Regular readers of our bulletins may have noticed that in the past we have tended to be slightly sceptical about hotels using social media. However, in the interests of remaining open-minded we did our best to introduce hotels on our Hotel Support program to FaceBook and Twitter, and we ourselves have been amazed at the results, particularly the way Marketing Managers and Revenue Managers have taken to FaceBook. This led us to ask the question; WHY is Social Media working for hotels, when so many other marketing tools are available? And this is our own debateable conclusion;
Why is Social Marketing Working for Hotels?
- FaceBook is easy and almost fun to administrate (compared with Website Editing).
- FaceBook software is 'user friendly with a wide range of options.
- FaceBook is free. (Not including the time it takes to maintain of course).
- FaceBook has an almost 100% 'open rate' ie It is hard for Fans to avoid seeing something that appears on their wall, compared with E Mail for example that can be blocked and deleted, resulting in 'open rates' as low as 15%).
- Possibly the big one - Building a customer database does not require help of anyone else ( ie receptionists), or paperwork (customer sign-up forms etc) to build..
Note - Having said all this, using Social Media effectively still does require imagination, initiative and time.
Some Freebies