them.
Tell us a bit about Peachtree Group.
LaRhonda Strong: Yeah, Peachtree Group. So it’s really a finance company, but we have a hospitality management division. We have about 120 hotels right now in our portfolio, and it goes from small lifestyle brands to select service. And we just really take those, bring them up to standard, do a great conversion, and implement all those important marketing, sales, revenue, and statistics.
So it’s my job to make sure we’re storytelling and showing what the hotel has to offer through our social media.
So when it comes to that kind of social media content, what’s the biggest misperception that you see about the relationship between creative content and measurable results that you’ve been talking about?
LaRhonda Strong: I think the biggest misconception is that performance means compromising the quality of what you put out. People assume that, if something performs well, it’s just off-brand, or it’s clickbait, or you’re just strictly using a data-first approach. But I think successful content aligns with excellence from creativity, but you’re using those data insights to make sure you’re reaching your campaign goals.
So overall, you can reflect the tone, aesthetic, and experience of your brand, but that data should empower you to understand what your actual goal is and what the results will be. Sometimes it’s not always ROI; it’s brand awareness, but that data should empower you to become more creative.
Mike Allton: Absolutely. That’s kind of a recurring theme, I think, on this show, particularly when it comes to hospitality management. It’s challenging, I think, to demonstrate any true ROI, particularly in hotels, when that’s the kind of brand that you’re trying to talk about on social media.
It’s not often that someone’s going to book a night at a hotel just because they happen to see them on Facebook, but I’m wondering how you approach building a content strategy for these properties that you’re working with and then trying to come up with that balance where you’re satisfying creative vision and business objectives.
LaRhonda Strong: Yeah, I think you star. Overall, do you have a shared goal? I think you figure out, okay, if we’re going to do bookings, we know that everyone who clicks on the link isn’t going to book. But are we putting in that brand awareness? Are we making it visually appealing so it stays top of mind? Are we something, hey, when I go on vacation, or the next time I go to that particular area of the hotel, I’m going to stay there.
Maybe I’ll pop in for a drink and check it out that way. The idea is to really. Take those two things and balance them well. It should be a visual or masterpiece as well. But are the analytics driving to say that people are coming back and clicking? Are we retargeting people that way?
Are they lingering on your page, and are they engaging with your content? Engagement doesn’t tell the entire story, but if you see someone asking questions, asking for a little more, that kind of tells you that they’re reading the content. There might not be clear communication, but something else needs to come, or they just might like to comment and be a part of that brand.
So I think it’s important that you play it off of each other, that you have the fun visual side, but you also make sure you take that data analytics, and you are your driving force to your goal.
Mike Allton: You’re so right, and it’s funny ’cause this show is like a microcosm, I’m bringing on folks like you who are teaching the audience how they’re doing marketing, but at the same time, you’re introducing your brand. So I’m learning about new hotels and destinations. All the time on this show, and I’m making a mental note. Oh, okay.
When I’m in Atlanta, I need to stop there. When I’m in Tampa or Arizona, I need to stop there. And so that awareness, it works, and it’s something I’m going to be very acutely aware of as I go forward.
But you talk about looking at analytics.
I’m wondering if you could walk us through maybe a specific example where those analytics, those data insights, maybe shifted or impacted your creative approach, and what the results were.
LaRhonda Strong: Yeah, I would say, and one of my previous positions, we had a good, I think social media was great, some good content, but I noticed that the repurposed content wasn’t refreshed.
It had the standard likes, but there was no spike. There were fewer and fewer comments, and I realized that taking that data, seeing where the driving force was, we had a lot of international people viewing our things. So I did a day in a life series with our chef. I repurposed the content to reflect, for example, that Atlanta was one of my markets.
Atlanta has a very diverse culturehanged the lifestyle images to reflect the culture of the city. No, when you’re using pictures of people, you have to think about everything that goes along with it. Does it look like the people who are in the area? Does it look like you might have your business casual going to happy hour?
Are you having casual people walking through to check out the different local attractions? So I wanted to speak to the actual city, and that is how I approach all my hotels. Are we reflecting what they’ll get when they come to this particular area at this hotel? And I think the data drives that. It could tell you your markets, your cities. You could even drill down on how you look at the age range and gender.
So you look at that and you usually can reflect sometimes on the likes and just browse and see when you work alongside with your sales and revenue people, what kind of business are we getting?
This is where the cross-functional piece comes in. They can tell you a lot about the market, ’cause they live and breathe it from a number standpoint, but also the groups that we’re getting. So I think it’s important that you pull in cross-functionally with everyone else, including that data, and you will get everything, a real-world picture of what you should be targeting.
Mike Allton: That is such great advice. It’s true for every industry, every marketing approach, but I think it’s particularly true with hospitality. You’ve got to make sure that your marketing materials and assets reflect the audience that you’re trying to talk to at any given moment, and recognize that it will change, and not every post is going to be targeting the same audience.
LaRhonda Strong: Yeah, we look at, so Meta Studio is a big one for us. We have our Google Analytics, we definitely have our Sprinklr, and the different tools overall.
So I think using those is different, and we do look at our SEO words and see what is best performing. And I use that, and I think about creating content as well. All of that plays a part. I think pulling those Meta suite analytics, the base level of them is pretty great. If you go into pulling a targeted ad, it’ll get a little more statistics for you.
But I also think pulling some of those, I pull those sales metrics. I talk to the sales team, I think. Seeing what the group leads are, who’s looking at that is another piece. So you have your transient business and hospitality, and then you have your group. But I think they play off of each other because some people enjoy coming back, and they might bring their family. So I think overall, using different tools, like Google Meta. And of course, those social media,
HubSpot and those work well. You just have to see what works best because I’ve noticed that with a huge portfolio, you’ll find some statistics better in certain parts of the business.
So let’s say our meta suite will perform better in some of our actual regional places, and in others, I will see. Okay.
This is great. I’ve seen it where HubSpot had some good analytics there, so I think utilizing one tool, one size fits all, doesn’t necessarily work as well. I think you need to check out many different things. When you have a large portfolio, if you have the smaller one and two hotels, big ones, you’re able to drill down a little bit more. But when you’re talking about a large portfolio of hotels, I think you need to see which tools work best, and this is where a team comes in. So you’re not the only one kind of pulling those statistics.
Mike Allton: I think that is such an insightful comment because I think most social media managers are going to be focused on the social platforms and not paying so much attention to Google Analytics or sales dashboards, and they’re missing an opportunity to learn more about the core prospects for the business, not necessarily just the people who happen to be following you online, figuring out what they by paying attention to these other sources, you can learn not only what topics, but the language that your target prospects are using to describe what they’re interested in their experiences.
LaRhonda Strong: Yeah, I think an important question here, stakeholders vary, right?
You have your internal stakeholders, your external stakeholders, you have your ownership group, so there are quite a lot of important people who want input or have expectations of you. So I think you meet them where they are. You connect the dots, you lead by saying, the top line business results, but you compare it with a narrative saying, the campaign drove this percentage to the landing page, and it supported a lift in group leads, or we saw an event had so many RSVPs by the deadline.
I think proactively setting those expectations gets you ahead, and then you make progress. You show the way you pretty much show your progress through there. You let them know it’s supporting the funnel. It doesn’t always close the sale, but it influences perception. It drives action. I think that impacts bookings long-term.
You’re building a brand, you’re solidifying your brand, you’re making sure your brand is top of mind, and I think framing it this way builds trust and understanding that they might not always see the numbers, the correct conversion of what they’re looking for, but you see the awareness piece growing. That your social media is increasing that engagement, and you see it playing a part in all your other functions of the business.
Could you share what your team makeup looks like? How big is your team? What are the kinds of roles that you guys are handling right now?
LaRhonda Strong: Yeah, so we pretty much have digital marketing, and we work hand in hand, and we have our graphic designer as well, and our brand design manager, and we all play a part, right?
So our digital managers are monitoring those OTAs as well as the social media. But you have your graphic designer and your brand design manager going in and saying, Hey, I need this to look a certain way. I want, when you go down the tile of your social media, it is going this way.
But also, when we’re coming up with those assets to match the caption, are they telling the story? Is there something more we can push? Are we going to go more of the Brand way? Are we going to go more of the live content way with the hotel? And also an important piece, I want to I forgot to add earlier, is having that input from the hotel itself.
If you’re at the hotel level, you are part of that hotel, but when you’re above property, you’re corporate, you have a bigger portfolio, but you must have that hotel putting their input there, uploading those assets, and posting from the ground. So your brand looks like your hotel. You can tell this is not just curated content, but this is something organic.
This is live. We’re getting special behind-the-scenes features. Our chef is posting dishes as they create them. We’re seeing the bartenders creating unique monthly cocktails. My important piece, and I’ve seen that grow over my time here, is making sure those hotels are included and they’re participating.
They have their input, and we’re also curating that with the brand that we’re very knowledgeable about. So I think playing together, you will increase your social media presence strongly.
Mike Allton: Yeah. They’re an extension of your team and vice versa, which I love. It’s a fantastic approach.
So what creative processes or workflows have you implemented then to help your team integrate some of the data insights and analytics that you’ve talked about before, while maintaining some semblance of creative freedom?
LaRhonda Strong: Yeah, so we have our monthly recaps. I think it is very important. You build confidence through A/B testing, and you report that out.
I think that’s an important workflow. And you have those regular meetings with the hotel. As I said, we have content calendars. We try to do it 90 days out and create something that already has a certain amount of content. They come in. They add their piece as well. They give us the assets, and they do the live content in between.
So I think just having regular meetings with all parties involved, creating flexible templates is important too. The hotels are quite busy. They keep going, making sure they have everything they need to help you post, but they’re not having to start from scratch. We don’t want to always reinvent the wheel, but we want to create fresh and new exciting content based on what we already have. So I think that workflow of regularly meeting as a team, regularly meeting with the hotel, and just trying to keep that 90 days out. And I know as marketers we are always trying to be ahead of the curve, but it’s very important that your content is laid out and you have a variety of assets ready for your use.
Mike Allton: That makes a lot of sense. And one of the other things I’ve been thinking about as you’ve been talking is the fact that. You said a couple of times you’re managing a portfolio of properties, which I’m assuming then changes over time. So sometimes you’ve got new properties that are coming on, or maybe it’s a new campaign where you want to launch some content, and there’s no historical data that you can learn from.
So how do you balance coming up with some new approaches versus trying to rely on the proven formulas from the past data?
LaRhonda Strong: Yeah, we don’t have historical data. We’re starting with the AB testing. We’re going to try out a few things as well. But we also talk to, for example, my company acquires hotels quite a bit.
We move things around in assets like that. This is where you talk to the team. You make sure that in that turnover portfolio, you have things that you need. But if there’s nothing there and you’re completely starting from scratch, this is where you pull out your specialty of knowing the brand. You pull out that proven, opening template, that renovation template, or that new one, quiet template, and we’re starting from there. So we’re going to lay out those regular hotel assets. You’re showcasing amenities, guest rooms, but what do you have for the team members? This is where you have a great operational staff. They might let you know regularly. Hey, we have a happy hour where a certain number of people come in every time our bartender comes up with new things.
So I think it’s a matter of we have our proven strategies already in place, but when you’re starting from scratch, this is where you can flex your creative muscles and see what works. But a big part of that, as I mentioned before, is working with your sales and revenue leaders. They’ve researched the market.
When we acquire new hotels, the salesperson has to do the research so they know how to properly support their on-site sales staff. This is where you collaborate with them. So, regardless, somebody has a background in that area to inform us of what’s the best way to target our target audience.
Mike Allton: I’m so impressed with how much detail and thought went into these processes, making sure that somebody is doing their research and their homework, but you’ve also got that documentation in place that says, look, these are the different angles that we’re going to work on as soon as we have a new property or renovated property or whatever.
You’ve already thought about that because those are scenarios that you know are going to come up at some point in the future. So I’m wondering about LaRhonda. When it comes to social media, one of the challenges that we’ve hinted around already in this conversation with hospitality in particular is that we don’t typically drive direct sales, unlike retail.
I’ve got another podcast all about retail marketing. It’s usually very clear-cut there. We’re posting about the products and driving sales.
LaRhonda Strong: We track campaign-specific conversions, clicks to booking pages to RSVP for events. A big one for us is our programming events. For example, with Easter, we had a high goal. We had a group in-house the year before, so it was a little bit lower. So we were targeting our 2023 goal, and we blew that 2023 goal out of the water by 126% year over year. We got in front of our group of people early. We started earlier this year, and we tag-teamed with our Mother’s Day promotion. So we had collateral that was handed out by the sales team to the local community, which had one side for Mother’s Day, and the other side, Easter. We kept posting, and we went back and forth. We used the real estate of the Facebook page.
People don’t change their cover photos. This is something I learned from a leader. Change that cover photo to match what you have upcoming. So a big measurement for us is. How people are RSVPing, how many people show up, and how many conversions do you have? And then we saw an increased engagement. People were asking questions.
They asked if they could extend hours because they were going to church. These are all important things and metrics. I think that feeds into how we track. So we do have our campaign-specific feedback that we look for in results. We track those numbers. Those are very important. But a big part of this.
Did you achieve the goal of what you were seeking? Did you get the people to come to the event? Did you increase your room nights over a certain period? And you do see that when you go ahead and engage.
Mike Allton: Love that. I love that you’re leveraging the features within the platforms that are there and often free to use. Changing the cover photos. Brilliant. I always recommend folks use the Facebook event feature. Yes. Whether it’s for happy hours, a weekly event, or for a special occasion like Easter, Facebook will surface that in local users’ feeds. I saw plenty of Easter brunch opportunities on Facebook because those restaurants had taken the time to create, or those hotels, if they were having an event, they took the time to create a Facebook event, which was free and took them moments. So folks don’t miss out on those opportunities.
Are there any other tools or resources that you rely on to help? Bridge that gap between creative content creation and performance analytics in your day-to-day work?
LaRhonda Strong: I think a big one is Sprinklr and a couple of companies like that. This is more; they track engagement, and of course, Meta has those insights.
But I also, this might be a little controversial, but following those trends. We don’t react to trends. We don’t host trends. TikTok, I’m not always sure, is our best audience in hospitality, depending on a brand perspective, yes, but from a hotel individual, it’s a little different. Depending on the size of your hotel.
But I also think just making sure you are following the trends and knowing what is going along with the algorithm, right? You don’t want to get shadow-banned. You don’t want to miss out. So I think a little bit, of course, we use. Our Metas, as I said, our Sprout Socials, our HubSpots, but a big one is that there are trend reports that come out quarterly, weekly, yearly. I go through, I have people who work in social media on the side. They do things, and they are always up on the algorithm, so I make sure I’m as well, so I know what I’m doing with our content. Isn’t going to get lost in the shuffle, do we adjust to everything? That’s not the best practice, and that is not a good strategy, but you have to understand what you’re up against, especially with an ever-changing landscape.
Mike Allton: So just to clarify for those listening, when you talk about trends, you aren’t talking about user zeitgeist, meme-type trends. You’re talking about what seems to be working today with the various social platforms that professionals have recognized and shared publicly.
LaRhonda Strong: Yes, like video, we don’t always post a lot of videos. That takes a, I think a little bit, sometimes it can get lost in there, but it’s important to know that a carousel is important. If you have something you’re regularly picking at a campaign, should we consider this overly branded content with a lot of words and graphics that don’t pick up well when you post that as well, you and that for your caption, leave a lot of the words to the caption?
So I’m talking about those types of trends that actually work against or with the algorithm. It’s important to know because otherwise, you’re great. Get lost in the shuffle. They might not visually get in. People in front of people. I’m big on, as I mentioned before, including the hotel, and they utilize the IG stories.
They’re live, they can post in that 24-hour window. That is important because sometimes things do not get picked up on the feed as they should, but that IG story, when it’s coming from the ground, that is that organic, that is that fun content, I think, is important. And of course, as I said, relying on your cross-functional team. This is not part of the actual social media strategy, but just being informed of what you should be targeting. I think that’s a big miss.
I’ve seen it before. When I come in, I’m like, No, I need to have conversations with our revenue team. What are they seeing in their numbers? What are they seeing as a pickup?
Even with the transient, they can drill in and see, hey, this is the time of year that we see more of a pickup. This is where we need to target heavier. We’re already working at the end of the year, thanks to a great revenue partner of mine telling me that fall is looking a little light. What can we do?
We start those numbers earlier. So I think playing with those tools that you can get from any tool, any analytics, but also you get from your partners and as well as using the hotels that are there, and they know the market as well. I think altogether, those are what I consider my tools and my assets to get things empowered.
Mike Allton: That’s awesome, and I love that we’re ending with some tactical strategic advice for folks. I appreciate that. LaRhonda, you’ve been amazing. Yeah. This has been such an important interview. I know folks are wondering when I’m going to go back and re-listen to it, to digest your advice when it comes to analytics and balancing that with creativity.
But for folks who have more questions or who want to reach out and connect with you, where should they go?
LaRhonda Strong: Yeah, you can search me, LaRhonda Strong, on LinkedIn. That’s the best way to get in contact with me. I’m always there, reading up on the latest industry news and staying in the know. So definitely send me a message there.
I do read them, and I do connect with people. But I appreciate your time so much, Mike. This has been an engaging conversation. It’s always fun to talk about marketing and social media.
Mike Allton: It is always fun. So thank you, LaRhonda. Thank you all for listening. That’s all the time we’ve got for today, friends.
But don’t forget to find the Social Pulse Podcast: Agency Edition on Apple and drop me a review. Let me know what you thought of this episode and what you’d like to see us cover in future episodes.
Until next time!
