Final Exam Digital Marketing MBA 2 A
Nodira MAVLYANOVA
Why do you feel this particular Resolution is most important – for what types of hotels? As it was mentioned in the article, today many hotels have facebook, or twitter accounts but not so many are managing them wisely. There is a real strategy behind the use of such tools and it needs a lot of work and time, but it is in my opinion an excellent way to attract more people and future guest. That is why among the listed resolutions I think the best one is to “write interesting and engaging posts” on social networks. With this kind of “technology” hotels can reach customers directly from social medias rather than through intermediaries like third parties that would sell them information on potential customers. I believe independent boutique hotels can benefit the most from this resolution. Firstly, they don’t need to spend big budget on commercials or marketing. Secondly, it can captivate many people’s interest if it is managed efficiently. More visitors, more fans mean in the end more revenue for hotel! Last but not least, independent hotels often struggle to fill hotels rooms because today the hospitality market is very saturated with so many categories of hotels. That is why if this resolution is used efficiently, it can help bringing very good scores to the hotel. By social network, hotel can target a massive amount of potential customers. What additional actions would give that Resolution even greater impact – drive more impressive results? In order to attract and keep customers interested in our hotel, being reactive on their comments is essential. It shows that we care about them, we listen to them, and we take into considerations their opinions and share them. All these factors can have a huge impact on the revenue of the hotel, for example Hotel le Seven, during the low season had 80% occupancy rate thanks to the social media engagements. Today they have more than 10000 followers. Engaging customers is important, but rewarding them for being interested in hotel is more relevant. Example 1: “Hotel le Seven” is a 4star hotel located in the heart of Saint Germain des Pres in Paris, they are doing really good job on their social network.
The Hotel Le Seven has 28 rooms and 7 Suites. All Suites are different and have a different name like Suite 007, Marie Antoinette, Lovez vous Suite, On-Off… They used pictures on facebook page to attract more fans! And all suites have interesting design!
Example 2: Victoria secret, more than 11,403,278 fans on Facebook page and updating every day posts! They don’t have Twitter account but they are very active on Facebook and they have several blogs by category of products (e.g.: http://victoriasecretlover.blogspot.com/ http://victoriasecretbags.blogspot.com/ )
Example 3: BOOKING.COM
2. From the article, what role does technology play in a hotel's internet strategy success? If you are an independent, limited budget hotel (or business) what steps would you take to compete effectively online? The technology is developing so fast that hoteliers should be prepared for this new growing demand. Nowadays, there are more and more people using their mobile phone for bookings, purchasing items on Internet. Furthermore the technology has a huge role in hotel’s evolution. Hotels should change their traditional marketing strategy towards digital marketing where demand from customers is growing at a fast pace. It is very disappointing to see that there are so many nice hotels in Paris and only few of them have social medias. For this reason, if I were employee at an independent boutique hotel (independent boutique, because many famous luxury hotels have already visibility), I would first
of all set up a social media account and if needed, improve the existing hotel’s website too. Here is what I would do after creating social networks: Step 1: Set up the hotel’s name to appear on the first line on search engine optimization (e.g.: google page) Step 2: Create interesting posts, contents on social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, videos on Youtube…) Step 3: Be active by engaging people and share as much as possible Step 4: Reply often to fan’s comment either positive or negative Step 5: Put some positive guest’s quotes on the hotel’s official website Step 6: Put the link of social networks where hotel has its accounts on the hotel’s website and also create a RSS feed+newsletters Step 7: Identify influencers and reward them Step 8: Share pictures and videos Step 9: Make the website compatible with mobile phones Step 10: Work with 3rd parties (e.g.: trip advisor – for the reputation of the hotel) Example 1: “Hotel Artus” is a 3 star design hotel located in the heart of Saint Germain des Pres.
Example 2: “Hotel Ares Eiffel� is a 4 star design hotel located few minutes from the Eiffel Tower. They have more than 5000 fans on their Facebook page!!! We can have a direct access to their Facebook page from the website.
3. From the Build Your Own Brand video series – what are they KEY elements to online branding, according to Loic LeMeur? Among many other reasons for online branding that Loic Lemeur have explained, the engagement and sharing information on social networks are the key elements to build own brand. It is true that today many companies set up accounts on social networks but don’t follow them. It is not all about having social networks and just to show that you have them, but the most important is managing them in an effective way. He points out that it is not easy to captivate fans, customers but once it is done, it’s crucial to reward them and keep them interested. For that, he recommends listen to the fan’s feedbacks, read their comments, answer them and use more pictures and videos to keep the websites attractive and interesting. Example 1: Paris Hotel Boutique is an online shop boutique. They don’t have any stores they work only online. They have already reached 1994 fans on Facebook page. They are active on their Blog and as well as on Facebook!
Example 2: “Hotel W Barcelona” is a 5 star hotel in Spain
4. From the Build Your Own Brand video series – choose any 2 online tools that were mentioned: Facebook Blog • Describe how a hotel could use these tools to effectively engage their customers There are many ways to use these tools effectively in order to engage customer: - Create interesting posts: for example, quiz about the history of the hotel and reward the first 3 winners; or choose which of the 3 following ideas could be most interesting for St valentines day? - Share more picture, videos - Don’t ignore comments, either positive or negative and answer them as often possible - If there are users who contribute efficiently to spread information about the hotel, reward them, for example by inviting them to the hotel’s special events like celebrating new year or degustation a new dessert. - Be active: update posts at least 3 times a week •
What actions would be needed to put the tools in place, in a hotel?
The key action would be first of all to find the right person who can manage all social networks. On the other hand, it is important to know who are their influencers or who can be an influencer? For that there are many interesting sites (e.g.: klout) to identify their influencers or community of interest. What are people saying about the hotel?
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How could the selected tools be utilized across channels
These tools can be used on the official website of hotels. They will enable every fan to have a direct access to the social networks. Fans can be influenced by visiting the website to reach easily other channels that the hotel is using. For example, if we post a video of the hotel on facebook linked to youtube, by clicking on the video, they can see more videos of the hotel. What problems would the use of the selected tools solve These tools can help hotels identify their guest’s desire and through the comments they can adapt or even improve their services. It is like free consultancy for the hotels. There is no need to spend money for creativity, it can come from the guest, just ask them what they want and find a solution for them. •
On the other hand, if hotels are active on those tools, it can generate more traffic, which enables to increase the hotel’s occupancy rate and its revenue. What problems would the selected tools create The problems could arise while publishing posts or answering to a guest, questions need to be answered accurately and carefully in order to not offend the followers. Sometimes answers can be used against us, as everything will be registered, we must be careful not to contradict ourselves. A lot of negative feedbacks can be problematic too. Some of them could be defamatory. •
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Why did you selected these specific tools
Facebook, blogs have become powerful and very influential marketing tool for any kind of company. I really believe if the facebook page is well managed it can help hotels to increase its reputation as well as can bring many traffics. It is more than word of mouth where information spreads fast. Through the hotels blog we can transfer deeper information to the customers, loyal fans or any people who want to know more about the hotel. The information could be for example on an upcoming event at the hotel, chief concierge’s advises of the hotel or any kind information, which can help customers. For example, the hotel Geoge V is doing a great job regarding their blog.
George V hotel’s blog
5. Select 5 of the following terms. Define in your own words – include a screenshot example of each term Rate Parity- rate parity means when the rates of the rooms are the same everywhere (e.g.: expedia, booking…) PPC- pay per clic, sometimes on SEO some site are payable, those sites benefit financially by pay per clic. Affiliate programs use this kind of tool often
Social commerce- sites where people share about everything that they bought and write reviews on quality, satisfaction of the product. E.g.: blippy.com or yelp.com
Tweets – tweets enables users to share information with other users or community of interest.
Social Media – where people share different kind of information, keep in touch with friends. (Facebook, Twitter, Blogs….)