News for the Hospitality Executive |
by Max Starkov
and Mariana Mechoso Safer July 16, 2010 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. <> 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). 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:
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 generatedalmost 12% of the click to the site and over 2% of
bookings initiated. 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 EffortsWhat 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:
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:
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:
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 the Authors: Max Starkov is Chief eBusiness Strategist and Mariana Mechoso Safer is Senior Director, Marketing at Hospitality eBusiness Strategies (HeBS), the industry’s leading full-service hotel Internet marketing and direct online channel strategy firm based in New York City (www.HospitalityeBusiness.com). 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 strategy, boost the hotel’s Internet marketing presence, establish interactive relationships with their 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 brands, resorts and casinos, hotel management companies, franchisees and independents, and CVBs has sought and successfully taken advantage of the firm hospitality Internet marketing expertise offered at HeBS. Contact HeBS consultants at (212)752-8186 or [email protected] . |
Contact:
Max Starkov Hospitality eBusiness Strategies, Inc. 14 E. 60th Street, Suite 400 New York, NY 10028 Phone 212-752-8159 Email [email protected] Web: www.hospitalityebusiness.com
|
Also See: | Mastering Internet Marketing in 2010: Results of the 4th Benchmark Survey on Hotel Internet Marketing / Max Starkov, Mariana Mechoso Safer and Evan Rosenblum / March 2010 |