The Revinate Blog

It's OK to Ask for Engagement

This week I am in Antwerp, staying at the beautiful Crowne Plaza Antwerp hotel. The hotel is outside the city center but it maintains a very hip city vibe with modern furniture and lighting and some very cool touches. For example, the carpet in the restaurant contains the image of the city from Google Maps. While I will save the highlights for my TripAdvisor review, I was struck by the welcome note left in my room by the General Manager, Hans Wils. It read:

Post a message on Facebook to let your friends know you are staying at the beautiful Crowne Plaza Antwerpen. Don't forget to check-in in Foursquare where we welome you. Tweet the world that the Antwerp panoramic view is breathtaking. 

And for your Grandma or Grandpa... Send them this little traditional greeting card from Antwerp as they might not be online yet!

I love this touch! It's light-hearted and personal without being pushy and it lets you know that the hotel is active on social media and will welcome you when you engage. As I wrote in my previous post, consumers that engage with brands on social media are likely to spend more money, so it's in the best interest of every hotel to encourage guests to seek it out on Facebook, Twitter and foursquare.

Why Hoteliers Still Have Control in the Age of Reviews and Social Media

When I talk about online reputation management, I often say that power has shifted to the consumer in the age of social media. While at first this sounds like bad news to the hotelier, it's not. The shift simply means that marketing must be done in a new way.

Here is how I like to think about it: in this new age of public reviews and social media, hotel guests now own a critical piece of a key hospitality marketing channel, but it's important to note that they only control the delivery of the message. They do not own the content of the message. The message is still controlled by you. If you provide incredibly great guest experiences, that becomes the message that guests will communicate for you. In other words, the communication of your marketing message, which once required hefty media buys, has now in part been naturally outsourced to guests as they turn more and more to social media to share their experiences. It's also important to note that your message is now a very true, unvarnished and transparent reflection of the service, amenities and facilities you provide. So while you still control it, you have less opportunity to "spin" it.

Before social media, hoteliers were able to market their properties with fancy photos and catchy marketing verbiage. Today, consumers turn to friends and networks for information on hotels. They seek out and validate options on Twitter and Facebook and review sites and OTAs such as TripAdvisor, Priceline and Orbitz. Because consumers own the communication, a hotel's reputation is now a more direct and true reflection of service, quality, facilities, value and more.

This shift presents incredible opportunities for a savvy hotelier because WOM (word of mouth) marketing is now more powerful and viral than ever. A hotel that excels at quality and service will drive new business organically. And hotels that can create special experiences that get guests talking will be especially rewarded. With the prevalence of SmartPhones, a guest's moment of joy can be tweeted on Twitter and shared on Facebook or Google+ in just seconds to thousands of people. (Here's a good example from my recent trip to Texas.)

On the flip side, hotels that might have operational issues will know as soon as a review is written about perceived problems and shortcomings. If a program is put in place to manage reviews and route feedback appropriately, hotels can quickly fix issues and improve their reputations. (It is for this reason that we added a ticketing system to Revinate.) To avoid problems before they hatch, I always advise hotels to really examine their Web sites and business listings to make sure it mirrors the experience. A fancy 'spin' or misleading photos will only lead to disappointment, which you can be sure will arise in the review when the guest does what he does best  - -  tell it like it is.

Webinar Materials - Facebook and Twitter For Hotels

Thank you to everyone that joined us today for our Webinar. We hope that those who joined were able to learn something from the examples of hotels doing great, and not-so-great things on Facebook and Twitter. A special thank you to Benji Greenberg of BCV for his social media expertise.

If you missed the event or would like to share the materials with your colleagues, please find a PDF of the presentation here. And please find a recording of the event below. We would also love any feedback in the comments section, below.

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Facebook and Twitter for Hotels – A Best Practices Webinar

Facebook and Twitter for Hotels – A Best Practices Webinar

With Guest Speaker, Benji Greenberg, President of BCV

While most properties have already signed up for Twitter accounts and Facebook Pages, the majority are still not sure how they should be using the social networks.  Join Benji Greenberg of BCV and Michelle Wohl of Revinate for an hour of straight talk, example sharing and best practices for driving loyalty and sales.

 

During the session we will:

• take a realistic look at how much time it takes to build relationships online and how to resource for social media
• look at examples of Hotel Facebook Pages that get it right and discuss why they work
• discuss ROI and what metrics you should and shouldn’t measure
• discuss the pros and cons of offering deals to followers
• provide advice about what to do with ‘squeaky wheels’ and irate customers

 Two sessions will be offered to accommodate multiple time zones:

Wednesday, April 20^th – 8:00am Pacific / 11:00am Eastern RSVP here.

Wednesday, April 20^th – 11:00am Pacific / 2:00pm Eastern RSVP here.

More Information on Facebook Sponsored Stories

At the beginning of the year, Facebook announced Sponsored Stories. In February the solution became available for global self-service customers, similar to Facebook ads.

This morning I watched a live Webinar on the Facebook Marketing Solutions page to get more information about the opportunity for hoteliers. To summarize, Facebook Sponsored Stories allow businesses to amplify actions that your fans (or you) take around your page. For example, when I 'like' a business page today, my friends might see that activity in their feed. But, with Sponsored Stories, the liklihood that my friends will see my activity goes way up since the 'story' will run on the right side of the page, versus simply showing up in the feed.

There are four types of sponsored stories.

1. Page Likes - When people like your page
2. App Interactions - When people interact with an application on your page
3. Check-ins - When people check-in to your hotel/restautant/bar etc
4. Page Posts - When you update the status of your page

For businesses with smaller fan bases, Facebook suggests you use sponsored stories in conjunction with ads. Ads can help get you more 'likes' and Sponsored Stories can help amplify those likes to drive more people to your page.

Facebook has published a guide for getting started with Sponsored Stories here.

 

Approved by TripAdvisor

Revinate clients will notice a few cosmetic changes to the service this week. First, we will now be displaying the 'Approved by TripAdvisor' logo to show that we are licensed by the company to use TripAdvisor content on our site. In addition, our clients are licensed to use our review widget, Social Buzz, on their Web sites and anywhere else they want to share their reviews publicly. Keep your customers from clicking away to read reviews by providing them with an up-to-date review feed that you manage within Revinate.

Speaking of Social Buzz, many Revinate clients are starting to use the widget on their Facebook Pages. Check out the Four Points Chicago Page to see it in action. (And nice review on March 19th, by the way. "Wow! Perfect Chicago Hotel in Perfect Location..")

Contact us for information on rolling out your own review widget. It's a great way to keep your sites fresh and content-rich.

 

Facebook Updates its Facebook Deals Offering.

Back in November, Facebook announced Facebook Deals to compete with Groupon and other daily deal or flash sales.

Today you might notice a story published to your feed with the headline “Deals on Facebook. Now Better With Friends”. The goal is to get users to subscribe to updates for Facebook Deals, and to invite their friends to subscribe as well. Promotions will be rolled out in waves, with the first cities to include San Francisco, San Diego, Dallas, Atlanta, and Austin.

In addition to marketing to end users, Facebook has also posted information for businesses. The page encourages business to complete a lead gen form to get more information on creating deals. Would love to know if you're planning on using Deals to promote your hotel, restaurant, bar or spa.

Updates to Facebook Pages

Yet more good news from Facebook today! Many page adminitrators have been frustrated by the fact that their person identity is exposed when liking or posting. Now, page administrators can select 'Use Facebook as <business>' to represent your hotel or brand when navigating and engaging on Facebook.

Other helpful new features for businesses include:

• Notifications when fans interact with your page or posts
• Ability to see activity from the pages you like in your news feed
• Ability to like other pages and feature them on your page

To get started, go to your Page and upgrade. Then take the tour to see the new features in action. Or, read more here.

Facebook Sponsored Stories

Late last month Facebook announced a really interesting advertising product, Sponsored Stories. Here's how it works:

Today, when I check into your hotel using Facebook Places, some of my friends get that story in their feed. The ones who see it will be the people who interact with me the most. If the update is popular and generates a large number of likes and comments, more of my friends will see it.

Facebook’s new ad product allows brands to pay for that same message being distributed inside of an ad unit to all of my 500 friends with the goal of providing wider distribution and visibility to influence more friends. Historically, a brand could only put videos or content they created inside of ads – now they can leverage the true social conversation by highlighting content from users.

Facebook Sponsored Stories shows up inside of an ad unit on the right hand side of the page that is clearly marked as an ad unit, but contains the content of the actions you and your friends have taken. Hoteliers - would love to know if you plan to run any Sponsored Stories. Comment below with any thoughts.

Read more from Mashable here.

 

 

Social Media Odds and Ends

Last week I was in Charleston meeting with clients and some questions came up that I think many people are also asking so I thought I would use this post to highlight some frequently asked questions. Please add a comment if you have any additional questions that you would like me to answer.

Q. Can Facebook page owners send private messages from the business?

Surprisingly, the answer is 'no'. According to Facebook, "Facebook Pages do not currently have an Inbox, and can't be used to contact individual people directly." It sounds as though Facebook is considering whether to add this feature in the future but for now, if you choose to send a personal message to a user, it will appear to come from you and not from the Page. Similarly, users aren't able to contact Page admins through the Page.

Q. Who is the best person at a hotel to respond to reviews?

The best person to respond to reviews really depends upon the property and the staff. But one thing you should keep in mind is that you are really responding to the thousands of review site visitors that will read the review, not the reviewer himself. As a result, the person who responds should be someone with a marketing slant who is able to make the property shine and illustrate its focus on excellent service. This person might be the GM, an executive assistant or a marketing manager.

Q. Why is my comp set getting so many more reviews than me?

While it's hard to know for sure, if your comp set is getting a lot more reviews than you there's a good chance they are doing at least one of the following:

• Asking guests to write reviews, either upon check-out or with a follow-up email after the stay.
• Placing reminders within the rooms and at front desk encouraging reviews or showcasing review site status. (eg Travelers Choice)
• Including a link to TripAdvisor at the end of the Guest Survey to allow guests to share their feedback publicly.
• Advertising prominently on review sites or OTAs.
• Providing exceptional service and amenities that people want to praise.