The document summarizes key points from a social media workshop held in February 2011. It discusses why some hotels do not adopt social media, citing lack of knowledge on where to start, limited budgets, and past failed attempts. It then provides statistics on social media platforms and their growth. The remainder of the document offers advice on developing a social media strategy and provides examples of how hotels can leverage different social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn.
23. Just the Facts, Ma’am 600 million registered users 175 million users Delivering 2B streams/day, 80 million members
24. 17 million Facebook members 3 million Twitter users 17 million YouTube users 57% of online Canadians use social networks at least once a month; 82% of Gen Y consumers use social networks each month
25. 17 Million Canadians….. ….are in the workforce ….have a pension plan ….own life insurance ….have access to recycling ….use wireless services ….have a passport ….filed their taxes online in 2008
62. The OPP gave Gumball 3000 rally drivers something to chew on this week. At least one of the rally vehicles, a 2009 Dodge Charger, was impounded by Northumberland OPP for allegedly going 179 km/h. The same car was stopped hours earlier by the OPP for doing more than 140 km/h.
Survey/Prize: How many people are pretty familiar with social media? How many people have some knowledge? How many people have no clue but keen to learn more?
Before we get started, here are the ground rules. First, questions: If you have questions, free feel to ask me at any time during the workshop. We’ll also take a break half-way so you ask me then, or you can wait until the endThird – let’s have fun. While I’m sure you’ll be hanging to every word I say over the next two hours, I can also appreciate it’s a long time to be sitting, which is why there will be prizes.
Social Media Revolution 2 Videohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFZ0z5Fm-Ng (Social Media Revolution)
And they can’t control the conversations.
Before we start, let’s clear up a couple of misconception. Social media is exciting and has lots of potential but it is not the greatest thing since sliced bread.
The benefits of social media are driven by meeting the needs of consumers.
Here’s just one example of how social media could be used. Recently, the Gap unveiled a new logo, which I suspect took months to create and involved lots of dollars. When The Gap, which has a great social media presence, unveiled the logo, the reaction from the social media world was “blech”. In fact, it was so bad the Gap was forced to go back to the old logo.
Freshbooks, a Toronto-based online invoicing company did a blog post about Triscuits and how they had been reinvented over the years from something that was a very salty snack to a product that was a lot healthier.
What happened next is fascinating when it comes to customer service. One of Freshbooks’ customers in Fiji saw the blog post and lamented this particular brand of Triscuits wasn’t available in Fiji. So what happens next? Yup, Freshbooks send a couple of boxes of Triscuits to Fiji.
Which leads to this enthusiastic blog post about Freshbooks. How much do you think this blog post is worth? A lot.
Top Facebook countries: U.S., U.K., Turkey, France (source: checkfacebook.com)
Let’s put 17 million in context because a number is just a number unless it’s put up against other numbers.
There are lots of social media services…..
Social media is a not an add-on or an accessory but many companies suggest “let’s add some social media” to the mix. To be successful, social media needs to be part of and aligned with a company’s brand, marketing, sales and strategic goals.
I could spend this budget somewhere else — Why should I spend it on social media?
So the big question facing many companies is how to get started. They know social media is becoming more important or interesting but it’s hard to know where to start. Do you just do everything and hope that something sticks? Do they wait until it becomes more clear about what works or doesn’t.
How will social media be integrated into your communications, marketing and sales activities? What social media services make the most sense and why? How will you reach your target audience? What tools are the most appropriate? What’s the budget? Who has ownership over social media? What are your social media guidelines and policies?
Who’s going to do it, how much time/resources will be devoted to it, how are you going to measure it? What services and tools should be used?
At the end of the day, engaging content is one of the most effective ways to drive social media programs.
A key to success within social media is the three E’s: entertain, educate and enlighten. Within social media, you need to do at least one E; if you can two or more, that’s even better.
There’s No Lack of Choice
But only a small number of social media services matter.
The three major blogging platforms are Blogger (owned by Google), TypePad and WordPress. Of the three, I would highly recommend using WordPress.
Prize: an orange
Any guesses on how many tweets there have been since Twitter started in 2006? Answer: 20 billion
You can use Twitter using Twitter.com, which doesn’t have a lot of frills.
A better tool is TweetDeck, which lets you create multiple columns featuring keywords. For example, you could have a column devoted to Calgary and home buyers.
There are lots of tools to use Twitter on mobile phones.
Everyone’s on Twitter…even Margaret Atwood.
Here’s a Mexican-Korean fast-food company that broadcasts the location of its trucks using Twitter.
TD is now using Twitter for customer service.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAl28d6tbko
I suspect most of you have seen the Old Spice “I’m on a Horse Campaign”, which was a huge success on social media via Twitter and YouTube. It spawned a variety of knock-offs. However, I think there’s one in particular that rises above the crowd.
The number of minutes that Facebook’s 500M+ users spend on Facebook a month
Pieces of content (links, notes, photos, etc.) shared on Facebook per month.
Facebook Pages: http://www.facebook.com/advertising/?pagesHow To Develop A Facebook Page That Attracts Millions of Fans - http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/03/facebook-page-strategy/
Facebook Pages are an effective one-two punch with a corporate Web site.
They are great ways to build and engage communities.
And deliver engaging content such as polls, menus, news about product launches and even e-commerce…all within Facebook.
How many new fans did Starbucks add during its free pastry promotion last year? 1MThe value of the “carrot”
We’re 90 minutes into the presentation, anyone feel like they need a Red Bull?
A home builder that has embraced social media in a major way is Martell Home Builders in Moncton, N.B.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzT3JVUGUzM
Make sure to fill out your profile. It’s become your online resume.
Introduce yourself to the person next to you. Build a real network.
A Facebook Page for Gold Passport members
Bill Marriott’s blog, chairman and CEO of Marriott International, who has been blogging since late-2007.
83K followers
Luxury hotel – 33 luxury hotels in California.
Nearly 11,000 followers
7,500 Facebook fans.The company has also started a partnership with coupons site Mobile Spinach to offer coupons for the group’s restaurants. And the company has partnered with Foursquare to offer deals for check-ins at its various restaurants.