GLOBAL UPDATE : MARKETING
than willing to share photos from their summer travels and enter for a chance to win a two-night stay .
ML : We asked our fans to use Instagram to take snapshots of their favorite moments and share them with us with a # LovingtheMoment hashtag . We then created a LovingtheMoment campaign site that consolidated all the images to let participants vote for their favorites . In the first two months of the campaign , more than 1,700 Instagram images were shared to our site , and around 3,000 votes were cast , all achieved without any incentives .
DS : On Pinterest , we are at the starting point , pinning mainly for CitizenMag and lifestyle related to published articles .
H : How are you utilizing video in your social media outreach ?
KD : We have a YouTube channel , and you can expect some exciting things to come in 2013 .
ML : We are not actively pushing it because we don ’ t have a lot of video assets . We are , however , working with our brand agency to develop a social video content strategy .
DS : We have created a few videos to promote hotel openings . We are now working on featuring videos about our hotels on our website .
H : Should booking be integrated into social media , or should social media be left for engagement ?
KD : I think it ’ s a combination of both . All research points to the fact
“ ALL RESEARCH POINTS TO THE FACT CONSUMERS WANT TO GET SPECIAL DEALS AND DISCOUNTS FROM BRANDS THEY FOLLOW ON SOCIAL MEDIA .”
– Kieran Donahue , DoubleTree by Hilton consumers want to get special deals and discounts from brands they follow on social media .
ML : Shangri-La is one of the few hotel companies that has developed a booking engine application within Facebook so that our fans can book any of our hotels without ever leaving Facebook .
DS : Although we did integrate booking to our Facebook pages and CitizenMag , it is not our focus .
H : What is the best ratio for the amount of content versus frequency of posting ?
KD : As a rule , we usually post once a day on Facebook and multiple times on Twitter .
ML : We don ’ t believe there ’ s a magic ratio that works for everyone . This is dependent on the company ’ s fan base , geographical markets and content type .
DS : Frequency is important , but what is more important is the consistent delivery of that content . Sharing for the sake of sharing will confuse and damage more than benefit .