Radisson Blu Social Media Playbook

SOCIA L MEDIA

P L AY B O O K

INTRODUCTION • 02

WH AT

IS A SOCIAL MEDIA PLAYBOOK? Social Media has had a huge impact on every industry in the world with travel and hospitality being no exception. By establishing a Content Playbook we want to create a consistent and documented approach to listening and engaging with our social community and how content should be presented within our social ecosystem, so it reflects the essence of our brand and what we stand for.

This Playbook will guide you when working with social media.

We encourage regular self-education to be up-to-date on social enhancement, best practices, successful social media integration and case studies.

WHO SHOULD USE THIS DOCUMENT? Anyone looking to create or promote content across Radisson Blu’s social channels should use this document to gain a better understanding of our approach to social media and how to create content according to the content buckets established within this guide.

SOCIA L ME D IA

OBJECTIVE S

The goal of social media is multi­purpose. One of the main Brand awareness is typically measured by looking at the reach goals of using social media is to help drive people to our and impressions gained by each piece of content. website, or web­extra pages, and eventually make a booking. Purely statistically, the more people we can push onto Many social channels reward brands for good pieces of our platforms, the more bookings content by increasing the reach. Paid we make. media suppor t will also ensure that O B JEC T IV ES more people are exposed to our • Drive to Web Of course, another equally imporcontent. tant function of social media is to • Brand Awareness increase brand awareness. By creSocial media is also here to create • Loyalty ating content that is of quality and a conversation culture. By engag‘shareable’, we increase the visibility ing with our guests, joining in their of the Radisson Blu brand. How faonline conversations and sharmiliar are people with the Radisson Blu brand across social ing guest content, we are making our guests feel valued. At media? Where and how can we increase our exposure? These the end a valued guest becomes a loyal one and so we also are impor tant questions when it comes to brand awareness. suppor t in driving loyalty to our brands.

CON TE N T G UID E 05 06 07 08 09 11

Radisson Blu Brand Design is in our DNA Social Media Audience Tracking Tone of Voice Look and Feel

12 Content Ecosystem / Platforms 13 Approach to Content Creation 15 Content Buckets 16 The Local Experience 17 The Business Traveler 18 Blu View 19 Design 20 User Generated Content 23 Using Video on Social Media 26 Competitions on Social Media 28 S ocial Tagging and Link Shortening 31 Hashtags

TH E R ADISSO N BLU

B R A N D 1

DESIGN IS IN OUR DNA

2

U N D E R S TA N D I N G YO U R S O C I A L A U D I E N C E

3

TO N E O F V O I C E

4

VISUAL LOOK & FEEL

THE RA D IS S ON BL U

BR AN D

DESIGN IS I N O U R DNA

We are deeply rooted in the proud tradition of Scandinavian Design, known for its high standards of quality and beauty and its foundation in functionalism and modernism. We are truly passionate about delivering and driving great, dynamic design, and we want our brand pillars; Iconic, Stylish and Sophisticated to be the filter through which our guests experience our brand anytime, anywhere.

Radisson Blu. Designed for you.

THE PILLARS SET FOR THE BRAND ARE: ICONIC STYLISH S O P H I S T I C AT E D This is the filter through which all our content should be viewed.

Everything must be a reflection of the brand DNA.

THE RADISSON BLU BRAND • 06

THE RA D IS S ON BL U

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UNDERSTANDING YOU R SO CI AL AUD IE NCE

Understanding the social behavior and motivation of our target groups is critical. Social media is routed in rewarding people with content that they desire, based on individual interests.

If we want to maximize our return from our content activities and improve conversions, we need to understand the following:

• What are our guests interested in?

• What topics resonate best?

• When are they online?

• Which social channels do they spend most time on?

• What kind of posts do they engage with the most?

OUR CURRE N T AUDI EN C E Remember! It is impor tant to take a customer centric view to the content that we post across our channels.

The attitudinal target audience for Radisson Blu is educated, confident and well-traveled individuals who have an affinity for art, culture, design, fashion and food.

THE RADISSON BLU BRAND • 07

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TRACKING

THE RADISSON BLU BRAND • 08

EXAMPLES

INSTAGRAM

It is impor tant we track engagement and community growth on our social channels so that we know what content is working best by looking if our fans are engaging with it. This in turn leads us to improve our content development for the brand keeping the guest at center stage.

Monitoring the Insights of our social media channels is key to ensuring we are sharing content our guests want to see and ensures we understand our audience.

Use Instagram’s Insights tool* to see when your followers are online which will help you know when to post and see your most engaging posts. On Facebook, see the Insights in the Business Manager. Check out where your fans are from plus engagement and reach of your page posts.

WHY TRACK ENGAGEMENT? In its simplest terms engagement represents the interactions between brands and people. On Facebook for example engagement is represented in likes, comments and shares. We must monitor our brand engagement as it indicates how strongly our audience resonates with our content.

WHY TRACK OUR COMMUNITY GROWTH? We want to increase the size of our social community over time.

Monitoring the number of fans on each channel allows us to see how quickly new people are joining our community and whether the content that we produce is engaging. We aim to see a steady growth rate in our new fans and followers. *For Insights, ensure the hotel is set up as a Business Profile.

FACEBOOK

THE RA D IS S ON BL U

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THE RADISSON BLU BRAND • 09

TON E O F VO I CE LANGUAGE Our brand tone of voice standards apply for our Social Media presence:

• We are always totally on brand, relevant, upbeat and now • We write to actively engage the reader in the conversation • We’re confident, clear and direct • We are vigilant about maintaining a consistent voice as the world turns Blu

The Radisson Blu tone of voice reflects the brand’s unique, holistic and innovative contemporary style. It’s as individual as our iconic hotels, reaching out to the modern, upper upscale traveler.

We talk with – not at – our audience using familiar language bringing our messages to life. We are passionate people: positive, personable and totally professional – but friendly, relaxed and respectful.

So the life, energy and understanding of the Radisson Blu tone of voice should make our audience really want to spend time with us – and to return again and again. We never over explain things or patronize our audience and we know that less is more, keeping our messaging concise.

GOOD Friendly and open tone of voice.

Sharing User Generated Content and asks a question – prompting engagement from followers.

EXAMPLES

THE RA D IS S ON BL U

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TO N E O F VOICE

SPECIFIC PRINCIPLES

THE RADISSON BLU BRAND • 10

EXAMPLES

ü

APPROVED

Action. Adventure. Romance. Experience it all with Radisson Blu Berlin and the Berlinale International Film Festival. Blu. It is you. Smile.

Stayed with us recently? Share the highlights.

Tweet us your favourite photo. #xxxxxxx

The all-essential huge – and growing – conversation of the age we live in.

Our social media tone of voice should be pro-active, connected, in touch and totally tuned into the moment.

Our messages should be a compelling call to action.

Social is rapidly becoming commercial – and Radisson Blu must be poised to take full advantage of the immense – as yet largely untapped - potential.

û

NOT APPROVED The Radisson Blu Hotel, Berlin takes pleasure in welcoming film fans to the Berlinale, International Film Festival.

WE AIM TO BE: Contemporary • Upbeat • Inspirational • Relevant • Empowering • Consistent • People focused • Authentic • Engaging • Iconic • Stylish • Sophisticated

Have you enjoyed your time staying at the Radisson Blu, Berlin? If so, please send a Twitter message to #xxxxxxx

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THE RADISSON BLU BRAND • 11

V I S UAL LO O K & F E E L

It is impor tant to keep in mind that all social media content contributes to users’ perceptions of the Radisson Blu brand. We are an upper-upscale brand and this must be reflected in our imagery and tone. We are iconic, stylish and sophisticated and in line with this, our visual expression should por tray our brand essence.

We have less than six seconds to catch people’s attention. Therefore, we must create social content that is eye catching and that people recognize as Radisson Blu content across our social media channels.

This will help us to drive the conversation within travel and design.

The image is the first thing that a user will see.

We must consider the following:

• Does this image align with the rules set out in the look and feel section?

GOOD Clean, modern layout with subtle brand clues.

Fits nicely into the Business Traveler pillar.

• Does it align with the purpose of the post?

• Does it tell a clear story?

• Is it shareable?

• Have we credited the source of the image if required?

NOTE: Although Instagram offers a wealth of filters, high quality photos we select for our Instagram feed should be able to stand on their own. Avoid filters overshadowing your image and never alter a guest image when resharing.

As you move through the playbook, please make note of the visual examples that should be used as inspiration for the standard that we expect.

EXAMPLES

CO N T EN T

B RA ND C O NTE NT C RE ATI O N

E C OSYS T EM

Social channels are our distribution network for our owned content, with suppor ting initiatives and campaigns designed to interact with our customers and attract new fans.

When creating a piece of content for social media consider what you want the audience to do. Do you want them to read a blog post, or visit a specific hotel page on the website? Be clear in your messaging so that people know what to expect if they click on a link.

Please bear in mind that social media is both give and take.

We should try to have a good balance of traffic driving posts as well as content that is designed to enter tain, inspire and inform within the platform itself.

CO N T E N T HUB e.g. Web Extra, Blog, Brand Web TRAFFIC

Positioning the blog and/or website at the hear t of our ecosystem provides a destination for our social content and gives a greater chance to move users through the funnel and closer to our brand.

How to select the traffic destination for your content?

TRAFFIC

Social media can serve many functions. We are able to drive traffic to our owned channels which is key to achieving our business goals but we can also distribute the content from our channels in various formats across social too.

Guides • I m a g es • Pr ess Relea ses • Dea ls C a m pa ig ns • I nfog r a phics • Event s

Search Engine Marketing

TRAFFIC

Content Marketing

C O N T EN T

C R E AT I O N ACROSS ALL OF OUR ACTIVE SOCIAL PLATFORMS

FOR HOTELS: Facebook, Instagram and Google+ ONLY.

FOR BRAND: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Foursquare

WE NEED TO ASK • Why are we on (platform name)?

• What are we trying to achieve?

• Who are we targeting?

• How are we incorporating the content buckets in each platform?

• What are the best practice methods that we can use for each platform?

When considering where to post on it’s also wor th noting that we should not copy and paste content across each platform. It’s ok not to have every piece of content on every single channel. We must take a focused approach and select the platforms that best serve the objectives for that piece of content.

OUR APPROACH TO CONTENT CREATION We need to follow a content creation process in order to ensure that every piece of content we publish has a clear purpose. When activating and creating different types of content make sure: • Timings are aligned with other communication activities both online and offline • You have clear objectives, purpose and goals for the content • The activity is aligned with one of the content buckets • To follow up and analyze the results of the activity for future reference

CONTENT CREATION • 14

CONVERSATION STARTER What is the purpose for this piece of content? Is it routed in an insight or is it aligned with a trend, current news etc.

• Is it inspirational?

• An inside tip or advice on a destination?

• Is there an exciting event coming up?

CONTENT BUCKET Can we use a content bucket to guide the creation of this content?

(See next slide)

CONTENT CREATION

CONTENT OPTIMIZATION

F R A M E WO R K

Are we monitoring the content’s performance and using those learnings to inform the next piece of content? Hotels are encouraged to use the individual platforms’ Insights tools.

Areas and Brand in addition have access to our Social Media monitoring tool.

The content creation framework will help guide you through the content creation process.

By working your way through each step you should be able to create social media content that aligns with our objectives and provides value to our audience.

CONTENT TOOLS

What assets (images/videos/blog post) do we currently have that we can make use of or do we need to create a new asset? What is the best format for this piece of content and which channels will it work best on?

CONTENT CREATION Have we made sure to follow best practice?

(See examples throughout the playbook)

KE

Y

SL

THE RADISSON BLU

CONTENT BUCKETS The social value proposition is the value that we give people in exchange for interacting with us or sharing our content.

Radisson Blu’s overall social value proposition is to be the continuous source of inspiration for the modern traveler.

THE LOCAL EXPERIENCE T H E B U S I N E S S T R AV E L E R BLU VIEW

DESIGN Please read through the content buckets and ensure that content is designed in line with the descriptions and examples listed below.

Our social value proposition can come to life through a set of content buckets.

Content buckets are designed to help with content creation as they act as themes for us to follow that align back to our social value proposition but also fit with our audience’s interests.

ID

E

C O N T E N T

BUCKETS

THE RADISSON BLU CONTENT BUCKETS • 16

EXAMPLES

T HE

LOCAL EXPERIENCE We want to provide people with great content about local experiences they can have when staying at a Radisson Blu hotel.

We have hotels in great locations, close to many interesting cultural sights, tastes and sounds.

Posts within this content bucket should convey some of the following characteristics:

Blog content on hotel that uses local produce that guests can try!

• Local influence within the hotel environment – food, design, art etc

Always geotag the location or hotel for discoverability

• User Generated Content • Guestagram • The best hidden gems in close proximity to the hotel • Focus on local design driven experiences in your destination

Highlight a unique experience close to your hotel!

Use UGC to connect with your guests and highlight real experiences unique to your proper ty.

C O N T E N T

BUCKETS

THE RADISSON BLU CONTENT BUCKETS • 17

EXAMPLES

T HE

BUSINESS TRAVELER The Modern Traveler positions the brand as a trusted advisor to business travelers. We want to provide information that demonstrates some of the unique offerings we have for business travelers to make their life easier.

Posts within this content bucket should convey some of the following characteristics:

Business guests are still people!

Use clean and visually appealing images to grab their attention.

Highlight special features unique to our Brand such as Blu Routes or Super Breakfast.

Tell your guests about any new technology you have available in your hotel or meeting rooms.

Tell your story on the blog too.

Meeting content doesn’t have to be boring! See how it can also link to other content buckets such as Blu View showing the view from the meeting room.

• Brain Food • Experience Meetings • One Touch App • Super Breakfast • Blu Routes • Innovation within our hotels

C O N T E N T

BUCKETS

THE RADISSON BLU CONTENT BUCKETS • 18

EXAMPLES

BLU VIEW Blu View is about showcasing our proper ties and its services.

It’s also about showcasing our guest experiences with those services.

This bucket is not about one way sales messages but tapping into the unique services that we provide and how we add value to our customers’ lives.

Posts within this content bucket should convey some of the following characteristics:

Share Deckchair webcam videos and images from the brand channel or your own hotel camera feed.

Show how we go out of our way to give our guests 100% satisfaction.

• Incredible views of unique spots within your hotel • #BluView • Deckchair Webcam Images/Timelapses • Showcase our ‘Yes I Can’ service or Responsible Business action to our guests

Photos that capture a unique #BluView from your hotel, including guest photos.

C O N T E N T

BUCKETS

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EXAMPLES

DESIGN This bucket is where we highlight the unique aspects of the hotel, be it the beautiful linens, the design of a chair or table etc. This is all about sparking curiosity or reminding existing customers why it is they should choose Radisson Blu. It can also touch the same design details that can be found in the location surrounding the hotel, be that unique architecture or ways that design has influenced the destination.

Grab your follower’s attention with interesting angles of your hotels that capture unique design features.

The blog is your friend! Use ar ticles to share on your social media channels.

Posts within this content bucket should convey some of the following characteristics:

• Centered on design • Close-up details Let your followers know about interesting features of your hotel they may miss if they don’t look closely!

U S E R G E N E R AT E D C O N T EN T

When it comes to images, social media has different needs than a web extra page, newsletter, or the .com. Additionally, UGC provides the perfect opportunity for you to turn the conversation “inside-out” instead of “outside-in”, a major element of our overall social strategy. It demonstrates our commitment to putting our guests first and foremost, and is likely

to be shared and engaged with much more than promotional content. So why is guest content so impor tant? It’s authentic, much more credible than the brand telling the story. Engaged and valued guests become loyal.

Our content vision is based on turning guests into ambassadors as they often make our hotels look better than we do!

ATTENTION!

NEVER USE UGC WITHOUT CREDITING THE AUTHOR.

U S E R G E N E R AT E D CO N T E N T

G U ESTAG R AM A central element of our User Generated Content strategy is the Guestagram competition, a powerful incentive for guests to create high-quality photographs during their stays. Plus, it underlines the brand’s commitments to sharing our guests’ stories and experiences.

This is how it works: guests can win a free 100 Euro voucher to any Radisson Blu proper ty. They par ticipate by posting images on social media during their stays using the hashtag #RadissonBlu. Spread the word about Guestagram when sharing guest photos, for example ‘We love this photo from @xxx.

Be sure to share your best photo with #RadissonBlu for a weekly chance to win a €100 voucher!’.

Find out more and see the T&C here

U SER G ENER AT ED CONTENT (UGC) The Guestagram contest is not the only way to find UGC. Whenever you see a photo on Instagram, Facebook etc, you are free to ask the person who published it if you can use it, for example with a comment under the photo like this: “What a great shot!

Would you mind if we share it on our social media channels?”

USER GENERATED CONTENT • 21

EXAMPLES

U S E R G E N E R AT E D

USER GENERATED CONTENT • 22

EXAMPLES

CO N T E N T

BEST PRACTICES MAKING A COMMERCIAL OFFER MORE PERSONAL Do you want to promote a special offer on social media? Don’t use a flat, empty stock photo but a personal shot taken by a guest, adding authenticity to the post and making viewers wish they could have the same experience as the photographer.

1

2

3

4

See examples 1 & 2

CONNECTING WITH GUESTS BY SHARING THEIR EXPERIENCES You don’t need a lot of text when sharing UGC. Let the photo do all the talking.

See examples 3 & 4

U S I N G V I D E O O N

S O C IA L

Video is the future of content marketing. That is, if it’s not the here and now. Various studies show more than half of companies are already making use of the medium – a figure that’s predicted to rise as more and more realise the possibilities. It is naturally engaging and, in an age of information overload, it’s vital for small businesses to offer content that is easy to digest; if not, consumers will simply move on. Video does this very well.

M E D IA

We would recommend working with your Area office and our Content Lab when creating longer videos that highlight campaigns or bigger promotions in order to maintain branding standards.

However, social media is all about being “in the moment” and making video on the go. If you are going to be doing the filming yourself using a smar tphone, we recommend a few tips to make your video content more engaging.

U SING V IDEO O N

S O C I A L

M ED I A

G R AB AT T EN TION EA RLY It’s vital to grab your audience’s attention within the first few seconds of your video. You need to capture viewers’ interest within the first 10 seconds (or less) or they’ll stop watching and move on to something else. This forces you to be concise and get right to the point.

The ‘hook’ of your video is an impor tant par t of capturing interest, because it should explain why viewers should care or be interested.

You should place hooks within the first or second frame of the video, before users have a chance to scroll away.

F EAT U R E A CALL TO AC T ION What is the goal of your video? Goals require some sor t of user action, whether that’s getting people to visit your site, share your video, or purchase a product. While viewers should get the idea of what you want them to do just from the video, you should always have a clearly stated call to action (CTA).

It’s most effective to place CTAs at the end of the video.

Consider a shor t sentence encouraging users to visit the blog/website using a shor t URL or feature a hashtag. Ending the video with the hashtag and brand logo is a best practice.

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EXAMPLES

U SING V IDEO O N

S O C I A L

USING VIDEO ON SOCIAL MEDIA • 25

M ED I A

V I DEO LENGTH & AU TOPL AY Before you get star ted shooting or editing your video, you should know the optimal video lengths per platform. These include:

• Facebook: Maximum 1 – 1:30 minutes • Twitter:

Under 30 seconds

• Instagram: Under 1 minute

In general, the shor ter videos the better for maximum impact. If you’ve created a longer video, consider splitting it up into short 1020 second video clips which will be sharewor thy on social media.

Remember the average attention span of a viewer is very shor t, so we need to tell the message quickly and get our key information out at the beginning of the video. Sharing video on Facebook allows users to easily interact and share the content – it’s no surprise a great por tion of a user’s NewsFeed is filled with video content as autoplay has made it the most engaging type of content to share.

Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram offer Autoplay as a feature. When users scroll through their news feeds, your video automatically plays as it passes over their screen. This encourages users to watch your video, because it’s already playing. Feature movement within the first few frames to enhance the Autoplay feature and grab attention quickly.

TIP: Upload videos natively in Facebook and not via a YouTube link to optimise the way the video appears in a user’s ‘News Feed, and optimise the video thumbnail – try to avoid text in a thumbnail.’

Deckchair webcam content is perfect video content!

Share a timelapse and ask the Content Lab for a branded outro.

If your hotel is interested in a Deckchair camera, please contact the Social Media team.

EXAMPLES

C O M P E T I TO N S O N

S O C IA L

M E D IA

C O M P E T I TO N S ON

SOCI AL

MEDI A

Competitions are a great way to activate your followers, encourage engagement and generate UGC. If you do plan to run a promotion/ contest/giveaway we recommend using Instagram or Facebook to run the competition. For example, our brand campaign #Guestagram that is run through Instagram but promoted across ALL social media channels.

However, it is important to note that to move forward with any discount, deal, or contest for social media you need to comply with local, state, federal rules along with guidelines of that platform.

Hotels that violate platform guidelines for promotions and contests are subject to having the campaign removed.

Facebook is particularly stringent on this.

Hotels risk having Facebook functionality removed from their page, and/or having the page shut down. If the account is deactivated for violating policy, Facebook will not reinstate the page and the hotel will lose all fans and history.

Hotels that are interested in running a contest on Facebook MUST consult with their Area Office and legal counsel.

Draft Terms & Conditions for your promotion ready for review and verify competition laws in your country.

Please visit the Facebook Help Center for their promotional guidelines facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php Please visit the Instagram Help Center for their promotional guidelines help.instagram.com/179379842258600 Also, please remember, Instagram or Facebook’s guidelines are in addition to any legal requirements the hotel must comply with for the promotion or contest.

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EXAMPLES

S O C I A L TA G G I N G AN D

L IN K

S H O RT E NING

S O C I A L TA G G I N G A N D

L I N K

SOCIAL TAGGING AND LINK SHORTENING • 29

S H O RT E N I NG

Location tagged

S OC I A L TAGGING Social Networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram allow us to tag other social accounts when posting. It can be beneficial to mention other people / brands we work with on these networks.

We should also always tag to give credit to the original source of any 3rd par ty content.

Make sure to @tag relevant accounts in your social updates. This will build a stronger link between your par tners, influencers and increase the perception of Radisson Blu as a social brand.

It will also increase the likelihood of re-tweets and shares – increasing engagement and performance of activity.

Make sure that the person/page (influencer), brand or relevant business par tner you’re tagging is relevant to your local market and the account details are correct, there are often multiple accounts for many brands.

Hotel tagged

EXAMPLES

S O C I A L TA G G I N G A N D

L I N K

SOCIAL TAGGING AND LINK SHORTENING • 30

S H O RT E N I NG

Shortened link that tells user where they will go.

L INK SH ORTENING Please make sure to always shor ten any links that are posted on social media. We recommend using bitly, however please make use of the link shor tener available within your existing social media management tool.

If you have pasted a link in order to generate a link preview post (Facebook), please remember to delete the link so that it is not duplicated.

If you are posting a picture with a link, please ensure that you have explained what people will see once they click the link with a clear Call To Action.

EXAMPLES

H A S H TA G S

H A S H TA G S Branded Hashtags are a great way to engage with audiences and garner exposure for Radisson Blu. This is also where a lot of content is sourced to be featured on the brand channels, so more chance of visibility for your hotel.

• Always use: #RadissonBlu • Capitalize the first letter of each new word to make it more readable

DO • Supplement posts with the use of trending and relevant hashtags • Monitor our own and other popular hashtags • Use key campaign hashtags both online and offline to encourage usage across platforms and for content discovery • Keep hashtags short and clear

DON’T • Overuse hashtags. Each hashtag must have a clear purpose.

• Captions should be easily readable. Keep focus on the story you’re trying to tell. Hashtags should compliment the story, not dominate it.

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EXAMPLES

Too many words are used as hashtags within the caption. Move lists of hashtags into the first comment to keep the caption clear and concise.

ANY QUESTIONS? social.media@carlsonrezidor.com