News
It’s All About Customer Engagement
Two-thirds of your online customers are using social media. They like to meet, interact and have dialogue online while they shop and purchase travel products and services. Are you engaging with your customers to develop relationships and understand their needs?
Ask a hotelier what they think of Web 2.0, and what strategies they are employing to better manage it, and 99% of them will talk about online traveller reviews.
While consumer review sites such as TripAdvisor have certainly captured the attention of the hotel industry, it’s not just about consumers relating the good, the bad and the ugly of their travels. There is more to social media than many hoteliers realise.
During the time it may take you to respond to the comments on TripAdvisor, you may be unaware that YouTube daily downloads have grown by 5-10 million, blogs and travel journals have been written about your property, your website has been tagged multiple times on de.licio.us, a video blog viewed by thousands has been hosted from one of your rooms, a trip plan has been loaded into Yahoo Travel that included your property and hundreds of pictures have been taken by guests showing exactly what the bathroom in room 125 looks like. The era of social media is upon us, and you as hoteliers must engage in dialogue with your customers.
The best use of social media, and the most effective way to respond to consumer commentary on the well known review sites, is to engage customers and prospects in conversations to understand their needs, to develop relationships and to interact with them BEFORE a purchase, DURING the purchase process, and AFTER a purchase is made.
This conversation may begin with customer reviews but the new tools available to us in this social media driven environment can serve to develop and deepen relationships, and create and project your brand image.
The cost to use these tools is relatively low and the impact is high. They are available and accessible to both small hotels and international brands. And in case you thought only twenty-somethings use social media, you are wrong. Research shows that all generational groups are using social media, across all categories of travel from upscale to limited budget. The needs of the different customer groups are indeed different, but the tools available are very similar:
Some of the primary tools in your social media toolkit are:
- Blogs
- Wikis
- Bookmarks
- Optimised press releases and articles
- Tweets
- Photos, videos and podcasts
- Profiles on social network sites like MySpace with rich content (videos)
- Content voting
- Special events/contests/games
- Widgets and badges
- Brand education tools
For more information on how you can engage your customers in meaningful dialogue and reap the benefits of these relationships, please contact us.
Hoteliers supplement declining, low margin GDS travel agent business with higher profit direct business. Read More »
Two-thirds of your online customers are using social media. Are you engaging with your customers to develop relationships and understand their needs?Read More »