By Daniel Edward Craig.
The travel industry is ahead of the curve when it comes to social media, but in terms of originality and meaningful engagement hotels are lagging behind. It seems like everybody is posting the same content, in the same perky, cloying voice. Want to stand out from the pack? Here are a few tips for strengthening your social program and developing a singular, authentic voice to evoke your brand.
1. Oh right … a plan. By now most hotels are tweeting and status-updating their hearts out, but many have only a vague notion why. A recent survey from HSMAI revealed that only 40% of hotels have a social media strategy. Oops. Without knowing where you’re going, why, and how you’ll get there, you’re wasting time and creating brand confusion. Relax, it’s not too late. Back up the bandwagon and prepare a simple plan that defines your strategy, objectives, resources, responsibilities, voice and frequency. Then you can put the pedal to the metal.
2. Yes, another meeting. Your social media platforms should have one distinctive voice, but behind the scenes it’s a group effort. Approach it like the revenue management function in your hotel: assemble a team, comprised of managers and frontline employees from various departments (ideally including the general manager and at least one social media whiz kid); appoint a leader; and hold weekly meetings to review feedback and analytics and to set messaging and objectives for the coming week.
3. Once upon a time there was a boring hotel. Traditionally, hoteliers are great storytellers. With all the comings and goings of guests, we have an enviable resource of content to draw from. And yet the majority of hotel content is trite and uninspiring. If your followers aren’t commenting on, liking and sharing your content, it’s a good indication they don’t care. Meaningful engagement means telling compelling stories that capture the imagination of travelers and make them want to be a part of your hotel experience.
4. Put your guests to work. Even better than hotel-generated content is guest-generated content. Hold contests to encourage the sharing of stories, photos and videos, and don’t be chintzy with prizes. Search YouTube and Flickr for photos and videos of your property and ask owners to share them on Facebook. Grab a Handycam and notepad and go talk to guests and staff. Et voila, fresh content and new connections.
5. We need to talk about your reputation. Yes, a lot of chatter is taking place on Facebook and Twitter, but the real decisions are being made on travel review sites. A recent study by PhoCusWright found that more than two-thirds of travel shoppers are influenced by ratings. It’s time to stop the finger-pointing between marketing and operations and to start taking joint responsibility for monitoring, sharing and responding to traveler feedback.
6. Drop the mouse and back away. Social media is like a new friend who’s super-cool but a bit manipulative and kind of needy. Don’t allow it to distract you into neglecting your tried-and-tested old friends in other areas of marketing. Be disciplined with your time, and constantly ask yourself, “Is this important and relevant?” If not, move on. And ignore those “Ten Reasons Why You’re a Social Media Failure” articles; they’re meant to scare you into buying services you probably don’t need. Only you know what’s right for your hotel.
7. Beware of the tweet factory. Some of the most inane social media content comes from outsourced social media companies who clearly don’t get the hotel business. The most compelling, authentic content comes from on-property, where employees have a finger on the pulse of operations. Hire a social media strategist to help put together your plan, train staff and provide guidance, but your ultimate goal should be to bring execution in-house and to find a voice, tone and vocabulary as singular and authentic as your hotel.
8. Memo to corporate office: loosen that death-grip. Second prize for inane content goes to corporate offices of chain hotels. Yes, it’s important for brands to have a social media presence, but travelers are more passionate about individual properties than brands. To complement brand platforms, corporate office should encourage properties to set up their own platforms, providing support and guidance along the way to ensure messaging is on-brand and on the mark.
9. Take the guesswork out. The success of your social media program is measured not by how many tweets and updates you issue but by meaningful engagement, conversions and reputation. Use analytics tools to evaluate your activities and a social media monitoring tool to measure market share of guest satisfaction. Take the time to understand the numbers, even if it makes your head hurt, and channel resources to where you’re achieving the best results.
A few examples of successful social media activities:
1. Contests. Joie de Vivre’s Road Trippin’ California video contest
2. Blogs: Pan Pacific’s A Room With a View in Vancouver and Red Carnation Hotels in London
3. Facebook: Best Western International
4. Twitter: The Iron Horse Hotel in Milwaukee
5. Reputation management: HKHotels in New York
6. Social media integration: Nickelodeon Resort in Orlando
7. And just for fun, a video from Prizeotel in Germany.
Does your hotel or a hotel you know do a great job with social media? Share it here by posting a comment.
You are so right…quality over quantity!
I really enjoyed this article. Lots of good points here.
I share your opinion about the importance of proper online reputation management and the dangers of outsourcing a hotel’s social media efforts to a traditional PR agency.
In my opinion, many of the industry’s PR partners have very little understanding of how social media can best be used to the maximum benefit of hotels & their guests.
This is why it is so important for hotels to put together proper social media policies and to start employing Community or Social Media Managers.
Very few hotels realise the wealth of data they are sitting on across their various social media platforms. Shouldn’t all this data be cross-fed into a hotel’s property management or CRM system, where it can actually be used to provide better service for guests?
I would be delighted if you would have a look at pages I manage for the Bonnington in Dubai:
http://www.facebook.com/bonningtontower
http://www.facebook.com/bonningtontowerfans
twitter.com/bonningtontower
http://www.bonningtontontower.com/blog
All the best,
Martin
Great post and you have given us more ideas on how to proceed with our social media campaign
We are lucky enough to have a social media strategist helping us too, but I now have to confess we haven’t really been listening to her thanks to you we will put more of her ideas into action – thank you.
Daniel,
As usual – great information.
Large hotels with the resources and expertise can handle social media in house. They might want to hire an outside “adviser/expert” for technical input and ideas on ways to maximize presence.
Small hotels however can outsource their sm to a firm that 1)understands the technology, 2) understands hotels and 3) preferably has an ongoing relationship with the property so they “know the brand” and can enhance it through sm.
Still, the hotel has first hand knowledge of what’s happening there and at the destination so it the the hotel’s responsibility to feed the firm good and relevant content (fun stories, photos and videos others will find interesting).
Madigan
PS – love the new look!
Hi Daniel,
Nice post, a lot of what you have written I already use as a online marketer for hotels in Amsterdam. In The Netherlands Social Media usage/engagement is growing and improving every day.
This post is another confirmation of the way I add value to my clients and in the end for their guests.
From now on I will be following your blog.
With kind regards,
Alex Matatula
NoLinea Marketing
Haarlem, The Netherlands
Martin: Thanks for your note. I checked out your various social media platforms and am impressed. You guys are all over SM – I hope it’s paying off. Only a few suggestions. It appears that your Twitter, Facebook and TripAdvisor profiles are interfaced and some of your updates are just links – no reason to click them. I always advise to post different updates for each platform as each has a different style. More work, but should be more effective at engaging your followers. Also, you have two profiles on FB, not sure why, but it seems to be doubling your work and segregating followers. Can you merge them? Finally, I think it’s always good to have a personality (or more) behind the blog – maybe add your profile? But really, you’re way ahead of the game. Keep up the great work. DEC
Kathy: Great that you have a social media strategist on board and even better that you’re going to start listening to her more – assuming she knows what she’s talking about
Madigan: Agreed. Every hotel has a unique situation and different in-house talent, and you need to go with what works best. Always great to have your input.
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