HotelsMag December 2017 | Page 30

SPECIAL REPORT

CONTENT MARKETING AWARENESS

from social strategist BENJI GREENBERG

A SNAPSHOT OF THE STATE OF THINGS FROM THE CEO OF BCV EVOLVE , A TECH-ENABLED SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT COMPANY .
SOCIAL NETWORK ALGORITHMS One out of every five minutes on mobile is spent by users on Facebook or Instagram .
Algorithms govern what we see and what we don ’ t across all social platforms . This was a necessity due to the ever-increasing amount of content vying for your attention ( from both friends and businesses ).
Competition and noise in your feeds have led the networks to fully adopt pay to play – regardless of
audience size or how good your content is , you must utilize a paid spend to reach the right customers on these channels .
VIDEO CONTENT Video continues to be prioritized on social networks with better reach and placement in each network ’ s feed .
Each social network is attempting to expand its reach in video by offering “ live ” streaming options , exclusive content partnerships and even original programming . Video content
continues to shift to shorter videos that get a message across in under 15 seconds and are of higher quality than we ’ ve seen .
MESSAGING There has been continued growth across messaging platforms such as Facebook Messenger , WhatsApp , Line and WeChat . Some 43 % of travelers surveyed would prefer to interact with providers via mobile messaging than over the phone . Guests are increasingly turning to
messaging channels to interact with hotels to solve issues and answer questions .
The largest challenge is connecting social customer care with on-site customer care to provide a unified experience for guests .
Geolocation refers to a photo that is tagged to a set of coordinates ( such as the hotel ) but doesn ' t necessarily mention the property , and geolocation message volume is now one of the fastest-growing " message types " we see hotels dealing with .
ANIMATION STATION Simple and strong visuals are the name of the game for CitizenM ’ s short animations around the opening of its new CitizenM Paris Charles de Gaulle .
The company tapped the Jullien Brothers ( Jean Jullien was behind the much-shared “ Pray for Paris ” symbol following the city ’ s 2015 terrorist attacks ) to create eight shorts showcasing the hotel ’ s amenities .
Cartoonish figures and accordion music dominate each animation , which clock in at around 11 seconds apiece .
“ We have a real affinity of working with artists ,” says Robin Chadha , the company ’ s chief marketing officer . “ Art is really part of our DNA at CitizenM , so it also makes sense that it comes back around in our communications strategy .”
The idea for animations came back in 2014 when Chadha was looking for ways to tout brand without having a huge budget . The first experiment , around the opening of CitizenM Times Square , was “ Swan Song ,” a 46-second short following the burgeoning love of two swans made out of hotel towels .
That video , created by stop-motion wizard Pes ( he of the much-YouTubed “ Fresh Guacamole ” fame ) received over 1.6 million views on YouTube . So far , the CitizenM Charles de Gaulle shorts haven ’ t seen those kinds of numbers . According to Chadha , at the risk of sharing something perceived as an ad , the Jullien Brothers haven ’ t post the videos on their own social networks – an unexpected move that put a damper on potential engagement from the brothers ’ followers .
But CitizenM makes sure its videos have a long
26 hotelsmag . com December 2017