Engage Using Web 2.0 and Social Media
Engaging the Hyper-Interactive Traveler Using Web 2.0 and Social Media http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/154000320/4047440.html
Engaging the Hyper-Interactive Traveler Using Web 2.0 and Social Media:
Hotelier's Best Practices Guide
By Max Starkov and Mariana Mechoso Safer Description: Engaging
the Hyper-Interactive Traveler Using Web 2.0 and Social Media: Hotelier's
Best Practices Guide | By Max Starkov and Mariana Mechoso Safer
Today's travel consumer is tweeting, texting, emailing, communicating with
friends via Facebook, and commenting, often in real-time, on restaurants and
hotels via review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor. How will you reach these
hyper-interactive consumers at multiple touch points during the research
process? And once your hotel has their attention, what should you do to
encourage loyalty to your brand, increase site stickiness, create buzz
around your hotel, and ultimately increase bookings? Many hoteliers believe they do not have the resources to dedicate to Web 2.0
and Social Media, or in other words, they are unable to meet the needs of
today's hyper-interactive traveler
. With more than 400 million users on Facebook, an
average of 50 million tweets sent a day, and consumers expecting interactive
and engaging hotel websites, the bottom line is that your hotel cannot
afford to ignore Web 2.0, Social Media, or the hyper-interactive traveler. Why a Sound Web 2.0 & Social Media Strategy Is Critical to Your Hotel
Business Numerous articles have been published that discuss the magnitude of
participation on social media channels. Nothing exemplifies this more than
the fact that recently, Facebook traffic surpassed that of Google's
. By encouraging interaction on your hotel website and on social media
channels, joining in on the conversation, and making changes to your
business based on feedback, you are showing your current and potential
guests that you are listening to them. This is invaluable for building brand
loyalty and encouraging positive reviews. As stated in the Social Media Revolution video on YouTube, "We don't have a
choice on whether we do social media; the question is how well we do it." If
you are not interacting with your guests via your hotel website and on the
social media channels, your competitors surely are (more than 700,000 local
businesses have active pages on Facebook). Connecting with your Website Visitors Using Web 2.0 & Social Media
Strategies An integral part of the de-commoditization strategy, there are multiple
cost-efficient ways to connect with current and future guests via Web 2.0
initiatives and Social Media. You may even find that in addition to further
connecting with your key customer segments by utilizing the initiatives
below, you are able to engage additional market segments, thereby increasing
your market share. All of these initiatives to be discussed also serve to
provide visibility and increase your web presence: essential for SEO. Hoteliers must align the interactivity of the hotel website with the
hyper-interactive behavior of today's travel consumer both on the hotel
website and on the social web. Create multiple opportunities for your
website visitors to communicate with your hotel. If you do decide to engage
your hotel website visitors with any of the Web 2.0 tactics described below,
make sure to allow those participants to share their experience via all
their social networks (i.e. if a website visitor enters a sweepstakes, make
it easy for them to share that they entered with their friends on Facebook
and to tweet the contest). Before you launch your own strategy, start by assessing what your
competition is doing. How many of your competitors have a Facebook page, a
Twitter account, a YouTube channel, a Flickr account? How many of them have
Web 2.0 functionality on their websites? Do their websites accommodate and
encourage feedback? Many hotels do not have a solid, unified strategy,
allowing your hotel to stand out and capture an audience that your
competition is leaving in the dark. When it's time to work on your own strategy, it is important to remember
that it's not just about having a Web 2.0 and Social Media presence. It's
how you execute that strategy that determines your success. Using Web.20 Initiatives to Engage your Website Visitors Most websites are not equipped to handle the hyper-interactive travel
consumer of today and offer dead, stale visual and textual content. There is
minimal interaction with the user; all he/she can do is sit back and read
what is on the website, as if reading a novel in a library. Many hotel
websites offer dead, stale textual and visual content. There are no
interactive Web-2.0 features engaging the travel consumer and soliciting
his/her participation and input. This is contrary to the mere nature of today's hyper-interactive Internet
user, who is tweeting, texting, emailing, communicating with friends via
Facebook, and commenting, often in real-time, on restaurants and hotels via
review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor. How can you add engaging content to your website that will solicit the
participation of your website visitors? 1. Initiative: Blog on the Hotel Website 42% of consumers accessed travel information on a blog, and 40% of consumers
actually posted a review themselves (PhoCusWright 2009). Update your blog at
least twice a week, and sprinkle keywords in your posts. Blogs are extremely
SEO-friendly and the search engines index blogs almost immediately after a
post is made. A well-developed hotel blog strategy could provide visibility
to unique aspects of your hotel product and destination, and a
differentiated approach to reach key customer segments.
2. Initiative: Customer Feedback on the Site By offering a comprehensive customer feedback form where customers can leave
comments and complaints, you are communicating to your guests that their
feedback is valuable to you. Make sure to include questions about the
usability of your website. If possible, offer an incentive for people to
fill out your feedback form, such as a free amenity or upgrade during their
next stay, to encourage participation. In addition to the positive SEO benefits (many customer reviews include
keywords i.e. "We were looking for a Boston hotel that fit our budget and
found the perfect fit!"), testimonials accompanied by photos if possible,
make your hotel come to life for your website visitors. Also make sure that
you are monitoring and responding to customer reviews
on the major review websites.
3. Initiative: Interactive Sweepstakes Contests and promotions are great for getting people excited about your
brand and for building buzz. Additionally, contests offer a way to build
your opt-in email and mobile list. An interactive sweepstakes on the hotel
website will encourage daily visits to your website and significantly grow
your opt-in email list. By offering an incentive for people to enter on a
daily basis, people will become more familiar with your hotel and website. Case Study: CVB in Southern California A CVB client wanted to increase their social media following as well as
launch a campaign on their website that would generate buzz for the
destination. HeBS recommended an interactive sweepstakes that would reach
consumers at every online touch point, a way to connect with consumers via
mobile, email, and social media. HeBS built an interactive sweepstakes on the website and participants were
entered in a drawing to win a $1,000 free vacation. A second, third, fourth,
and fifth place prize of a free hotel room was also rewarded. Lastly, an
additional prize of a $250 Gift Card was awarded to the person who referred
the contest to the most friends to promote viral marketing. Results: * 1,200 Unique Registrants
* + 300 Facebook fans in 5 days
* + 250 Twitter Followers in 5 days
* Over 800 mobile numbers added to mobile marketing list
* Over 500 new emails added to the email opt-in list
* Over 30 comments on the Facebook fan page regarding the contest
* Winner of a Major Award for Outstanding Integrated Campaign 4. Initiative: Interactive Calendar of Events An interactive calendar of events is a great way to keep your website
visitors updated on all the latest events happening at and around the hotel.
It's also a recommended way to keep your website content fresh, with a
constant flow of new information to encourage repeat website visits. If your
hotel has a) popular events such as dining events, tastings, leisure
activities, etc. at the property, and b) events close or near the property,
such as museum exhibitions, theater performances, sporting events, concerts,
and more, a calendar of events is a must. The goal is that it become the
go-to for website visitors that want to be kept in the loop of all
happenings at your hotel. Web 2.0 functionalities on the website have multiple benefits in addition to
engaging your customer segments. They help overshadow any negative presence
in organic search, build a stronger brand relationship, and they bring your
brand to life for members and customer segments tying these initiatives into
your social media presence. Using Social Media Initiatives to Build Loyalty and Increase Traffic to Your
Website Four in five travelers read reviews on social media and 95% of those
indicated such reviews were influential on the decision making process.
(PhoCusWright 2009). There is no doubt that Internet users are increasingly
influenced by social media sites and peer reviews. By utilizing a
comprehensive social media strategy, hoteliers can create social media
"buzz" around the hotel, target receptive audiences, and ultimately
stimulate hotel website visits, interactions and bookings. HeBS' 2010 Benchmark Survey on Hotel Internet Marketing Budget Planning and
Best Practices showed that half of hoteliers surveyed (50% exactly)
responded that in 2010 they are planning to create profiles for their hotels
on the social networks. Social marketing should become an important component of any hotel's
marketing mix and part of the comprehensive Direct Online Channel Strategy
for any hotel company. Naturally, it is important to use the right ROI
metrics to measure the success of social marketing efforts of the hotel. Create a positive presence and exude brand voice on the following
high-traffic social media networks: 1. Initiative: Facebook Create a Facebook page for your business. Make sure to respond as often as
possible to posts, as it is easy to tell when a hotel is not listening to
its audience, a sure way to start losing your fan base. Consider a 'Reviews'
or 'Discussions' Facebook tab, where you may respond to customer feedback in
a professional manner and show that you care about customer support. Include
events, at least one photo album of the hotel, and videos when possible. Add
value to your Facebook page with an email sign up form, a booking engine
widget, and a customized tab describing the benefits of following your
hotel. Post about upcoming deals and promotions, area events and happenings,
announcements such as new amenities, questions for soliciting feedback
("What is your favorite thing to do in San Francisco?") and exclusive offers
only available on Facebook. Always include a link in posts to a relevant
landing page to create move value to followers who want more information
(make sure this is often your own website), and choose a thumbnail photo for
the URL to attract attention to the post. 2. Initiative: Twitter Use Twitter to monitor what is being said about your hotel, to engage an
audience that is talking about your hotel and/or its location, and to speak
directly to your current and future guests. Make sure you are not only
tweeting but actively engaging and responding to tweets. It you are only
concerned with posting content, you are not listening. Tweet about discounts, upcoming events in the area, general news about your
hotel, and offer exclusive discounts for your followers. Always include a
brief call to action and a link. Your following on Twitter should be based
around your target market; however, if there are special events that you
wish to push via Twitter, you should also build the following around those
who might be interested in those events (and who are located in that area).
The majority of your followers should be local if you're looking to
concentrate on last-minute events or special offers. To build your follower
list, decide who your main audience is and who would be interested in your
brand, and follow them (hopefully they will follow you back). Case Study: Boutique Hotel in Boston
HeBS created, customized, and launched a twitter profile for a boutique
hotel in Boston in September 2009. We began to build a following by tweeting
and hinting about the launch of the new hotel website. We also did branded
and informational tweets about the property-its reputation, its services,
its location, etc. By mid-December, we built a loyal following and were an established presence
in the Boston-based "twitterverse." We had already generated revenue from
Twitter and established a reputation as a good place to check for upcoming
Boston events. We also introduced "{Hotel Name} Chirps"-last-minute deals
for Twitter followers. Having made the most of its smaller following, HeBS saw that the hotel
needed more followers to expand its reach and capitalize on its Twitter
successes. In order to increase followers, generate buzz about the property,
and strengthen relationships with current followers, HeBS launched a one-day
free-room giveaway exclusively on Twitter. Over 120 people entered the Hotel
free-room giveaway on 12/18/09 between 10 AM - 5 PM. The week of the
contest, Twitter generated almost 12% of the click to the site and over 2%
of bookings initiated.
3. Initiative: YouTube Why is YouTube so important? YouTube serviced over 6.6 billion streams in
Oct 2009 alone, followed by Hulu (632 million) and Facebook with over 217
million streams. YouTube is the second largest search engine-second only to
Google. Create a YouTube channel, with a look and feel customized to your brand and
hotel website. On this channel, feature videos that highlight your
destination, your hotel, and any positive news or press coverage. By
including optimized tags on videos to increase your presence in organic
search you will help overshadow any negative videos that may be present on
YouTube, and ultimately increase your brand presence.
4. Initiative: Flickr Create a Flickr account and upload albums that highlight your hotel and
destination. If possible, include photos of your guests enjoying themselves
at your property. All photos may include an optimized description. A Flickr
account that is well organized with optimized descriptions of photos is sure
to stand out in the search engine results, and an account in Flickr helps
your official photos show up in image results -making the threat of non
flattering photos showing up at the top of search results much less likely. Once you have established these profiles and accounts, find a highly visible
place to link to these from your hotel website. Also make sure to pay
special attention to how you set up the profiles - always include photos and
marketing messages and maintain a consistent image that represents your
brand. Measuring Results of your Web 2.0 & Social Media Efforts In a world where we now have the tools to measure the return on investment
of every dollar, the big question remains: How do you measure the results of
your Web 2.0 & Social Media efforts? Web 2.0 initiatives on the website need
to be budgeted for, and is it worth it to devote a significant amount of
time (or even hire someone) on Social Media? What is the Payoff of Having Web 2.0 Initiatives on Your Website? Here are some of the positive, concrete results of having Web 2.0
Initiatives in your hotel website: * Increased time spent on site: a sweepstakes, blog, calendar of
events and even a customer comment form encourage your website visitors to
spend more time on your website. The more time they spend on your website,
the more familiar and invested they become with your hotel-and the more
likely they are to make a reservation.
* SEO: fresh, new content on the site in the form of blogs, calendar
of events, and a sweepstakes provides original content on the hotel site for
customers and for the search engines.
* Email capture for future promotions: a sweepstakes on the hotel
website is a great way to build your email opt-in list. Case in point: A
HeBS client recently hosted a sweepstakes on their website, and when the
sweepstakes was over they had 12,000 new email addresses to add to their
opt-in list. In addition, over 3,000 people forwarded the sweepstakes to
their friends.
* Pathing towards a booking: use analytics to study where your
visitors are going after they interact with a Web 2.0 initiative. Are they
on their way to make a reservation? Many times they are. Case in point: in
2010, one HeBS client had 21.1% of its visitors attempt to make a
reservation after visiting the calendar of events page. How do you Measure the Success of Your Social Media Efforts? Social marketing initiatives, if judged on their own merits, rarely generate
outstanding ROIs if measured in bookings and revenue. Social media and
social marketing initiatives should be reviewed with "sober eyes" and within
the context of the impact of the multi-channel marketing strategy of the
hotel. Instead of only focusing on bookings and revenue when measuring
results from social media marketing, remember that currently the best uses
of social media are: * An important component of hotel's multi-channel marketing
* Buzz-building
* Brand-building
* Interacting with and engaging customers
* Keeping up with the times, making the hotel look current, cool and
up-to-date
* Driving engaged and relevant traffic to the property's own website Unleashing a multi-channel marketing campaign simultaneously across all
available marketing channels such as social media, mobile Web, search
engines (SEM and SEO), display advertising, email marketing, etc produces
compounded effect and far greater returns than each individual marketing
format. In other words: The Whole is Bigger than the Sum of its Parts. Social Media efforts may certainly result in bookings, yet direct revenue
should not be the only metric in which you measure results. If you solely
focus on bookings then you are ignoring other valuable metrics such as
increased visits to the website, brand loyalty, and SEO. Here are some of
the ways you should be measuring the results of your Social Media efforts: * Brand loyalty/engagement: If people are following your brand and
commenting on Facebook and Twitter, then they are interested in what you
have to say and are more likely to book your hotel over the competition. You
are in fact building stronger relationships with current and future guests.
* Real-time search: the search engines have started integrating tweets
into their search results. Google even offers the ability to search by
'Updates,' which are really just tweets. Case in point: recently, a HeBS
client showed up second on the first page of search results for the very
competitive term of 'Boston Hotel' because of a recent tweet containing that
keyword.
* Customer service improvements: are you using feedback about your
hotel from Facebook and Twitter to better your business? Are you monitoring
for disgruntled guests and potential guests with questions, and answering
them quickly? If you are truly listening to your audience, you will find
ways in which your customer service is lacking and work to improve in these
areas.
* Increased traffic to your site: while social media is still not a
major revenue generator, HeBS clients have seen significant traffic to their
website driven by social media. Case in point: for a HeBS client located in
Northern California, visits from Twitter accounted for 4.5% of total traffic
generated to their website in Q1 2010. Measuring the results of your Web 2.0 & Social Media efforts should not be
based strictly on direct revenues. Have you been successful in creating more
awareness about your hotel and its value proposition? Are you generating
more positive buzz about your hotel? Are you listening and engaging with
your audience? If the answer is yes, then you have begun to harness the
power of Web 2.0 & Social Media. Conclusion Every web savvy hotelier knows that the Internet, especially Web 2.0 and
Social Media, has changed the way in which customers plan and purchase
travel. Hoteliers need to tailor their hotel Internet marketing strategy to
include these initiatives and evolve with these changes in the travel
purchase process. It is no longer a question of whether your target markets are engaging with
Web 2.0 initiatives or active on Facebook and Twitter. Social media is
popular even among the mature generation (63-75): 36% of them had a social
network profile in 2009 vs. 10% in 2007 (eMarketer). If you are not reaching
the hyper-Interactive traveler using Web 2.0 and Social Media initiatives,
then you are going to quickly lose market share as your competitors gain. Consider partnering with a full-service hotel website development and
Internet marketing firm to build a strong and cohesive Web 2.0 and Social
Media strategy. Margaret Mastrogiacomo and Lauren DeGeorge, Account Executives at
Hospitality eBusiness Strategies, contributed to this article. About HeBS
Max Starkov is President & CEO and Mariana Mechoso Safer is Senior Director,
Marketing at Hospitality eBusiness Strategies (HeBS). Based in New York
City, HeBS is an award-winning, full-service Internet marketing and Direct
Online Channel Strategy firm, strictly dedicated to the hospitality and
travel verticals. HeBS has pioneered many of the "best practices" in hotel
Internet marketing and direct online distribution. The firm specializes in
helping hoteliers build their direct Internet marketing and distribution
strategies, boost the hotel Internet marketing presence, establish
interactive relationships with customers, and significantly increase direct
online bookings and ROIs. A diverse client portfolio of over 500 top tier
major hotel brands, luxury and boutique hotel companies, hotel management
and representation companies, franchisees and independents, resorts and
casinos and CVBs has sought and successfully taken advantage of HeBS' firm
hospitality Internet marketing expertise. For more information visit HeBS
website www.hospitalityebusiness.com. Contact HeBS consultants at (212)
752-8186 or info@hospitalityebusiness.com. TAGS building brand loyalty
,
interactive traveler
, googles
, facebook
, youtube
, communicating with
friends
,
media channels ,
yelp , sound web
, travel consumer
, media
revolution ,
media strategies
, media
strategy , hotel
website , hotel
websites , hotel
business ,
stickiness , hoteliers
CONTACT Mariana Mechoso
Hospitality eBusiness Strategies, Inc
Phone: 212-752-8186
Email: info@hospitalityebusiness.com ORGANIZATION Description: Hospitality NetHospitality
eBusiness Strategies, Inc. (HeBS)
www.hospitalityebusiness.com
6 W. 48th Street, 8th Floor
USA - New York, NY 10036
Phone: 212-752-8186
Fax: 212-202-3670
Email: info@hospitalityebusiness.com RECENT NEWS
Hospitality eBusiness Strategies Wins "Best in Class" Interactive Media
Award for the Silver Legacy Reno Website
Thursday 8 July 2010
Hospitality eBusiness Strategies (HeBS) to Address Mobile Marketing at HSMAI
Conference Monday 24 May 2010
HeBS Invites Hoteliers to Participate in the 2010 Hotel Internet Marketing
Challenge Sweepstakes!
Wednesday 14 April 2010 All Articles from Hospitality eBusiness Strategies, Inc. (HeBS)
-----------
Engaging the Hyper-Interactive Traveler Using Web 2.0 and Social Media:
Hotelier's Best Practices Guide
By Max Starkov and Mariana Mechoso Safer Description: Engaging
the Hyper-Interactive Traveler Using Web 2.0 and Social Media: Hotelier's
Best Practices Guide | By Max Starkov and Mariana Mechoso Safer
Today's travel consumer is tweeting, texting, emailing, communicating with
friends via Facebook, and commenting, often in real-time, on restaurants and
hotels via review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor. How will you reach these
hyper-interactive consumers at multiple touch points during the research
process? And once your hotel has their attention, what should you do to
encourage loyalty to your brand, increase site stickiness, create buzz
around your hotel, and ultimately increase bookings? Many hoteliers believe they do not have the resources to dedicate to Web 2.0
and Social Media, or in other words, they are unable to meet the needs of
today's hyper-interactive traveler
. With more than 400 million users on Facebook, an
average of 50 million tweets sent a day, and consumers expecting interactive
and engaging hotel websites, the bottom line is that your hotel cannot
afford to ignore Web 2.0, Social Media, or the hyper-interactive traveler. Why a Sound Web 2.0 & Social Media Strategy Is Critical to Your Hotel
Business Numerous articles have been published that discuss the magnitude of
participation on social media channels. Nothing exemplifies this more than
the fact that recently, Facebook traffic surpassed that of Google's
. By encouraging interaction on your hotel website and on social media
channels, joining in on the conversation, and making changes to your
business based on feedback, you are showing your current and potential
guests that you are listening to them. This is invaluable for building brand
loyalty and encouraging positive reviews. As stated in the Social Media Revolution video on YouTube, "We don't have a
choice on whether we do social media; the question is how well we do it." If
you are not interacting with your guests via your hotel website and on the
social media channels, your competitors surely are (more than 700,000 local
businesses have active pages on Facebook). Connecting with your Website Visitors Using Web 2.0 & Social Media
Strategies An integral part of the de-commoditization strategy, there are multiple
cost-efficient ways to connect with current and future guests via Web 2.0
initiatives and Social Media. You may even find that in addition to further
connecting with your key customer segments by utilizing the initiatives
below, you are able to engage additional market segments, thereby increasing
your market share. All of these initiatives to be discussed also serve to
provide visibility and increase your web presence: essential for SEO. Hoteliers must align the interactivity of the hotel website with the
hyper-interactive behavior of today's travel consumer both on the hotel
website and on the social web. Create multiple opportunities for your
website visitors to communicate with your hotel. If you do decide to engage
your hotel website visitors with any of the Web 2.0 tactics described below,
make sure to allow those participants to share their experience via all
their social networks (i.e. if a website visitor enters a sweepstakes, make
it easy for them to share that they entered with their friends on Facebook
and to tweet the contest). Before you launch your own strategy, start by assessing what your
competition is doing. How many of your competitors have a Facebook page, a
Twitter account, a YouTube channel, a Flickr account? How many of them have
Web 2.0 functionality on their websites? Do their websites accommodate and
encourage feedback? Many hotels do not have a solid, unified strategy,
allowing your hotel to stand out and capture an audience that your
competition is leaving in the dark. When it's time to work on your own strategy, it is important to remember
that it's not just about having a Web 2.0 and Social Media presence. It's
how you execute that strategy that determines your success. Using Web.20 Initiatives to Engage your Website Visitors Most websites are not equipped to handle the hyper-interactive travel
consumer of today and offer dead, stale visual and textual content. There is
minimal interaction with the user; all he/she can do is sit back and read
what is on the website, as if reading a novel in a library. Many hotel
websites offer dead, stale textual and visual content. There are no
interactive Web-2.0 features engaging the travel consumer and soliciting
his/her participation and input. This is contrary to the mere nature of today's hyper-interactive Internet
user, who is tweeting, texting, emailing, communicating with friends via
Facebook, and commenting, often in real-time, on restaurants and hotels via
review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor. How can you add engaging content to your website that will solicit the
participation of your website visitors? 1. Initiative: Blog on the Hotel Website 42% of consumers accessed travel information on a blog, and 40% of consumers
actually posted a review themselves (PhoCusWright 2009). Update your blog at
least twice a week, and sprinkle keywords in your posts. Blogs are extremely
SEO-friendly and the search engines index blogs almost immediately after a
post is made. A well-developed hotel blog strategy could provide visibility
to unique aspects of your hotel product and destination, and a
differentiated approach to reach key customer segments.
2. Initiative: Customer Feedback on the Site By offering a comprehensive customer feedback form where customers can leave
comments and complaints, you are communicating to your guests that their
feedback is valuable to you. Make sure to include questions about the
usability of your website. If possible, offer an incentive for people to
fill out your feedback form, such as a free amenity or upgrade during their
next stay, to encourage participation. In addition to the positive SEO benefits (many customer reviews include
keywords i.e. "We were looking for a Boston hotel that fit our budget and
found the perfect fit!"), testimonials accompanied by photos if possible,
make your hotel come to life for your website visitors. Also make sure that
you are monitoring and responding to customer reviews
on the major review websites.
3. Initiative: Interactive Sweepstakes Contests and promotions are great for getting people excited about your
brand and for building buzz. Additionally, contests offer a way to build
your opt-in email and mobile list. An interactive sweepstakes on the hotel
website will encourage daily visits to your website and significantly grow
your opt-in email list. By offering an incentive for people to enter on a
daily basis, people will become more familiar with your hotel and website. Case Study: CVB in Southern California A CVB client wanted to increase their social media following as well as
launch a campaign on their website that would generate buzz for the
destination. HeBS recommended an interactive sweepstakes that would reach
consumers at every online touch point, a way to connect with consumers via
mobile, email, and social media. HeBS built an interactive sweepstakes on the website and participants were
entered in a drawing to win a $1,000 free vacation. A second, third, fourth,
and fifth place prize of a free hotel room was also rewarded. Lastly, an
additional prize of a $250 Gift Card was awarded to the person who referred
the contest to the most friends to promote viral marketing. Results: * 1,200 Unique Registrants
* + 300 Facebook fans in 5 days
* + 250 Twitter Followers in 5 days
* Over 800 mobile numbers added to mobile marketing list
* Over 500 new emails added to the email opt-in list
* Over 30 comments on the Facebook fan page regarding the contest
* Winner of a Major Award for Outstanding Integrated Campaign 4. Initiative: Interactive Calendar of Events An interactive calendar of events is a great way to keep your website
visitors updated on all the latest events happening at and around the hotel.
It's also a recommended way to keep your website content fresh, with a
constant flow of new information to encourage repeat website visits. If your
hotel has a) popular events such as dining events, tastings, leisure
activities, etc. at the property, and b) events close or near the property,
such as museum exhibitions, theater performances, sporting events, concerts,
and more, a calendar of events is a must. The goal is that it become the
go-to for website visitors that want to be kept in the loop of all
happenings at your hotel. Web 2.0 functionalities on the website have multiple benefits in addition to
engaging your customer segments. They help overshadow any negative presence
in organic search, build a stronger brand relationship, and they bring your
brand to life for members and customer segments tying these initiatives into
your social media presence. Using Social Media Initiatives to Build Loyalty and Increase Traffic to Your
Website Four in five travelers read reviews on social media and 95% of those
indicated such reviews were influential on the decision making process.
(PhoCusWright 2009). There is no doubt that Internet users are increasingly
influenced by social media sites and peer reviews. By utilizing a
comprehensive social media strategy, hoteliers can create social media
"buzz" around the hotel, target receptive audiences, and ultimately
stimulate hotel website visits, interactions and bookings. HeBS' 2010 Benchmark Survey on Hotel Internet Marketing Budget Planning and
Best Practices showed that half of hoteliers surveyed (50% exactly)
responded that in 2010 they are planning to create profiles for their hotels
on the social networks. Social marketing should become an important component of any hotel's
marketing mix and part of the comprehensive Direct Online Channel Strategy
for any hotel company. Naturally, it is important to use the right ROI
metrics to measure the success of social marketing efforts of the hotel. Create a positive presence and exude brand voice on the following
high-traffic social media networks: 1. Initiative: Facebook Create a Facebook page for your business. Make sure to respond as often as
possible to posts, as it is easy to tell when a hotel is not listening to
its audience, a sure way to start losing your fan base. Consider a 'Reviews'
or 'Discussions' Facebook tab, where you may respond to customer feedback in
a professional manner and show that you care about customer support. Include
events, at least one photo album of the hotel, and videos when possible. Add
value to your Facebook page with an email sign up form, a booking engine
widget, and a customized tab describing the benefits of following your
hotel. Post about upcoming deals and promotions, area events and happenings,
announcements such as new amenities, questions for soliciting feedback
("What is your favorite thing to do in San Francisco?") and exclusive offers
only available on Facebook. Always include a link in posts to a relevant
landing page to create move value to followers who want more information
(make sure this is often your own website), and choose a thumbnail photo for
the URL to attract attention to the post. 2. Initiative: Twitter Use Twitter to monitor what is being said about your hotel, to engage an
audience that is talking about your hotel and/or its location, and to speak
directly to your current and future guests. Make sure you are not only
tweeting but actively engaging and responding to tweets. It you are only
concerned with posting content, you are not listening. Tweet about discounts, upcoming events in the area, general news about your
hotel, and offer exclusive discounts for your followers. Always include a
brief call to action and a link. Your following on Twitter should be based
around your target market; however, if there are special events that you
wish to push via Twitter, you should also build the following around those
who might be interested in those events (and who are located in that area).
The majority of your followers should be local if you're looking to
concentrate on last-minute events or special offers. To build your follower
list, decide who your main audience is and who would be interested in your
brand, and follow them (hopefully they will follow you back). Case Study: Boutique Hotel in Boston
HeBS created, customized, and launched a twitter profile for a boutique
hotel in Boston in September 2009. We began to build a following by tweeting
and hinting about the launch of the new hotel website. We also did branded
and informational tweets about the property-its reputation, its services,
its location, etc. By mid-December, we built a loyal following and were an established presence
in the Boston-based "twitterverse." We had already generated revenue from
Twitter and established a reputation as a good place to check for upcoming
Boston events. We also introduced "{Hotel Name} Chirps"-last-minute deals
for Twitter followers. Having made the most of its smaller following, HeBS saw that the hotel
needed more followers to expand its reach and capitalize on its Twitter
successes. In order to increase followers, generate buzz about the property,
and strengthen relationships with current followers, HeBS launched a one-day
free-room giveaway exclusively on Twitter. Over 120 people entered the Hotel
free-room giveaway on 12/18/09 between 10 AM - 5 PM. The week of the
contest, Twitter generated almost 12% of the click to the site and over 2%
of bookings initiated.
3. Initiative: YouTube Why is YouTube so important? YouTube serviced over 6.6 billion streams in
Oct 2009 alone, followed by Hulu (632 million) and Facebook with over 217
million streams. YouTube is the second largest search engine-second only to
Google. Create a YouTube channel, with a look and feel customized to your brand and
hotel website. On this channel, feature videos that highlight your
destination, your hotel, and any positive news or press coverage. By
including optimized tags on videos to increase your presence in organic
search you will help overshadow any negative videos that may be present on
YouTube, and ultimately increase your brand presence.
4. Initiative: Flickr Create a Flickr account and upload albums that highlight your hotel and
destination. If possible, include photos of your guests enjoying themselves
at your property. All photos may include an optimized description. A Flickr
account that is well organized with optimized descriptions of photos is sure
to stand out in the search engine results, and an account in Flickr helps
your official photos show up in image results -making the threat of non
flattering photos showing up at the top of search results much less likely. Once you have established these profiles and accounts, find a highly visible
place to link to these from your hotel website. Also make sure to pay
special attention to how you set up the profiles - always include photos and
marketing messages and maintain a consistent image that represents your
brand. Measuring Results of your Web 2.0 & Social Media Efforts In a world where we now have the tools to measure the return on investment
of every dollar, the big question remains: How do you measure the results of
your Web 2.0 & Social Media efforts? Web 2.0 initiatives on the website need
to be budgeted for, and is it worth it to devote a significant amount of
time (or even hire someone) on Social Media? What is the Payoff of Having Web 2.0 Initiatives on Your Website? Here are some of the positive, concrete results of having Web 2.0
Initiatives in your hotel website: * Increased time spent on site: a sweepstakes, blog, calendar of
events and even a customer comment form encourage your website visitors to
spend more time on your website. The more time they spend on your website,
the more familiar and invested they become with your hotel-and the more
likely they are to make a reservation.
* SEO: fresh, new content on the site in the form of blogs, calendar
of events, and a sweepstakes provides original content on the hotel site for
customers and for the search engines.
* Email capture for future promotions: a sweepstakes on the hotel
website is a great way to build your email opt-in list. Case in point: A
HeBS client recently hosted a sweepstakes on their website, and when the
sweepstakes was over they had 12,000 new email addresses to add to their
opt-in list. In addition, over 3,000 people forwarded the sweepstakes to
their friends.
* Pathing towards a booking: use analytics to study where your
visitors are going after they interact with a Web 2.0 initiative. Are they
on their way to make a reservation? Many times they are. Case in point: in
2010, one HeBS client had 21.1% of its visitors attempt to make a
reservation after visiting the calendar of events page. How do you Measure the Success of Your Social Media Efforts? Social marketing initiatives, if judged on their own merits, rarely generate
outstanding ROIs if measured in bookings and revenue. Social media and
social marketing initiatives should be reviewed with "sober eyes" and within
the context of the impact of the multi-channel marketing strategy of the
hotel. Instead of only focusing on bookings and revenue when measuring
results from social media marketing, remember that currently the best uses
of social media are: * An important component of hotel's multi-channel marketing
* Buzz-building
* Brand-building
* Interacting with and engaging customers
* Keeping up with the times, making the hotel look current, cool and
up-to-date
* Driving engaged and relevant traffic to the property's own website Unleashing a multi-channel marketing campaign simultaneously across all
available marketing channels such as social media, mobile Web, search
engines (SEM and SEO), display advertising, email marketing, etc produces
compounded effect and far greater returns than each individual marketing
format. In other words: The Whole is Bigger than the Sum of its Parts. Social Media efforts may certainly result in bookings, yet direct revenue
should not be the only metric in which you measure results. If you solely
focus on bookings then you are ignoring other valuable metrics such as
increased visits to the website, brand loyalty, and SEO. Here are some of
the ways you should be measuring the results of your Social Media efforts: * Brand loyalty/engagement: If people are following your brand and
commenting on Facebook and Twitter, then they are interested in what you
have to say and are more likely to book your hotel over the competition. You
are in fact building stronger relationships with current and future guests.
* Real-time search: the search engines have started integrating tweets
into their search results. Google even offers the ability to search by
'Updates,' which are really just tweets. Case in point: recently, a HeBS
client showed up second on the first page of search results for the very
competitive term of 'Boston Hotel' because of a recent tweet containing that
keyword.
* Customer service improvements: are you using feedback about your
hotel from Facebook and Twitter to better your business? Are you monitoring
for disgruntled guests and potential guests with questions, and answering
them quickly? If you are truly listening to your audience, you will find
ways in which your customer service is lacking and work to improve in these
areas.
* Increased traffic to your site: while social media is still not a
major revenue generator, HeBS clients have seen significant traffic to their
website driven by social media. Case in point: for a HeBS client located in
Northern California, visits from Twitter accounted for 4.5% of total traffic
generated to their website in Q1 2010. Measuring the results of your Web 2.0 & Social Media efforts should not be
based strictly on direct revenues. Have you been successful in creating more
awareness about your hotel and its value proposition? Are you generating
more positive buzz about your hotel? Are you listening and engaging with
your audience? If the answer is yes, then you have begun to harness the
power of Web 2.0 & Social Media. Conclusion Every web savvy hotelier knows that the Internet, especially Web 2.0 and
Social Media, has changed the way in which customers plan and purchase
travel. Hoteliers need to tailor their hotel Internet marketing strategy to
include these initiatives and evolve with these changes in the travel
purchase process. It is no longer a question of whether your target markets are engaging with
Web 2.0 initiatives or active on Facebook and Twitter. Social media is
popular even among the mature generation (63-75): 36% of them had a social
network profile in 2009 vs. 10% in 2007 (eMarketer). If you are not reaching
the hyper-Interactive traveler using Web 2.0 and Social Media initiatives,
then you are going to quickly lose market share as your competitors gain. Consider partnering with a full-service hotel website development and
Internet marketing firm to build a strong and cohesive Web 2.0 and Social
Media strategy. Margaret Mastrogiacomo and Lauren DeGeorge, Account Executives at
Hospitality eBusiness Strategies, contributed to this article. About HeBS
Max Starkov is President & CEO and Mariana Mechoso Safer is Senior Director,
Marketing at Hospitality eBusiness Strategies (HeBS). Based in New York
City, HeBS is an award-winning, full-service Internet marketing and Direct
Online Channel Strategy firm, strictly dedicated to the hospitality and
travel verticals. HeBS has pioneered many of the "best practices" in hotel
Internet marketing and direct online distribution. The firm specializes in
helping hoteliers build their direct Internet marketing and distribution
strategies, boost the hotel Internet marketing presence, establish
interactive relationships with customers, and significantly increase direct
online bookings and ROIs. A diverse client portfolio of over 500 top tier
major hotel brands, luxury and boutique hotel companies, hotel management
and representation companies, franchisees and independents, resorts and
casinos and CVBs has sought and successfully taken advantage of HeBS' firm
hospitality Internet marketing expertise. For more information visit HeBS
website www.hospitalityebusiness.com. Contact HeBS consultants at (212)
752-8186 or info@hospitalityebusiness.com. TAGS building brand loyalty
,
interactive traveler
, googles
, youtube
, communicating with
friends
,
media channels ,
yelp , sound web
, travel consumer
, media
revolution ,
media strategies
, media
strategy , hotel
website , hotel
websites , hotel
business ,
stickiness , hoteliers
CONTACT Mariana Mechoso
Hospitality eBusiness Strategies, Inc
Phone: 212-752-8186
Email: info@hospitalityebusiness.com ORGANIZATION Description: Hospitality NetHospitality
eBusiness Strategies, Inc. (HeBS)
www.hospitalityebusiness.com
6 W. 48th Street, 8th Floor
USA - New York, NY 10036
Phone: 212-752-8186
Fax: 212-202-3670
Email: info@hospitalityebusiness.com RECENT NEWS
Hospitality eBusiness Strategies Wins "Best in Class" Interactive Media
Award for the Silver Legacy Reno Website
Thursday 8 July 2010
Hospitality eBusiness Strategies (HeBS) to Address Mobile Marketing at HSMAI
Conference Monday 24 May 2010
HeBS Invites Hoteliers to Participate in the 2010 Hotel Internet Marketing
Challenge Sweepstakes!
Wednesday 14 April 2010 All Articles from Hospitality eBusiness Strategies, Inc. (HeBS)
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