Does your hotel really need a social media strategy?

March 11, 2010 | Hospitality Industry

You run a branded suburban hotel that caters primarily to corporate customers. You’re middle-aged. You’re understaffed. You have no marketing budget. You’ve built a Facebook page. You tweet. When is enough, enough?

By Jess Petitt

There are plenty of reasons to have a presence on Facebook, Twitter or other social media outlets, but have you considered the reasons not to? Perhaps it’s time to take a step back and re-evaluate the realm of social media as a priority at your hotel by answering the following questions:

1. Do you have the resources? Is there someone at your hotel who is a true “social (media) butterfly?” The kind of person who knows the Facebook status of all their friends and posts regularly? The one who knows Ashton Kutcher from Twitter, and not from “That ’70s Show?”

2. Do you have the experience? Although the gap is closing, there is still a big difference between surfing the web and marketing a hotel. Your social media czar needs to not only have a working knowledge of social media outlets, but also know how to interact professionally and sell effectively. Remember, your hotel’s reputation is always on the line.

3. Do you have the money? To do social media right, you need to invest time into developing a strategy and design, as well as ongoing updates. Time equals money, and your social media guru has shifts to pull or rooms to sell. Do you have the bucks to schedule them for the hours required to really manage your social media platforms?

4. What is your brand team doing? Most major hotel chains have made significant strides in the creation and monitoring of social media content. Check with your brand marketing resources to ensure that your efforts are brand-compliant and not duplicative. You might be impressed with the brand resources available from your current franchise fees.

5. Do you have a story? Let’s face it, what happens at the Courtyard Cheboygan is a lot more interesting to you and your employees than to the guests. Unless you have something truly interesting to say or a special package or other compelling reasons to come to your hotel, perhaps you should say nothing at all.

6. Do you have the need? When was the last time that one of your guests approached the desk and wondered why the hotel’s specials hadn’t been posted to Facebook or why they hadn’t heard about its shopping package on Twitter? When it comes down to it, if an activity isn’t going to eventually generate revenue, why bother?

If you can answer “yes” to these six questions (and there are plenty of you, particularly in the resort and luxury hotel space who can), then, by all means, it is time to embark on a social media adventure.

If not, then it is time to get back to basics and refocus on the proven revenue-generating marketing efforts that you need to succeed in 2010. Along the way, there is plenty you can do in the realm of online marketing, without jumping in to the Web 2.0 deep end. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

- Monitor customer review websites - No matter how big or small your hotel is, someone somewhere is saying something about you. Regularly check out sites like TripAdvisor and take the time to respond to positive and negative reviews. There are some great products out there that can automate this process, as well.

- Sign up for Google Alerts - This is a great way to take the proverbial pulse of your hotel without surfing the web on a daily basis. Just Google “Google Alerts” and follow the simple process provided.

- Positioning is king - Never forget that the key to online marketing performance is positioning—both on the major search engines and the major online distributors. Search your hotel as if you were a customer across these sites and develop a deeper understanding of the channels that are both strengths and opportunities for your hotels.

- Local linking - Work with your best local business generators—the universities, hospitals, attractions and companies and partner with them to link their website to yours. It generates business and helps your search engine optimization performance.

For now though, quit tweeting and take solace in the fact that your hotel has electronic keycards, Wi-Fi access, computers and other newfangled technologies the industry never envisioned 30 years ago.

Jess Petitt is the corporate director of marketing & sales for HEI Hotels & Resorts, responsible for public relations, marketing and eCommerce.