SPECIAL REPORT : SOCIAL MEDIA
A Four Seasons post on its Google + page and users ’ reaction
COMPANY :
THE ROGER SMITH BOUTIQUE HOTEL , NEW YORK CITY
HOW IT DEFINES SUCCESS : Increasing its events business . “ Growth in our events calendar has increased dramatically ,” says John Knowles , president of Panman Productions , which coordinates social media for Roger Smith . “ There are people out there reaching out to you that want to bring you their business . You have to be able to make those connections and have a sales mindset .”
HOW MANY HIRED : The independent hotel has eight of its staff members involved in posting social media content .
HOW ACTIVE : Strong emphasis on Twitter , where it typically tweets 15 to 25 times daily , and YouTube , where it posts two to three times weekly .
COMPANY :
MANDARIN ORIENTAL HOTEL GROUP , HONG KONG
HOW IT DEFINES SUCCESS : Focused on engagement rather than ROI . “ The way we interact with individual audience members on social media largely follows how we engage with guests on our property . We do not believe traditional ROI calculations necessarily apply ,” says Mac Joseph , senior manager of social media marketing at Mandarin Oriental .
HOW MANY HIRED : Mandarin Oriental has two personnel at the corporate level dedicated to social media and manages all its campaigns internally .
HOW ACTIVE : Corporate team posts once daily on Facebook and around 10 times per day on Twitter and Sina Weibo .
COMPANY :
ORIENT-EXPRESS HOTELS , HAMILTON , BERMUDA
HOW IT DEFINES SUCCESS : Engagement and sentiment are preferred measurements of success . “ While ROI is an important measure for our marketing and brand campaigns , we prefer to measure sentiment and engagement for social media success ,” says Stephen Arnold , e-marketing manager at Orient-Express .
HOW MANY HIRED : The duties of corporate marketing and public relations staff include handling all of the company ’ s social media posting . Third parties are used for content strategies and publication plans , though . The majority of the company ’ s individual hotels are active on Facebook and Twitter with a dedicated on-property staff member . “ Generally we prefer to post visual content that captures the luxurious and unique nature of our collection ,” Arnold says .
“ ON SOCIAL MEDIA … WE DO NOT BELIEVE TRADITIONAL ROI CALCULATIONS NECESSARILY APPLY .”
– Mac Joseph , senior manager of social media marketing , Mandarin Oriental
HOW ACTIVE : Corporate team is most active on Facebook and Twitter , where it posts 10 times per week . It ’ s also active on Sina Weibo and Youku .
www . hotelsmag . com April 2012 HOTELS 25