Considering I just recently started this blog, I’ve to also join Twitter in addition to my Facebook account (which I SWEAR I’ve already had for years – just so you know I’m not completely out of the loop) to try and integrate more social media into my life, and for research purposes of course. I decided to start following all the big players in categories of hotels, airlines, and local attractions like: Starwood, Marriott, Holiday Inn, Shangri-La, , American Airline, Air Canada, Westjet, Alaska Airlines, Continental Airlines, Virgin Airlines, even Southwest Airlines, and Whistler Blackcomb, Grouse Mountain, and even some smaller players like some of the individual Wyndham hotels (Super 8 - yup they have social media platforms established)
I was surprised when searching that some of the chains that I expected to be extremely well represented, especially in a social media site like Twitter where the age demographic fits very well into their target market(s) weren’t even present. And at least one of the large chains doesn’t have any presence on Facebook at all. (look for them, you'll be surprised who's not there!) Very few of the companies even show that they have any social media engagements on their main websites to generate further traffic. Most don’t have blogs. Some of the only ones I came across were this blog by Bill Marriott of Marriott Int’l. (informative but not my favorite read, and not very interactive), this one from Southwest Airlines, and of course Virgin Airlines (I figured at least they would be a sure thing, that if anyone in the industry had incorporated SM is would be them - I also like Sir Richard Branson's little speech bubbles!). I find it strange that large companies wouldn’t have the resources to manage a proper social media campaign. I've been taking a SM class that explains the many benefits of being part of communities, creating interaction. So the question is why don’t more engage in much related to Social Media? Is our industry just not ready to jump on the social media bandwagon? Is it the "professional" (traditionally stuffy?) personality we're trying to uphold?
I was wondering if you thought perhaps that hotels don't need their own social media sites, because people talking about hotels tend to already use sites like Travel Advisor and the like? I see a lot of hotels taking part on sites where people tend to rate and leave comments about properites by answering concerns and questions posted there. Spend yout time where your target market are... Your thoughts?
ReplyDeleteJamie
Hi Jamie,
ReplyDeleteYes, hotels that I've been in find it integral to keep in the loop through 3rd party sites like Trip Advisor (even encourage people to comment on 3rd party sites) but I think it's always good to have all that information on your own website as well. The volume of people visiting the main sites for lodging and hotels is still huge as most reservations (that I've seen - usually anywhere from 50-80%) typically still come through hotel websites directly in addition to the fact finding about a particular property. I see it as being beneficial to somehow take advantage of that traffic. Thanks for your comments!