THE
POSTS WITH THE
MOST
NEW SOCIAL MEDIA FEATURES AND TECHNIQUES ARE DRIVING REVENUE AND BETTER QUANTIFYING IMPACT .
By Nathan Greenhalgh , associate editor
While it ’ s becoming easier and easier for hotel companies to obtain direct revenue from social media campaigns , there ’ s disagreement about whether this is the most effective approach to the medium . In the meantime hotels are increasingly using video , prize contests and Google + to reach larger audiences .
What follows are insights from hotel companies about their personnel structure , goals and techniques for social media . Representatives from Facebook and Google as well as social media specialists also weigh in about how hotel companies are reacting to what ’ s trending in social .
TRENDING : ORGANIZATION
ROI VS . ENGAGEMENT
While some hotel companies say the primary focus of their social media campaigns is engagement , others are after direct return on investment .
COMPANY :
FOUR SEASONS HOTEL GROUP , TORONTO
HOW IT DEFINES SUCCESS : Says it ’ s looking for tracked sales leads and conversions from its social media web traffic .
HOW MANY HIRED : Digital media now comprises 50 % of Four Seasons ’ marketing budget . The company employs a team of three at the corporate level dedicated to social media posts while a separate guest services team monitors Facebook and Twitter for CRM-related posts . “ All our Facebook posts and tweets are created internally by our social media team ,” says Elizabeth Pizzinato , vice president of brand communications at Four Seasons . Most individual Four Seasons hotels have Facebook and Twitter accounts — with the exception of Chinese properties — and most handle their own posting , but some utilize public relations companies to assist with content creation .
HOW ACTIVE : Between its corporate and individual hotel presence the company has more than 90 Facebook fan pages and Twitter handles , where it averages 140 weekly tweets . Two videos a week are uploaded to YouTube . “ Each property is encouraged to tweet at least a couple times a day and respond to direct queries as quickly as possible ,” Pizzinato says .
24 HOTELS April 2012 www . hotelsmag . com