Online video viewership continues to grow exponentially, but it doesn’t stop there – mobile video viewing is also expected to increase. According to eMarketer, the population of mobile video viewers in the US will grow nearly 30% in 2010 to reach 23.9 million, they predict it is poised to double by 2013. More viewers means more opportunity for revenue and eMarketer predicts that mobile video revenues, including direct downloads, subscriptions and ad-supported video, will roughly triple between 2009 and 2014, rising from $436 million to $1.34 billion.

There is no better time than the present to get in on the action, so grab a digital camera and hit record. As a hotelier, what video content appeals to users, travelers and potential guests and how do you create it? We’ve put together a few ideas to get you started.

The Tools

Camera

The cost of video equipment used to be one of the biggest hurdles to creating video content yourself. Now, with the advance of technology, you can be a budding film maker for under $200. Check out the various models of the Flip Cam or Kodak’s HD pocket camera line.

Platform

No way to put the videos on your site? No problem – link to them. It takes minutes to start up a YouTube Channel and don’t count out social media channels. Facebook is a great place to share helpful videos with your fan base.

The Script

Keep your content casual and make sure what you film is a resource to viewers. Think about subjects that travelers would be interested in.

No one really wants to watch a video of your bar opening party (unless there are celebrities present) but they’d love to watch your expert mixologists walk them through how to make the most popular cocktail. This way you highlight your staff, service and product while still providing guests with useful information.

Some other ideas are to have your Concierge walk through the neighborhood and point out his or her picks for the best places to go and see. Or, film your housekeeping staff with their best tips for packing and where to look before you leave to avoid a trip to lost and found.

Check out how the Trump International Hotel and Tower Chicago used video to promote their fitness center with a Special Pumpkin Workout during the month of October. They also posted their video on their Smartstay mobile phone application for the iPhone and Android. Video is very popular with smartphone users and hotels can easily post their videos on the Smartstay app for their guests to enjoy.

The Campaign

Really want to attract mobile or traditional online viewers? Create an entire campaign around an idea. Pick a weekend or two to post special rates and hand out a few flip cams to lucky guests. Ask them to film their stay (this is a big hit with families with teens) for a chance to win a free trip with all the bells and whistles. Post all of the submitted videos to your Facebook page and have fans vote for the best trip video. You can also post the videos on your mobile app. And, don’t forget to film the winner when they arrive for their VIP treatment to bring it all full circle!

For more information about Online Hotel Marketing or the Smartstay mobile app for hotels, please call O’Rourke Hospitality Marketing at 978-465-5955 or send an e-mail to info@orourkehospitality.com.

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’ve toiled tirelessly to work through and gain approval for your hotel’s social media strategy and now it is ready for action. Goals and measurement objectives have been put in place. You have identified team members to monitor your online reputation and set up a procedure to respond to guest comments. The executive team is on board. The sales and marketing teams are ready to participate. Online accounts and profiles have been carefully crafted. But you could be missing one crucial step.  Have you educated your front-of-the-house staff about the impact social media has on your business?

Online reviews and comments aren’t created out of thin air, they are based on experiences and the good news is your staff can influence them greatly. They are the first to greet your guests and the last to send them off. More than lobby decor, room amenities or facility offerings, your staff’s actions and reactions are what truly shape user reviews.  It is vital that you educate them about the viral power of the service they deliver.

Unlike the hard copy comment cards, online user reviews can be potentially seen by millions of travelers. Tripadvisor.com alone has more than 34 million unique monthly visitors and more than 35 million reviews – Yelp.com isn’t far behind with around 31 million visitors a month. Add Expedia and all of the OTA reviews and you can see how magnified the service levels at your property can become.

The sheer number of eyeballs alone is staggering, but what is even more compelling is the the impact user-generated reviews have on traveler purchases. According to a study conducted by comScore with The Kelsey Group, nearly one in four online users reports using online reviews before purchasing and 40% of those who consulted an online hotel review actually stayed at the property. Of review users, 87% reported that the review had an impact on their purchase.

You can take steps to help your staff understand the significant part they play in your social media strategy and how much weight their actions carry with guests both during and after their stay. Here are some tips to help you get started.

1.  Start on Day One

Staff orientation is the perfect place to introduce the importance of social media. See if your human resources or training team will allow you to hijack a section of their agenda to impart this crucial message to new hires. Keep the presentation simple and powerful and use examples to illustrate your points. Consider using real reviews and have staff role play how they would have dealt with the guest.

2.  Share the Love

If your managers currently use comment cards to call out the stars of your staff, they can do the same with glowing online reviews. This is an easy way to incorporate the power of online reviews into everyday discourse. Of course, they’ll want to be sure to showcase a balance of fantastic reviews and some items that need working on as well.

3.  Buzz

Create and distribute a monthly social media Buzz Report that pulls together a range of reviews from a variety of online review sites. This report will help tell the story of your online reputation, identify trends month over month and give your front-of-the-house managers some benchmark data that they can easily share with their team members. If you don’t have a reputation monitoring tool that can help with this, consider creating it in a simple Powerpoint document.

4.  Reward Five Star Service

Creating an award that is given to a particular department or team that was regularly mentioned in five star online reviews over the year is a fun way to involve staff and get them as excited about positive mentions as you are.

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

In other words Facebook considers itself to be a platform where you can generate interest in your brand – demand generation, which typically happens at the top of the sales funnel. Once consumers have decided to take action, they may conduct more specific searches on Google, which can be used for demand fulfillment.  Facebook ads are used more to stimulate interest in a brand, and engage with customers early in the buying & decsion making cycle.  As the Facebook marketing slogan states, ‘Find your customers before they search.’

What are Facebook Ads?

Facebook ads appear on the right-hand column of the Facebook pages and are highly targeted to the users’ profiles and interests. Advertisers can easily create ads through their own account, and can set a minimum budget for as low as $1 a day. You can choose to bid by CPC (cost per click), or by CPM (cost per thousand impressions).

Only three ads may show at a time on a page, and the ads to be displayed are determined by an algorithm that takes into account the ad performance and the bid. Advertisers can run multiple ads simultaneously, and can set up start and end dates up to 30 days in advance. You can then track the performance of your ads through the Facebook reports and your analytics software.

How can my hotel benefit from using Facebook Ads?

Targeted Messaging

Facebook compiles personal information from its users’ profiles and interests, and will display your ads to people who match the criteria you specify. This is extremely beneficial for hotels, because they typically have different segments with different target audiences that will require different ads.

For example, you may want to create an ad to promote weddings at your hotel. You can specify that your ads be shown only to females, who are engaged, between the ages of 20-35, and who live in a specific state, or province. You could also create ads about your spa, restaurant, or meeting space, and select different demographics for each ad.

The targeting options you can choose from include location, age, birthday, sex, keywords, education, workplaces, relationships, interested in men or women, languages, connections, and friends of connections. Below is a brief description of how these options can help your hotel send targeted messages:

Target people in different countries, cities, or states: This option is very useful to hotels. For example, a beach resort that is a short distance from a city may run a summer campaign targeted exclusively to people who live in that city. You may also want to run an international campaign to promote your hotel to an overseas market.

Create ads that will appeal to different age groups: Different types of hotels may appeal to different age groups.  For example, a golf resort may want to target an older demographic than a modern urban hotel.

Send people special offers on their birthdays: Create a separate ad with a birthday image and perhaps a special offer.

Target to men or women: Different ads will appeal to different genders. For example, you could create two ads for the same weekend getaway, one that would appeal more to women, and one that would appeal more to men.

Use keywords that match users’ interests: This is the most important targeting option. When a Facebook user sets up an account, they can reveal a lot of personal information about themselves, including their basic information, where they went to school, and where they work. There is also a personal profile where users can list their favorite activities, interests, favorite music, favorite TV shows, and favorite books.

As an advertiser, you can select words (keywords) to target, and your ad will be displayed to people who have used that word somewhere in their profile. For example, if I am creating an ad to promote my hotel restaurant, I would need to think of the words that someone interested in food and dining might include in their profile, such as such as, ‘dining out,’ ‘gourmet food,’ or ‘cooking.’ If I include these words in the keyword section, my ad will be displayed to people who have used these words in their profile.

You should create different versions of your ads to match different profiles. For example, think of the city or town you are in. Why do people go there? Some go to ski, to see a sports event, to shop, to see the sights, to go to a show, to visit a museum, etc. You could create an ad for your hotel that includes an image of a museum in your city, and display it to people who are have expressed an interest in art or in visiting museums. You could take the same ad, and include an image of a famous sports event in your town, and display it to people who are interested in sports, a specific team, or a specific event.

Customize your ads to students of specific universities: Send an ad to students of a specific university, and offer them a special discount for family members. For example, if I was a student at Emerson, and I saw an ad that said, ‘Hey Emersonians – Special Discount for Your Parents!’ it would get my attention. The National Center for Education Statistics can give you a list of all the Universities in your area.

Include the name of a specific workplace in your meetings ads: Create a meetings ad and include the name of the company that you are targeting. For example, employees of ‘Compstar Rhode Island’ would be interested in an ad that stated, ‘50% Discount on Weekend Retreat for Compstar, Rhode Island Employees!’

Target wedding ads to couples who are engaged, or offer weekend getaways for married couples: Relationship targeting is very useful to hotels. You could promote weddings at your hotel to couples who are engaged. You could even go a step further and create a separate ad for the bride-to-be, and another one for the groom-to-be. With Facebook ads you can also target married couples of various age groups, and offer weekend getaways.

Create ads targeted to the gay and lesbian community: Facebook ads allow you an excellent opportunity to create ads that will reach the gay and lesbian community. Most ads on the market are very generic and cannot target specific groups. People in the gay and lesbian community will become more aware of your hotel, and perhaps choose you over your competition.

Create ads in different languages: People respond better to ads that are in their own language. Create ads that will appeal to foreign language speakers and tap into new markets.

Create ads exclusive to your fans with Connection Targeting:

Connection targeting allows you to send ads targeted to people who are fans of your page, people who have used your applications, members of any groups you may have, or people who have RSVP’d to one of your events.

Send your connections a special offer, and encourage them to share it with their own network of friends and family. Your connections have already proclaimed their interest in your brand, and they will be happy to engage with you. You also have the option to exclude your connections from seeing an ad, for example if you are sending an ad to promote your Facebook page, you may not want to send it to people who are already fans of your page.

You can even send ads that target the friends of your connections:

One step further than connection targeting, you can also target friends of your connections. For example, let’s say that Sally is a fan of your hotel Facebook page. When your hotel sends an ad, you can select the ‘friends of connections’ option, and all of Sally’s friends will receive your ad. Even more exciting, the ad will also announce that their friend Sally is a fan of your hotel Facebook page. Sally’s friends are more likely to click on your ad because they trust Sally, and they will be curious about your hotel.

Facebook users who fit a specific profile will welcome your ad

There has been some controversy whether ads should appear on Facebook, because it is mainly a place to socialize, not shop. However, the Facebook ads targeting options allow you to target people who have already proclaimed an interest in things related to your hotel or to travel. For example, they may have expressed an interest in your city, an interest in an activity your city offers, an interest in dining out, or an interest in leisure travel. These are the people who will see your hotel ads, and they will welcome the opportunity to learn about a special offer at your hotel.

Awareness building

Another benefit to using Facebook ads is that your ad will gain a lot of exposure, which will build more awareness about your hotel. Every time your ad appears on a page it is called an impression. Even if your ad doesn’t receive many click-throughs, it will still be effective because the impressions will generate awareness.

Facebook ads can affect search behavior

Studies have been conducted that explore the impact of a brand’s exposure in social media on users’ search behavior. One such study, conducted by GroupM, revealed that searchers who engage with social media, especially those exposed to a brand’s influenced social media, are far more likely to search for lower-funnel terms compared to consumers who do not engage with social media.² (Lower-funnel terms express action and loyalty including campaign brand terms and brand product terms. Upper-funnel terms express awareness and consideration such as industry relevant terms or general product attributes.)

You have less competition (if you advertise now)

Facebook ads are still relatively new, and many hotels haven’t figured them out yet, but they will. Some businesses are afraid to advertise on Facebook because they believe some of the other ads appear spammy or low quality. The flip side of the coin are the large corporations who also advertise on Facebook. If you create a well-designed ad with an attractive image and clever copy, your ad will stand out, and you won’t be competing with hundreds of other hotels.

It is wise to start advertising on Facebook now while you have less competition. Businesses are becoming more aware of the opportunities that Facebook ads present. Tim Kendal, Facebook’s Director of Monetization, stated in a September article from ‘Daily Finance,’ that the number of advertisers on the platform has more than tripled over the past 12 months.¹

FACEBOOK AD TIPS

Set up a Facebook business page

Regardless of whether you are using Facebook ads or not, you should definitely set up a Facebook page for your hotel. Encourage your guests to become fans of your page. Any action a fan takes on your page will go into the news feeds of all their friends’ pages. For example, if Sally signs up to become a fan of your page, all of her friends will be notified. They will also be notified if she takes some action on your site, for example if she RSVP’s to an event. You can also create ads to promote your Facebook page where users can sign up to become a fan without even leaving their own page.

Set measurable goals

Outline your goals. What do you want to achieve from your ads? Once you have identified your goals, you will have something to compare your ad campaign performance to.

Create compelling ads with relevant landing pages

Create copy and images that will stand out and capture attention. Specify what makes you different from your competition, and have clear calls to action that will tell users what they can do when they arrive at your landing page, i.e. ‘Book Now!’ It is also smart to include a special offer or promotion.

Facebook has outlined some suggested best practices you can follow. Make sure that your landing page is relevant to your ad, and allows users to follow through on your calls-to-action. You should also change your creative often to keep users’ interest. Don’t forget to optimize your ads and landing pages with your keywords.

Test, Test, Test!

As with most online advertising, you can greatly increase the effectiveness of your Facebook ads through testing. For example, you can send two different ads to the same audience to see which one performs the best. You can test ad copy, imagery, landing pages, and experiment with different targeting options. A trick of the trade is a tool called Facebook Ads Manager, and it can help you conduct split testing and multivariable testing. It can also help you automatically create thousands of Facebook ads.

Start big, narrow down

Start out by creating many ads, and then narrow it down to the ads that are most effective. You may also want to experiment with bidding by cost-per-click and cost per thousand impressions to see which option is most profitable for your ads.

Track your results

You must monitor your ad campaign’s performance. With your account, you can analyze data about your click-through-rates, impressions, and average cost-per-click or cost per thousand impressions. You will start to notice what works well, and what doesn’t, and then you can decide what action you need to take to improve your campaign. You can also integrate your ads with Google Analytics so you can track conversions on your website.

The best way to learn if Facebook ads are right for your hotel is to give it a try. Here at O’Rourke, we believe that Facebook ads are an effective way to build awareness about your hotel, and generate new business. It is an inexpensive platform to use, and if you test your ads, and follow best practices, you could have a lot of success with Facebook ads. According to the Facebook statistics, there are more than 350 million active Facebook users. That is a large audience that your hotel could tap into. The targeting options available, and the popularity of the site, make it a perfect advertising platform. Start advertising now to get ahead of your competition, and as the Facebook ad slogan states,  ‘Find your customers before they search.’

¹ Facebook revenue guru says demand generation is secret to ad success

² Group M, The Influenced: Social Media, Search and the Interplay of Consideration and Consumption

If you would like to learn more about Internet Marketing and Social Media Strategies, please call us at 978-465-5949 or send an email to info@orourkehospitality.com.

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

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.

‘Vampires, Google Parasites, Content Kleptomaniacs,’ are terms that media baron Rupert Murdoch used to describe online news aggregation sites. Google’s defense is that Google is a great source of promotion, and they send online news publishers a billion clicks a month from Google News, and more than 3 billion extra visits from their other services such as Web Search & iGoogle. That is 100,000 clicks every minute.

Jarvis states that there is a fundamental shift happening in the media economy today in regards to website content and distribution. He stressed that content by itself is nothing, and it is the links to the content that bring it value. He identified the imperatives as follows; content must be searchable to be found, online content forces specialization (do what you do best, and link to the rest), it forces efficiency when you specialize in a subject you are an expert in, and the recipient of links monetizes links.

structural change in media process v. product
There is also a structural change in media process verses product. In media we usually think of content as a product, there is a start and a finish, and in the end we put it up. When content is considered a process it changes the structure. Jarvis thinks that Google Wave¹ will allow an opportunity to create content as a process. He believes that Google may have made a mistake by introducing Wave as a new e-mail. He sees that it also has potential to be a news distributor where people can constantly update content that can be presented on one page.

The problem with ‘the article,’ he says, is that it’s imperishable. However, news changes quickly, and the value of the article goes away. The idea of a news stream is more real-time, and tools such as Twitter and RSS feeds allow for more current information. Content should be thought of as more of a process. The idea of the beginning and the end is over.

distributed vs. centralized
Jarvis states that the audience and developers have becomes the new news distributors. ‘The Guardian’ launched Open Platform² last March, which is a feature that allows content to be repurposed in different ways. There is an API (Application Programming Interface) available that will allow third party developers to access their articles in formats that are geared towards integration with other internet applications.

Today the Guardian announced they are launching an Open 100 competition where you can nominate your top open/organizations in the world. As stated on a Guardian blog post,³ the competition celebrates the power of openness and mass collaboration. While there is no clear-cut definition of ‘openness’ there is undeniably a trend to democratize and de-centralize previously closed business processes. Some are formed from the start around communities, while others are opening up their intellectual property to share with others. This promises better, faster and more efficient innovation.

Google understands that collaboration from users, and input from developers, are necessary elements. Many applications and tools are in a ‘beta’ status where tests are being performed on the product, and users and developers can give their feedback.  As a Google spokesperson explained, “On the web, you don’t have to wait for the next version to be on the shelf or an update to become available, improvements are rolled out as they are developed.”⁴

Jarvis states that Google sees the world differently and that is what makes them so successful. He referred to his book, ‘What would Google Do?’ and said it isn’t just about Google, it’s about the profound changes taking place today and how you and your company should approach them. He highlighted some traits that have allowed Google to excel.

New Relationships

-give the people control, we will use it

-do what you do best and link to the rest

-join a network

New Public-ness

-if your not searchable, you won’t be found

-everybody needs a little SEO

-life is public, so is business

-your customers are your ad agency

New Economy

-Small is the new big

-Manage abundance

New Business Reality

-atoms

-new ethic

-make mistakes well

-life is a beta

-be honest

-be transparent

-collaborate

-don’t be evil

These philosophies apply to different fields in different ways. As a hotel marketing manager, digital media has opened up a whole realm of possibilities and your approach and attitude of how to work with your online audience will come through in every point of contact. Look at the four points listed above; new relationships, new public-ness, new economy, and new business reality. These should certainly resonate with the hotel industry.

Hotels now have the ability to create relationships with their customers. This can be done through many different channels such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs. Put some effort into developing these relationships with your guests, and you will be creating evangelists for your hotel who will speak highly about you to their own personal networks.

New public-ness, for better or for worse, is here to stay, and it has had a huge impact on hotels. It is now common practice for guests to write reviews and post their own photos and videos of your hotel online. Hotels have to embrace this public-ness and view it as an opportunity to learn how they can improve their hotel.

The new economy has affected hotels, but even small things you can do through internet marketing, such as posting images on a flickr account, can go a long way in helping create your brand image and direct traffic to your site.

Finally, the old ideas of how to market and brand your hotel need to change to fit the new business reality. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, be honest, be transparent, collaborate, and your guests will recognize this and feel a greater brand loyalty. When in doubt, ask yourself, “What would Google do?”

If you would like to learn more about Internet Marketing, call us at 978-465-5955 or send an e-mail to info@orourkehospitality.com.

References:

₁ About Google Wave

₂ Open Platform

₃ The Open 100 Competition

₄ Google defends its definition of ‘beta’

We believe it is time to reinvent the standard hotel website, and we will begin with a quick comparison of a typical hotel website today, and our ideas of how a website should be for 2010.

A Typical Hotel Website Today:

• designed to promote hotel with emphasis on beautiful photos
• difficult to navigate, too many options, user gets lost
• static, no fresh content supplied
• designed from a template
• no links to social media sites such as Twitter or Facebook
• no blog
• no video
• no division between types of travelers (i.e. leisure, business)
• no calls-to-action
• no incentive for user to supply e-mail
• no reason for user to visit your site again
• no personal profiling
• no personal communication with guest
• no reviews
• not optimized for the search engines
• no analytics in place

A Modern Hotel Website for 2010

• designed for the user with emphasis on supplying the information they need
• easy to navigate with no clutter
• dynamic with continually updated content
• created on a content management system that allows hotel to edit content themselves
• links to Twitter and Facebook (or place Twitter stream directly on site)
• a blog to supply useful content to users and help SEO efforts
• videos of hotel and city – videos should be authentic and not glitzy ads
• information should be organized by type of traveler and answer specific questions
• calls-to-action should lead user through the sales funnel
• offer an incentive for users to supply their e-mail (i.e. a downloadable city guide)
• give users a reason to re-visit your site (i.e. ski conditions if your hotel is in the mountains)
• maintain a database of your clients and learn their preferences. This allows for more targeted email campaigns, and a better guest experience at your hotel
• communicate with your guest before, during, and after their stay through email or Twitter
• request reviews from your guests and post them on your website
• make sure your website is optimized for the search engines
• install analytics which will allow you to track user behavior

Your website is at the center of all your internet marketing strategies, and it must be well-designed to provide the guest a positive user experience. If it is ineffective, then all your internet marketing efforts will be in vain. You could be losing guests because of a difficult navigation or reservations page. In today’s market, digital media is growing rapidly and you must grow with it.

We recently attended the Inbound Marketing Summit in Boston created by Chris Brogan, President of New Marketing Labs. Chris is also the co-author of the New York Times Bestseller, ‘Trust Agents,’ with Julien Smith. He is a social media guru and his blog is in the top 10 of the Advertising Age Power150. Chris travels a lot and he sees great opportunities for the hotel industry in social media and online marketing.

Tom O’Rourke founder/CEO of O’Rourke Hospitality Marketing wanted to share Brogan’s insight with the Hospitality Industry in the second part of this video interview. Tom asked Brogan his view on the current hotel website design and navigation structure.

“Don’t make me hate!” was Chris Brogan’s first response to Tom’s question about his view was on the current hotel website design.  He supports our opinion that hotel websites are utterly backwards of what the guests really want. Chris elaborates:

It’s basically these beautiful majestic pictures. No matter how horrible your hotel is, it’s the best possible picture of your venue. It’s great to have pictures, it’s nice to see the layout of the rooms, but take it backwards from the buyer’s experience, because ultimately I’m the buyer.

I have a really strange set of questions when I’m traveling as a dad, or when I’m traveling as a business guy. As a dad I want to know; What’s the biggest room? Can I get a suite? Can I have door-to-door? Basics.

If I’m a business traveler I want to know what the desk is like. What chair do I have? Are there 5 plugs for my stuff? Do you give me free Wi-Fi or should I worry about bringing my card? How late is your business center open?

So what I’m saying when I say all this is that site design now needs to be a bit more dynamic, and it needs to route me through because right now there’s these crazy navigation trees that cascade like rain and have 500 possible ways to go somewhere.

This is not how we buy anything. We don’t buy groceries that way, we don’t buy anything like this – but for some reason hotels think if I offer you 147 things to click on, you might click one.

Tom agrees with Chris that hotel websites should go in a new direction, and he takes it a step further by suggesting that they incorporate social media and interactivity within their website to stay with the guest before, during, and after their stay. Tom believes it would be a different approach for the hotel business, but that it would be giving the guest what the guest really wants.

Chris agrees with Tom and adds some of his ideas:

I concur. Would you like to make seven figures on a business I just don’t have time to start? Here’s my idea, concierge service – it’s not that person at that desk. That’s part of it, but I would like to have someone I could pay an extra $29 dollars a day to keep all of my things in alignment, and tell me the local ‘Staples’ is here, the ‘Target’ is here, do you need me to run out and get you pens and markers? It’s here. I’d pay $29 dollars a day just to know that person was there.

There are so many things we could do. I’m in Manhattan – I’m on 4^th Avenue, I have no idea where I need to eat, and if they ping me right back on Twitter, because I’m a guest, that’s all I have to do, is maintain a little guest registry – they don’t even have to work hard – I can message them, and they can message me back.

There are so many opportunities for hotels to do so much more with these new tools that don’t cost much to launch. They cost time, and they cost a little consideration, and to not do it the way you’ve already been doing it.

So as we approach 2010, it’s time to evaluate your hotel website and internet marketing efforts. Take a look at your current hotel website from a user perspective. Is it easy to navigate or does it confuse the user with too many options? Does it provide the user with the information he or she wants, or does it just show beautiful images? Does it address the needs of individual travelers i.e. business vs. leisure or does it just group all information together? Do you have links to your Twitter and Facebook account on your site?  As Chris says there are so many opportunities for hotels in this space – and we believe 2010 is a great time to start employing these exciting new strategies. Stay tuned to our blog for part II of Innovative Website Ideas for 2010.

You can see the first part of the video interview with Chris Brogan on our blog, Hotels That Listen in Social Media Generate Business.

Below is a list of some of Chris Brogan’s blog posts related to the hotel industry.

Ideas for Hotels and Hospitality

Should Hotels have Social Networks?

Café Shaped Business – The Roger Smith Hotel

Social Media Starter Moves for Tourism

Workflow – Social Media for Marketers

A Hotel Built For Media Makers

We are interested in hearing your thoughts on revolutionizing the standard hotel website. Do you agree with what Tom and Chris suggest? Are you planning to make any changes to your hotel website or internet marketing strategy in 2010? Please comment below.

Google’s goal is to create the most comprehensive, relevant, and fastest search in the world. It doesn’t get much faster than if you are including up to the minute data. Their view is that the next time you search for a hotel, you can be aided by a real-time observation.

For illustration purposes we conducted a search query on the ‘Roger Smith Hotel’ in New York. The third result in the organic section, highlighted in yellow below, returned a query related to Twitter. Admittedly, this result links back to the Roger Smith Twitter profile, and not a live tweet, but we surmise that this could happen.

What a great service that would be for the user. Not only do they get a result that will bring them to the hotel website, but they would also have the opportunity to look at a social comment like, ‘Great night stay at the Roger Smith Hotel, service was amazing and the staff was very courteous.’ Highly useful information for the end user, but equally as important to the property for organic search engine optimization.

As the saying goes, ‘There is no time like the present.’ As hoteliers, you need to be participating in social media now. Start building a network of fans, followers and friends who trust you and your hotel. If you don’t move in this direction, you may quickly become irrelevant in not just social media, but in search as well.

]]> http://blog.orourkehospitality.com/2009/11/what-social-search-can-mean-to-your-hotel/feed/ 0 http://blog.orourkehospitality.com/2009/10/chris-brogan-interview-hotels-that-listen-in-social-media-generate-business/ http://blog.orourkehospitality.com/2009/10/chris-brogan-interview-hotels-that-listen-in-social-media-generate-business/#comments Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:30:34 +0000 Sara http://blog.orourkehospitality.com/?p=834

Chris Brogan was very busy running the show at the 2009 Inbound Marketing Summit in Boston, MA, yet being the cool guy that he is, he took the time to share his own insight with us on how hotels should be using Social Media.

Chris is President of New Marketing Labs, and one of the masterminds behind the Inbound Marketing Summit Conferences. He is also the co-founder of the PodCamp new media conference series. His blog ranks #1 on the Ad Age Power 150, and in the top 100 on Technorati. Chris is the co-author of the New York Times Bestseller, ‘Trust Agents,’ with Julien Smith. Trust Agents is about using the web to build influence, improve reputation, and earn trust, as explained on the cover of the book.

Tom O’Rourke, founder/president of O’Rourke Hospitality Marketing caught up with Chris at the Summit, and asked him his thoughts on how the Hotel Industry should be using Social Media. Tom explained to Chris that many General Managers of hotels are thinking of getting into social media, but they aren’t too sure how to use it, or how to staff it. Many are not sure how it is going to help them in the business. He asked Chris what he would recommend to these general managers.

Chris responded by giving a couple examples of hotels and car services that captured his business and attention, just because they were listening and responding in the social media space when he needed them.

Chris explains:

I travel every 2 days – I’m in a hotel more often than I’m in my own bed. There’s so much you can do in this space.

My repeat study is this – The Roger Smith Hotel. I said on Twitter, just to the general audience, ‘Hey, where are cool kids staying in Manhattan these days?’ As you know Manhattan has 400 hotels, probably more than that even. I received an answer right away from this guy Chris who said, ‘The Roger Smith Hotel.’ The very next guy was Brett Petersel from Mashable, ‘The Roger Smith Hotel – they treat you really nice there.’ The third person was The Roger Smith Hotel. They tell me, ‘You should come by, we have a blogger’s discount.’ I said, ‘well sure.’ I stayed, I had a great time. They are always vigilant, they are always paying attention, they are always bringing in revenue by being kind. They are doing nothing harder than saying we’d love to have you here, there might be a discount.

I’ve seen lots of other hotel chains do it. I mentioned I had to come down to Miami. Three hotels talked to me. I mentioned I’m going to this location and they said, ‘If you’re ever in our area we’d love to have you here.’ So if nothing else, the listening element of the social media tools is business generation. Pure and easy.

Tom agrees with Chris, and emphasizes the importance of listening in the Hotel Industry. Tom states, “A lot of the hotels I see out there today, and the way they are using social media tools like Twitter, it’s kind of taking a social media tool and still using it in a traditional way – in so far as ‘here are my special deals.’ Are they listening or are they speaking too much?”

Chris responds:

They’re just talking, and we don’t care. The difference is, it’s called listening and point of need. Marcell LeBrun from Radian 6 had that term. He said that it only comes when you are at the point of need. For example, I’m in Seattle . . . I mention that I have a problem. I said my cab hasn’t showed up, my town car also hasn’t shown up. I’m waiting. I’m due at Microsoft. A guy with a national footprint of professional car service contacts me right away on Twitter and says, ‘Here’s my number – if you ever have this problem again, call me soon enough and I’ll fix it anywhere in the U.S.’ That’s listening! But if he had asked me 3 weeks ago – I have a car service, you should get my car service, it’s great – I would have paid no attention. I didn’t have the issue then.

So if someone’s saying, ‘We’re heading to Vegas,’ or if someone’s saying, ‘We’re planning to take a beautiful golfing trip to Sanibel Island Florida,’ that’s when you say, ‘I run the Sanibel Harbor Resort, and it’s a beautiful hotel and it’s got a great course right down the road. We’d love to have you here. Come by!’ The minute you get that personalized touch, the minute they act like a person, you are doing business with people. You don’t do business with advertisements. Sometimes a pretty picture helps but if there’s no human behind it, to kind of bring us in and tell a story with us, there’s no value.

Here at O’Rourke, we hope that after having watched this video you begin to think about your own hotel’s reputation management and social media strategy. Are you listening to your guests? They are talking! If you aren’t participating in the social media space yet, we recommend that you start by listening. If you are participating in Social Media, are you listening and responding as much as you could?

It does take some time and commitment to listen, however it has become a necessary task if you want to know who your guests are, what they are saying about you and your competition, what they like and dislike, and how you can improve your hotel. Listening is also imperative in order to stay on top of reputation management. Many companies now have positions such as ‘Chief Listening Officer,’ and that person does nothing but research and listen to what customers say and want.

John Jantsch, creator of Duct Tape Marketing, and a presenter at the 2009 Inbound Marketing Summit, compiled a list of a ‘do it yourself’ tools that help you monitor conversations surrounding your brand or hotel.  The list can be found on his blog, and we have recreated it below:

• Google alerts – Google Alerts allows you set-up customer searches for any phrase and receive email or RSS alerts any time your phrase shows up in online media, blogs, web pages and news.

• Search.twitter – For now, monitoring twitter is a separate stream (Google seems to be adding twitter conversations to SERPs) – using the advanced search function allows you set-up very specific searches, even including geographic details. These searches produce RSS feeds and can then be subscribed to.

• tweetbeep.com – Similar to Google Alerts, but for twitter. Set-up search phrases and receive notification any time your phrases show up in twitter conversations.

• Boardtracker.com – focuses on the most popular bulletin board conversations and can turn up responses that don’t show up anywhere else. Some industries still have very heavy bulletin board use.

• Backtype.com – Backtype is a search engine of sorts that focuses on blog comments. Blog comments don’t often make it into the mainstream search results so this is a way to listen in on this set of content.

• Social Mention – this is a mashup search engine of many of the formats of content such as audio and video – I’ve found it a very nice way to turn up some mentions that don’t occur anywhere else.

There are also many advanced paid services that allow you to organize and filter the data you collect. These services also help you analyze the information which can help you see trends and new opportunities. John has also compiled a list of some popular paid services.

• Radian6 – Robust set of analytics, relates data in some very cool ways

• Trackur – advanced set of tools, well worth the cost

• Buzzlogic – focuses on helping you find key influencers driving conversations.

• Filtrbox – very easy to use, powerful and low cost

These tools and services are very helpful and they can capture many comments about your hotel on Twitter, travel-blogs, and forums. However, they may not be capturing all the user-generated reviews from travel review sites such as TripAdvisor, Expedia, Hotels.com, Travelocity, Orbitz, Travelocity, and Fodor’s. If you are using a reputation management service check to see if they include reviews from these travel review sites.

“Hotels today cannot afford to continue thinking in a traditional marketing format. They need to stop pushing their message through conventional channels that tend to interrupt their audience. It’s time to make a change. Listen, Participate, and Engage through Inbound Marketing,” says Tom O’Rourke.

If you would like to develop a social media and reputation management strategy but don’t know where to start, give us a call at 978-465-5955 or send an e-mail to info@orourkehospitality.com

“Southwest Airlines is riding the blogosphere like a wild horse,” says the program description of Paula Berg’s talk at the Inbound Marketing Summit in Boston.

Berg opens her presentation by talking about the Southwest Airline TV show where the camera followed passengers and crews around behind the scenes of the Airport. With the show they were able to reach a totally different demographics than before, which was basically males involved in business with an interest in sports. The show was aired on a Monday night and then on Tuesday two interesting things would happen; one the revenue would go up 9%, and two, they would receive a lot of job applications.

When the show finished, Southwest was looking for something to fill the void, so in April, 2006, they began their blog ‘Nuts About Southwest’. The blog became very successful and served as a virtual focus group, a resource for employees, a place for Southwest to write news the way they wanted, a place to share expertise, a place to post breaking news, and a way to help increase their search engine rankings. They then handpicked 30 employees from all departments, including the Flight Crew, to blog, and gave them two guidelines; write what you are passionate about and write when you feel like it. Berg says some of the bloggers are prolific and others hide from her in the hallway.

In May of 2008 Southwest Airlines relaunched their blog, to make it more web 2.0, by adding new elements such as videos and podcasts. Visits went up by 25%.

Berg presented case studies from the last three years which show how Southwest has effectively made, managed, and maintained successful online communities, and the lessons they have learned along the way. One case study was called ‘Open Season on Assigned Seating’. Basically, the CEO announced on a blog that Southwest would change the open seating policy to assigned seating. His blog post received 700 comments from customers voicing their opinions, many of which opposed the change.  Therefore, he decided to keep the open seating policy. Another thing that Southwest learned from this was that travelers were unhappy with their boarding process so Southwest was able to adopt a new process. Southwest declared on their website, “You Spoke and We Listened – Southwest Airlines Says Open Seating is Here to Stay!”

Another case study Berg discusses is called ‘A Story With Legs’. This was a case where Southwest asked a passenger to cover up her outfit because she was scantily dressed. Six months later the story broke in the San Diego Tribune and on the Today Show. Many people were outraged and comments exploded online. Southwest finally apologized, but Berg admits they should have done it earlier.

The lesson they learned from that case served them well when the next crisis hit. This time it involved two girls, and the case was called “Too Pretty to Fly”. In this case, the girls were behaving very unladylike on a flight, and were yelling profanities at other passengers. When the plane landed the girls were escorted off by four police officers. The girls, Nisreen Swedberg and Sarah Williams, claimed that they were banned from flying all Southwest airlines for being ‘too pretty’. “I think they were just discriminating against us because we were young decent-looking girls. I mean, nobody else on the plane looked like us except us. The flight attendants were like older ladies. We were younger. Who knows they could have been just jealous of us because we were younger.” This time Southwest responded earlier by releasing a video which told their side of the story. The video received 250,000 views and was number 8 of the most viewed videos. This time Southwest received tremendous support from the public and other bloggers.

Southwest also uses other social media platforms including Twitter. They currently have 750,000 Twitter followers. They posted a 2-day fare sale which was driven by social media and had tremendous results.

Video also plays an important role for Southwest. Perhaps you have seen the Rapping Flight Attendant. This video has 525,126 views. A passenger took the video of flight attendant David Holmes and the video was featured on CNN. Berg isn’t sure why, but another video about Engine Washing has received 91,900 views.

According to Berg there are a few key members in the social media team including 3 primary listeners and spokespeople, 2 people doing video, and a writer.

Other travel blogs the Southwest team reads include the Cranky Flier, Gadling travel blog, FlyerTalk, Runaway Girl, Aviation week, and Rick Seany.

Berg gives some tips about using social media. She says, “make it personal, act fast, don’t rely on numbers alone, don’t be afraid to join the conversation, make it personal, educate employees, live and breath social media, and have fun – it’s not a burden, it’s a gift.”