Social sites get people talking, but marketers must earn trust

According to new social media market research, brands need to place a greater focus on non-advertising marketing activities, engaging on the social media user’s terms.

All those conversations, whether in person, via email, on the phone or elsewhere on the web, however, don’t make social site visitors loyal—internet users expressed the least loyalty for such properties, compared with portals or OPA member sites. They were also most likely to say social sites were not a very good fit for their information and entertainment needs.

The OPA’s findings are in line with the annual customer satisfaction report from ForeSee Results that found Facebook among the most disliked sites on the web after its many disagreements with its own user community and several privacy debacles.

Fuente: e-marketer.com

Turismo aumenta en Latinoamérica

Más de 800 mil turistas recibió Buenos Aires, Argentina, en julio de 2010 durante las vacaciones que invierno, de acuerdo con las cifras planteadas por el ente de Turismo de la localidad.

La mayor ocupación la obtuvieron los establecimiento de cuatro estrellas con máximos hasta del 80%, y los de 3, 4 y 5 estrellas obtuvieron índice promedio de 71%. La mayoría de los visitantes fueron de Brasil, los cuales gastaron en promedio US$140 al día, un 40% más que los turistas de otros países, quienes gastan US$98 dólares por día.

El ingreso total de julio en Buenos Aires, por concepto de turismo, fue de US$430 millones. Los principales países emisores de turistas para Argentina fueron Chile, Uruguay, Colombia y México.

En Brasil, por su parte, en el primer semestre del año los ingresos por turismo extranjero alcanzaron los US$2.940 millones, con un crecimiento interanual de 14.5%, según informó el Instituto Brasileño de Turismo (Embratur). El organismo espera que para finales del año la cifra se acerque a los US$6.000 millones. Las divisas por turistas extranjeros alcanzaron en junio un crecimiento interanual de 3.3% para un monto de US$416 millones.

Fuente: Gerencia de Viajes

Top 10 Strategies to Promote Hotels on Social Media Channels

Create

1. Create and Upload Custom Facebook pages - Facebook allows the hotel to customise the tabs to tailor it to your specific hotel or business. Some best practices to follow while creating Facebook page are:

a. Integrate Reservation widgets
b. Have event pages
c. Create custom tabs to highlight hotel specific items such as meetings and conferences, things to do, etc.
d. Sample Facebook Pages for a hotel
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Red-Lion-Hotel-Denver-Southeast/167741797528

2. Create/ Promote Destination Blogs showcasing local events, news, and specials. Information posted on the blog gets index right away.

a. Example of Destination Blog - http://blog.aquaresorts.com/
b. Example of destination blog – http://blog.rivernorthhotel.com/

3. Search Optimised video

a. Create and promote a search optimised video about your destination, local attractions and upload them on Video Search engines such as Youtube. Youtube is the fourth largest search engine and drives significant traffic.
b. Example of search optimized video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HraOIiqdIn4/

4. Photo Sharing

a. Create a channel or an account on photo sharing sites such as Flickr, Picassa and post hotel and destination photos on the sites. Tag the pictures with relevant keyword phrases. Pictures about the destination that convey information to potential viewers are more likely to produce better results
b. Example: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8209088@N07/

5. Twitter

a. Create Custom Twitter Profiles with hotel phone number in the background
b. Example: http://twitter.com/vallartagv

Manage and Promote

6. Integrating and Cross-Linking Channels
Once your channels are set up, it is crucial to integrate and cross network all your channels. Make sure that the social media icons are displayed clearly on your website so that consumers can get to those channels. Cross-link Flickr, Twitter and YouTube to your Facebook account. Integrating and Cross-linking the channels will help you in optimisation, keeping it fresh as well as in expanding your network. Bring live feeds from your social media channels into your website. Example: http://www.nickhotel.com/html/social-media.asp

Integrate live feeds from social media channels on your website

7. Grow Fan-base

a. Facebook – Be My Friend - Become friends with organisation which are most important for your business
b. Promote Facebook Profile Page - Upload email list of your customers, business associates and ask them to become friends with you on Facebook
c. Convert your friends on Facebook by offering time sensitive specials
d. Network with local organizations and grow fan base
e. Twitter Follow - Stay connected and current by finding out relevant businesses in your area and following them

8. Press Releases and Articles - Using online news channels such as Business Wire and PR Web to release Articles and news information enhances search engine optimisation and web.

Monitor

9. Create Social Media Reviews Platform on your website to encourage users to upload viral content on your website. Example: http://www.nickhotel.com/guestreviews/orlando-hotel-guest-reviews.aspx

Encourage users to post viral user generated content on your website

10. Monitor Social Media Channels and Review Site

We recommend hotels should actively monitor social media channels and review sites. The success of social media efforts can be measured in many different ways:

a. Awareness
- Number of friends & followers
- Social media mentions
- New relevant links
b. Conversion
- Track through promo codes
- Google Analytics
c. Relationships
- How much interaction
- Who is initiating
d. Engagement
- Unique visitors
- Time on site
- Frequency of visit

There are many options available for hoteliers to monitor the social media activity.

a. Analytics –hotels can integrate Google Analytics code on Facebook pages, blog pages and track the activity on these channels. In addition, Youtube, Flickr, provide reporting tools that can help you gauge activity on those channels.
b. Using sophisticated social media and reputation management software such as eBuzz Connect. These tools tell you what people are saying about your property on different channels, video views, photo views, etc., and can benchmark your performance month-over-month to determine whether the social media strategies are effective. These tools also help in proactively respond to negative /positive reviews and minimize the risk of not knowing what people are saying about your hotel online. Here is a screen shot of one such tool from Milestone Internet Marketing, Inc. http://www.milestoneinternet.com/html/online-social-media-management-system-for-hotels.asp

eBuzz Connect Social Media and Review Monitoring Tool

Summary

Social Media is an integral part of the real-time search algorithm. Social media creates real connection between companies and customers, and that connection equals purchase intent. Ongoing connection and relationship with your customers will eventually turn them into a volunteer marketing army. Make sure that social media is an integral part of your overall marketing plan. If you are limited on budget and resources, still keep monitoring the social media domain and do the best you can. Hoteliers who want to be ahead of the curve, should invest today in the media that is fast emerging as the future of internet marketing.

Fuente: hotel-online.com

Social Media Marketing Value chain

Social Media Optimization Value Chain

All the efforts that a hotel puts into social media marketing can be bundled into the following 3 categories.