Social media has traditionally been approached as a marketing tool for top-of-funnel activities. However, the activities associated with generating awareness, like creating viral posts and taking advantage of real-time marketing moments, are difficult to measure and even harder to link to real business value. Yet, marketers innately know that social media has real opportunity as their audience is there—in volume and in frequency. As a result, a new trend is emerging among hotel marketers that takes distinct advantage of the direct follower model of social networks: the marriage of the loyalty program with social media marketing. READ MORE

As hoteliers' key audiences spend less time on the Web and more time on their smartphones' social apps, it is crucial for hotels to have a digital engagement strategy that creates meaningful interactions on social channels. Desktop still converts higher, but the path to a booking is a journey full of touch points across social. Now that social media platforms are maturing, hotels can go beyond targeting their own guests to discovering new profitable audiences. They can reach and drive sales for all sides of the business: leisure, corporate and group sales. However, before hoteliers think about social engagement, they need to cover the basics of personalization and one-to-one marketing. READ MORE

These days, a lot goes into choosing the perfect hotel. Hotel choice no longer depends solely on the location, price, and amenities; it depends on experience. Customers have become more interested in experiential features instead of whether or not the hotel has a five-star review. As the phrase goes, many “do it for the gram.” When looking to book their stay, the Instagram generation is interested in things that are eye-catching and worthy of sharing with their followers. Just searching the hashtag “wanderlust” reveals millions of images of different travel experiences from around the world. READ MORE

While social media has become a mainstream marketing channel, there are many variables that hoteliers are not taking advantage of to increase their revenue. Unlike other mainstream marketing avenues, social media is not static, as platforms continuously find ways to increase engagement with both users and advertisers. As social platforms have realized their massive marketing opportunities within their user base, they have increasingly capitalized on their clearly defined users by providing advertisers access to them. Today, the popularity of social channels has created a “pay-to-play” model that leaves many business owners and managers perplexed as to which channels to focus on, and the right budget to allocate in order to maximize return on investment (ROI). READ MORE

The proliferation of travel discount websites has many hotels scrambling in a race to the bottom. So how do you attract travelers (and ideally repeat travelers) who aren't simply looking for the cheapest bed for the night? Becoming an expert resource on your city and sharing it through a branded blog is a great way to stand out from the competition. By creating and regularly publishing to a blog that celebrates what makes your city unique, you can elevate your hotel from only ranking in Google search for those looking at hotels in a specific price range to being a top destination for anyone looking to learn more about your destination. READ MORE

It seems just a short time ago that hospitality public relations - PR - was implemented as a one-way communication between a brand or hotel or resort and its potential market segments. The purpose was to gain attention, interest, and, ultimately, bookings that would turn prospects into customers and, ideally, loyal repeat clientele. Today, the media relations function represents just one component of an interactive, engaged connection between hotels (or hotel companies) and their constituents. This article takes a look at where the discipline came from, how it has evolved, and where it may be headed as a vital tool for driving revenue. READ MORE

When accessing and converting potential guests to your hotel, there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to SEO (Search Engine Optimization), Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns or Social Media Marketing. The most valuable tool you have in the battle for Google's favor should be the ability to evolve, I like to call this “Digital Promoflex” in today's marketing environment. We all know, just like in chess, we need a plan in order to play a decent game. This is exactly the same premise in digital and social media marketing. In order to determine what kind of channels to target your audience, READ MORE

Today, social media is a staple in most people's daily lives. In 2016, 78 percent of Americans had a social media profile, up 5 percent from 2015. Worldwide, there are 2.3 billion active social media users - 1.7 billion on Facebook alone! And popular platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram aren't missing this opportunity to capitalize on our need to be social. In 2016, Facebook underwent a dramatic transformation from social network to a media delivery service right before our eyes. Facebook is now the second biggest ad publisher globally behind Google, and in Q3 2016 reported record earnings of $7.01 billion in revenue. READ MORE

Impressions. Leads. Conversion. Bounce Rate. Hands up who is really obsessed in monitoring these social media quantitative metrics on a daily basis? Quantitative metrics tends to be the main priority when analyzing social media reach or success but there are some new key indicators and metrics that have been overlooked and can also be a key element for a successful hotel social media performance. Most hoteliers are constantly worried about the same old metrics and looking for benchmarks that can help them to monitor their performance successfully on social media. But what about qualitative metrics and sentiment analysis? Are they meaningful? Which ones to use? What can we learn from them? How can we measure them? READ MORE

It's undeniable that hotel brands have found success in using social media to engage travelers. Some of the more active brands on social media can boast millions of Facebook Likes and hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter. Scores of additional followers join in the conversation on Instagram, Pinterest and Google+, and the most current brands are trying out networks like Snapchat and Periscope. With this level of undisputed success at the brand level, some hoteliers might think that any engagement at the individual property level is unnecessary, but that is far from the truth. READ MORE

Where are your guests when they're not at your hotel? The answer is simple: they're on social media. But, the real question is: are they on your social media? Social media is the go-to platform for many travelers who no longer want to visit websites, pick up the phone or even send an email. It's the fastest way to communicate information about a brand. Often, it's the first resource referenced for news. While social media will always have its share of window shoppers, more followers are turning to it for specific questions about pricing, availability, onsite amenities and destination activities. READ MORE

We hear all the time that travelers have changed. Now we're highly-connected, mobile-crazed folks who want the freedom to choose. We want experiences, and we want to share those experiences with family and friends at the touch of a button, all in search of the next like. This is often attributed to the growing number of Millennial travelers born-and-raised on tech somewhere between 1980 (or '85, or '90 depending on who you ask) and the early 2000s. The reality is, travelers aren't so different. We're still dreamers and adventure-seekers. We always enjoyed experiences and we always shared them with the people we love. READ MORE

Creating content is hard, especially with limited budgets, time, and resources. Not to mention, the content that your hotel is publishing is not only competing with content from other hotels but also with content from other brands, other industries - even users' family and friends. In the digital world, community managers are constantly trying to think of creative ways to attract and engage followers. As a social media manager, it is not always necessary to create content from scratch. Engaging content can be discovered and re-shared with your network. Often times, content curation can even be the key to increasing engagement. READ MORE

Social media marketers spend the majority of their time designing content at their computer. Instead, they should work with the organization's interior designers, chefs, and event staff. Setting the honeypot is laying a trap, or bait. The bait is an item, a cuisine, a swan-shaped towel or any service the consumer could consider "going the extra mile." The swan-shaped towel, an art-like meal, and unique lobby art all create the cognitive desire to share the experience, and the most convenient method of sharing this experience is via social media. It is imperative to understand the behaviors of your target audience. Furthermore, ask yourself, "who is my customer?", and "who does my customer want to be?" READ MORE

It is safe to say that social media and the marketing force that goes into it are here to stay. This is largely due to the space's ability to continuously evolve. Just 10 years ago Facebook morphed into a mainstream business tool, Twitter arrived, the iPhone exploded on the scene and Android phones followed closely behind. This series of events spurred social growth as platforms began to fulfill needs we didn't even know we had. Today, the number of major social platforms has reached a stable point but that doesn't mean that there will not be continued growth in 2017. READ MORE