Smart Hoteliers are using New Media to Build their Brand and Revenue

An increasing number of organizations large and small are incorporating use of Internet based social networking and other forms of new media into their marketing strategies.  Developed as inter-personal and informal communications tools, sites such as Facebook and Twitter have become important channels for businesses to establish and build a rapport with their customers and contacts and in turn widening their exposure and creating additional revenue.  Video sharing sites such as Youtube can also be put to positive use as well as Blogs, consumer review sites and many other similar tools.  

The use of most of these tools is essentially free but of course they do require some focused resource within an organization to maximize the benefits.  On creating an active following it is important to maintain momentum.  It is also important to carefully select the tools to be employed and understand how and when to use each of them.

As a taster here are some of the possibilities open to a hotel or resort:

Facebook : With a global membership, of more than 400 million the site was initially used by individuals but is now an increasingly popular tool for businesses through the setting-up of Fan Pages and attracting a following of friends (or “Fans”).  A hospitality business can use their Fan Page as a form of advertising and promotion, engaging their Fans in dialogues.  Photographs can also be posted, this being an ideal way of highlighting features of the property and showing successful events. Of course there is an art in inducing dialogue to portray your property positively.  

Twitter : The best known micro-blogging site allowing short messages (“tweets”) of no more than 140 characters to be pushed out to all your Twitter contacts (“followers”) and in return your marketing team can monitor all responses propagated by your followers.  This means you can push out information rearding events, promotions and news about your property and receive feedback from your followers.  You can also read the tweets issued by your followers to understand who is taking an interest in your business.     

Blogs : A Blog is a form of website where the page is frequently updated with the author pushing out comments for all Internet users to see and absorb, providing of course they can be first attracted to the site.  It is a great way to portray to the market your corporate culture, values and ethos.  In other words in this context a Blog is a public relations channel and a means to create brand awareness without expensive advertising using traditional media.  

Youtube : A hotel or resort can upload videos complete with audio showing its facilities or events, with these videos viewable by a global audience.  Clearly, if used and promoted carefully the reach is phenomenal.  Of course, links can be provided to the videos from any of the above tools.

Consumer Generated Reviews : Popular consumer generated feedback via sites such as Trip Advisor can provide extremely beneficial exposure for your property.  Of course, content is out of your hands and your guests can also generate damaging reports too if they check-out unhappy.  Encouraging them to provide enthusiastic and complementary reviews is well worthwhile.

Search Engines : There are various techniques that can be employed to ensure your hotel or resort figures high on the list of links returned by popular search engines such as Google and Yahoo, in turn leading to more business.

Some Golden Rules

There are many more channels open than those mentioned above and clearly you cannot sensibly employ and manage all of them so be selective.  Whichever you choose, make sure your staff understand and are relaying consistently your corporate message and mission.

New media should be seen as part of your overall marketing mix and not a total replacement for utilizing other channels.  However, when used correctly these new avenues will deliver benefits in terms of exposure, positive public relations and of course additional revenue.

The reach of many of these tools is immense.  In the case of social media sites such as Facebook your Fans also have friends whom you can potentially reach and with Twitter your followers may also have many of their own followers.

If engaging your guests and potential guests through social media you must be prepared to be there for the long haul and devote focus end energy to the mission.  If you build a following then you need to be responsive to comments and keep feeding new material.

It is important to be aware of how to manage guest privacy, especially if publishing photographs or videos.  It is also important to manage criticism or complaints tactfully and professionally, so dialogue does not get out of hand.  Encourage the customer to take the conversation offline and quickly!

How to get started

DXI have associate consultants available to help clients develop their new media strategies and coach in-house marketing personnel get the best from what is otherwise free media.  Some very big multinational corporates are using these channels as an integral part of their marketing strategy however the size of your business is no barrier.  Think about it…does your marketing team understand the potential of these new media opportunities?