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.

Will Google Sidewiki go mainstream?  We cannot predict the future, but given the success of other user-generated sites such as Trip Advisor, Yelp, You Tube and Wikipedia, we have reason to believe that it may.  As it is now, users have to sign up for a Google account and install the Google Toolbar to be able to see and write comments, and many people simply don’t know it exists.

However, Google has made an API available, which means that third party developers can access Sidewiki data and integrate it into their own applications or on their websites. Surely some tool will be developed soon that will catch the public eye and bring Sidewiki into the limelight.

People aren’t quite sure how to use Google Sidewiki yet, or what kind of comments they should be leaving. Really it all depends on the purpose and content of the website. Google recently wrote a blog post reviewing the first 50 days of Sidewiki, and shared 10 examples of ways users have written comments that will benefit others who visit the same site. For example Jason Young gave his own tips on how to tune a bass guitar on a guitar website, Matt Cutts from Google warned visitors about a deceptive website that claimed that Google is hiring people to work at home, and Jesse Poe added his personal reviews to a review of an iPhone application.

In a perfect world, the idea is great! If users can supply informative, relevant, quality comments that add knowledge and insight to the website content then that’s fantastic. We believe there will be some quality commentaries with useful information. People like to share their knowledge, or experience, on a topic they feel passionate about. We can just look at Wikipedia to see that.

However we don’t live in a perfect world and many companies see Google Sidewiki as a reputation management nightmare that will open up a new channel for malicious comments and reviews, or just create nonsense clutter. It could also be used by spammers. The companies and website owners have no control whatsoever over the comments. They do not have the right to approve or delete comments, as they can with blog comments, so they are really defenseless in a sense.

We also feel the temptation is too high and it’s too easy to write. Anyone could write anything just to be heard or to vent. What’s to stop people from airing dirty laundry, or bringing up personal information? I read one comment from a woman who owned a company and was concerned that as soon as her ex-boyfriend learns about Sidewiki he will surely try to bring her company down with his comments.

What about jaded employees, competitors? Sure they can write negative things about you on external sites but these will not likely be seen by the masses. To me, it is similar to a heckler during a speech. Who is to stop the Joe Wilsons of the world yelling ‘You Lie!’ everywhere.

Google is trying to control this, and has set up a voting system that allows users to vote if a comment is useful or not. There is also an option to report abuse where users can report a policy violation such as spam, illegal content, or any post that advocates hate or violence.

Google Sidewiki also has an algorithm in place that will put the highest quality, most relevant entries first, taking into account the votes, previous entries by author, and relevance to page.

Can I block Google Sidewiki?

There is currently no opt-out option for Google Sidewiki, but given all the controversy it has caused I would not be surprised if Google considers adding the option in the future.

Many companies have found ways to block Sidewiki, and they are selling their script. Google has actually found a way around some of these sidewiki blockers.

Some companies have even modified their server settings to block any user who even has the Google toolbar installed. This is probably not the best idea if you have a commercial website.

Other companies have elected to redirect visitors to a secure page. So when visitors type in http://www.yourhotel.com they would get redirected to an https site with the same name. Sidewiki cannot run on the secure site.

Less extreme, some third party developers have created tools that can block spam from the sidewiki.

How will Google Sidewiki affect my Hotel?

In regards to hotel websites, we believe users will begin to leave reviews of the hotel right on Google Sidewiki. This should not scare hotels, as they have been dealing with user-generated reviews for years on popular sites such as TripAdvisor and Expedia. The main difference is that these reviews will be closer to home, and visitors will be able to see reviews without navigating away from your site.

As is the case with other review sites, Google sidewiki could be an asset to your hotel or detrimental, depending on the types of reviews your hotel receives. And as we discussed in a previous post about TripAdvisor, negative reviews can actually be helpful at times.

Let’s look at the positives, the negatives, and how your hotel should manage these reviews.

The Positives

• Good reviews will encourage visitors on your site to make a reservation

• You will be able to respond to these reviews unlike some of the external review sites

• Visitors who read the reviews won’t be distracted by ads from your competitors

•  Sidewiki content can rank in the Search Engines, which can drive more traffic to your site

• Visitors who comment on your site can also share their comments through social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook which can also rank in the Search Engines and contribute to your web presence

The Negatives

• Similar to any review sites there is an opportunity for a guest to leave a negative or unfair review which you will be unable to remove

• It is just one more place you must monitor every day

• Comments may be too general or unstructured. On a standard review site there are different areas that the guest has to review such as cleanliness or service. Sometimes a guest will give a top rating to one area and a lower rating to another, which will often balance it out. On sidewiki, a guest may just mention what they didn’t like. There may also be reviews mixed in with other comments or perhaps even questions.

• Some review sites require proof that a guest has stayed at your hotel before they can write a review. This is not controlled with Google Sidewiki.

• Some review sites threaten to blacklist competitors if they are found out writing false negative comments about your hotel. Again this is not controlled with Google Sidewiki.

• On the flip side some review sites threaten to blacklist companies that write positive reviews about their own company. What is in place to stop you from enlisting people to write positive comments on your site, or voting on all the positive comments? Your competitors could be doing the same on their sites. Users may begin to distrust the comments altogether.

• Who is to stop a competitor from writing a comment on your site trying to lure visitors away with their own offer?

What We Recommend Your Hotel Do

• First of all install Google Sidewiki. It’s free and it only takes a couple of seconds. You must have the latest Internet Explorer or Firefox. For Google Chrome and other browsers you can use the sidewiki bookmarklet.

• Experiment using Google Sidewiki. Once installed, you will see a blue box with arrows on the top left of the page. Click on this to open the sidewiki bar to see any comments. There is a ‘Write an entry’ option at the bottom of the bar which will allow you to write your own comment. Below is an example of sidewiki written on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Website. The commenter highlighted the content on the website he was adding to.

• Look at other examples of comments. As Sidewiki is still new there are not a lot of websites that have comments yet. You can see a list of 10 examples from a recent Google Blog post. You can tell if posts have been written on a page or not by the color of the sidewiki icon in your toolbar. If the icon is yellow there are posts about that webpage. If it is white with a pencil image no posts have been written.

• Take ownership of Sidewiki by being the first to comment on your own site, and set the tone for future comments. Google allows the website owner to write a comment that will always appear first at the top of the Sidewiki page, and it will be highlighted in a green box. To do this follow the instructions in this webmaster sidewiki post.

• Monitor comments on your site as you would any review site. You most likely do not have any comments yet as Sidewiki is still new, however you need to be on the lookout for comments in case they do come in. You aren’t alerted when there are comments, however Google has introduced an API feature where you can subscribe to have comments sent to you on your site, or any website, via an RSS feed. A third party developer vedovini.net has already created a site which makes this easier. http://www.sidewikirss.com/ You just need to enter in the URL of the website and it will give you a feed to subscribe to. You can then see when new comments are written.

You subscribe to sidewiki comments the same way you would for any RSS feed. I subscribe with my iGoogle. As an example, I subscribed the Mayo clinic sidewiki comments seen below. If you would like to learn more about how to set up an RSS feed we have described it in detail in our post on how to subscribe to blogs.

• Think about setting up your own system on your website for guests to enter reviews. This could be more structured and allow them to comment on all aspects of your hotel, not just freely write anything.

In conclusion, what will happen with Google Sidewiki is a bit of a mystery at the moment. There have been other attempts from other companies to let people annotate websites which never caught on. However, those other companies were not Google.

There are many positives and negatives to Google Sidewiki, and a lot of controversy.

Most companies do not like the idea of giving up control of what is seen on their website. However, the public likes to read ‘real’ comments and reviews of products and services, and that isn’t going to change. Perhaps Google Sidewiki will catch on, perhaps it won’t. Either way, Google Sidewiki is here right now, with no opt-out, and it is up to your hotel to start monitoring your comments.

If you would like more information about Google Sidewiki please feel free to call us at 978-465-5955 or write to us at info@orourkehospitality.com.

We would like to hear your opinion on Google Sidewiki. Have you tried it? Do you think it’s a good idea or a bad idea? Please feel free to respond below:

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