Using Twitter to post updates about your property and promote deals is just a small portion of what you can do on the micro blogging tool. More importantly, you should really engage on Twitter and pay attention to what people say around your hotel, your area, your competition, your industry and so on.
One thing you can do when you have a relative good number of followers (100 would be a good start) is to start identifying these followers that could be your hotel brand ambassadors. Try to engage with them on conversations you feel you can be part of. For example, suggest some ideas of restaurants in the area the Twitter follower is based of experience or because your hotel is in the same area.
Another thing you can do is to create the WOW factor when you know some of your guests have been identified on Twitter by saying "just arrived at the Hotel California". Can you imagine the "feel good factor" of the guest if has received a reply for you and also a freebie when he's at the hotel. For instance, offer him/her a drink at the bar with a +1 or free PayPerView for one day or a bottle of wine in his room.
Read the entire article on hotel blogs
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Digital Marketing: Latest Trends in Digital Marketing
With technology developing at a dizzying rate, some managers fear that they are lagging behind in the latest developments in digital marketing. We bring together two prominent figures from the world of digital marketing to discuss this fast-changing sector.
Our digital marketing panel:
• Tom Dibble: CEO, Screen Pilot
• Rob McCutcheon: managing director,Astracasting
Hotel-industry.co.uk: So the industry is changing fast! What emerging trends can you identify in digital marketing?
• McCutcheon: I think that the massive expenditure on apps by all the leading brands in virtually every market is a key issue. This has led to hotel suppliers of ambient media struggling to justify how they offer ROI to a hotel marketing manager – who, in turn must justify the spend to the financial director. Therefore, I think we’ll see more screen media operators winding up their operations. The trend looks set to continue unless the various media operators look at partnering with value-added services that can increase ROI with physical downloads of offers and vouchers.
• Dibble: Cheaper smart-phones will translate into higher device saturation in the consumer market. Better phones, faster data speeds means more people surfing on their phones with enhanced browsing experiences. However, just because these consumers are using their mobiles to do more stuff, m-commerce (mobile commerce) in the travel industry will be finely segmented to locations and brands that support the profile of the m-commerce traveller. I think the rise of social media is particularly interesting. For example, our Facebook marketing strategies differ greatly to that of paid search tactics. Knowing how to engage and interact using each channel to market is key. Search is a tactic for when you want to gain engagement from someone who already knows they want to travel. Social media on the other hand is a tactic that can align a hotel with an intent that doesn’t currently exist or by peer recommendation of a guest’s experience at a property or brand.
Hotel-industry.co.uk: Why is it important for hoteliers to partner with third party companies like yours to improve their digital marketing?
McCutcheon: Third party technology companies will only survive by adapting to change and keeping ahead of the changes in market forces. Hoteliers are busy people who need to concentrate on running their businesses. The hotelier should let the third party take the strain as a trusted partner and work with them on developing new ideas and pilot schemes to prove ROI for new mediums as-and-when they arrive.
Dibble: We live and breathe in the digital world. It’s the essence of who we are. For Screen Pilot, our mission statement for the hospitality industry is to drive awareness and direct distribution revenues. We shift hundreds of thousands in revenues away from in-direct channels, online travel agents and other intermediaries by delivering qualified traffic directly to the property website. Just because you don’t have multi-million pound marketing budgets does not mean you can’t compete online. Our clients are proof you can.
Read the entire article
Our digital marketing panel:
• Tom Dibble: CEO, Screen Pilot
• Rob McCutcheon: managing director,Astracasting
Hotel-industry.co.uk: So the industry is changing fast! What emerging trends can you identify in digital marketing?
• McCutcheon: I think that the massive expenditure on apps by all the leading brands in virtually every market is a key issue. This has led to hotel suppliers of ambient media struggling to justify how they offer ROI to a hotel marketing manager – who, in turn must justify the spend to the financial director. Therefore, I think we’ll see more screen media operators winding up their operations. The trend looks set to continue unless the various media operators look at partnering with value-added services that can increase ROI with physical downloads of offers and vouchers.
• Dibble: Cheaper smart-phones will translate into higher device saturation in the consumer market. Better phones, faster data speeds means more people surfing on their phones with enhanced browsing experiences. However, just because these consumers are using their mobiles to do more stuff, m-commerce (mobile commerce) in the travel industry will be finely segmented to locations and brands that support the profile of the m-commerce traveller. I think the rise of social media is particularly interesting. For example, our Facebook marketing strategies differ greatly to that of paid search tactics. Knowing how to engage and interact using each channel to market is key. Search is a tactic for when you want to gain engagement from someone who already knows they want to travel. Social media on the other hand is a tactic that can align a hotel with an intent that doesn’t currently exist or by peer recommendation of a guest’s experience at a property or brand.
Hotel-industry.co.uk: Why is it important for hoteliers to partner with third party companies like yours to improve their digital marketing?
McCutcheon: Third party technology companies will only survive by adapting to change and keeping ahead of the changes in market forces. Hoteliers are busy people who need to concentrate on running their businesses. The hotelier should let the third party take the strain as a trusted partner and work with them on developing new ideas and pilot schemes to prove ROI for new mediums as-and-when they arrive.
Dibble: We live and breathe in the digital world. It’s the essence of who we are. For Screen Pilot, our mission statement for the hospitality industry is to drive awareness and direct distribution revenues. We shift hundreds of thousands in revenues away from in-direct channels, online travel agents and other intermediaries by delivering qualified traffic directly to the property website. Just because you don’t have multi-million pound marketing budgets does not mean you can’t compete online. Our clients are proof you can.
Read the entire article
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
5 Steps to a Successful Hospitality Mobile App
There are over 20,000 travel apps across the app markets today — and that number is climbing daily. But as the app market grows, so do consumer expectations. As many other companies have learned, one small misstep in the development process can mean the difference between a mobile app that generates significant revenue and one that gets ignored.
On Thursday, May 19 at 2 p.m. CDT, you can join a free webinar where I’ll be talking about what to do and what not to do when it comes to creating and maintaining hospitality apps. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek at a few of the lessons I’ll be covering:
1. Make your app free if you’re selling something other than the technology. Rather than charging up front, most hospitality organizations will get much more value out providing guests with a free app they can use to explore the property, upgrade rooms, order room service, book spa appointments and more. Just as you wouldn’t charge for guests to visit your web site, you shouldn’t charge your customers for an app that helps you sell your core products and services.
2. Take advantage of a smart phone or tablet’s capabilities. Don’t just duplicate your web site and make your app a mobile brochure. Mobile devices have interactive features that most personal computers don’t have — like GPS, an accelerometer, cameras, QR Code readers and more. Users want an app that is fun to use, helps them during their visit, and takes advantage of their device’s capabilities. You want to create experiences that are customized to a guest on the go.
3. Keep content fresh, interesting and easy to find. To keep people coming back to an app, it’s critical to make sure you don’t let the content stagnate. Outdated or difficult-to-find info is one of the guaranteed ways to anger guests and generate negative feedback. We constantly encourage our customers to use our CMS to regularly update the content in their apps and to look at what is resonating with users and what is falling flat. People frequently discover that what works wonders in the online world doesn’t necessarily work in the mobile world.
4. Promote your app and align your mobile strategy with your marketing goals. We find that properties that cross-promote their app across several marketing channels, including on-site signage, social media, advertising, public relations, direct mail and customer service get the most downloads and interest.
5. Continue to innovate. Mobile is still a young technology, and the rules are still being written. Don’t be afraid to take risks and try new things — you never know where it can lead.
Written by: Aron Ezra
Read the entire article
On Thursday, May 19 at 2 p.m. CDT, you can join a free webinar where I’ll be talking about what to do and what not to do when it comes to creating and maintaining hospitality apps. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek at a few of the lessons I’ll be covering:
1. Make your app free if you’re selling something other than the technology. Rather than charging up front, most hospitality organizations will get much more value out providing guests with a free app they can use to explore the property, upgrade rooms, order room service, book spa appointments and more. Just as you wouldn’t charge for guests to visit your web site, you shouldn’t charge your customers for an app that helps you sell your core products and services.
2. Take advantage of a smart phone or tablet’s capabilities. Don’t just duplicate your web site and make your app a mobile brochure. Mobile devices have interactive features that most personal computers don’t have — like GPS, an accelerometer, cameras, QR Code readers and more. Users want an app that is fun to use, helps them during their visit, and takes advantage of their device’s capabilities. You want to create experiences that are customized to a guest on the go.
3. Keep content fresh, interesting and easy to find. To keep people coming back to an app, it’s critical to make sure you don’t let the content stagnate. Outdated or difficult-to-find info is one of the guaranteed ways to anger guests and generate negative feedback. We constantly encourage our customers to use our CMS to regularly update the content in their apps and to look at what is resonating with users and what is falling flat. People frequently discover that what works wonders in the online world doesn’t necessarily work in the mobile world.
4. Promote your app and align your mobile strategy with your marketing goals. We find that properties that cross-promote their app across several marketing channels, including on-site signage, social media, advertising, public relations, direct mail and customer service get the most downloads and interest.
5. Continue to innovate. Mobile is still a young technology, and the rules are still being written. Don’t be afraid to take risks and try new things — you never know where it can lead.
Written by: Aron Ezra
Read the entire article
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Top tracking tools for your social media stats
Social Media for your business is not a hobby. It’s not something you do online once in a while when you have a spare 5 minutes. Social Media is a serious online marketing tool, in which time and money should be invested, and through which at the end of the day, you receive a Return On your Investment.Marketing is changing, and will never be the same again. Especially online marketing. Just because it’s “free” to use and update Social Media Networks, does not mean that you do not treat it like any other marketing avenue, where your results and efforts should be tracked and monitored. Then you know where you are, how you are doing, and can plan where you want to go.
To lend a hand, here is a list of various software, tools and websites popping up to help marketing professionals track and monitor their social media progress.
Get the full story here.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Windows 8 reconnaitra les visages
L’API de login de la dernière mouture de Windows 8 semble aujourd’hui venir confirmer la plausibilité de cette rumeur.
C’est Windows8Italia qui a fait cette découverte, et chez Microsoft News on pense qu’elle pourra être utilisée un peu à la Kinect:
Leur dernière découverte est que l’OS possède une API de capteur pour détecter la présence d’humains lui faisant face, suggérant au moins que l’appareil acceptera les données de la caméra, et la possibilité de disposer de reconnaissance faciale comme Kinect actuellement.
Il semble que la connexion a votre ordinateur soit en train de grandement se simplifier. Bonjour, Dave! [Win8Italia via Microsoft News via SlashGear]
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