Tips from the FIeld

RJT/smedia.jpg

Gartner's five social media predictions for 2010.

Tools to Combine Email Marketing with Social Media

RJT/light_blue_divider.jpg

In travel, 41% of US online leisure travelers use some form of social media tool in their travel research efforts.

Seven networking guidelines to follow:

Think before you post! What you post on your sites can and will come back to haunt you. “Any pictures you show or updates you write are public.” “Even if your account has privacy settings activated, your information is never completely secure. If you are questioning whether your post is appropriate, ask yourself, ‘Would I get into trouble if my boss saw it?’ If the answer is ‘Yes,’ don’t post it!”
Make sure you have an online presence. “Social networking sites are not just used by young professionals.” “You and/or your business need to stay up-to-date. Present and future clients, customers, business contacts, and potential employers will look you up. The information they find can affect their buying or hiring decisions. If you don’t want others knowing certain things about you, keep in mind that you control what information you post.”
Remember that your online presence is part of your professional image. What image do you want to portray? Think about it before you post anything. “The content on your social networking sites creates your online presence,” say Pachter. “Look at your profile and ask yourself, ‘Would I want to do business with this person?’ Or, ‘Would I hire this person?’”
Follow company guidelines. If your property has developed policies about employee social networking use during company time and even what company information is OK or not OK to share, then heed to it. If not, you could get yourself and your company in trouble.
Don’t post negative comments about your competition. As much as this seems like common sense advice, there are still people who gripe openly and online about their competition.“
Don’t let social networking take over your life. It’s easy to get swallowed up by the online social networking world, but Pachter reminds us to stay productive and not let our other responsibilities slide.
Remember that phone calls and face-to-face meetings are still an important part of doing business. “It took four Facebook exchanges with a colleague to determine where and when to meet for lunch,” says Pachter. “If she had called me, the decision would have been made in seconds!”

Best practices in handling online hotel reviews

Hotels that Listen to Social Media Generate Business.

RJT/light_blue_divider.jpg

Use social media tools

Everyday new tools are introduced to the community which save time and energy (and expenses). Take advantage of the various social media tools that are designed specifically to save you time. Some of my favorite time saving tools are as follows:

Threadsy – The beautiful part of Threadsy is that it pulls together your existing accounts and enhances them with relevant information from social networks and the public web. The effect is a brand new flavor of communication harmony. This aggregation tool allows you to consolidate accounts and manage your time more efficiently.
Grader – This family of tools from Hubspot, helps measure all that matters in inbound marketing. From the Website grader that helps with your SEO efforts to the new Square grader which helps you get the most out of Foursquare.
NutshellMail – This site allows you to receive one-four email(s) a day updating you on multiple social media accounts– including Myspace, FaceBook and Twitter saving you the time and stress of clogging up your email box.

RJT/light_blue_divider.jpg

Hotels are using Twitter to send special offers that are often last minute and go quickly. Offers can range from special room rates to free appetizers at the bar. Affinia hotels (Chicago, Washington and NYC) frequently update their followers on special deals or run contests such as the following:

The Fairmont Hotel does a great job of sending out engaging tweets they call Suite Tweets. Followers receive tweets on industry news, Twit-pics, and special offers.

Other hotels send offers that are exclusive to their Twitter followers. Marriott recently offered a two week Twitter promotion called ‘Deal of the Day’ which ran from June 1st to June 12th. Offers were announced every day with discounts up to 60% off Leisure Rates.

RJT/Marketing_Materials.JPG