This document discusses a professional paper written by Wendy Lim that evaluates the effects of social media networks in the hospitality industry. The paper provides a literature review on social media marketing and its benefits for the hospitality industry. Specifically, it discusses how social media allows companies to increase brand awareness, improve customer service and monitor brand reputation. While social media provides opportunities, it also poses risks if negative information is shared online. The paper aims to evaluate whether social media is an effective marketing tool for the hospitality industry and provide recommendations.
The importance of social media marketing as a promotional tool, A case study ...Virginia Sande
This document provides an introduction to a case study on the importance of social media marketing for Eventbrite.com. It begins with background on the growth of the event management industry and how social networks have become powerful platforms for promotion. The main problem addressed is how social media can be used as a promotional tool and how online word-of-mouth affects customers. The document outlines the theoretical framework, including how social media fits into integrated marketing communications and the concept of online word-of-mouth. It then describes the methodology, which is a case study of how Eventbrite uses social networks like Facebook and Twitter.
Importance of Social Media Marketing for Corporate Firms AVEACem Senkal
This document discusses the importance of social media marketing for corporate firms, using Avea as a case study. It begins with an introduction on the evolution of social media and increasing usage of social platforms. It then covers trends in social media marketing from both consumer and corporate perspectives. The document analyzes how Avea uses social media for marketing purposes, comparing its approach to competitors Turkcell and Vodafone. It finds that social media is effective for Avea to increase brand awareness, customer satisfaction and engagement while decreasing advertising costs. Overall, the document shows how understanding social media is crucial for companies to adapt their marketing strategies and benefit from this important new channel.
Analyzing the effects of social media on the hospitality industryBookStoreLib
This document analyzes the effects of social media on the hospitality industry from a consumer perspective. It discusses how social media has changed communication and allowed two-way interaction between businesses and customers. Many hotels are shifting marketing strategies from traditional methods to social media, which provides real-time feedback and engagement at low cost. The growth of social media users globally, especially through mobile access, means the hospitality industry must embrace social media platforms to build their brand and remain competitive.
Extracting Targeted Users from SNS using Data Mining ApproachIJSRD
This document summarizes a research paper that proposes using data mining clustering algorithms on social network data to identify targeted users for internet advertising. Specifically, it involves gathering post and comment data from a Facebook brand page, preprocessing the data by tokenizing, stemming, and removing stop words. Then a clustering algorithm will classify the posts and comments into categories to discover influential users. The goal is to develop a systematic technique to improve marketing strategies and target key users for online advertisements using insights from social network data and data mining.
The document discusses using social media, social marketing, and brain research to improve financial education. It provides an overview of key concepts from a symposium co-sponsored by Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and the FINRA Investor Education Foundation. The document covers using social media to engage different audiences, applying principles of social marketing, and utilizing findings from brain research to improve learning outcomes for financial education. Practical tips and examples are presented in areas like content strategy, audience analysis, and message design for social media platforms.
The document discusses how social media is becoming increasingly important and accessible, but still faces challenges regarding inclusion of people with disabilities. It summarizes SSB Bart Group's expertise in accessibility consulting and testing to help organizations ensure their social media strategies are inclusive. Key points include the growth of mobile social media, integration of social platforms across the web, use of location services, and the importance of educating stakeholders about accessibility best practices.
Facebook as communications tool in the digital age for marketersTouseef Ahmed
The upcoming of social media networks has altered the ways individuals interact with families, friends, businesses, and even strangers. Since, Social media is used as a communications medium, therefore it can rightly be said as a tool to reach out to that population already present on the platform. As per Statista, there are around 2.46 billion active social media users in and around the world. This is expected to grow to 2.77 billion users until 2019. An average user spent 135 minutes over Social media platform in 2017 as compared to 90 minutes spent over social media in 2012. Globally, total number of social network users surpassed the count of 2 billion users in 2016.
This document discusses how social media has changed how businesses interact with and engage customers. It provides an overview of the evolution of social media marketing and the two main approaches: passive, by analyzing user generated content; and active, using social media as an engagement and communication tool. The document also examines how companies can use influencers and hyper targeting on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. It aims to understand the role of social media strategies in creating buzz and engaging customers.
The importance of social media marketing as a promotional tool, A case study ...Virginia Sande
This document provides an introduction to a case study on the importance of social media marketing for Eventbrite.com. It begins with background on the growth of the event management industry and how social networks have become powerful platforms for promotion. The main problem addressed is how social media can be used as a promotional tool and how online word-of-mouth affects customers. The document outlines the theoretical framework, including how social media fits into integrated marketing communications and the concept of online word-of-mouth. It then describes the methodology, which is a case study of how Eventbrite uses social networks like Facebook and Twitter.
Importance of Social Media Marketing for Corporate Firms AVEACem Senkal
This document discusses the importance of social media marketing for corporate firms, using Avea as a case study. It begins with an introduction on the evolution of social media and increasing usage of social platforms. It then covers trends in social media marketing from both consumer and corporate perspectives. The document analyzes how Avea uses social media for marketing purposes, comparing its approach to competitors Turkcell and Vodafone. It finds that social media is effective for Avea to increase brand awareness, customer satisfaction and engagement while decreasing advertising costs. Overall, the document shows how understanding social media is crucial for companies to adapt their marketing strategies and benefit from this important new channel.
Analyzing the effects of social media on the hospitality industryBookStoreLib
This document analyzes the effects of social media on the hospitality industry from a consumer perspective. It discusses how social media has changed communication and allowed two-way interaction between businesses and customers. Many hotels are shifting marketing strategies from traditional methods to social media, which provides real-time feedback and engagement at low cost. The growth of social media users globally, especially through mobile access, means the hospitality industry must embrace social media platforms to build their brand and remain competitive.
Extracting Targeted Users from SNS using Data Mining ApproachIJSRD
This document summarizes a research paper that proposes using data mining clustering algorithms on social network data to identify targeted users for internet advertising. Specifically, it involves gathering post and comment data from a Facebook brand page, preprocessing the data by tokenizing, stemming, and removing stop words. Then a clustering algorithm will classify the posts and comments into categories to discover influential users. The goal is to develop a systematic technique to improve marketing strategies and target key users for online advertisements using insights from social network data and data mining.
The document discusses using social media, social marketing, and brain research to improve financial education. It provides an overview of key concepts from a symposium co-sponsored by Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and the FINRA Investor Education Foundation. The document covers using social media to engage different audiences, applying principles of social marketing, and utilizing findings from brain research to improve learning outcomes for financial education. Practical tips and examples are presented in areas like content strategy, audience analysis, and message design for social media platforms.
The document discusses how social media is becoming increasingly important and accessible, but still faces challenges regarding inclusion of people with disabilities. It summarizes SSB Bart Group's expertise in accessibility consulting and testing to help organizations ensure their social media strategies are inclusive. Key points include the growth of mobile social media, integration of social platforms across the web, use of location services, and the importance of educating stakeholders about accessibility best practices.
Facebook as communications tool in the digital age for marketersTouseef Ahmed
The upcoming of social media networks has altered the ways individuals interact with families, friends, businesses, and even strangers. Since, Social media is used as a communications medium, therefore it can rightly be said as a tool to reach out to that population already present on the platform. As per Statista, there are around 2.46 billion active social media users in and around the world. This is expected to grow to 2.77 billion users until 2019. An average user spent 135 minutes over Social media platform in 2017 as compared to 90 minutes spent over social media in 2012. Globally, total number of social network users surpassed the count of 2 billion users in 2016.
This document discusses how social media has changed how businesses interact with and engage customers. It provides an overview of the evolution of social media marketing and the two main approaches: passive, by analyzing user generated content; and active, using social media as an engagement and communication tool. The document also examines how companies can use influencers and hyper targeting on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. It aims to understand the role of social media strategies in creating buzz and engaging customers.
Discover the reasons why solar companies must embrace social media marketing. Enhance visibility and engagement with our expert insights on solar industry trends.
This document provides an overview of creating an effective social media strategy. It discusses:
- Listening to the existing social media landscape and conversations around your brand before developing a strategy.
- Analysing your brand, marketing challenges, competitors' activities, and influencers.
- Setting SMART objectives and key performance indicators to measure success.
- Creating an action plan that includes roles, tools, activity frequency, conversation plans, and guidelines.
- Implementing the strategy and regularly reviewing performance against objectives.
Social media marketing - MBA Project - International MarketingAnand Waindeshkar
The document discusses social media marketing in an international environment. It begins with definitions of social media and social media marketing. It then outlines the types of social media channels and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of social media marketing through a SWOT analysis. The document also explores the past, present and future of social media, and provides a case study on Ford's social media efforts. It concludes by emphasizing that social media is a powerful tool but must be used effectively.
Next Generation Social Media: Alignment of Business Processes and Social Inte...Vinay Mummigatti
As enterprises try to catch up with the social media buzz, many companies are starting to realize that it is difficult to define tangible business outcomes around social media investments. Social intelligence and social analytics are new con- cepts which have the potential to help enterprises move beyond basic marketing and define a goal-oriented strategy around social media.
The next wave of social media investments will be in enterprise programs that are designed to facilitate participation in social media interactions, analyzing the data generated and taking real time actions that govern product, marketing, distribu- tion and pricing processes.
The larger ecosystem of any enterprise includes business partners, employees and customers. Each of these constituents plays an important role in processes that govern innovation, customer experience, collaboration, supply chain, talent management and overall business growth. Social media is emerging as the glue that binds these groups and creates tidal waves that can make or break the fu- ture of any company. The only way organizations can ride this wave successfully is to track the social interactions, derive events and patterns that can lead to business process improvements across different functional areas. Another aspect of social media which is internal to an enterprise is in terms of collaborative busi- ness processes where collective knowledge sharing and decision-making is greatly enhanced through social tools.
Certain emerging trends in technology such as the collaboration between social media and mobile technology providers have created a revolution in the adoption rate of social media. The confluence of social media and mobile technologies is creating upheaval not just in competitive dynamics but also across social and po- litical spheres.
The focus of this paper is to enable organizations to define a strategy around Social Media and tie it to measurable outcomes as defined by core processes that are critical to the survival and growth of any enterprise.
This is my final year project on Social media Marketing for BBA examination under MAKAUT
Disclaimer-
This all facts are collected data from various new sportal and social sites
By Sandeep Rotte(545081).Praveen Komma( 544549).Management I.docxRAHUL126667
By Sandeep Rotte(545081).
Praveen Komma( 544549).
Management Information Systems
Sunny Onyiri
Social Media And Networking
Group D
Social Media
Social Networks are the websites which allow users to upload their contents such as Blogs, texts, pictures, videos and location etc to the web. The main advantage of social media is we can ignore the traffic to the content viewing.
It is considered as one to many communication methods as people can only repsond and comment on the content which we own and later we decide to write/record/delete the response or media by ourself.
Social Media in Real Time
In todays technical world it is easy to communicate from different locations using social networking sites such as facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Pinterest etc.
All above networking sites have gained popularity throughout the world in regards with their applications functionality and is usage.
Advantages Of Social Media
Increasing the brand awareness by implementing some digital marketings methods to raise the companies visibility and awareness of the brand performing in the marketing.
Exclude more inbound traffic : When people become aware of the brand then there will be less traffic of accessing and marketing them in users perspective patterns.
Search engine popularity and ranks can be raised by positioning the social media importance in business.
Disadvantages:
Decreases the F2F communication which is a main important task to be done when there is a need of interacting in presence.
Improves lazyness towards achieving aspects as the interaction is all online which makes individual become lazy of getting up and solving any issue.
Decreases interactions of friends, family closeness when there is only socially interacting online.
Social Networks
These are the websites which allow people to interact with each other and connect anywhere may be virtually or by sharing the content. Also helps in making friends and relations all over the globe.The most used social networking site is facebook , twitter, google etc(Ahmad & Ateeq, 2011).
Every social networking sites are raising their subscribers daily due to the fact that they are very easy to interact from anywhere in the world.
Facebook
Facebook has earned its repuation as best social networking site known to users where we can learn how to interact with friends, family etc.
It also helps us to write, read and take pics of any important stuff sent by any individual. The main advantage of using this sites is that they will make some important comments or send the documents.
This social networking site also advanced in making some good donations to charity by posting socially in the sites where people are reacting.
Advantages Of Social Networking Sites
There are many reasons why someone may choose to take advantage of social networks online.
Worldwide Connectivity: No matter if you are searching for a former college roommate, your first grade teac ...
1. The document discusses a social media plan for a new business called ABC focusing on the role and functions of social media. It defines social media and discusses the differences between social media, social networking, e-commerce, and e-communications.
2. The document analyzes the role of social media in small businesses including marketing, customer service, and sales. It also discusses specific social media platforms like Facebook and Google+ through SWOT and PESTLE analyses.
3. The role of social media in retail businesses is explored through generating awareness, marketing, customer service, and sales channels. The document concludes that social media provides opportunities for businesses through visibility, partnerships, and engaging with customers.
This document discusses social media and productivity among Generation 2.0. It defines Generation 2.0 as those born after 1997 who have grown up in the digital world and are expected to construct their identity, manage privacy, connect with friends, and collaboratively work with information online. The document provides statistics on internet, social media, and mobile usage globally and discusses how Generation 2.0 uses technology and digital tools. It also examines case studies on how social media has impacted credit worthiness, work, political uprisings, and banking and discusses maintaining digital ethics and avoiding social media addiction.
Project report on social media marketingKushal Tomar
This document is a project report on social media marketing in today's business. It was submitted by Kushal Singh Tomar to Uttaranchal University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a B.Com degree. The report analyzes how social media can effectively be used as a marketing tool for businesses and compares social media marketing to traditional marketing methods. It studies the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches. The report finds that social media presence provides benefits for all types of businesses and is a relatively cheaper marketing method than traditional advertisements.
Social networking is growing rapidly and entering the business world. Companies are realizing they must engage in social media to connect with customers. The SITEFORUM platform allows companies to create social networks for business to improve collaboration, knowledge sharing, and customer engagement. It provides content management, networking tools, and community building capabilities in a customizable and scalable software-as-a-service model. SITEFORUM has been successfully used by many large companies and helps organizations harness the power of social media.
Social Media for the Equipment Finance CompanySuzanne Henry
A presentation on how an equipment finance and leasing company may use social media and social networking for marketing and communications purposes. Findings from original grant research conducted in summer 2010 are included.
The document discusses how the world is increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA). It then provides statistics on digital marketing and social media usage in Saudi Arabia, highlighting that Saudi Arabia has high smartphone and social media penetration. Several benefits of using social media for businesses are outlined, such as learning about customers, reaching new audiences, improving customer service and generating leads.
Impact of social media on marketing caleb.pptxFaithfulness4
The document discusses the impact of social media on marketing. It begins by stating that social media has profoundly impacted modern business strategies and transformed traditional marketing paradigms. Social media platforms allow businesses to engage with target audiences in dynamic ways. The document then discusses how social media has empowered consumers to voice opinions and actively participate in shaping brands. It outlines some of the aims and purposes of analyzing social media's impact on marketing, such as understanding which social platforms are most popular and how branding awareness has changed. The document also provides examples of how some companies have successfully utilized social media to increase engagement. It concludes by stating that social media, when used strategically, can significantly enhance brands' visibility and customer relationships.
When I was a consultant for Plug Media Group, I spoke to a real estate investment group and gave this presentation that Jeff Dietrich and I developed.
While it\'s somewhat dated, many of the concepts still stand up, such as having a conversation using social media.
The document discusses how social media has changed marketing and consumer behavior. It notes that consumers no longer passively listen to advertising but are actively creating and selecting the information they consume. It emphasizes that companies must participate in online conversations to understand and engage customers on their terms. It provides best practices for social media marketing, including listening to customers, finding brand champions, and making engagement part of company culture.
The document discusses the rise of social media and its ushering in of a new age of marketing. It outlines how social media has transformed marketing from traditional strategies to those relying more on technology and digital communication. It provides an overview of major social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, blogs, and Twitter and how businesses can use each effectively as part of their marketing strategy. It emphasizes that in order to stay connected to customers and the marketplace, businesses need to embrace social media and integrate it into their overall marketing plans.
Social Media Marketing: From Entertainment to EssentialKristina Lane
Capstone research project where students were expected to synthesize and integrate learning experiences acquired through the program's previous courses while evaluating current media communications topics.
This document is a thesis submitted by Kristina Lane to Webster University in partial fulfillment of a Master's degree in Communications Management. It examines the impact and role of social media in businesses. When used correctly, social media marketing can increase brand awareness, promote customer engagement and loyalty, drive traffic to a company's website, and generate leads and sales. While initially created for entertainment, social media has revolutionized communications and marketing. The thesis aims to confirm the importance of social media utilization for businesses and that there are competitive disadvantages for those that do not utilize these platforms. It includes a literature review and examines the top performing social media of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram for business use.
An Analysis of the Impact of Social Media Marketing on Individual.pdfajinkyagodse2
This document summarizes a research study that analyzed the impact of social media marketing on attitudes and perceptions of students at Northern Virginia Community College. A survey was administered to 20 students to gather information on their social media usage, perceptions of social media marketing, and how it affects purchasing behaviors. The results showed that most students use social media daily, especially Facebook and Snapchat. While online visibility was deemed important, customer engagement was viewed as the most important factor for businesses using social media. The study concluded that social media marketing positively impacts brand loyalty, recognition and sales when used for customer engagement rather than just promotions.
welingkar final year project
https://youtu.be/8x5ADQ89nYc
Special discount for sileshare viewers
https://niraj7005.wooplr.com/search?q=Anarkali
Men & women product
Open below link
https://niraj7005.wooplr.com
For tour
https://www.facebook.com/DestinigoWorld
Why You Should Replace Windows 11 with Nitrux Linux 3.5.0 for enhanced perfor...SOFTTECHHUB
The choice of an operating system plays a pivotal role in shaping our computing experience. For decades, Microsoft's Windows has dominated the market, offering a familiar and widely adopted platform for personal and professional use. However, as technological advancements continue to push the boundaries of innovation, alternative operating systems have emerged, challenging the status quo and offering users a fresh perspective on computing.
One such alternative that has garnered significant attention and acclaim is Nitrux Linux 3.5.0, a sleek, powerful, and user-friendly Linux distribution that promises to redefine the way we interact with our devices. With its focus on performance, security, and customization, Nitrux Linux presents a compelling case for those seeking to break free from the constraints of proprietary software and embrace the freedom and flexibility of open-source computing.
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Discover the reasons why solar companies must embrace social media marketing. Enhance visibility and engagement with our expert insights on solar industry trends.
This document provides an overview of creating an effective social media strategy. It discusses:
- Listening to the existing social media landscape and conversations around your brand before developing a strategy.
- Analysing your brand, marketing challenges, competitors' activities, and influencers.
- Setting SMART objectives and key performance indicators to measure success.
- Creating an action plan that includes roles, tools, activity frequency, conversation plans, and guidelines.
- Implementing the strategy and regularly reviewing performance against objectives.
Social media marketing - MBA Project - International MarketingAnand Waindeshkar
The document discusses social media marketing in an international environment. It begins with definitions of social media and social media marketing. It then outlines the types of social media channels and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of social media marketing through a SWOT analysis. The document also explores the past, present and future of social media, and provides a case study on Ford's social media efforts. It concludes by emphasizing that social media is a powerful tool but must be used effectively.
Next Generation Social Media: Alignment of Business Processes and Social Inte...Vinay Mummigatti
As enterprises try to catch up with the social media buzz, many companies are starting to realize that it is difficult to define tangible business outcomes around social media investments. Social intelligence and social analytics are new con- cepts which have the potential to help enterprises move beyond basic marketing and define a goal-oriented strategy around social media.
The next wave of social media investments will be in enterprise programs that are designed to facilitate participation in social media interactions, analyzing the data generated and taking real time actions that govern product, marketing, distribu- tion and pricing processes.
The larger ecosystem of any enterprise includes business partners, employees and customers. Each of these constituents plays an important role in processes that govern innovation, customer experience, collaboration, supply chain, talent management and overall business growth. Social media is emerging as the glue that binds these groups and creates tidal waves that can make or break the fu- ture of any company. The only way organizations can ride this wave successfully is to track the social interactions, derive events and patterns that can lead to business process improvements across different functional areas. Another aspect of social media which is internal to an enterprise is in terms of collaborative busi- ness processes where collective knowledge sharing and decision-making is greatly enhanced through social tools.
Certain emerging trends in technology such as the collaboration between social media and mobile technology providers have created a revolution in the adoption rate of social media. The confluence of social media and mobile technologies is creating upheaval not just in competitive dynamics but also across social and po- litical spheres.
The focus of this paper is to enable organizations to define a strategy around Social Media and tie it to measurable outcomes as defined by core processes that are critical to the survival and growth of any enterprise.
This is my final year project on Social media Marketing for BBA examination under MAKAUT
Disclaimer-
This all facts are collected data from various new sportal and social sites
By Sandeep Rotte(545081).Praveen Komma( 544549).Management I.docxRAHUL126667
By Sandeep Rotte(545081).
Praveen Komma( 544549).
Management Information Systems
Sunny Onyiri
Social Media And Networking
Group D
Social Media
Social Networks are the websites which allow users to upload their contents such as Blogs, texts, pictures, videos and location etc to the web. The main advantage of social media is we can ignore the traffic to the content viewing.
It is considered as one to many communication methods as people can only repsond and comment on the content which we own and later we decide to write/record/delete the response or media by ourself.
Social Media in Real Time
In todays technical world it is easy to communicate from different locations using social networking sites such as facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Pinterest etc.
All above networking sites have gained popularity throughout the world in regards with their applications functionality and is usage.
Advantages Of Social Media
Increasing the brand awareness by implementing some digital marketings methods to raise the companies visibility and awareness of the brand performing in the marketing.
Exclude more inbound traffic : When people become aware of the brand then there will be less traffic of accessing and marketing them in users perspective patterns.
Search engine popularity and ranks can be raised by positioning the social media importance in business.
Disadvantages:
Decreases the F2F communication which is a main important task to be done when there is a need of interacting in presence.
Improves lazyness towards achieving aspects as the interaction is all online which makes individual become lazy of getting up and solving any issue.
Decreases interactions of friends, family closeness when there is only socially interacting online.
Social Networks
These are the websites which allow people to interact with each other and connect anywhere may be virtually or by sharing the content. Also helps in making friends and relations all over the globe.The most used social networking site is facebook , twitter, google etc(Ahmad & Ateeq, 2011).
Every social networking sites are raising their subscribers daily due to the fact that they are very easy to interact from anywhere in the world.
Facebook
Facebook has earned its repuation as best social networking site known to users where we can learn how to interact with friends, family etc.
It also helps us to write, read and take pics of any important stuff sent by any individual. The main advantage of using this sites is that they will make some important comments or send the documents.
This social networking site also advanced in making some good donations to charity by posting socially in the sites where people are reacting.
Advantages Of Social Networking Sites
There are many reasons why someone may choose to take advantage of social networks online.
Worldwide Connectivity: No matter if you are searching for a former college roommate, your first grade teac ...
1. The document discusses a social media plan for a new business called ABC focusing on the role and functions of social media. It defines social media and discusses the differences between social media, social networking, e-commerce, and e-communications.
2. The document analyzes the role of social media in small businesses including marketing, customer service, and sales. It also discusses specific social media platforms like Facebook and Google+ through SWOT and PESTLE analyses.
3. The role of social media in retail businesses is explored through generating awareness, marketing, customer service, and sales channels. The document concludes that social media provides opportunities for businesses through visibility, partnerships, and engaging with customers.
This document discusses social media and productivity among Generation 2.0. It defines Generation 2.0 as those born after 1997 who have grown up in the digital world and are expected to construct their identity, manage privacy, connect with friends, and collaboratively work with information online. The document provides statistics on internet, social media, and mobile usage globally and discusses how Generation 2.0 uses technology and digital tools. It also examines case studies on how social media has impacted credit worthiness, work, political uprisings, and banking and discusses maintaining digital ethics and avoiding social media addiction.
Project report on social media marketingKushal Tomar
This document is a project report on social media marketing in today's business. It was submitted by Kushal Singh Tomar to Uttaranchal University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a B.Com degree. The report analyzes how social media can effectively be used as a marketing tool for businesses and compares social media marketing to traditional marketing methods. It studies the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches. The report finds that social media presence provides benefits for all types of businesses and is a relatively cheaper marketing method than traditional advertisements.
Social networking is growing rapidly and entering the business world. Companies are realizing they must engage in social media to connect with customers. The SITEFORUM platform allows companies to create social networks for business to improve collaboration, knowledge sharing, and customer engagement. It provides content management, networking tools, and community building capabilities in a customizable and scalable software-as-a-service model. SITEFORUM has been successfully used by many large companies and helps organizations harness the power of social media.
Social Media for the Equipment Finance CompanySuzanne Henry
A presentation on how an equipment finance and leasing company may use social media and social networking for marketing and communications purposes. Findings from original grant research conducted in summer 2010 are included.
The document discusses how the world is increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA). It then provides statistics on digital marketing and social media usage in Saudi Arabia, highlighting that Saudi Arabia has high smartphone and social media penetration. Several benefits of using social media for businesses are outlined, such as learning about customers, reaching new audiences, improving customer service and generating leads.
Impact of social media on marketing caleb.pptxFaithfulness4
The document discusses the impact of social media on marketing. It begins by stating that social media has profoundly impacted modern business strategies and transformed traditional marketing paradigms. Social media platforms allow businesses to engage with target audiences in dynamic ways. The document then discusses how social media has empowered consumers to voice opinions and actively participate in shaping brands. It outlines some of the aims and purposes of analyzing social media's impact on marketing, such as understanding which social platforms are most popular and how branding awareness has changed. The document also provides examples of how some companies have successfully utilized social media to increase engagement. It concludes by stating that social media, when used strategically, can significantly enhance brands' visibility and customer relationships.
When I was a consultant for Plug Media Group, I spoke to a real estate investment group and gave this presentation that Jeff Dietrich and I developed.
While it\'s somewhat dated, many of the concepts still stand up, such as having a conversation using social media.
The document discusses how social media has changed marketing and consumer behavior. It notes that consumers no longer passively listen to advertising but are actively creating and selecting the information they consume. It emphasizes that companies must participate in online conversations to understand and engage customers on their terms. It provides best practices for social media marketing, including listening to customers, finding brand champions, and making engagement part of company culture.
The document discusses the rise of social media and its ushering in of a new age of marketing. It outlines how social media has transformed marketing from traditional strategies to those relying more on technology and digital communication. It provides an overview of major social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, blogs, and Twitter and how businesses can use each effectively as part of their marketing strategy. It emphasizes that in order to stay connected to customers and the marketplace, businesses need to embrace social media and integrate it into their overall marketing plans.
Social Media Marketing: From Entertainment to EssentialKristina Lane
Capstone research project where students were expected to synthesize and integrate learning experiences acquired through the program's previous courses while evaluating current media communications topics.
This document is a thesis submitted by Kristina Lane to Webster University in partial fulfillment of a Master's degree in Communications Management. It examines the impact and role of social media in businesses. When used correctly, social media marketing can increase brand awareness, promote customer engagement and loyalty, drive traffic to a company's website, and generate leads and sales. While initially created for entertainment, social media has revolutionized communications and marketing. The thesis aims to confirm the importance of social media utilization for businesses and that there are competitive disadvantages for those that do not utilize these platforms. It includes a literature review and examines the top performing social media of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram for business use.
An Analysis of the Impact of Social Media Marketing on Individual.pdfajinkyagodse2
This document summarizes a research study that analyzed the impact of social media marketing on attitudes and perceptions of students at Northern Virginia Community College. A survey was administered to 20 students to gather information on their social media usage, perceptions of social media marketing, and how it affects purchasing behaviors. The results showed that most students use social media daily, especially Facebook and Snapchat. While online visibility was deemed important, customer engagement was viewed as the most important factor for businesses using social media. The study concluded that social media marketing positively impacts brand loyalty, recognition and sales when used for customer engagement rather than just promotions.
welingkar final year project
https://youtu.be/8x5ADQ89nYc
Special discount for sileshare viewers
https://niraj7005.wooplr.com/search?q=Anarkali
Men & women product
Open below link
https://niraj7005.wooplr.com
For tour
https://www.facebook.com/DestinigoWorld
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The choice of an operating system plays a pivotal role in shaping our computing experience. For decades, Microsoft's Windows has dominated the market, offering a familiar and widely adopted platform for personal and professional use. However, as technological advancements continue to push the boundaries of innovation, alternative operating systems have emerged, challenging the status quo and offering users a fresh perspective on computing.
One such alternative that has garnered significant attention and acclaim is Nitrux Linux 3.5.0, a sleek, powerful, and user-friendly Linux distribution that promises to redefine the way we interact with our devices. With its focus on performance, security, and customization, Nitrux Linux presents a compelling case for those seeking to break free from the constraints of proprietary software and embrace the freedom and flexibility of open-source computing.
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The Effects of social media networks in the hospitality industry.pdf
1. UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones
9-2010
The Effects of social media networks in the hospitality industry
The Effects of social media networks in the hospitality industry
Wendy Lim
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations
Part of the Advertising and Promotion Management Commons, and the Hospitality Administration
and Management Commons
Repository Citation
Repository Citation
Lim, Wendy, "The Effects of social media networks in the hospitality industry" (2010). UNLV Theses,
Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 693.
https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations/693
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2. THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS IN THE HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
By
Wendy Lim
Bachelor of Science
William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration
Graduate College
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
1998
A professional paper submitted in partial fulfilment
of the requirements for the
Master of Hospitality Administration
William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration
Graduate College
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
September 2010
3. ABSTRACT
The Effects of Social Media Networks in the Hospitality Industry
by
Wendy Lim
Dr. Natasa Christodoulidou
Assistant Professor of Marketing
College of Business Administration and Public Policy
California State University
There are various platforms provided by the social media networks such as Facebook,
LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter to the marketing of products and services for the hospitality
industry. Social network offers media technologies that can facilitate online functionality and
monitoring perspectives wherein the data gathered can be used to develop their services for
customer satisfaction. The hospitality industry can market themselves in social media and
networking. Hospitality industry can use social media to engage customers and clients in
dialogue and recognize their needs. Through these networking sites, hospitality industry can
interact with consumers before, during, and after the vacation experience. Social media is
relatively new and the advantages are abundance such as it is affordable, it is viral and has the
potential to spread brand awareness quickly and far and it is said to be able to develop link
baits, attention and massive amounts of traffic. However, it may not be appropriate for all
hotel chains. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of social media in the
hospitality industry.
iii
4. TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT............................................................................................................... iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................................... v
LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………… vii
LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………………. vii
ACKNIOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………….. viii
PART ONE
Introduction................................................................................................. ……..2
Purpose of the Study……………………………………………………………..2
Statement of Problem…………………………………………………………….3
Statement of Objective…………………………………………………………...3
Justification........................................................................................................... 3
Limitation.............................................................................................................. 4
Glossary ................................................................................................................ 5
PART TWO
Introduction........................................................................................................... 6
Literature Review…………………………………………………………………7
Benefits of Social media marketing………………………………………………9
Social Media Network Contribution……………………………………………10
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Corporate Blob…………………………..11
Facebook…………………………………………………………………….12
Twitter……………………………………………………………………….13
YouTube…………………………………………………………………….15
Corporate Blog………………………………………………………………17
Implications………………………………………………………………….18
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………18
PART THREE
Introduction......................................................................................................... 20
Results…………………………………………………………………………..21
Social media the way to go…………………………………………………..22
Social media is more than just a ROI………………………………………..23
Success Stories of Social media in hospitality……………………………….24
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………27
Recommendation………………………………………………………………..30
References.............................................................................................................................. 34
v
5. LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Global Companies using at Least One Social Media Platform .................................... 10
Figure 2: Frequency and volume of Social Media Participation ................................................. 11
Figure 3: Viewer Activity on YouTube ....................................................................................... 16
Figure 4: Global 100 Companies with Blogs ............................................................................... 17
Figure 5: Consumer Trust in Advertising by Channel – 2007 vs. 2009 ....................................... 29
Figure 6: Purchasing Decisions Influenced by Reviews............................................................... 30
Figure 7: Active Readers accordingly to Age Group.................................................................... 30
LIST OF TABLE
Table 1: Social Media Metrics – Quantitative and Qualitative Factors ....................................... 21
vii
6. I am deeply appreciative
whose encouragement and guidance helped, set me
final level of understanding on the subject
succeed in completing this paper.
Special thanks go to my course mates, namely Nicholas and Mano among others
whom have given me the continuous encouragement during the course of this paper. And not
forgetting my family and friends for their u
me during the course of my studies.
Acknowledgements
I am deeply appreciative to my professor and chair, Dr. Natasa Christodoulidou
whose encouragement and guidance helped, set me on the right path from the initial to the
final level of understanding on the subject matter, without whose guidance, I
this paper.
Special thanks go to my course mates, namely Nicholas and Mano among others
whom have given me the continuous encouragement during the course of this paper. And not
forgetting my family and friends for their unconditional love, patience and support given to
me during the course of my studies.
viii
Natasa Christodoulidou,
from the initial to the
, without whose guidance, I may not have
Special thanks go to my course mates, namely Nicholas and Mano among others
whom have given me the continuous encouragement during the course of this paper. And not
and support given to
7. 2
Part One
Introduction
The emergence of Web 2.0, allows one with unlimited amount of things the individual
can do on the internet these days. The individual is not just restricted to emails or passively
absorbing the static information that is available on the web pages when browsing. It used to
be one-way but now the web is the platform where people can share information, hold a
decent dialogue, build both social and business connections.
Social media has recently been adopted by a small group of organizations’ integrated
marketing plans. There by infusing a mix of advertisement, public relations, their sales
promotion to produce a customer focused message. With the evolution of platforms such as
LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, we have the opportunity for exceptional access to
the guest (Lanz, Fischhof, & Lee, 2010). Since social media is so available to anyone with an
internet connection, it should be a platform that can be recommended to the hospitality
industry to increase their brand awareness and facilitate direct feedback from their customers.
A business that understands the advantage of social media is well aware that social media is
essential in developing new business in the current competitive and online driven
marketplace.
Marketing is an important aspect for any company involved in business. As such, it is
a competitive world out there, and social media marketing is the ‘new kid in town’ and it can
reach out to the people accessing these social media platform regularly. Communication is
essential for any corporation and business, therefore either they change the way information
is conveyed or be prepared to lose some of the audience. It is imperative for marketing
managers to continuously find a solution to appeal, keep new and current consumers
(Schneider, 2009). Social network is the ideal platform for communication that applies
perfectly with marketing in the virtual world. Social networks are groups of individuals who
8. 3
prefer to communicate with one another through a preferred site based on the profile created
for themselves (Laudon and Traver, 2007).
Purpose
The purpose of this manuscript is to give a descriptive overview of the state of social
media in the hospitality industry.
Statement of Problem
The hospitality industry tends to be very customer-centric and also one that prides
itself by reaching out to its guests and providing a personalized experience. In traditional
marketing, our lives are saturated by print media, radio and television. The downside of
traditional marketing is the high cost and it is a one-way communication. Social media
encourages customer engagement, and it being on Web 2.0, promotes two-way traffic. It
allows for a faster response and a low cost investment than is typically achieved with
traditional marketing.
Statement of Objective
The objective of this study is to evaluate the effects of social media networks in the
hospitality industry. Social media is relatively young and the objective for corporations to
invest and participate in social media platform is to offer an alternative mode of
communication and also it helps to cultivate long term relationships with their guests; Such as
promotional campaigns and new information can be pushed through social media channels.
Justification
Currently the hype surrounding social media strategies for marketing is on the
increase, but hotel industry is still trying to cope and see the advantage from the latest trends
on the internet. Social media such as Facebook and Twitter is growing daily. Challenges
faced by hotels is the ‘how to’ engage the consumers and to lead them towards becoming a
guest or share their experience for the hotel within their virtual network. For the past decades,
9. 4
the Internet has gradually changed to a stage where the search engines takes control of
website traffic .Therefore, businesses that jumped onto the social media wagon earlier see the
pay off , as they have established their relationships and viral networks (Walsh, 2010).
The research conducted in this manuscript will attempt to give an insight to the
hospitality industry on the effects of social media, furthermore to establish if social media is
effective and recommended, and if so, provide an insight and proposition for adopting social
media as a platform for marketing purpose.
Limitation
This study is based on secondary data and personal approach to evaluate the effects
of marketing and social media in the hospitality industry. The advantage of using secondary
data source is the fact that such information exists. It is less time consuming and data
gathering cost is reduced on studies as compared to using primary data collection.
According to Stewart and Kamins, the disadvantage of secondary data is when
collecting, reporting and interpreting the information; it consists of its own set of problems.
The data collected tend to produce deliberate and intentional bias, hence the findings has the
potential to arrive at varying conflicting conclusions (Stewart, & Kamins, 1993). It can be
hard to validate. Thus conclusion drawn from secondary sources must be done carefully.
The study will attempt to focus on issues in social media by utilising secondary data
to illustrate the matter stated with examples.
10. 5
Glossary
Facebook
A social networking site where conversations take place between friends and family, to share
photographs or humorous links you find on the Web and even locate long-lost friends
(Nations, 2008).
Flickr
A photo sharing website that enable the members to upload their own photos and enable new
ways of organizing pictures and have it publicly posted (Turnbull, 2005).
LinkedIn
A professional social network that connects one to trusted contacts and enables one to
exchange knowledge and opportunities with a network of professionals (Weinberg, 2007).
Social Media
Social media is a social instrument of communication that encompasses a media with a social
component (Commoncraft, 2008).
Twitter
Is a Miniature Blog where one can keep people abreast of what an individual is up to without
the need to spend a lot of time writing an entire post on the subject.
Youtube
Is a website where an individual is able to upload, share and view videos.
Web 2.0
The term "Web 2.0" is generally affiliated with online community that encourages interactive
information sharing, interoperability, user-centred design and collaboration on the World
Wide Web (O'Reilly, 2005).
11. 6
PART TWO
Introduction
Social Media Marketing (SMM) may be described as the act of using social networks,
online communities, blogs or any other Internet form of media for marketing. “It is the
umbrella term for the wide variety of tools and applications that give the Web its social
capabilities” (Miletsky, 2010, p. 75). These tools are inclusive of familiar social networks
like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and YouTube. The goal of social media marketing is to
gain brand awareness and interaction with the customers to talk about a specific business
(Csutoras, 2008).
Social Media Marketing concepts and techniques basically consist of:
1. Increase brand awareness of services,
2. Increase sales,
3. Educate and inform customers,
4. Improve customer service,
5. Monitor brand reputation.
Social marketing provides visibility and awareness for the brand; this is the awareness
that is essential to convert potential customers to loyal customers eventually. The secret is
to create a thematic content that can lead to an effective marketing campaign. This move
will generate brand awareness and the brand will be top of mind with the consumers if
they decide to buy the product or services. For example, on 25th
February 2010, Sony
reported that Sony Vaio's Twitter account had achieved over £1 million in sales.
Therefore Sony sees Twitter as a viable sales platform (Wares, 2010). Another success
story through the use of Twitter is by the third-largest maker of PC, Dell, which reported
that its promotions on Twitter have helped generate more than $6.5 million in orders for
PCs, accessories and software (Guglielmo, 2009).
12. 7
While traditional media keeps customers informed, social media goes a step further
by keeping the customers stimulated and involved. When a company gets their customers
involved and engaged, it leads to lasting working relationships with organizations. The level
of customer support increases with the use of social media since it is personal and interactive.
In the event of an unfortunate situation, social media may serve as a catalyst to turn this
situation into an opportunity for a company to extend their services and go the extra mile to
reverse the negative feeling.
Reputation management is a construe component of online activity for organizations
with plenty of internet users, especially their customers. Whereas some organizations
utilising the internet are cautious to project themselves in a way that suits specific audiences,
other internet users embrace a more open approach. For instance, a report by Deloitte, titled
‘Hospitality 2015’ states that social media and new technology trends are playing the key role
over the next five years towards the growth in the hospitality industry. With millions of
consumers having internet access around the globe, these numbers are expected to increase
by 50% in year 2015 (Deloitte, 2010). Nevertheless, the growth of social media can be
positive for consumers but it can be bad news or an opportunity for hotel operators. Jeremy
Wagstaff, a commentator on technology has shared that the most effective way to get
satisfactory service these days is to tweet about how bad it is. Since hospitality is a leisure
industry, social media may act as a disaster item for one’s brand (Wagstaff, 2010).
Literature Review
Overview
Social media may be interpreted in different ways depending on who is looking at it
and what approach one takes. In general, it relies on Internet and Web-based tools and
services to enable anyone the ability to publish information—be it data, audio, or video—on
the Web (Computer Economics, 2010). The hospitality industry has yet to identify the
13. 8
effectiveness of marketing through the use of social media. There is an abundance of
advantages such as low cost investment, direct customer communication, brand
communication and also it acts like a verbal evidence theory that people tend to believe when
compared to commercial advertising (Hailey, 2010). Direct communication is one of the
concepts that this manuscript will elaborate on. Direct communication allows for a two-way
communication with the customers and social media. This communication medium promotes
honesty and transparency. It can be considered a social vehicle and a platform for
communication to take place on a virtual environment. For example, one such company is
Danish butter brand Lurpak which launched a website called Bake Club. It is a platform for
baking fans to connect online with other fellow baking enthusiasts. In addition, it enables
Lurpak to connect with its consumers and hence the site allows Lurpak to build brand
knowledge (Labbrand Consulting, 2010). Such opportunities are also know as brand
communication.
The hospitality industry is very slow to gain momentum towards technology and is
reputed to be reluctant to adopt technological advances. Therefore, the industry has not
leverage on the power of social media and integrates it with their marketing initiatives. With
consumers becoming more immune to conventional advertising and communication channels,
the hospitality industry should turn to social media (such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter) as
a means of reaching out to their audience.
As Eva Abreu, the founder and publisher of NJSocialMedia, has stated that Social
Media has become very much part of everybody’s everyday life. For the technology
sophisticated users, social media is an alternative platform for them to enhance their
knowledge and widen their network of connection. Whilst for the non-technological
sophisticated users, they can learn from those whom are experienced in the IT aspect.
14. 9
However, for those whom do not make an effort to be involved will be regarded as obsolete
(Abreu, 2010).
The hospitality industry also fears social media because they think that it could be
detrimental to employee productivity or even fears that social media has the potential to
damage the company’s reputation. While social media engagement is essential to a business
branding and communication, it can also work against a business if used inappropriately.
However, a social media policy can be developed to educate and provide better understanding
for their employees to keep within a certain parameters and implications of their
participation. Nevertheless, there is a need to explore and discover if social media can
become the new "tool" for effective branding and marketing purposes.
Social media is considered by some just a tool. It is a tool for connection and a
medium for broadcasting. These social media tools are recommended to be used in the way
they are designed. For example, Twitter and Facebook are used as a marketing machine while
YouTube functions more as a public relations tool since it is video sharing website. In
addition, LinkedIn is a professional networking tool; it is a site for business minded
professionals to keep track of their contacts.
According to Mowat (2010) the adoption of social media such as Twitter, Facebook
and LinkedIn has opened up a variety of avenues and opportunities to listen to the (hotel)
guest. Owning a website is a form of marketing strategy; there has been a significant increase
in marketing over the Internet these days. While social media is fairly new to most, the
question on every business’s mind is as follows: is social media a distraction or a revenue
generator?
Benefits of Social media marketing
A study conducted by two seniors at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration,
Laura McCarthy and Debra Stock, explained that guest who travels frequently place their
15. 10
emphasis on reviews by consumers more so than the ratings awarded by established
organization, such as AAA and Forbes. It is also surprising to find that people were likely to
post both favourable and unfavourable review (Hospitality Industry, 2010). Nielsen states
that 57% of customers will research for online reviews before making a purchase of a product
or service (The Nielsen Company, 2010)
With the growing trend towards social media marketing, it is now reflected as an item
in some marketing budgets. These individuals in hospitality should always keep in mind the
benefits of social media. With the advancement of technology, social media is and will be
very much part of our daily lives. Online marketing can take place in several social media
platforms, and that should be taken into consideration for the marketing strategy of a hotel.
Each hotel is different and must be treated accordingly, so a blend of social media tools such
as Twitter, Facebook , YouTube and Corporate Blogs should be used if necessary.
Social Media Networks Contribution
According to Burson-Marsteller Fortune Global 100 Social Media Study 2010,
majority of global companies adopt a minimum of one source related to social media
platform. To a certain extent, 79% of the top 100 companies in the Fortune Global 500 index
are found to be applying at least one social media platforms (as shown in Figure 1): Twitter,
Facebook, YouTube or Corporate Blogs (Burson-Marsteller, 2010).
16. 11
Figure 1. Global companies using at least one social media platform. Adapted from Burson-
Marsteller Fortune Global 100 Social Media Study, 2010.
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Corporate Blogs
Burson-Marsteller (2010) compiled a report and state that there are some international
companies that acknowledge the value of engaging in social media. Within the cluster of
social media platforms, Twitter is the preferred media tool among Fortune Global 100
companies, with two-thirds (65%) having a presence on the social network. With at least one-
half are reaching audience through Facebook (54%) and YouTube (50%). One–third
maintains corporate blogs. Some of the very same organizations also see the value in the
frequency and sustained engagement. The vast majority with active Twitter accounts (82%)
have tweeted in the past week and at a high volume of an average of twenty-seven tweets
each (as shown in Figure 2). Fifty-nine percent have posted on their Facebook fan pages,
sixty-eight posted YouTube videos and thirty-six updated their blogsite (Burson-Marsteller,
2010).
If a hotel industry is not engaging in any of the social media activities like tweeting,
linking or having an active blog, it just means that the hotels are missing out on the huge
opportunity in digital marketing. To stay competitive in the digital world, the hotel has to be
engaged or be involved with their intended audience by participating in online discussions,
hospitality forums, podcasts, RSS feeds, and hotel review commentary while increasing
awareness and building relationships with both new and loyal customers.
17. 12
Figure 2. Frequency and volume of social media participation. Adapted from Burson-
Marsteller Fortune Global 100 Social Media Study, 2010.
Facebook
The question that arises in many hospitality businesses is why Facebook marketing?
Facebook, another source of social media, is a fantastic avenue to stay visible and successful
by making a face or a presence for the organization online. Facebook is one of the extensive
social network on earth and almost reaching the 500 million active users mark, yet it
continues to surpass former social networking giant MySpace. Nick O'Neill, a full time
entrepreneur building a digital media company, shares that the company may hit the 600
million user mark and surpass $1 billion in annualized revenue by end of 2010 (O'Neill ,
2010).The key component is to put in place an overall social media strategy instead of a
standalone plan for Facebook. Since the customers tend to visit different social media sites
and platforms with lightening speed, it is therefore imperative for companies to observe and
manage their presence within a given site as a tactical execution. It has to be able to leverages
site-specific features of the overall social media strategy (Manchanda, 2010).
In Facebook, people have a profile, but a hotel does not require a profile. Instead a
hotel is like a brand, and they need to have pages instead of a profile. A hotel which uses
Facebook must know their audience, and set up the pages according to their audience
demographic. With such information, the content is created and Facebook marketing
campaign must have the right exposure, awareness and motivation. With this in place, it can
increase people and followers for the brand.
O'Neill (2010) stresses that organizations tend to measure the impact of social media in a
quantitative way rather than in a qualitative way. This means that these particular
organizations tend to count the number of “followers” that are participating in Facebook
18. 13
instead of looking closely at these “followers” and analyzing their behaviour in relation to the
product; this can lead to recruiting them as unpaid evangelists (O'Neill , 2010).
Hjörtur Smárason, director of Scope in Iceland (a company specializing in branding,
social media and internet marketing) wrote in his journal about a most recent campaign done
by Radisson Blu Hotel. The mechanics were simple and effective, as they are giving away
"the greatest holiday in the world", and the winner will stand a chance to win 365 free nights
at any Radisson Blu hotel in the world and valid for five years. The competition started with
at least 1500 participants, and within three days, the numbers rose to 3000 participants. The
participants with the highest votes wins and Radisson Blu set up social media platform;
Facebook to enhance the voting capability .On hindsight, the increase in participants would
means that the branding for Radisson is spreading as far and wide in comparison with the
campaign (Smárason, 2010). Therefore when interaction takes place with the brand, a
community is built. People who were by-standers naturally become an advocate.
Twitter
Twitter is an effective medium for communications, whether it is to read or receiving
the latest news to virtual conversations and building community. That is a reason for one to
be on Twitter.
The apparent advantage for the hospitality industry to utilize social media is for the purpose
of customer service, and Twitter is the ideal medium for resolving customer related issues or
simply leaving a positive impact on the guest with a simple “thank you or you are welcome”
tweet. However, the finest in the business are going the extra mile in the customer service
arena. For example, the Wynn Las Vegas and Encore hotels use social media sites like
Twitter and Foursquare to improve their customer service efforts and better meet the
requirements of their guests. Hospitality businesses regardless of size — be it the largest
19. 14
hotel chain to the boutique hotels — have found their own exclusive way to harness the
power of Facebook and the distribution possibilities made available via Twitter.
The Hyatt Hotels launched their corporate twitter account in July 2009 and engaged
customer service staff on a round the clock shift around the world. A comment shared by
John Wallis, global head of marketing for Hyatt, explains that the Twitter initiative is to
provide the extra mile for service (Mackenzie, 2009). This is clear that people these days are
taking their communication to an open medium with the use of Twitter. Hence, hotels using
social media tools are indeed encouraging their customers to use the twitter service to voice
their opinions.
The secret towards an effective use of Twitter is for a hotels or an organization to observe
the following key points:
• Conduct Some Research,
• Determine Your Goals,
• Identifying a Twitter Profile,
• Build Social Equity,
• Track the conversion rate measure ROI.
It is essential to conduct a research and hotels likely to use Twitter should invest the time
understanding the types of conversations that is actively exchanged before executing a
communications plan of its own. Twitter can be used in many ways, therefore the hotel has to
determine their goals and the results it hopes to achieve through the use of Twitter. It can
either be a platform for customer support or broadcasting of information such as new
promotions or ad hoc activities during special occasions. Take for example, computer giant,
Dell; they use Twitter to sell products.
A profile of some kind has to be created. If it is for a hotel, a branded account would
be recommended as the Twitter name should reflect the name of the organization along with
20. 15
a company logo. Twitter etiquette can harness trust within the community and credibility as
well. To succeed in building social equity, customer engagement is vital. With all these in
place, tracking the conversations will sum up the results to better understand the current
trends and what it entitles in the social wed environment. These results should always map
back to the goals and objectives (Brito, 2010).
YouTube
As the Internet continues to grow and advance, YouTube is one of many social media
tools that hotels or a business can explore and maximise the potential of it. YouTube is a
video broadcasting channel, where millions of videos being hosted and viewed by 400
million people worldwide who are actively seeking information (Shipley, 2010). A hotel can
use YouTube to promote and communicate with the audience to the business, thus attracting
new customers by producing high-definition video or HD video and uploading them on
YouTube. These videos could be an event about the company or an introduction or
demonstration of a new product launched. Once videos are uploaded, it will reach the masses
and ultimately the intention of using YouTube is to draw people to the hotel or a business.
To prove that viral effect of social media tools are effective, a musician , Dave Carroll
took his revenge and composed a song titled, United Breaks Guitars’ and posted it on
YouTube after his guitar was damaged on a United Airlines flight. The video clip has the
country feel and actors were posing as baggage handlers and tossing guitar cases around the
airport tarmac while Carroll strums his guitar. To date the video has almost 8.8 million
viewers and still counting. With that video, Carroll’s music career has taken off and United
liked the video so much that it is being used internally to train their staff and ensure that the
customers will receive better service (Carroll, 2009).
As shown in Figure 3, a report by Burson-Marsteller (2010), based on per video
channel, it is able to attract 38,958 viewers. The viewers stay connected with the company via
21. 16
YouTube. This leads to an average of 452 subscribers per channel; in addition 54% of the
channels are boasting comments from viewers (Burson-Marsteller, 2010).
The hotels have the capacity to produce videos, and one other way to promote the
hotel is the use of testimonial videos from the customers. During the check-in process, the
customer can be informed that a short 5 minutes video of them could earn them some
incentive, such as a complimentary drink, a meal or a pair of tickets to an in-house
entertainment. Since reviews are vital in attracting customers to a specific hotel, these videos
have the potential to entice a potential customer to make a reservation at the hotel, instead of
their competition or similar. With that said, the perception of a hotel brand is more often
influenced by experience than by products.
On separate occasion, Aaron Schwartz, an executive recruiter who stayed at the
Marriott Renaissance Ocean Suites, Aruba in June 2008, made a video of the lovely beach,
flamingos and uploaded onto YouTube. That earned him a complimentary week’s stay when
the general manager of the resort liked the video (Yu, 2008).This gesture encourages their
guests who are social network enthusiasts (SNE) and as a result hotels take online videos
more seriously as a marketing tool. Hotels can either create their own content to showcase
their property or compliment it with their guests’ videos (Yu, 2008).
Figure 3. Viewer activity on YouTube. Adapted from Burson-Marsteller Fortune Global 100
Social Media Study, 2010.
22. 17
Corporate Blog
Corporate blogs or blogs is a new-age way of communicating online. Corporate blogs
are usually used as the public interface to the company. It gives a personal touch which is
why a lot of small companies, especially the web-based ones are using this as a combination
of customer support, PR/Media announcements and generally a way to get messages through
to the targeted audience (or employees/partners) in a more personal manner.
A blog is simply the colloquial short version of a Weblog and it’s a combination of
‘web’ and ‘log’ which means a website. It is generally low cost as compared to traditional
marketing strategies. The use of corporate blogging enables companies to strengthening
relationships with their customers. As shown in Figure 4, corporate blogs are surprising
popular in Asia-Pacific (Burson-Marsteller, 2010).
Figure 4. Global 100 companies with blogs. Adapted from Burson-Marsteller Fortune Global
100 Social Media Study, 2010.
The hotels should take advantage of corporate blogging to market their business and
reach out to its audience online like Bill Marriot, Chairman and CEO of Marriott
International. In January of 2007, Bill Marriot entered the Blogosphere to a much talked
about topic in the Blogging community (Brusha, 2008). The intention for the blog is to
provide a channel for their audience to interact with Bill Marriott and hear what the audience
have to feedback and build on the community. Mr Marriott takes his audience on a journey
23. 18
with him using social media. The intent is very clear, purely communication with the
customers globally. Bill engages in a dialogue to learn and grow as an organization and to
stay connected with the customers wherever he may be. It links back to the header on the
blog, it reads, Marriott on the Move!
Implications
The customers are getting more resourceful and would do their research online for
their travel needs before making a decision. A lot of time is invested and when online
initiatives are carried strategically, they are able to see the fruits of their labour. Hotels that
experience healthy returns on their investment should continue to increase their intensity on
the time spent in order to build the business for their online market. While others who have
not venture into the online era for their business, must be aware that their customers may not
necessary make a booking online, but would utilize online resources when making a decision.
A number of these concepts may be implemented using a variety of tools. The tools
that were selected for this study were chosen based on their fit to explore each concept.
Before considering implementations for any of these concepts, it may be of value to create a
Strategic Marketing Plan that outlines the goals, tactics, and strategies for the project
involved. In this manner, the organization will have the guidelines in place for the
implementation of the ideas. In addition, this can serve as a timeline for intervals of three,
six, or nine months milestones, so the goals can be measured. In the absence of a strategic
plan, the organization may find it challenging to keep up with the inbound marketing tactics.
Finally, without a timeline and a performance measure plan, it may be difficult for an
organization to determine the level of success or failure.
Conclusion
It may appear that utilizing social media tools have a variety of advantages; it also has
a fair share of disadvantages. Nevertheless, if an organization focuses on the two key issues
24. 19
such as engagement and content, it will maximize the potential of social media tool. The
brand has to know the target audience and engage in conversations that are credible with
relevant content. Overall cost of investment is low and since social media is the platform for
communications and engaging between the brands and the consumers, it will eventually lead
to brand recognition. One fundamental point to be aware is that social media may appear to
be low cost; however it will require the investment of time. The organization will have to set
clear objectives when using social media and have the right set of strategies for the respective
business in order to succeed in the marketing strategy (King, 2009).
Unlike traditional media which is one way, social media has an added advantage as it
is a two-way communication and conversations are exchanged as a result. Traditional
marketing tools such as print advertising, direct mail, and even email blast may be losing
their effectiveness since consumers are going online before making a purchase (Green, 2009).
With the internet, consumers source for trusted sites for hotels recommendations when
making travelling arrangements. These tools allow the consumers to start a conversation and
potentially are at the advantage to be converted as the brand ambassador.
Even though the hospitality industry has not gone full trotter on social media
adoption, some international hotel chains already understand the effects and are taking
advantage of the benefits. The organization requirements and direction of the business has to
be considered when considering the implementation of social media. In brand
communication, in order for the organization strategies to be effective, social media needs to
be integrated within the strategies before execution takes place. The study will examine the
suitability of social media as a method of marketing for the Hospitality Industry.
25. 20
Part Three
Introduction
Hotels properties whether they are classified as boutique or hotel chains that plan to
use Social Media – need to have the ground work established and carried out strategically to
engage the potential customers to the hotel. While social media is not costly to set up
compared to traditional marketing tools, there is still a need for a concrete plan to execute the
process and determine the measurables in terms of brand loyalty and ROI (Whalen, 2010).
A social media strategy plan may comprise of some of these following
questions and factors where an organization should pay attention to:
• What is the main purpose? Is the objective meant for awareness,
loyalty or sales driven?
• What kind of relationship to established with the customers?
• Establish if the customers utilizes any form of social media.
• What do the customers use social media for? As a blogger, information
seeking or a contributor to feedback and complains.
• Determine the metrics to be used to measure brand loyalty and ROI.
Among the above mentioned factors, measuring the metrics for success of social
media is often not done by organizations. Based on a 2009 Mzinga and Babson Executive
Education study, it is known that at least 80% of professionals do not take into account the
ROI for their social media programs for their company (Dash, 2010). The metrics can be
measured quantitatively and qualitatively, so as to collect both the ‘concrete’ numbers and
anecdotal evidence (feedbacks, comments, pictures etc) to give a holistic and accurate
perspective to social media strategy (Brown, 2010). Table 1 lists the social media metrics –
quantitative and qualitative factors.
26. 21
Table 1.
Description Quantitative Qualitative
Activity Ratio – Events that
are being initiated
Number of posts,
Frequency of updates on post
Feedbacks
Returns – Brand Loyalty and
ROI
Number of leads,
Conversion rate,
Track through promotional
codes
Size of network,
Numbers of members that
will re-share the information,
Frequency of members who
re-share
Positive and Negative
Stories,
Learning
There is a definite advantage when considering the metrics strategy while devising the
overall social media strategy for a property. The earlier the thought process is established
regarding what needs to be tracked in these six categories, the better innovative social media
strategy to be ROI-oriented will be formulated (Brown, 2010).
The successful hotel brand website as it appears currently will take a whole new different
perspective in the not so distant future; it will need to be the primary gathering place for all
brand points online – as well as the place for transaction (Whalen, 2010).
Results
The importance of Social Media is still growing and could well become an essential
mode of communication towards interacting with the customer and hotels can take advantage
of this trend and rip the benefits in terms of online placement and revenue. The hospitality
27. 22
industry may question itself on why to introduce social media and what could the benefits of
the social media elements entitle; the results below are gathered from various independent
sources in the hospitality industry.
Social media the way to go
The experience of being online enables a more open and direct form of interaction
with the customers. Both parties can also reply to any questions or feedback and be engaged
in a two-way communication. It is an effective way to spread a piece of information by word
of mouth through the social network –hence becoming an advocate towards an organization’s
message or cause within the social and reaching the areas that cannot be reached on some
occasions.
According to Jake Hird, a Senior Research Analyst for E-Consultancy, taking 50
million as the benchmark, radio achieved that number of listeners in 38 years. Television
reached that same number of viewers in 13 years. The internet took four years and iPod only
required three years to reach that same number of users. Comparatively, in less than nine
months, Facebook managed to reach 100 million users, while 1 billion iPod applications were
downloaded in same time frame. (Hird, 2009).
The revolutionized of digital communication is overwhelming and as such, the ever
increasing social media tools can only get better and embracing this phenomenal change will
lead a business to build a long term strategic business asset. Traditional marketing should not
be abandoned nor should one jump onto the social media wagon to create a profile
immediately; but it is imperative to have a strategic plan on the usage and implementation of
social media and this could well save some marketing dollars on advertisement. It is obvious
that a hotel can save money, build and grow a network along with enhancing the relationship
with the customers. It is also an excellent way to provide better client service and a long term
investment with the customers (Tassava, 2010).
28. 23
Social media is more than just a ROI
Social media has a small costs but it is relatively much lesser than traditional
marketing tools. It can be a challenge to measure as compared to certain business that has
straight forward cost and revenue. Nevertheless, social media cost encompasses various
factors such as a company goals, metrics, direct cost and time taken; of which most are
indeed soft measurement so plainly put it as qualitative (Brown, 2009).
Along with quantitative measurements, social media costs are mainly associated with
qualitative measurements, and the value of the activity plays an important role versus some
ROI to be gained. While time is often the main issue where social media is concern, yet it is
not measurable unless there is a dedicated team to manage the social media activities; and at
most times such activities that involve social media will take place in bite size. Hence the
essence of time would fall under the qualitative measurement. The success of social media is
based on the volume of networks, relationships building and conversations that are moving
around in the social circle. Time is required to build up the relationship and be connected
with key players within the social platform and ensure the content that goes out is of quality
and not simply to create a ‘buzz’.
The success of social media is beyond just measuring the bottom line, but instead it
can be qualify by the numbers of followers, fans or links to the website. Just like blogging,
the success rate is determined by the amount of comments received as much as being able to
comment on other blogs and establish an exchange of conversation.
Jason Falls, one of the most in-demand speakers in the social media states that ROI is
a business metric and not a media metric. Therefore it is not fair to insist that the
measurement of social media marketing success be based upon a calculation of “ROI.” It
does exactly measure up to all of what social media can do (Falls, 2010). A presentation at
29. 24
the Social Media Success Summit 2010, Falls outlined the five areas that is beneficial to a
company’s social media marketing efforts and details how to measure them. They are:
• Branding and Awareness,
• Building Community,
• Customer Service,
• Research and Development,
• Direct Sales (Falls, 2010).
Success Stories of Social media in hospitality
There are many third party companies that take care of reservations online for
independent hotels or multi property groups and resorts. One such company is
NORTHWIND, provider of Maestro Enterprise Property Management hotel software and
reservation software solutions for the industry’s leading hospitality partners.
The Gainey Suites Hotel in Scottsdale have had many write ups on being the ‘social
media’ hotel and how social media helped generates hundreds of room nights. This is
contributed through the strong Twitter followings along with online videos via YouTube and
also Flickr photo sharing site where photographs are being shared on how attractive the
property is. Promotions and information on special events at the hotel are being featured
through Facebook and leveraging further since it is ranked number one in Tripadvisor.com
(Travel Industry Wire, 2010).
Rich Newman, general manager of the Gainey Suites Hotel admits that the hotel has
the freedom to get creative online with social media, promote their hotels with a creative style
which could not have been possible to do on the website; and having the Maestro’s ResWave
booking engine on the website creates links to the social media pages. These links eventually
drives business because potential customers are able to view rich-media hotel presentations
and eventually customers respond by making a reservation based on the unique and
30. 25
personalized likes of what was featured online. Such social media strategy would then
translate to hundreds of room-nights and the hotel’s food and beverage business has a share
of the pie (Travel Industry Wire, 2010).
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is a multinational company and is the world’s
largest hotel group by number of rooms. Currently, IHG owns, manages, leases or franchises
4,400 hotels and more than 650,000 guest rooms in 100 countries all around the globe. IHG
adopted social media platform at the fourth quarter of 2009. According to Kevin Hickey,
IHG's global manager of lifecycle and e-mail marketing, shared that it was the emphasis on
CRM enablement, and realizing the opportunities lies at the center of conversation with the
customers—mostly due to technology that prompted the need to take a different approach to
the email marketing efforts and integrate the email system and enable sharing (Fletcher,
2010).
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is ahead of many of its competitors and
currently introduced its second phase of the mobile application strategy with the global
launch of its Priority Club Rewards application for the Android. The new application will
allow the customers to locate and make or cancel a reservation from the seven IHG’s brands.
The Priority Club Rewards application for the Android came after the release of the Priority
Club Rewards iPhone application in April 2010. This application has been downloaded
70,000 times or more globally and has generated nearly $3 million in revenue. The enhanced
mobile brand websites and the iPhone application have generated $2.5 million for IHG per
month (InterContinental Hotels Group, 2010).
Michael Menis, vice president, Global Interactive Marketing, IHG, said, “The growth
of the mobile capabilities and their success in the marketplace in just one year indicates that
the customers want access to information wherever and whenever they want”(Menis, 2010).
31. 26
Without a doubt, mobile marketing enables the customers to be entertained and kept abreast
of the latest information. (Michael and Salter, 2006).
In order to understand if social media is working for an average size hotel, the hotel
operators need to observe how well social media is working for hotel chain or a group of
properties. Majority of companies that are open to social media sites would have started with
at least a Facebook or a Twitter account; however, the Four Seasons takes on further with
social media. Take a look at the Four Seasons’ Social Media At-A-Glance page, one would
notice that there is a presence found on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and downloads for
mobile and web applications. This is not all, and with each click on the social platform, there
is more to it, such as:
• Twitter. Four Seasons has a localized Twitter account for each property, instead of a
main Twitter account. This enables potential or existing customers to have a
conversation and to receive individual twitter feeds as it is both fun and friendly. Each
property is unique and the localized accounts become more personal to the customers
and promotions are more specific to each property.
• Facebook. Each property has its own Facebook profile and pages, instead of a
corporate Facebook account. Additional facilities such as polls page, booking forms
and special offers are inclusive in the account.
• YouTube. A collection of short video clips is available on the Four Seasons YouTube
channel. The intent is to give the potential customers an idea of a specific resort and to
entice into making a reservation.
• Download Apps and Widgets. The Four Seasons would have done a research and
decided to cater to travelers by reaching out through an iPhone application. There is
also a Facebook app and an embeddable widget for one’s website or blog site (Brown,
2010).
32. 27
The Four Seasons is doing well in the application and use of social media, as it can reach out
to the customers worldwide. The social media tools and applications made available to the
customers are well covered for now. It ties the Four Seasons brand which symbolizes-
impeccable and unforgettable customer service; hence the availability of social media gives a
whole new meaning of customer services for the customers.
Another well known property chain, the Wyndham Grand London Chelsea Harbour
hotel took the initiative to marketing the property online and created a corporate blog to
increase their online presence. The initiatives included setting up a branded social network
pages on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, with efforts taken to manage and maintain the
daily updates.
These initiatives were successful and the Wyndham Grand website and blog observed
a 20% growth in targeted traffic. At the same time, the branded social network platforms
observed an increase in “followers” at an estimated increase of 30% per month. As expected,
the business opportunities and the inquiries continue to rise as part of the increase in the
online environment (Brady, 2010).
Conclusion
The hospitality industry was one of the product leaders in understanding the value of
the Web site and the most importantly the value of search engine optimization (SEO). As a
natural result, the hospitality industry embraced the possibilities of social media. The hotel
websites in their infancy stages were understood by marketers as the equivalent of a brochure
in an online environment. At the moment, social media is still evolving and its potential in
this industry still remains to be seen.
Social Media is an integral part of the real-time search algorithm. It creates a real
connection between companies and customers; that connection creates a trend for purchase
intensity. Ongoing connection and relationship with the guests will eventually turn them into
33. 28
ambassadors and a volunteer marketing army. The property needs to ensure that social media
is an integral part of the overall marketing plan. Should the budget and resources become
limited, then social media domain needs to be monitored in an effective manner. Hoteliers,
who want stay ahead of the curve, need to invest today in the media that is fast emerging as
the future of internet marketing (Aggarwal, 2010).
In this time and age, it is not how social media can be used to attract customers, but
instead how the customers are using social media to locate the source and then decides on the
outcome. Social media is a form of “social validation”. When customers do not have
sufficient information to make independent decisions, it would lead to information being
source externally through friends and family or external parties.
The most valuable social validation occurs through viral marketing when individuals
that one trusts, recommends a product. For example, when Twitter tweets or Facebook posts
are looped by individuals that have social influence, it is amazing to observe the snowball
effect in action in spreading this recommendation.
The next time a marketing blast regarding the same product occurs, the social media fans
will be excited to receive it.
Another question that arises is whether consumer generated reviews can have an
impact for a business. In July 2009, the Nielsen Company announced the results of a study
that was conducted in 50 countries with 25,000 participants (refer to figure 5). Ninety
percent of participants that participated in the survey shared that they trusted
recommendations from individuals they know on a personal basis, while seventy per cent
stated that they trusted consumer opinions that were posted online (The Nielsen Company,
2009).
Jonathan Carson, President of Online, International, for the Nielsen Company was
reported as saying, “The explosion in Consumer Generated Media over the last couple of
34. 29
years means consumers’ reliance on word of mouth in the decision-making process, either
from people they know or online consumers they do not, has increased significantly” (The
Nielsen Company, 2008).
The report as portrayed in Figure 5 illustrates consumer trust (The Nielsen Company, 2009):
Figure 5. Consumer trust in advertising by channel - 2007 vs. 2009. Adapted from The
Nielsen Company, 2009.
In a completed study by Deloitte's Consumer Products Group (as shown in Figure 6),
sixty two percent of the respondents to an online poll said they now read online product
reviews posted by other consumers. Out of which, eighty two percent who read reviews said
that their purchasing decisions have been directly influenced by those reviews. Customers are
using the reviews to confirm their initial buying decisions; these reviews can also influence
the customers in changing their buying decisions (Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, 2010).
35. 30
Figure 6. Purchasing decisions influenced by reviews. Adapted from Deloitte & Touche USA
LLP, 2010.
While the percentages appear to be a little higher for younger shoppers, all age groups are
reading and acting on online reviews, based on this study (as shown in Figure 7). In addition,
sixty nine percent of the respondents stated they have shared online reviews with friends,
family and colleagues.
Figure 7. Active readers according to age group. Adapted from Deloitte & Touche USA LLP,
2010.
Recommendation
The Web 2.0 world gives opportunity to a regular consumer the freedom of speech
and asserts their opinion, where companies have to keep their message transparent. Since
36. 31
information is readily accessible through the internet while on the move, it is important that
companies maintain an effective and transparent internet marketing campaign.
Traditional marketing has become less effective and consumers prefer information of
a product from a non-biased source so they can derive at a decision on a company’s products
or services. . Social Media may be defined as to web applications, tools, software, or websites
that can connect individuals and companies. Some of the most popular social media sites are
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. These sites provide the possibility for individuals to
connect electronically with other individuals who may have similar interests, read each
other’s opinions, and to form their own decisions based on what they read from the these
“communities”. Just as in the non-virtual world, companies must find ways to maintain
visibility and have customers practice viral marketing.
Social Media is not only about connecting people and exchange of opinions. It can
play a vital role in marketing, messaging, and customer interaction. Social media together
with the hospitality industry can make a great pair. Nevertheless, it is unfortunate that very
few hotels actually know how to make that happen. As a result, the strategies for social media
undertaken by the hotels are full of mistakes, which results in countless number of missed
opportunities.
One common mistake that hotel tend to make is insufficient social media visibility for
the property. Social media is new in the hospitality industry and there are occasions when
hotels hide the social media presence without realizing the non-intended action. It defeats the
purpose of how social media is meant to impact a business. The property may have Twitter
and Facebook account, but without any indication, these guests may not even have known the
property has a social media account. Therefore having visibility or some form of in-house
literature such as newsletters, in-room feedback cards, food and beverage outlets receipts) to
37. 32
inform the guest on the social media presence, would be an advantage to encourage the
existing customers to join the hotels’ social media network.
Some hotels’ website have social media widgets that are either non-existing or the icons
too small for the eyes of the customers. However, if widgets are not placed strategically, be it
too small or barely noticeable, then it also defeats the purpose. Take for example, the Four
Seasons Hotel in Singapore [http://www.fourseasons.com/singapore/] –the link to the social
media widget is right at the bottom of the webpage and font is too small; and some hotels do
not create a link from the social media accounts to the corporate website. This hinders the
effectiveness of social media. Social media is about connecting with the customers and
enabling a two-way conversation, and widgets should be placed at the strategic location on
the website.
Dr. Nielsen a user advocate has conducted a research in this area. He has found eye
tracking visualizations show that users often read Web pages in an F-shaped pattern: two
horizontal stripes followed by a vertical stripe (Nielsen, 2006). A widget or content that is
placed within the F-shaped of a webpage will be effective.
Surfing the internet can be fun and informative. It is a platform for dialogue to take place
between the customers and a brand. While most hotels want to maintain a corporate image,
on the other hand, the tweets tend to lose the essence of fun. A tweet which does not spark
any interest in the twittersphere environment loses the connection of the social media
community. Followers may not necessary enjoy reading informative tweets and to add some
light-hearted tweets helps to bond on a different level. Occasional quizzes or contests can be
added in the tweets to create an element of fun during an update of tweets.
Finally to set up a social media account can be a simple and linear task. However,
securing an account is does not finalize the marketing of the social media component nor can
it generate revenue. What it requires is consistent updates and to reiterate what social media
38. 33
is all about. One must not forget about socializing and the same principle applies for all
social media accounts; a stagnant account is no different from leaving the account to collect
dust.
Setting up and running social media marketing can be significantly less expensive than
advertising buys, traditional public relations (PR) and big trade shows. However, if a
company suffers from time poverty, then social media may be an additional cost. Time can
be a scarce commodity for an organization and social media campaigns may need a time
investment. Social media campaigns are far from a project where an organization will pay
and wait for the results. For a social media strategy to be successful, daily web monitoring is
a necessity. The company needs to comment on related blog posts and be in touch with the
online influences on a personal basis. In order for a social media campaign to produce the
expected results, it is recommended that 25% of the time of the marketing department is
dedicated to this task.
Currently, social media has a strong presence in the hospitality field. Past hotel guests
and potential future hotel guest are influencing and are influenced by each other in the virtual
environment especially through the usage of online reviews. Having social media strategies,
tactics, and even a department dedicate to these tasks appears no longer to be a product
enhancer but rather a product qualifier. The hoteliers need to take social media seriously and
not ignore it in the hope that it will go away.
39. 34
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