Travel consumers have quickly moved to trusting customer generated reviews more than traditional advertising. Together with best-price, Social Media is the fastest growing driver in hospitality success today.
So while Social Media may seem new, uncomfortable or at odds with hospitality’s basic tenants, it is unavoidable and here to stay. Your customers have already embraced it; now you had better too.
Social Media offers other substantive benefits:
- Participation cost is far less than using on-line or off-line advertising. Frommer’s Unlimited General Manager, Joel Brandon-Bravo, recently said that website content requires about half the investment of cost-per-click advertising.
- Exposes your property to new and previously untapped markets directly and through viral spread.
- Search engine optimization occurs organically. You’ll score better and adding multiple points of presence (blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) will mean more search results for your property.
Here are my suggestions for the basics of a better Social Media presence for your hotel.
1. Update your website.
Keep it top notch with wide-appeal that addresses the specific needs of different visitor types, including groups. Self-ingratiating comments have become a consumer turnoff that raises questions about being ingenuous.
Your site should include quality, prolific photography and video tours. If photos and videos aren’t on your site, those that you have no input on will have found their way to Flickr, YouTube and TripAdvisor.
At the least, your site needs to feature your Social Media presence and have buttons to help people find and get to you there.
2. Develop a system to monitor on-line presence and engage with customers.
Become proactive and stay on top of all electronic communications including comments, suggestions, criticism, and emails. Know who is linking to you and what they are saying. Employ tools to measure your on-line effectiveness. When it comes to communication for example, don’t let someone out of the office delay addressing customer issues.
3. Add conversation to your website with a blog.
Social Media users look for this basic channel of two-way communication to enhance their travel experience. This isn’t optional if you want to provide a quality on-line experience. Your blog content not only gives you an opportunity to highlight your property, features, events, deals and promotions, it also lets you discuss your location and its benefits. Consider blog posts like mini-press releases.
4. Use online chat.
Avoid missed opportunities by engaging with customers and securing sales where it’s most convenient for them.
5. Participate on Facebook and Twitter.
These two are no longer options. Facebook’s community is huge and having a quality Fan page is essential. Its members frequently share content with their friends, who are likely to also have interest in your property. The same is true of Twitter and its community, which are likely to spread word of anything they perceive of value that you have to offer.
6. Deploy real simple syndication (RSS).
RSS keeps existing and potential customers involved in your property and is an ideal place to quickly and effectively deploy promotions among other things.
People who subscribe to your RSS feed have demonstrated an interest in your brand; they want to hear from you. Also use RSS to subscribe to feeds related to your business so you can stay on top of your competition, and lead rather than follow.
Conclusion.
With tourism in the doldrums and even a modest recovery not expected until at least next summer, this is the time to retrench your marketing efforts and find the right approach to embracing Social Media. The investment is relatively small, and the benefits are significant, as you position yourself strategically to win.
For more information on how to make Social Media work for your business, I invite you to contact us for a complimentary consultation. Please comment.