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Archive for the ‘Internet Marketing’ Category

Should My Hotel Use Facebook Ads?

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Our clients often ask us if they should use Facebook ads. Many hotels are skeptical about using the ads and question if they will be effective or not. We recommend that hotels do use Facebook ads, but that they do so with clear goals in mind, and that they follow best practices when it comes to designing, targeting, testing, and tracking their ads.

Before using Facebook ads, hotels should understand the advertising platform. As with any advertising medium, the objective of using Facebooks ads is to increase your business. Facebook ads have the power to do this, but as their representatives often state, their platform is primarily in demand generation rather than demand fulfillment.1

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

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

Tips on How Your Hotel Can Use Both Tactics in 2010


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.

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Has Your Hotel Ever Asked, “What Would Google Do?”

Thursday, December 10th, 2009

Recap of Jeff Jarvis presentation at SES Chicago

 

what would Google do screenshot

Jeff Jarvis, author of ‘What Would Google Do?’ kicked off the Search Engine Strategies Conference in Chicago last Monday.  He spoke about Google bigotry and how some traditional news corporations view Google as a monster, or Godzilla, and Google views itself as Snuffleupagus, who is harmless and just wants to help. He also addressed media as a process, not a product, and outlined some traits that make Google so successful. We took a look at how hotels can apply these same philosophies to build a better brand. (more…)

Attract Guests to Your Hotel by Producing Video Content Related to Travel – O’Rourke Interview with Tubemogul Co-Founder Brett Wilson

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

Hotels and other brands can reach their target audience by providing them with helpful information or interesting content they are looking for, whether it be through videos or articles. The content you create doesn’t always have to be directly about your hotel, but could also be about anything relevant to travel or the city you are located in. For example, if you have a hotel in Chicago you could consider creating short video clips of great restaurants in the city. Someone planning on traveling to Chicago may very well conduct a search in Google on ‘restaurants in Chicago,’ and find your video.

Even though you are not directly promoting your hotel in the video, your brand will still be associated with the content, and you could have a link back to your hotel website. Once you discover and create the content your target audience is searching for, you must also take steps to promote your video online, and optimize it with keywords so it will appear in the search engine results pages.

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Prepare Your Hotel for Google Sidewiki Comments! Tips on What Your Hotel Should Do, and How to Monitor Reviews with RSS Feed

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

speechbubble

It’s been two months since Google introduced Sidewiki on September 23, but it hasn’t really caught fire . . . yet. When it was first announced, there was a lot of buzz on blogs and news sites, and it felt that the internet would be taken over by user-generated comments and opinions, but so far it hasn’t gained that much traction. We believe it will catch on soon, and that your hotel should be prepared for when it does.

What is Google Sidewiki and will it go mainstream?

Sidewiki is part of a Google Toolbar browser plug-in that allows users to open a sidebar on any website they are visiting and comment freely on anything they like; the website, the content, how they feel about the topic or the brand, or what they had for breakfast. These comments can then be seen by other visitors to the site (provided they have downloaded the Sidewiki toolbar) and they can leave comments as well. Users can also add links and videos, and share their comments through E-mail, Twitter or Facebook. (more…)