Hotel Online Marketing
Thoughts on 2009
LARA YOUNG
MAY 18,2009
LARA YOUNG

Presentation Guidelines
World of Web 2.0
Ways to Implement Web 2.0
 Website
 Organic Search Marketing(SEO)
 Paid Search Marketing(PPC)
 Social Media
Measurement & Analytics
Next Steps
LARA YOUNG

World of Web 2.0
Ways to Implement Web 2.0
 Website
 Organic Search Marketing(SEO)
 Paid Search Marketing(PPC)
 Social Media
Measurement & Analytics
Next Steps
LARA YOUNG

communication, conversation, connecting, community
LARA YOUNG

World of Web 2.0
Share of all search queries at the leading 5 engines, January – December 2008
Search Query Share
 Google led the way again in 2008, capturing 68% market share of
116 billion search queries made last year, up 8 vs 07
3% 1%
7% 68%
60%
Dec-07 Dec-08
21%
68%
2008 LARA YOUNG

World of Web 2.0
Share of all search queries at the leading 5 engines, January – December 2008
Searchers and Engine Loyalty
 Google had the most searchers, and the highest rate of loyalty
Average Loyalty 64% 25% 12% 14% 12%
160,000,000 80%
140,000,000 70%
120,000,000 60%
Searchers
100,000,000 50%
80,000,000 40%
60,000,000 30%
40,000,000 20%
20,000,000 10%
- 0%
J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D
Yahoo MSN Ask AOL
LARA YOUNG
Searchers Engine Loyalty

World of Web 2.0
Broadly speaking, the top 1,000 media sites fall into two categories
LARA YOUNG

World of Web 2.0
Share of all page views at the Top 1,000 Media sites, December 2007 – 2008
Page View Share
 Social Media took the lion‟s share of the 2.1 trillion page views made at the top
1k media sites last year
Publisher Media
15%
Social Media 85%
LARA YOUNG

World of Web 2.0
Share of all page views at the Top 1,000 Media sites, December 2007 – 2008
Share of Time Spent
 Social Media also took 79% of the 9 billion hours spent at the top 1k media
sites last year
Publisher Media
21%
79%
Social Media
LARA YOUNG

World of Web 2.0
Share of all page views at the Top 1,000 Media sites, December 2007 – 2008
Trended Page Views and Time Spent
 Social Media grew Pages Views enormously at the expense of Time Spent
Year-over-Year ∆
(December 2007 vs. 2008)
57% 81% 33%
800 300
700
250
600
200
500
Page Views
Hours
400 150
300
100
200
50
100
- -
May-…
Apr-08
Feb-08
Sep-08
Jun-08
Jul-08
Mar-08
Dec-07
Dec-08
Oct-08
Aug-08
Jan-08
Nov-08
Publishers Social Media
LARA YOUNG

Outlook for Web 2.0 2009
Look for Google momentum to continue growth in query
volume and market share in 2009
 Watch out for Microsoft to as they invest in improving queries per
searcher and searcher loyalty
 Possible Yahoo partnership with Microsoft would create a real rival to
Google, with a combined 30% query share and strong base of loyalists
Look for visitors and reach at Publisher and Social Media
sites to level in 2009, but engagement to skyrocket
 Expect Social Media to harmonize page views and time spent, striking
a balance between user engagement
 Brand should collaborate with Social Media functionality to enhance
the influence in Social Media networking
LARA YOUNG

World of Web 2.0
Ways to Implement Web 2.0
 Website
 Organic Search Marketing(SEO)
 Paid Search Marketing(PPC)
 Social Media
Measurement & Analytics
Next Steps
LARA YOUNG

Website……
Sell what guests are coming for
Target the motive of the trip
LARA YOUNG

Website
What hotel Has Done Well:
 Own great domain names
 Have a clean & simple web design
 Build easy navigation
 Post directions to hotel in pictures
 Ensure instant brand identification
 Make contact forms short & simple
 Use Google Optimizer for best results
 Add a virtual host
 Syndicate content as RSS
LARA YOUNG

Website -Con‟d
What hotel Should Continue to Work On:
 Use video instead of text (where possible)
 Use Google maps to provide step-by-step directions to hotel
 Offer in-depth destination information
 Show pictures of attractions near hotel with Panoramio
 Let visitors write and send eCards (email postcards)
 Include positive social media rankings (ex: #XX in Beijing on TripAdvisor)
 Use social bookmarking to track & share changes to competitors‟ websites
 Create a public e-Calendar to show upcoming events
 Add live chat support
 Publish videos of satisfied guests
LARA YOUNG

Organic Search Marketing(SEO)……
Make system……
User-friendliness
Search engine-friendliness
Travel booker-friendliness
Interactive relationship-friendliness
Which will……
Boost conversion rates
Improve search engine rankings
Increase website traffic
LARA YOUNG

Organic Search Marketing(SEO)
What hotel BJ Has Done Well:
 Focus on dominating global/local search
 Create local keyword lists by pairing geocentric keywords (BJ)
with industry keywords (luxury hotel)
 Hotel website has the right keywords in the right place
LARA YOUNG

Organic Search Marketing(SEO)-Con’d
What hotel BJ Should Continue to Work On:
 Optimize for REAL questions people ask
 Make hotel blog search friendly
 Appear in Google Maps„ local business listings
 * Establish a web presence, not just a web site
 * Understand hotel website presence in real time
 * Use Google Trends for websites
* Will be exemplified or detailed on the following slides
LARA YOUNG

Organic Search Marketing(SEO)-Con’d
Details of:
Establish a web presence, not just a web site
 Create and update blog
 Integrate social bookmarking services into hotel blog
 Comment on other relevant blogs with a link to hotel‟s site in the signature
 Take pictures of hotel facilities and post them to hot photo-sharing websites
 Shoot video of hotel and post it to video sites such as YouTube and Google
Video
 Get listed in user-written travel guides such as WikiTravel
 Join discussions about hotel local area in social networks such as
VirtualTourist
 Create Google Alerts to track what‟s being said about hotel online
LARA YOUNG

Organic Search Marketing(SEO)-Con’d
Example of:
Hyatt Website Presence
LARA YOUNG

Organic Search Marketing(SEO)-Con’d
Example of:
Hyatt Website Presence-con‟d
LARA YOUNG

Organic Search Marketing(SEO)-Con’d
Example of:
Hyatt.com on Google Trends
LARA YOUNG

Paid Search Marketing(PPC)……
There have been some dramatic changes in the way
search engines behave recently. No more results page
with only paid listing and organic results.
Today, you can find in the results page links, videos,
pictures or local business results...
You need to be there.
LARA YOUNG

Paid Search Marketing(PPC)
Urgent Work:
Use property features as keywords
Do keyword competitive analysis to find opportunities
Experiment with different match types (broad, phrase, exact)
Grab attention with ad copy
Use Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI) to include search phrases
Use unique reservation landing page
Use seasonality data
* Determine objective first (ROI, growth, market research, etc)
* Include industry & long tail keywords
* Try geo-targeting
* Will be exemplified or detailed on the following slides
LARA YOUNG

Paid Search Marketing(PPC)
Details of:
Determine objective first (ROI, growth, market research, etc)
LARA YOUNG

Paid Search Marketing(PPC)
Details of:
Include industry & long tail keywords
 As part of our search marketing work, we always build a large list of
keywords. Typically, these will fall into 1 of 3 categories:
 Broad, obvious ones (”Beijing hotel”)
 Longer, more targeted phrases (”Best Beijing luxury hotel”)(“Best
convenient traffic Beijing hotel”)
 Other, less related keywords (such as names of competing hotels
or other travel-related terms)
 But why not try these: “Beijing Trip Tips” or
“Beijing Business Travel Ideas”?
LARA YOUNG

Paid Search Marketing(PPC)
Example of:
Try geo-targeting
LARA YOUNG

Paid Search Marketing(PPC)-Con‟d
Long-Term Work:
Use professional keyword research tools
Create many ad variations for each ad group
Split test ad copy variations
Adjust keyword bidding strategies
Highlight special seasonal offers & update regularly
Experiment with ad placements (on travel websites)
Target specific demographics
Set up weekly statistics reporting
LARA YOUNG

Social Media……
Social Media can work partly as Online PR
Word of Mouth has always been the most important
lead generator for Tourism Businesses.
LARA YOUNG

LARA YOUNG

Social Media
Effective PR takes place in social media nowdays:
Monitor hotel brand name with Google Alerts
Use Google Trends to find what‟s hot
Offer an email alternative to RSS
Get listed in WikiTravel/ TripAdvisor/ Yelp/ VirtualTourist…
* Listen to what people are already saying about hotel
* Blog building and update
* Encourage distribution with ShareThis
* Focus hotel social media outreach on best groups
* Considerate twitter
* Create a Facebook page
* Will be exemplified or detailed on the following slides
LARA YOUNG

Social Media-Con‟d
Encourage guests to register with Yelp & Tripadvisor at check in
Ask for TripAdvisor hotel reviews when guests check out
Ask for Yelp reviews at the end of all in-house satisfaction surveys
When a guest compliments hotel, ask them to post a social media review
Print a social media review request on the back of hotel business cards
Start a Flickr photostream
Start a Flickr group
Start a YouTube channel
Shoot a video of hotel, and post it to Google Video
LARA YOUNG

Social Media
Details of:
Listen to what people are already saying about hotel
LARA YOUNG

Social Media
Details of:
Blog building and update
 Blog Types:  Blog Topics:
 Hotel  Strategic
 Brand  Experiential
 CEO/Manager blogs  Analytical
 Destination blogs  Crisis
 Trivial
 Interview
 Announcement
LARA YOUNG

Social Media
Details of:
Encourage distribution with ShareThis
LARA YOUNG

Social Media
Details of:
Focus hotel social media outreach on best groups
 The travel planners
 The media creators
 The bloggers
 The social media power user
 The journalists
LARA YOUNG

Social Media
Details of:
Considerate twitter
 Twitter Concept: “What are you doing now”
 But it is useful as a One-To-Many broadcasting tool.
 Ideas for using Twitter in the hospitality industry:
 Use Twitter Search to see what people are saying about hotel,
competitors, area, and industry
 Like most of social media, Twitter isn‟t just about pushing what you
have to sell. Try to be genuine to followers.
 Share ideas and links to interesting stuff we find.
 Ask followers for advice on new ideas.
 Break news on Twitter, especially if it affects web presence
 View Twitter as a way to build customer relationships, and show the
human side of hotel.
LARA YOUNG

Social Media
Example of:
Create a Facebook page
Case Study of Wanda Sofitel
BillBoard
Page
LARA YOUNG

Social Media
Example of:
Create a Facebook page
Case Study of Wanda Sofitel
Basic
Information
Page
LARA YOUNG

Social Media
Example of:
Create a Facebook page - Case Study of Wanda Sofitel
Pictures
Sharing
Page
LARA YOUNG

Social Media
Example of:
Create a Facebook page - Case Study of Wanda Sofitel
 Seasonal Promotion on facebook
LARA YOUNG

Social Media
Example of:
Create a Facebook page - Case Study of Wanda Sofitel
 Seasonal Promotion on facebook
LARA YOUNG

Social Media
Example of:
Create a Facebook page - Case Study of Wanda Sofitel
 Direct-response overview
Probably-Will-Go: 68
Conformed Participator: 33
TBC: 193
LARA YOUNG

Social Media
Bonus: 9 Social Networking Travel Sites Can’t Afford To Miss
LARA YOUNG

World of Web 2.0
Ways to Implement Web 2.0
 Website
 Organic Search Marketing(SEO)
 Paid Search Marketing(PPC)
 Social Media
Measurement & Analytics
Next Steps
LARA YOUNG

Measurement & Analytics……
post-impression and post-click
Track the
activity of each campaign and tract
conversions(bookings, room nights, revenues) from every
campaign.
To be ROI centric. Implement the latest website
analytics + campaign tracking technology to track ROI
and adjust marketing spend instantaneously based on
ROIs.
LARA YOUNG

Measurement & Analytics
For Sales Figures:
 Implement Google Analytics
 * Understand how Analytics can help with search optimization
 Develop meaningful metrics for digital marketing
For Brand/Production Awareness：
 Know which websites refer the highest quality traffic
 Track number of social media mentions
 Track social media satisfaction percentage
* Will be exemplified or detailed on the following slides
LARA YOUNG

Measurement & Analytics
Details of:
Understand how Analytics can help with search optimization
 Search traffic
 How much traffic are search engines sending, growth rates and
conversions
 Keywords
 Which terms are bringing the most traffic and affecting conversions
 Content performance
 Which content items are performing the best and search traffic growth.
LARA YOUNG

Next Steps:
BRAND HOTEL 2.0
ACTION NOW
LARA YOUNG

Thank you
Any inquiries, please contact:
Lara YOUNG
E: larayoung@hotmail.com
LARA YOUNG