If the saying that no two guests are alike is true, then it also rings true that no two marketing channels are alike – especially when it comes to social media and email. The good news is that there can be overlap.

According to a recent ExactTarget report shared with eMarketer, while email subscribers still make up a majority of engaged followers, there is actually a little overlap in email, Twitter and Facebook fans. This highly-engaged four percent of users are every marketers dream, but how do you increase that number for your brand and continue to keep fans of individual channels happy? Get back to the basics, know your audience and diversify your offers.

Email Subscribers

These folks are your bread and butter. They have invited you into their inbox and regardless of their click-thru rates, open rates or conversion rates, their opt-in attitude can pay off for you. This is also the group you have the most information about so don’t blow it. Sort through your data and segment, segment, segment!

-Email Them

Focus on offering this group the best loyalty offers and make sure you are giving them what they have requested. Remember, you should know if they were visiting for business or with their kids or for a romantic weekend. This group wants to see that you “get” them and are paying attention to the needs and desires they have communicated to you. Your promotions to them should reflect at least a basic level of personalization.

-Booking Window

Email subscribers move on their own timeline, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t build some urgency into your offers. Give them a promo with a few weeks booking window for travel in the near future and a book by date. Keep in mind though that like you, they have to sort through hundreds of emails a day so make your subject line screams deal!

Facebook Fans

Research has shown that your Facebook fans were most likely already fans of your property before they hit the “I Like” button. So, the key to keeping these followers coming back for more is delivering a blend of rich content that reminds them of their fond memories and fun and unbeatable offers that they can share with their friends.

-Post

Focus on offering this group the most inventive and impressive offers you’ve got and remember, the more interesting, quirky or fun the better. Be creative with this audience, a casual tone and exciting offer goes a long way. This is also a great place to give away need period nights or weekends with contests so don’t just limit your offers to the usual rate deals.

-Booking Window

Facebook fans flock to this outlet for 24/7 updates on friends and deals, they are regular users so you don’t have to worry about them “missing out” on something you post at the beginning of the week. Try working with announcing a promo at the beginning of the week with a close at the end. If you are trying a contest, make sure to make a big deal out of winners.

Twitter Followers

Fast and furious is the name of the game with these 140 character addicts. They are tuned into Twitter for only the latest information, deals and developments.

-Tweet

Think “fire sale” for this channel. Focus on offering this group the cheapest rate possible. The offer should be clear, direct and of course, 140 characters. This is also an ideal place to push promos for your F&B offerings. Pack the bar for the evening with a Twitter happy hour deal or hype a new menu item and offer perks to those who try and tweet about it.

-Booking Window

The booking window here is the shortest of all avenues. The offer should go out early to mid-day and the booking deadline at the end of the day. Remember that this audience has a super short attention span so it is a great place to get rid of a few rooms a few days from the offer date.

Once you have established a promo pattern for each of these channels, your followers and fans will make note and that is where you’ll see an uptick in cross-pollination – they’ll realize the benefits of being dialed in to all of your messaging if you have diversified your promos. After all, nobody wants to miss out on a deal.

You have a solid list of email contacts that you’ve built up over years, but do you have any other information about the recipients besides their email address? Did they travel with kids, on business, for a particular conference or on a romance package? All of these little details can help you improve your email marketing results and your relationships with your guests. Today’s tech-savvy travelers are used to personalized, targeted messaging and they are expecting you to deliver the same level of service to their inboxes.

A recent e-Dialog survey of US and UK internet users revealed that email recipients are interested in emails that show the company’s knowledge of their likes, dislikes and if they were a returning customer or not.

If you do have some of this personal information about your guests it is time to start segmenting and creating emails around specific traveler types. Here are a few ideas to get you moving in the right direction.

Identify Segments – Take a look at the calendar from last year. Map out particular conferences or events that may be happening again this year. How about weddings? One-year anniversaries are a happy time to send out special romance deals.    Did you run any popular children packages? Target those folks with a kid-friendly promos and watch the tikes toddle through the doors. Internet users love deals so hit up past guests with a fantastic “Thank You” rate to come back and they will.

Be Consistent When Highlighting Interests – From your subject line to the imagery and text within in the emails, keep your targeted group in mind when developing creative. Your road warriors may not respond well to photos of the pool filled with kids and your returning families won’t find a romantic candle-filled suite appropriate for pillow fights.

Close the Loop – Most marketers believe that their job is done once the email has gone out. But to really wow guests and remind them that you have their interests in mind you need to follow through. Make sure the front desk staff is aware of specialized email promotions that have gone out so they can actively look at the profiles of those checking in and offer them the appropriate amenities and services according to their likes and dislikes.

Clean Up Your List – You can’t get a good idea of who your guests are and what they like if you have a list littered with duplicate names and ancient email addresses. Make de-duping and updating your contact info a habit so that you have a better sense of the actual data you have.

Is Your CRM Light on Details?

It is never too late to start collecting more information on the likes and dislikes of your customers.  There are a few easy touch-points to hit up guests for more personal data.

-Reservations Desk - Adding a few questions to the end of your reservations script can make a huge difference in being able to segment your customers for email marketing purposes.

-Front Desk - Check in can be the perfect place to fish for details. It may add a few seconds onto your average check in time but it will be well worth it. Offering guests an incentive to fill out a quick card for you can also do wonders for data collection.

-Online Reservations – While you don’t want to delay potential guest from hitting that “Buy Now” button, you can still ask for a bit of info on the confirmation or “Thank You” page or even follow up with them in the confirmation email.

Re-cap of presentation ‘Critical Email Prospecting Strategies for 2010’

Jay Schwedelson, Corporate Vice President of Worldata, focused on the newest trends and lastest developments in prospecting, in his presentation ‘Critical Email Prospecting Strategies for 2010,’ at the Email Evolution Conference 2010 in Miami Beach, Florida. Below are some quick tips your hotel can use to improve your email marketing campaigns:

• Test your e-mail creative on a mobile device to make sure it displays correctly.

• Keep your e-mail campaign on a server so that people can access the message at a later date.

• Don’t use recipients’ names in the subject lines because they can be picked up by spammers.

• Include the offer deadline date in the subject line. This can increase open rates by 39% (i.e. offer ends Jan 31^st).

• Analyze why recipients unsubscribe – why they leave is just as important as why they arrive. Send a follow-up email with a short survey asking why they unsubscribed.

• The top reasons people unsubscribe to a mailing list is because they receive too many emails from a sender (38%), or the emails are not relevant to them (23%).

• Include links that allow recipients to share your email with their own social network. People who use Facebook or Twitter at least once a week are 38% more likely to open a 3^rd party email promotion, and people who use LinkedIn at least once a week are 37% more likely to open a 3^rd party email promotion.

• Send your e-mail at least 2 weeks prior to the event date.

• Send a reminder email 2-3 days prior to event.

• Try sending your emails on different days of the week, and at different times of the day, to see what is most effective for your audience. In the past, many businesses avoided Mondays, but now Mondays are showing the best response rate. Test deploying your emails on Fridays as well.

• Never send an email after 4 pm. Experiment with sending emails at 8 am.

• Test your subject lines. Select 10% of your email address list and divide it into 2 groups. Send a different subject line to each group. Wait 24 hours, and then analyze the data to see which subject line was most effective.

• Include an offer in your subject line. Some offers that work well are Free Shipping, Invitation Only, Discount on Next Purchase, Gift with Next Purchase, or Exclusive Secret Sale.

• When you analyze the metrics on your open rate you may not be seeing the whole picture. Open rates are tracked only when the recipient enables the email images. Many recipients don’t enable the images, so even though they have opened your email, it won’t be tracked as an ‘open.’

• Your click-through-rate is more important than your open rate. Generally speaking, if your open/click through rate is more than 2% you are doing well.

• Use tools to help you manage your overall campaign. Below are some free tools you can start using right away.

Quantcast.com can help you find your audience. They offer a measurement service that allow you to create demographic, geographic, and affinity-based audience profiles.

Compete.com allows you to learn about your competitors’ online marketing strategies. You can see their keywords, traffic metrics, and links.

Browsershots.org generates screenshots of how your website will appear with different resolutions and across various web browsers.

Popuri.us is a tool that allows you to see the link popularity of any site based on its ranking, social bookmarks, and subscribers.

Strive to improve your email campaigns in 2010 and increase your ROI with progressive email tactics. Work to build a solid database and make sure you segment your e-mail campaigns and avoid one-size-fits-all mailings. Email campaigns are a very effective way for hotels to connect with their audience and generate new and repeat business.

For more tips on email marketing please see the following articles from O’Rourke Hospitality:

What’s the Link Between E-Mail Marketing and Social Media?

New Email Marketing Tactics for Hotels to Use in 2010

If you would like to learn more about how these advanced email marketing strategies can increase your revenue, please call us at 978-465-5949 or send an email to info@orourkehospitality.com.

O’Rourke is attending the Email Evolution Conference in Miami Beach, Florida, February 1-3. This conference is sponsored by the Email Experience Council and the DMA, and will focus on how email and digital media drive each other and how businesses can gain the most ROI by utilizing a multichannel strategy. O’Rourke will keep you updated on best practices and new strategies to help your hotel email marketing campaign excel. You can follow the twitter stream of the conference by searching on the hashtag #EEC10 (on a site such as search.twitter.com).

Keynote speakers include:

Brian Harniman
VP of Marketing and Distribution
KAYAK

Lisa Harmon
Director, Creative Services,
Smith-Harmon, a Responsys Company

Don Shula
Pro Football Hall of Famer & Equity Partner in Don Shula’s Hotel & Golf Club and Don Shula’s Steak Houses, LP

Sam White
Creative Director, eROI

Dylan Boyd
Vice President of Sales & Strategy, eROI

Melinda Krueger
Director, Digital Dialog, OgilvyOne

Mike Corak
Director of Interactive Services, Mighty Interactive

Other speakers include:

Kavon Adli
Attorney At Law; Founder, The Internet Law Group
Jay Baer
Founder, Convince & Convert
Angela Barber
Art Director, ThinData
Austin Bliss
President & Co-Founder, FreshAddress, Inc.
Joel Book
Director of eMarketing Education, Exact Target
Pilar Bower
Optimization and Email Strategist, Red Door Interactive
Jordan Cohen
Senior Director of Marketing and Public Relations, Pivotal Veracity
David Daniels
Author and Consultant, Email Marketing An Hour A Day
Dennis Dayman
Chief Privacy Officer, Eloqua
Lawrence DiCapua
Director, Interactive Marketing/CRM, Pepsi North America Beverages
Kip Edwardson
Manager of Interactive Marketing, The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company
Nicholas Einstein
Director of Strategic & Analytic Services, Datran Media
Jeremy Farber
President and Founder, PC Recycler, Inc.
Craig Fontenot
VP, Member Relationship Management, AARP
Tamara Gielen
Independent Email Marketing Consultant
Andy Goldman
SVP, Director of Strategy Integration, RAPP North America
Lucy Hudson
Marketing Manager, eCircle UK
Frank Ioppolo
COO and General (In-House) Counsel to MarketLeverage
Ivo Ivanov
Legal Counsel, DE-CIX Management GmbH
Jeanne S. Jennings
Consultant, Email Marketing Strategy, JeanneJennings.com
Jeanne Jones
Email Marketing Manager, Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air
Katrina Kithene
Email Marketing Manager, Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air
Andrew Kordek
Manager of Optimization, Groupon

Ben Lerer
Co-Founder and CEO, Thrillist.com
Susan Lyon
C.I.P.P., Perkins Coie
Chris Marriott
VP, Global Managing Director, Acxiom Digital
Blaine Mathieu
CMO, Lyris, Inc.
Loren Mcdonald
VP, Industry Relations, Silverpop
Dino Michetti
VP of Client Services, Epsilon Interactive Services
Renee Middleton
Vice President for Marketing, Taco John’s International
Stephanie Miller
VP, Market Development, Return Path
Jeanniey Mullen
Founder, Email Experience Council; Global EVP & CMO, Zinio; Global EVP & CMO, VIVmag
Mark Nylec
Senior Manager, CRM Infrastructure Strategy, Channel Development and Governance, AARP
James O’Brien
Director of Marketing, LashBack LLC
Andrew O’Halloran
Chief Privacy Officer, Cypra Media
Sean O’Neal
Chief Revenue Officer, Datran Media
Kath Pay
Managing Director, Ezemail UK ltd.
Stefan Pollard
Senior Strategic Consultant, Responsys
Justin Premick
Director of Education Marketing, AWeber Communications
Mike Quigley
VP, Email Services Division, Cypra Media
Mike Rogers
Senior VP Sales, Goodmail
Dan Rubin
Director of Strategy & Analysis, Publicis Modem
Julie Rutherford
VP of Marketing and GM for Email, Belief.net
Ryan Sagan
Marketing Automation Manager, InterContinental Hotels Group
Jay Schwedelson
Corporate Vice President, Worldata
Melissa Shaw
Senior Strategic Consultant, WhatCounts
Juan Silvera
SVP of eMerchandising, Bank of America
Rita Smith
North American Email Manager, Hewlett Packard
Michael Straathof
Senior Consultant, Borgers&Straathof, Dutch
Karen Talavera
President, Synchronicity Marketing
Jill Trecker
Manager of Guest Loyalty, Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes Restaurants
Sal Tripi
Senior Director of Operations and Compliance, Publishers Clearing House
DJ Waldow
Director of Community, Blue Sky Factory
Chris Wheeler
Director of Deliverability, Bronto Software

Dan Siroker, former deputy New Media Director of the Obama Presidential Transition, gave a keynote presentation at SES Chicago in December about how he and his team used Data to win the Obama presidential election, and the lessons they learned along the way. Your hotel can learn from these lessons and apply them in your own internet marketing campaign.

Before joining the campaign, Siroker was a product manager for Google Chrome. He saw Obama speak at a visit to Google¹ and he was inspired to help him with the new media aspect of his campaign. Two weeks later, Dan moved to Chicago for a month where he did whatever he could to help the campaign. He then officially joined the campaign as the director of analytics.

Dan showed us how the campaign structure worked with Barack Obama on the top tier, followed by David Plouffe, the campaign manager, and then the departments of correspondence, field, policy, operations, communications, new media, paid media, and finance. New media was then divided into marketing, e-mail, blog, analytics, design, video and organizing.

Before going into the details of the campaign, Siroker reminded us that Obama won with 365 electoral votes as opposed to 173 electoral votes for McCain. In the popular vote Obama had 53% percent of votes (69,456,897), and McCain had 46% of votes (59,934,814).

As we all saw, the Obama new media campaign triumphed over McCain’s. Below is a screenshot of one of Dan’s slides which reveals the drastic difference in the number of Facebook friends, YouTube video views, and unique website visitors that the Obama campaign attracted as opposed to the McCain campaign.

Through their online efforts, the Obama team dramatically surpassed the McCain team in terms of money raised. The Obama team raised a total of $656 million and $500 million of that came from their online campaign as seen in the slide below.

The online marketing campaign was unprecedented in any other presidential election. You have probably read articles and seen interviews about the innovative process and the talent of the people involved. Barack Obama wrote about it himself in his book, ‘The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream.’ Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe, also recently wrote a memoir about the campaign titled, ‘The Audacity to Win.’

Dan Siroker helped mastermind the online efforts and we were eager to hear what he had to say about the campaign. Below is a re-cap of the lessons they learned, and our thoughts on how your hotel can benefit from those lessons.

Lessons Learned

Lesson #1: Define Success

Or rather, Define Quantifiable Success Metrics. Obviously the main goal for the Obama team was for Obama to win the election. For the team managing the online campaign they defined it this way: website > email signup > raise money. They could measure the success by cost-per-click, sign up rate and money per recipient.

What is the definition of success for your hotel’s online efforts? Most likely it is to increase bookings and revenue. Have you set specific goals for your internet marketing campaign? Are you measuring the success of your campaign?  Success can also consist of increasing your online presence, building a brand voice, capturing e-mail addresses, managing your online reputation, or building relationships with your audience through social media.

Lesson #2: Question Assumptions

Dan never just followed assumptions that their online material would be effective in achieving their goal of gaining supporters and raising money. Instead he and his team tested different layouts of the material and used the data to determine what elements motivated people to take action.

As an example, Dan showed us how his team used testing on a splash page they created to encourage people to sign up for the e-mail list. They did not just create a page that thought would be effective, rather they created different versions and used multivariate testing through Google Optimizer to test which button and image proved most effective in getting people to sign up. They tested four different buttons, Sign up, Learn More, Join Us Now, and Sign Up Now. They also tested 3 images and 3 videos.

Before Dan showed us the splash page that was most effective, he tested us to prove his point that assumptions are often wrong. He showed us the variations of the splash page and asked us what we thought would work the best. In the end only 2 people in the audience had assumed correctly. Below is the image of the winning splash page which was most compelling in encouraging visitors to sign up.

The new layout resulted in an increase in conversions from 8.2% to 11.6%, which is an observed improvement of 40%. This means that they went from 1000 conversions to 1500 conversions. Dan explained that it may not seem like much presented that way, but through the life of the campaign it would translate into 4 million more people that signed up.

Does your hotel make decisions based on assumptions about what will appeal to your audience, or do you test to see which layouts of your online material are most effective? You should test everything from website pages, landing pages, e-mail campaigns, and PPC ads. You can also test landing pages for free with Google Optimizer.² Testing helped the Obama team increase conversions, and it can also help your hotel increase bookings.

Lesson #3: Divide and Conquer

Another lesson the team learned is that different elements appeal to different users. This became clear when the team attempted to test a donate button.  The variables included, Donate Now, Please Donate, Why Donate? Donate and Get a Gift, or Contribute. Again Dan conducted a quick test with the conference audience to see what we thought would be most effective. Again, we were wrong.

This time it turned out that there was not just one correct answer because it depended on who you were as a visitor. Through testing they discovered that people who had never signed up before favored the ‘Donate & Get A Gift,’ those who had signed up but didn’t donate preferred the ‘Please Donate’ button, and those who previously donated preferred the ‘Contribute’ button, as seen in the slide below.

Your hotel can also divide and conquer. You must profile your guests which will allow you to send very targeted messaging to individuals. Learn about your guests and record if they are at your hotel for leisure, a wedding, a meeting, or business. Note their interests. Did they use the fitness center or visit the spa? Did they dine at the restaurant or do they prefer room service? It is also important to segment your guests into new guests, return guests or regular guests. Once you have this information you can create e-mail campaigns that will appeal to the individual guest. Again, test your landing pages and e-mail campaigns to learn which combination of design elements will be most effective in encouraging conversions.

Lesson 4: Take Advantage of Circumstances

Dan stressed the importance of taking advantage of circumstances. He gave us an example of a time when Sara Palin specifically mocked Barack’s experience as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago. David Plouffe and his team then sent out letters to their supporters explaining the situation and asked them to make a donation. This e-mail resulted in 10 million dollars within 24 hours! Below is a screenshot of the letter.

Is your hotel taking advantage of circumstances? Circumstances can include everything from the weather, the economy, holidays, school vacations, your competition, to conferences or special events in your town. Listen in social media to find out what people are saying about your hotel, or your town, or upcoming events. You can use Twitter search or Tweetbeep to listen in. If you see that someone may be looking for a hotel in your city, respond to them. Take advantage of circumstances and you can greatly increase bookings.

Lesson 5: Turn Your Customers Into Evangelists

Dan said they turned their supporters into evangelists everyday through their blog and YouTube channels. Here they focused more on the supporters rather than the candidate. He feels that other campaigns missed the boat here.

For example, the Obama team created videos that motivated others to get involved. One such video, Charles Meets Barack³, focused on one of the volunteers who won a raffle to meet Barack. This video was released only 28 days before the election but generated over ½ million YouTube views. The video also received a lot of press coverage because of the process story of social media transforming politics. Social media made it easy for supporters to share content and recruit new supporters.

Do you have evangelists for your hotel? You probably do have regular guests who recommend your hotel to their friends and family. Encourage them to share your offers and content by placing Share With Your Network icons on your e-mail campaigns. These icons can link to Facebook and Twitter and make it very easy for them to pass your message on to their own contacts. Find out who your evangelists are and encourage them to write a review of your hotel. Encourage guests to create their own photos and videos about your hotel. Again, listen in on social media to learn what people are saying about your hotel and create new relationships that could result in new evangelists.

Create Evangalists for your hotel with Spreadly

Dan took the idea of social media and combined it with affiliate marketing to create a new program called Spreadly⁴.  Spreadly is a social affiliate marketing program any online merchant can use to turn their customers into evangelists. The idea behind Spreadly is that a business can help support a cause and the cause is the reason why people start talking about the business.

Spreadly provides users with a widget that they can place on their purchase confirmation page. Customers can then choose a cause they are interested in and Spreadly creates a referral link where users can easily share the information through Twitter, Facebook, or E-Mail. Your company vows to pay $5 (or amount agreed) for every purchase that their friend makes. If you are interested in using this program you can request an early partner account on the site www.spreadly.com.

In closing, below is a quick re-cap of the Lessons Learned From the Obama Campaign:

Lesson #1: Define Success

Lesson #2: Question Assumptions

Lesson #3: Divide and Conquer

Lesson #4: Take Advantage of Circumstances

Lesson #5: Turn Your Customers Into Evangelists

Try some of these tactics in 2010. If they were effective enough to help win the presidential election there is a high probability they can help your hotel increase bookings.

If you would like to learn more about how Internet Marketing can help your hotel, please call us at 978-465-5955 or write an e-mail to info@orourkehospitality.

* Slides courtesy of Dan Siroker

1 Candidates@Google: Barack Obama Video

2 Google Website Optimizer

3 Charles meets Barack

4 Spreadly

Ever since social media arrived on the scene there has been speculation that it would be the death of e-mail. Some claim that e-mail is on the decline, and it is the old way of communicating. That is not exactly the case. E-mail is not threatened by social media, in fact it is the home base of all accounts, it drives social web activity, and it can work in sync with social media to increase overall message reach and engagement. We will discuss how social media has affected e-mail usage, explain why your hotel should use the two in conjunction, and give you some tips on how to use the two tactics together.

There have been many research studies aimed at finding out which is the most popular online activity, e-mail or social media. These reports have had conflicting results. The Nielsen Company released a report in March 2009 which revealed that social networks/blogs rated 4^th in the most popular online activity – ahead of personal e-mail.¹ However, other reports reveal the opposite, such a September 2009 report from Pew Research which revealed that on an average day, 58% of internet users send or read e-mail, as opposed to the 27% who use social networking sites.²

This is not to say that internet users use only e-mail or social media sites, as many people use both. So the next question is, does the use of social media decrease e-mail usage? The Nielson Company speculated that it would, and set up a research study to prove their hypothesis. However the results of this experiment, released in September 2009, revealed that social media use makes people consume e-mail more, not less, as they had originally assumed.³ Below is a chart of their findings on how many minutes low, medium, and high social media consumers spent on e-mail over the course of a year.

This chart reveals that social media doesn’t decrease e-mail usage. E-mail is actually a driver of social web activity and the currency of all social media accounts. Most people who use social media sites have their settings set so that they will be notified by e-mail when there is activity on their social media sites. People who participate in social media may also make new connections, and once the initial contact is made, they often move their communication to e-mail.

Why Should your Hotel Combine Social Media with E-mail Marketing?

“The use of e-mail in social networks will be one of the biggest challenges for direct marketers. Over the next five years, marketers must bridge the gap between social and traditional inboxes with social sharing tools,” states David Daniels, Forrester Research Vice President.⁴ This challenge is here now. Your hotel can improve the reach and engagement of your messages by combining e-mail with social media. Below is an outline of why your hotel should use the two together.

• You can listen to your audience and develop your e-mail campaign accordingly

Before you speak, you should listen in social media. What are people saying about your hotel, your competition, your city, or travel in general? This could affect the type of message you want to send. For example you might learn that people are talking about an offer from your competition i.e. a hotel package that includes a free ski pass. You can then beat their offer by offering a free ski pass and include a free spa treatment.

• Social media comments now appears in search

Social media comments now appear in the search engine results pages which will increase your online visibility and drive more traffic to your website. Google has also added a real-time search feature which streams tweets and articles. Obviously you would never send out daily e-mails, but it is perfectly acceptable to send out daily Tweets which will reinforce your message and create a stronger presence in the search engine results pages.

• Social media can help your message go viral

Social media has a strong viral component and can help your message be transmitted to new audiences. It is important to build up your fans in Facebook and followers on Twitter. Encourage your fans and followers to send your message to their network.

• Social media can reinforce your message

A message that is seen various times will help your audience retain it. You can promote your offer through social media but it should be a softer version than the e-mail campaign, as most people don’t particularly like to be sold to on social media sites. You could also use social media to send out ‘teasers’ of upcoming offers. Social Media can be used to create awareness, and e-mail can be used to solidify a message or encourage a call-to-action.

• Social media allows for real-time, two-way communication

Contrary to e-mail, your fans and followers have the option to respond to your message with questions or comments in social media. This can build trust and help you develop a relationship with your audience.

• Social media allows you to communicate at point-of-need

People often send tweets to their friends when they are traveling and they often ask for hotel recommendations. If you listen in social media you can catch this, and immediately send a tweet back saying you’d love to have them at your hotel. Tweetbeep is a free tool that allows you to receive alerts on the the words you choose. For example, you could choose to be alerted whenever your city is mentioned in conjunction with the word ‘hotel’.

Tips on Using Social Media and E-mail Marketing Together

• Co-ordinate your messages and have clear calls-to-actions

Don’t just rush into sending an e-mail out and then tweeting about it. Think about what your message is, and how you can communicate it to your audience most effectively. For example you could develop a social media campaign to generate interest in an upcoming promotion, and then send an e-mail with more details. Co-ordinate your messages and have clear calls-to-action.

• Follow a communication flow

Follow a communication flow and send e-mails to individuals, not a one-size fits all mass mailing. For example if someone has inquired about your hotel meeting space, or your wedding services, or your spa, you know they have purchasing intent and you can send emails with specific information, reviews, and offers about that particular segment. Once a guest has booked at your hotel, you could send them e-mails with more details.

You can also send direct messages to your audience on Twitter and let them know you are there to answer any questions they may have. Social media allows you to communicate with your guest before, during, and after their stay with you. Listen to what individuals are saying on their own social media sites to learn more about them. The more information you have about your audience, the more targeted your e-mails can become.

• Put social media links on your e-mail signature

Add icons to your e-mail signature that link to your social media sites. By doing so, you encourage your contacts, through your daily communication, to follow you on Twitter or become a fan of your Facebook page.

• Add Share With Your Network (SWYN) links

Add links on your e-mail campaigns that make it easy for recipients to share your message with their own networks. Most marketers are familiar with the Forward to a Friend (FTAF) feature, but many users may prefer to share your message through their social media sites because it is often easier than sorting through e-mail addresses. Many e-mail service providers include a sharing option that allows your e-mail subscribers to share your message with their friends or followers. The key to motivate people to share your message is good content.

• Promote e-mail with social media and vice versa

You can use e-mail to encourage people to sign up for your social media sites and use your social media sites to encourage followers and fans to sign up to receive your e-mails.

• Create profiles on your audience and learn what social media sites they use

Keep a database of the e-mail address of those who have chosen to opt-in. Create profiles of each person and track if they also follow you on Twitter or are fans of your Facebook page. You can conduct this research yourself or there are also tools available such as Forrester’s Social Technology Profile Tool⁵ which can help you identify where your target audience is online.

• Measure success

It is very important to measure the success of your campaigns to see what is working and what isn’t. Use Google Analytics to track your social media campaigns. There are many free tools available such as Twitter Analyzer which can help you keep track of shared links. For a longer list of tools see the blog post, ‘16 Ways to Track Links Shared on Twitter or Friendfeed’ by Chris Martin.⁶

You can also measure the success of your social media campaign by creating a Bit.ly account which is a free link shortener. You can use the shortened links in your tweets and then track how many times your link was shared.

• Incorporate social media in your offline campaigns

Incorporate social media in all your offline campaigns by letting your audience know that they can follow you on Twitter and become a fan of your Facebook page. You may even give them an incentive to sign up. For example if you send a direct mail piece about weddings at your hotel you could then offer a discount on a spa service for brides-to-be who opt to follow you on Twitter. They could enter a special code and you could track the effectiveness of the campaign. You could then follow up with a more personalized e-mail.

Future Trends in E-Mail Marketing

In summary, e-mail marketing is still a very effective way to reach your audience, and it is not being replaced by social media. However, it is no longer a stand-alone effort and should work together with SEO, PPC, Social Media, and Traditional Marketing. Many companies are increasing their e-mail marketing campaigns for 2010. Forrester Research forecasts that spending on e-mail marketing is growing in the low double-digits annually, and could hit 2 billion by 2014. They predict that each of us will be receiving about 9,000 e-mail marketing messages a year.⁴

Below is a chart from the Center for Media Research that shows the type of media marketers are aiming to include in their 2010 Plans.⁷

It is very important that you send only relevant messages to people who have opted-in to receive your e-mails or you may be losing money. Forrester Research Vice President David Daniels claims that, “by 2014 direct marketers will waste $144 million on e-mails that never reach their primary target.”

Hotels need to become very strategic with their e-mail marketing campaigns going forward. Take a step back and look at your own e-mail campaigns. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Are you building a database of guests who have opted in to receive your e-mails?

• Are you profiling these guests and only sending them e-mails that are relevant to them?

• Are you sending e-mails that are effective at each stage in the buying process?

• Are you including links that encourage recipients to share your message with their network?

• Are you developing a campaign that works together with SEO, PPC, Social Media and Traditional Marketing?

• Are you measuring the results of your efforts with analytics?

If you answered no to any of these questions, we suggest you include these tactics in your new year’s resolutions. You do not have to include everything at once. Start by taking baby steps. Any improvements you can make to your e-mail marketing / social media campaign will pay off and put you ahead of your competition.

If you would like to learn more about how you can improve your hotel’s e-mail marketing campaigns please call us at 978-465-5955 or send an e-mail to info@orourkehospitality.com.

References

¹ Social Networks & Blogs Now 4th Most Popular Online Activity

² Pew Internet & American Life Project

³ Is Social Media Impacting How Much We Email?

⁴ Forrester Forecast: US E-Mail Marketing Spending to Reach 2 Billion in 2014

⁵ Forrester’s Social Technology Profile Tool

⁶ 16 Ways to Track Links Shared on Twitter or Friendfeed

⁷ Percentage of Marketers who Aim to Include the Following Media in 2010 Plans