subject: Social Media Marketing For Hotels & Resorts [print this page] Social Media Marketing is the new mantra for marketing of brands in a digital environment. Many marketers have started practicing Social Networking very seriously to bring their brands closer to the their customers and prospects in an interactive and an informal way. The Hospitality industry is also a part ofthe social media bouquet. From big hotels to the neighborhood cafes in the city, every one now has a online presence.
Hospitality is all about serving the people well. The infamous motto of the Ritz-Carlton group - "We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen" - is an apt expression.
Satisfied customers turn loyal when feedback is sougt, respected and implemented. Social Media Engagement empowers marketers with all of that. Listening to them and responding meaningfully can make a real difference. Social Media helps achieving this by providing a platform to be in touch with them anytime and from anywhere. Satisfied customers can spread the word of mouth positively and publicity created spreads like ripples in water.
How exactly it helps:
1. General Awareness: Social Networking sites offer various ways of brand launch, advertising, publicity and direct audience engagement. If your product/service has potential and you present it to the correct audience(es), Social Media sites can help create awareness in a very short span of time.
2. Reviews: Prior to visiting a hotel, people might have several questions to be clarified regarding facilities, safety, cleanliness, accessbility to roads, etc. Social Media can not only provide speficic information but also give the consumer genuine feedback or comments of previos guests who have stayed at that property. Travel Forums & Blogs have become and essential tool of the new media marketer as it offers content generation and indefinite sharing possibilities.
3. Loyalty & Client Retention: Offer existing clients with freebies and goodies for writing good stuff about your brand are past methods of achieving loyalty. A good and honest review can escalate your website traffic by hundreds in a day via sharing facilities on Social Networking sites like Yelp, Facebook, Digg, etc. Satisfied customers are usually overjoyed with their experience of the hospitality they cherished at a recent vacation or business trip. Travelers love receiving and giving recommendations of destinations they enjoyed or didn't enjoy too! Price is definitely a decision maker/breaker but travelers don't usually experiment with comfort and safety w.r.t lodging. Similarly, a bad review can also spread like wildfire and cancel your reservation sheet for the next month! Social Media Monitoring empowers the marketer to stay atop such situations and either diffuse such 'virtual threats' to the brand or correct their mistake for future. There is a paradox regarding service recovery. It states that with a highly effective service recovery, a service or product offers a chance to achieve higher from customers than if the failure had never happened.
