Online technology is challenging business to evolve their marketing practices to engage their customers in all new areas online. And right now, one of the fastest growing segments of online traffic has been seen in the social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Social media is hot; representing a new low-cost avenue for engaging with your consumers at a much deeper level than is typically achieved with traditional advertising.
Harnessing this connectivity with so many potential customers for little or no cost would seem to be a no brainer. But simply having a free Facebook account doesn’t guarantee that the business will be pouring in. Moreover, if you attempt to join or create a social network solely to promote your company to other members, you might find little or no success or even worse you’ll be marked as a spammer.
My question? Have your efforts in social networking in hospitality delivered new business? Or do you see this channel as a passing fad not worth following?
A good question. I don't think this is peculiar to Social Networking or Social Media, its just these are "here and now" methods of marketing.
I am sure that the question has been asked many times "have your marketing efforts delivered new business?" This has been repeated across the ages - this is just the latest incarnation of it, which has also divided clearly those who do and those who don't.
But you are right, because this time there is a subtle change to it. A level of knowledge and feedback that marketing has never really experienced before. It is instant, powerful and potentially full of opportunities to trip you up.
There are a lot of advisors out there willing and able to help with Social Media, but I think each individual or business has got to decide on the "personality" that it wants to portray to the market and the wider world. Then and only then can the Social Media tools at our disposal drive our marketing. Being marked as a "spammer" is even worse, as it then impacts negatively on our business.
For us at Coverpoint, Social Media has been part of our marketing strategy. It has helped us support and develop our network of connections, and is closely tied into our Website presence. The biggest benefit we have seen is the increase in our colleagues and clients views that we are "on the leading edge" of what is going on. This might be because we review a new restaurant opening on our Blog, because we "tweet" that a new format has just appeared on the High Street, minutes after it opens, or it might be because we have a genuine view on why Starbucks have changed their brand logo.
If you have enough confidence, knowledge and time, then I see nothing wrong in sharing these views, opinions and industry information with a wider audience through social media. Prepare to be challenged, but at least you are reaching new audiences.
Since we embarked on our Social Media "journey" we have been approached more by new clients, have built our status in the industry both here and abroad and have definitely won new work. I can't say it's for everyone, but I can't imagine a Coverpoint world without it now.
I think it can be, but still see some very questionable practices online - directing online users to call, offering little detail or sometimes even no idea about what the actual offer is ("call us now on 0161 xxxx to book our valentines package").
I suspect social networking is better suited to improving service and raising awareness. So much good and bad is said online and there are already great examples of this being handled in positive and not so great ways in the social space.
I see a few places hoteliers fall down:
And this again is where working with OTA partners can work. We have a good reach, push our messages wisely and actively engage with our customers so that they keep coming back. Very happy to discuss with any hotel partner how we can support them through social media.
With regard to the Chef Hermes blog, it is a bankable strategy. but there are a few guidelines to follow.
Twitter & to a lesser extent FaceBook represent over 2/3's of our referring sources and have made valuable contacts via these mediums, so to a certain extent it has become self perpetuating.
I agree that this is the "here and now", but what makes any online marketing and sales (and therefore social media) strategy so exciting, is that it's electronic and therefore trackable from day one to the end result - no airy fairy column inches, or other measures that are 3 times removed from actually securing a sale.
Campaigns on Foursquare, Huddlebuy, Facebook etc can all be measured if executed well.
And of course it's not free; minimial effort will yield minimal results. Businesses that invest in the the tools, resources and expertise to use these media properly as a means of engaging their target audience and securing their loyalty will be rewarded. It can be done in house cheaply, but still needs proper attention and strategic thought and execution. Those doing it now are ahead of the curve and it won't be long before the curve peaks.
Twitter and Facebook are a great source of traffic for blogs but I'd be interested to see a proper survey of restaurants, hotels and B&B businesses on the subject of hard bookings gleaned through these sources.
I can only speak from personal experience, but as a B&B owner I find that most of our followers on Twitter are fellow owners and people otherwise engaged in travel, hospitality or online marketing, plus another group who Tweet about food and wine. This has shaped the way I engage withTwitter - for me it is more a medium for exchanging peer group information, ideas etc. than a means of winning business.
Phil
TA_Watch: Twitter and Facebook are a great source of traffic for blogs but I'd be interested to see a proper survey of restaurants, hotels and B&B businesses on the subject of hard bookings gleaned through these sources. I can only speak from personal experience, but as a B&B owner I find that most of our followers on Twitter are fellow owners and people otherwise engaged in travel, hospitality or online marketing, plus another group who Tweet about food and wine. This has shaped the way I engage withTwitter - for me it is more a medium for exchanging peer group information, ideas etc. than a means of winning business. Phil
Phil, not so long ago Malmaison & Hotel du Vin hotels ran what one would assume to be a successful brand awareness campaign on Twitter " RT for a chance to win a nights stay" .
Each hotel in the chain ran something very similar over a period of time so not to clash. The blog doesn't ordinarily follow these type of tweeters, but when somebody we follow RT's it then we RT to our 900+ followers all of a sudden direct marketing to 1000+ people for about 2 mins of time. Seems cost effective to me if only 0.5% of those people are more aware of your product
I won't deny, you may be right. But I've a nagging doubt that what works for a big hotel chain won't work for a smaller or single establishment. I've retweeted for freebies too, and I probably will do again, but I can't remember who or what they were for!