SALES & MARKETING
MAKING IT
STICK
HOTEL COMPANIES HOPE THE QUICK , CANDID CONTENT OF SNAPCHAT GRABS MILLENNIALS . CAN IT KEEP THEM ?
Contributed by BRENDAN MANLEY
Hoteliers seeking to engage millennials through Snapchat are banking on content , even if the exchange only lasts seconds . But maintaining a long-term connection proves a greater challenge .
Snapchat — which enables users to send photos and videos that disappear after viewing — boasts 166 million active daily users but still lags Facebook , Twitter and Instagram in ubiquity . But its appeal among millennials is prompting hotel companies to develop content specifically for the app .
“ We felt that within our social media ecosystem there was a gap , and that gap was that next-gen traveler ,” says Amanda Moore , senior director of social and digital marketing – loyalty at Marriott International . “ Snapchat , for us , is where they can experience Marriott Rewards membership … in a way that we hope is very trusted and authentic .”
Marriott Rewards ’ recent “ Six Days , Seven Nights ” video promotion , using a series of three-minute Snapchat clips , features social media influencers documenting experiences at Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels . Moore says users are watching more than a minute of the content , which according to Snapchat surpasses the average of 10 seconds that branded campaigns in any industry usually convince users to watch .
“ I think that ’ s contrary to popular belief that that demographic is not really there to watch that longer-form content outside of the 3-to-10-second attention span ,” Moore says , adding that the better the content , the bigger the opportunity to
SNAPCHAT IS " INCREDIBLY GREAT AT DEVELOPING INTERACTIVE CONTENT , BUT IT ’ S INHERENTLY INCREDIBLY BAD ABOUT DISTRIBUTION ."
— LOREN GRAY , HOSPITALITY DIGITAL MARKETING
entice users to watch more . The company will conduct a Nielsen brand study to gather data on whether viewers are more familiar with the loyalty program and more likely to join the program and stay at a Marriott hotel as a result .
BEHIND THE SCENES Similar efforts are underway at Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts , which is populating its Snapchat channel with behind-the-scenes and spontaneous onsite footage , cultural- and cuisine-related content and postings by guest contributors .
“ There ’ s something very powerful about being able to be instantly transported to a sunrise view over rice paddies in the northern Thai jungle at Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai , or the next moment , a behind-the-scenes tour of the kitchen of our 3-Michelin-star restaurant at the George V in Paris ,” says Felicia Yukich , Four Seasons ’ senior director of brand strategy , social media and content .
How many millennials will watch ? “ The unfortunate limitation of Snapchat is that it ’ s incredibly great at developing interactive content , but it ’ s inherently incredibly bad about distribution ,” says Loren Gray , founder of Hospitality Digital Marketing in Dallas . “ By its very nature , it ’ s not a dissemination platform . Either you do or you don ’ t follow it . You get very selective about what you choose to engage with .”
Most Snapchat content is deleted within 30 days , so the ROI remains to be seen . “ With its perishability , you may have had a super amazing piece on Paris , but a month later when somebody wants to go to Paris and is interested in your hotel brand , that content doesn ’ t exist anymore ,” Gray says . “ Unless you ’ re repeating yourself , or going to other platforms to keep repeating this content , you don ’ t get the value for it .”
58 hotelsmag . com July-August 2017