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08 Fall

Hospitality eBusiness Strategies, Inc. 6 W 48th St, 8th Floor New York, NY 10036 Phone: 212-752-8186 Fax: 212-202-3670 Web: www.hospitalityebusiness.com

HeBS Best Practices: 2011 Social Media Marketing Resolutions

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Contents What are your Social Media Resolutions for 2011? .............................................................................3

How Can You Make an Impact on Facebook? ......................................................................................4

Create a Social Media Plan. ....................................................................................................................... 4

Write interesting and Engaging Posts. ...................................................................................................... 6

Incorporate Unique Offers. ....................................................................................................................... 9

Give Users a Reason to Visit your Page..................................................................................................... 9

Regularly Post New Content. .................................................................................................................... 9

Feature a Customized Tab. ..................................................................................................................... 10

How can you make an impact on Twitter? ........................................................................................ 11

Tweet non-promotional information. ..................................................................................................... 11

Follow Relevant Users. ............................................................................................................................ 11

Tweet with Personality. .......................................................................................................................... 11

Interact with Other Twitter Users. .......................................................................................................... 11

Generate Awareness of your Page. ........................................................................................................ 12

Monitor your Page. ................................................................................................................................. 12

Customize your Page............................................................................................................................... 13

How can you take your Social Media Strategy to the Next Level? ...................................................... 14

Creative Weekly Posts............................................................................................................................. 14

Post Series that Speak to Customer Segments ....................................................................................... 16

Facebook & Twitter Contests .................................................................................................................. 18

Measuring Social Media ROI ............................................................................................................. 20

How Can you Integrate the Mobile Frontier into your Social Media Strategy? .................................... 21

Final Thoughts ................................................................................................................................. 22

Questions? ...................................................................................................................................... 22

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What are your Social Media Resolutions for 2011? As we welcome 2011, it is safe to say that a presence on Facebook and Twitter with a well-developed social media strategy in place can no longer be ignored. With the beginning of a new year, it is important to outline metrics and goals for your social media strategy in 2011. Understanding where your social media strategy has been in 2010 is one of the first steps in determining how your strategy needs to evolve in 2011 to build a stronger connection with fans and followers. Before developing your strategy for the New Year, reflect on what has been successful and what has failed to make an impact in 2010. What was your most successful social media campaign and how many fans or followers participated? What is your main demographic of fans and followers and what posts in 2010 engaged them the most? Like any good New Year’s resolution, it is important to understand the current story your social media strategy is telling to properly set goals and metrics of success that will take your social media to the next level in 2011. Get a head start. HeBS social media experts have assessed the Facebook and Twitter strategies of HeBS’ client portfolio keeping in mind industry trends and predictions for 2011 to offer key initiatives, recommendations, and creative ideas to help your social media strategy soar. We’ve even uncovered the top ten social media mistakes in 2010, so you can start fresh in the New Year and put your best foot forward. From measuring social media ROI to integrating mobile into your social media strategy, there’s a lot to conquer in 2011. Explore our social media guide to 2011, and determine which New Year resolutions work best for your social media presence.

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Top 10 Social Media Mistakes 1. Utilizing an irregular and

infrequent posting schedule 2. Posting boring, one-way

content 3. Posting the same content on

your Facebook and Twitter pages simultaneously

4. Creating a non-optimized page lacking keywords

5. Not responding to user comments and questions

6. Failing to tag fan pages within posts to increase visibility

7. Not recruiting followers within your target market to help build your follower base

8. Failing to regularly update your fan page with new photos and events

9. Not customizing your Twitter page to feature a branded background

10. Not utilizing fan and follower promotions on Facebook and Twitter

How Can You Make an Impact on Facebook? With over 500 million users, Facebook has an extremely broad reach and high visibility. According to Facebook, users share over 30 billion pieces of information and spend over 700 billion minutes on Facebook each month. For this reason, it’s important to take advantage of your presence on this highly used medium in order to fully utilize its impressive viral capabilities.

Create a Social Media Plan. Include social media in your marketing plan and outline specific goals and objectives to meet. This enables you to maximize reach and enhance the performance of your goals. By specifying which segments you’re aiming to reach, you can pick out which social media platforms work best. Your social media plan should include specific and measurable goals that have a set timeframe for completion. Additionally, you should specify metrics that will be used to measure performance and gauge growth. Consistently monitoring these figures and benchmarking with competitors will provide insight into performance. It is also helpful to consider industry standards and typical results when deciding on measures for success. Utilize a checklist with main social media goals to prioritize, assign responsibility, and specify metrics and goals for tracking. This organizes all of your information in a central, easy to access document.

Priority

Action

Responsibility

Metrics & Goals

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Priority Action Responsibility Metric/Goals

Public Guest Satisfaction

Monitor buzz generated about your property on social media and in the search engines

Monitor customer feedback to gain knowledge on customer preferences

Competitive Intelligence

Monitor competitors’ buzz

Monitor competitors’ social media engagement

Social Media Engagement

Respond to reviews/comments (positive and negative)

Engage users on Facebook & Twitter

Encourage guest reviews

Maintain content on third party sites

Claim your listing in location-based services, monitor check-ins, Incorporate special offers to encourage check-ins

Enhance PR initiatives by discussing blog posts and article mentions

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Write interesting and Engaging Posts. Create exciting posts to captivate users. In order to engage users, increase page views, and build a user relationship, you should make posts interesting and incorporate engaging content to elicit a user response and heighten interaction on the page. Posts should not be a one-way source of information. Lead off posts with an open-ended question, fill-in-the blank, or prompt to “like”. Additionally, include call-outs to specific customer segments to better direct your marketing messages. You should use posts to encourage users to interact, post pictures, and provide insight on the features and amenities that they are looking for.

Tactic Example

Open-ended question If you won a shopping spree at Indianapolis’ Circle Center Mall, what would you buy first?

Prompt to “like” “Like” this post if you wish you were spending your weekend in Key West!

Fill-in-the-blank Fill-in-the-Blank-Friday: If I spent Thanksgiving at the Grafton on Sunset, I would be grateful for_______.

Photo Post The BIG question is…pumpkin pie or apple pie? Which type do you prefer on Thanksgiving? (Include pie photo)

Trivia Holiday Trivia: Rudolph the Red-Nosed reindeer was created as a promotion for which department store?

1.) J.C. Penny

2.) Montgomery Ward

1) Macy’s

2) Nordstrom

Open-Ended Question:

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Prompt to “Like”:

Fill-in-the-Blank:

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Photo Post:

Trivia:

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Some More Creative Tactics for 2011:

Ask fans and followers to comment to access a special offer. You can say that the first ten fans to comment on your post will receive a code in a direct message to take advantage of the deal. This will encourage fans to visit your page on a specific day and interact with your page.

On a designated day each week, offer a Facebook promotion for fans and followers to be used within a specific time frame. For example, you could offer any fan a free cupcake with their coffee if they come into your coffee shop between 1 PM and 3 PM that day.

Incorporate engaging photos within posts. Take captivating photos of your property featuring unique amenities, special events, or celebrity visits. Post these photos on your wall with an engaging post so that they appear in the newsfeed. This virally promotes your property and draws fans to your page.

Incorporate Unique Offers. Avoid solely posting packages that are available on your website. Be sure to provide unique offers to fans or create an exclusive deal available to the first ten fans who book. Offering exclusive extras to fans and followers creates a unique value on your page and increases page visits. You Can:

• Reveal a mystery special offer that can only to be found on Facebook or Twitter • Post Facebook Friday or Twitter Tuesday deals exclusively on your social media sites

Give Users a Reason to Visit your Page. Encourage users to keep up with your page. Facebook users have the option to keep you in their newsfeed or click “hide”. Analyze your posts and put yourself in the consumer’s shoes. Do you make interesting and valuable posts? Or is your information boring and non-engaging? Provide fresh and exciting content, unique offers, and engaging posts to encourage fans to visit and interact with your page. This creates page value and encourages users to visit. You Can:

• Offer printable coupons on your Facebook or Twitter page • Provide exclusive deals or hotel packages on a private landing page that only fans or followers can access • Give details about a new hotel amenity, dish at your restaurant, or cocktail at your bar and prompt

website visitors, fans, and followers to post a suggested name for this new feature to your fan page wall • Take photos of fans at hotel events and tag them to encourage fan page visits

Regularly Post New Content. It’s very important to regularly post new content. According to Best Practices, posts should be made at least three to five times per week. If you are unable to commit to your page, then it is important that you hire an employee or agency that can. According to the Social Media Examiner, there’s a direct correlation between frequency of posts and the number of fans a page acquires. Monitor the time of day that fans are most active. This usually occurs between mid-morning and late afternoon. Be sure to post during these times to maximize visibility of your marketing messages. Test out different message

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content and tactics to see which format your fans value most. Use this information to effectively post, maximize user engagement, and heighten your “likeability”. Viewing your fan page analytics (particularly page views by date) is a great way to measure the success of your posts and monitor the activity of your page.

Feature a Customized Tab. Create a customized tab to showcase your amenities and heighten interaction with your page. Include rich imagery of your property to highlight your selling points and gain an edge over competitors. Additionally, include a reservation widget, email capture, and mobile capture on the tab to build your lists and increase conversions. Your tab can be used to draw attention to special offers, increase awareness of a major upcoming event, or include information about a contest or promotion. Provide users with an added incentive to become a fan of your page. Reward fans with a free cocktail at your bar or exclusive promo code to receive a discount off their next stay. Utilize the reveal tab technology, where a certain portion of the tab is only exposed once a user becomes a fan of your page. This elicits interest and grows your fan base.

Reservation Widget Email Widget

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How can you make an impact on Twitter? Twitter is a great medium for quick, direct communication. With the increase in smart phone use, consumers increasingly access the Internet on the go and post on Twitter via mobile device.

Tweet non-promotional information. In order to create value for your page, you should provide outside information relevant to your customer segments. Only tweeting about your property will not heighten user interaction and peak consumer interest. Highlight upcoming area events, local news, and exciting destination updates to provide added value for your page and recruit new followers. Tweeting about exciting information will increase retweets and encourage engagement.

Follow Relevant Users. Recruit relevant followers to build your follower base by searching for Twitter pages who have followers within your target market. Follow some of these individuals to increase visibility and awareness of your page, which will increase chances that they will follow you in return. It’s better to have a small base of relevant followers, rather than a large following of irrelevant users who are not interested in your marketing messages. Incorporate Hash Tags to Broaden Reach. Include relevant hashtags within tweets to increase exposure of your messages. Incorporate relevant hashtags (#keyword) to add your tweet to the ongoing Twitter conversation surrounding that particular trending topic. When a user searches for the hashtag, he or she will see your tweet, which ultimately directs traffic to your page and increases your follower base.

Tweet with Personality. Followers want to feel connected to a brand and build a relationship. Tweeting in a stuffy tone does not elicit interest or formulate a connection. Instead, utilize a fun, branded voice that plays into customer interests and markets your property in a valuable way. It’s important to maintain professionalism, but also to recognize the casual nature of Twitter.

Interact with Other Twitter Users. In order to build a brand relationship, it’s crucial that you interact with other users. Besides tweeting engaging content, you should also reach out to individuals and encourage two-way conversation. Sending an @reply is a direct form of communication on Twitter, which should be used to reach out to individuals and elicit interaction.

Tactic Example

Prompt to @reply Guess that #Notre Dame Football Friday Fact: Who did Notre Dame beat in the 1992 Snow Bowl? @reply us with your answer!

Prompt to retweet Retweet if you love being a hoosier! Check out fun things to do in the circle city

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Prompt to @reply:

Prompt to retweet:

Generate Awareness of your Page. To increase awareness of your page, include buttons to your profile on your website, email templates, and other marketing materials. This will increase page visits, grow your follower base, and broaden reach. It’s important to continually focus on growing your follower base to spread your marketing messages and increase viral capabilities.

Monitor your Page. Each day you should search buzz generated about your page and property. It’s important to respond to both positive and negative buzz in order to enhance brand relationships, gain valuable feedback, and address negative comments. Search for all versions of your property name in the Twitter search bar to see what users are saying. @Reply users to respond to positive feedback so that your message will be virally promoted on your page. You can also @reply users who retweeted your content to thank them for the retweet, build a relationship, and encourage them to continue to retweet your marketing messages in the future. Direct messages should be used to address negative feedback so that you minimize visibility of negative comments amongst other users. Send a direct message to show that you recognize the issue and are working to fix it. Tactic Example

@Reply users to encourage conversation @Shoelvr23 Oh, that’s great! Well, we are excited for your visit and we hope that it will be a great game (as mostly all are)!

Send a Direct Message to Address Negative Feedback We’re sorry to hear that you’re upset! Check back closer to the 2012 Super Bowl for possible availability. We hope to see you soon!

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@Reply users to encourage conversation:

Send a Direct Message to Address Negative Feedback:

Customize your Page. Create a branded customized background with your property’s images and color scheme. Include an information box with your contact information so that followers can find information easily. Twitter pages with images are followed ten times more than pages without pictures. Additionally, pages with a Twitter bio have about eight times as many followers as pages without.

Information Box

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Fresh Content. Fresh Content. Fresh Content. According to Best Practices, you should add new content to your page at least three times per week. By continuously tweeting new information, you add value to your page and provide followers with a reason to visit regularly. Twitter is a source of minute to minute information, which means that followers expect the latest information on your page. Use this medium to tweet about time sensitive offers and relevant last minute information.

How can you take your Social Media Strategy to the Next Level?

Creative Weekly Posts Utilizing a weekly creative post engages users, increases regular page visits, generates buzz, and virally promotes your property. Fans and followers will become accustomed to your weekly post and intentionally visit your page to find the latest information for that week. This builds the brand relationship and increases traffic to your page.

Name Description

Media Monday Post an image of a hotel amenity, picturesque view, interesting attraction, or upcoming event and provide some details about the image.

Trivia Tuesday Ask a unique interesting fact about the destination and prompt fans to answer it. Post an image of a question mark with your post to capture users’ interest in the newsfeed.

Would you Rather Wednesday Name two venues in your destination and ask fans which place they would rather patron. This will not only generate comments, but it may also lead to a string of conversation.

Seen in the City Thursday Designate one day a week to prompt users to submit personal photos of themselves in your destination to increase user-generated content. Photos can be taken on a camera or mobile device.

Photo Find Friday Post an image of an attraction or obscure landmark in your destination and ask fans to guess where it was taken.

Fill-in-the-Blank Friday Ask a question relevant to your target market and prompt fans or followers to share their answers.

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Media Monday:

Trivia Tuesday:

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Photo Find Friday:

Post Series that Speak to Customer Segments Each month you can implement a post series, where you post about a single subject for five to ten days. Each day you post a different reason or idea focusing on the central theme. For example, you could run a post series about the top five reasons to visit your destination during the holiday season, the top five unique in-room amenities at your hotel, or the top five reasons why your spa is the ultimate retreat. You can also feature a post series targeted towards one of your key customer segments. For example, if a property has a large business traveler market, you can run a post series highlighting the top five unique business amenities at your property.

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Incorporating photos within the post series captures user attention in the newsfeed and directs attention to your page. Additionally, featuring imagery reinforces your messages and gives fans a visual of the unique attractions or amenities offered.

The “Top 5 Reasons to Enter the South Bend Sweepstakes” post series

Including photos within the post series publishes the images through the newsfeed and virally promotes the page

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Facebook & Twitter Contests Running Facebook and Twitter promotions builds your fan and follower bases, generates buzz, and deepens the brand relationship. Each promotion requires users to become a fan or follower of your page and incorporates the viral components of social media to prompt participation. You can run a Facebook photo contest, where users submit a photo of your destination and other fans vote for their favorite image by “liking” it. This increases user-generated content on your page and virally promotes your property through the newsfeed by user “likes”. Any incorporation of user comments or “likes” virally promotes the page through the newsfeed.

Twitter promotions build the follower base, broaden reach, and generate buzz. These promotions require users to become a follower of the page and retweet the initial promotion tweet or @reply the page with an answer to a specific question.

HeBS Successes

Facebook Photo Contest – JW Indy • 764 fans gained - 188% growth • 488 fan “likes” • 297 total comments

Facebook Cocktail Contest – Parrot Key

• 526 fans gained – 81% growth • 398 fan “likes” • 114 total comments

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Get a Room Facebook Promotion – Grafton on Sunset • Fans increased by 436 – 254% growth • 163 fan “likes”

Facebook Mystery Special Offer - Le Montrose

• Made $930 attributed revenue o $566 from directly clicking on Facebook o $507 from the reservation widget tracking code

• Gained 62 new fans in 3 days

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Measuring Social Media ROI It is important to utilize a mix of both hard and soft metrics to measure performance and determine if changes in strategy should be made.

• According to Mzinga & Babson, 84% of marketers surveyed do not measure ROI for social media.

• According to eMarketer, there are three main reasons why marketers fail to track return on investment for social media: tracking ROI is difficult, there are too many potential metrics to choose from, and marketers don’t start with clear objectives.

Measurements and metrics should be organized based on exposure, engagement, and ROI/outcomes. Exposure refers to the number of users reached, engagement measures active interactions and purchase intentions, and ROI/outcomes can be numerically measured through financial benchmarks.

Hard Metrics

Hard metrics can include the impact on offline and online sales, market share, and leads generated. Monitoring these measures leads to a numerical gauge for the direct impact on revenue. Hard metrics can be measured by offering a print out coupon to fans and followers, which can be tracked after purchase. It’s recommended that marketers create a dashboard with both soft and hard metrics to track progress.

Soft Metrics

Marketers who focus too heavily on financial returns disregard the non-financial benefits of social media, which act as a precursor to revenue.

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Qualitative effects of social media include:

• Relationship building • Heightened brand awareness • Increased visibility • Sharing activity

It is important to consider how social media serves as a cost-cutter. It provides valuable insight on user preferences, attitudes, perceptions, feelings, and behaviors that otherwise would be included in fee-based research and development. Social networks provide a free medium to conduct polls and derive valuable consumer behavior insight.

Social media is also a valuable resource for CRM. Hotels can use their social media platforms to gain customer feedback and evoke two-way conversation.

Marketers can measure value based on soft metrics. The Social Influence Marketing Score (SIM) measures the share of online consumer discussions about a particular brand and their sentiment (how much users like or dislike the brand when discussing). Tracking these measures will help determine which types of social engagement bring in new customers, which leads to added revenue. Marketers can also play around with different metrics to calculate lifetime value.

Social Media enhances SEO. Search engines, like Google, process in realtime, meaning that social media posts appear in relevant search. For example, a HeBS client showed up second on the first page of search results for the competitive keyword, “Boston Hotel” because of the keyword mention within a tweet.

Effective social media helps drive traffic to your website. Featuring links to your website on your information tab or within posts directs traffic back to your website so that users can pursue more information and book. Including tracking codes within links to your website allows you to track traffic generated from your social media sites so that you can more effectively market to your fans and followers.

How Can you Integrate the Mobile Frontier into your Social Media Strategy? It’s crucial that you integrate mobile initiatives into your 2011 marketing strategy. According to Google, mobile searches for travel-related terms increased 12 times and searches for specific hotel terms increased 30 times from 2009 to 2010. Not only are people utilizing the mobile channel to conduct search, but they are also sharing content, interacting with friends, and browsing the web.

Consider: • Featuring a mobile capture on your website and Facebook customized tab • Running a mobile promotion • Cross-promoting mobile initiatives on social media by posting a keyword and short code to your wall • Encouraging users to “text to follow”

Build your mobile list by featuring a mobile widget on a customized Facebook tab and on your website. Similar to your email list, you can use your mobile list to send out timely messages about last minute deals and interesting property updates. Today’s consumers live in a digital age, where they are always connected to the outside world through their mobile device. As a result, consumers are virtually always accessible through text message. Sending a

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promotional text broadens reach and increases visibility of marketing messages, despite the time of day or location.

Run a mobile promotion to build your mobile list, where you prompt users to text a keyword to a short code to be entered to win a prize. You can utilize different keywords that are associated with various interests to build segmented mobile lists that can be used to send out targeted marketing messages in the future.

Cross-promote your mobile initiatives on your Facebook customized tab, in Facebook wall posts, and in Twitter tweets. This increases awareness and engages users, which deepens the brand relationship.

Use mobile to increase visibility of your social media messages. Twitter allows non-account holders to follow specific accounts through SMS messaging. Market the ability to “text to follow” in your eBlasts, on your website, and on your social media platforms to extend reach to users who may not be avid Twitter account holders.

Final Thoughts In 2011, it is imperative to consider multi-channel marketing initiatives that include social media and mobile. Committing to social media activity and adhering to best practices will allow you to strengthen your marketing messages and broaden reach. When utilizing social media, consider the following:

• Formulate and adhere to a social media plan with specific, timely, and measurable goals • Post fresh content at least three times per week • Engage users through open-ended questions, prompts to “like”, fill-in-the-blanks, and segmented call outs • Interact with followers through @replies, comments, and direct messages • Provide unique content on your Facebook and Twitter pages to heighten value and increase page views • Utilize weekly creative posting themes to encourage regular page visits and deepen the brand relationship • Implement a post series to build suspense, elicit demand, and peak user interest • Run Facebook and Twitter promotions to build your fan and follower bases, generate buzz, and virally

promote your page • Gauge performance through hard and soft metrics • Incorporate mobile initiatives into your marketing strategy to broaden reach and engage users

Questions? Contact the Experts. As always, HeBS is here to help. Feel free to reach out to your dedicated Account Manager with any social media questions you may have. If you are ready to conquer 2011 with the most comprehensive social media strategy, there are other ways HeBS can assist.

• Facebook & Twitter Audit

HeBS can audit your social media presence with specific recommendations to your social media strategy and goals. Discover your greatest strengths and weaknesses in 2010, and have HeBS’ social media experts set your goals and metrics for success in 2011.

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• Facebook & Twitter Training

With the fast pace in which social media evolves, there is always more to learn. Set up training with HeBS social media experts for a deeper understanding on monitoring your social media presence, how to effectively build fans and followers, and how to further engage your audience.

• HeBS Social Media Monitoring

HeBS can monitor your social media presence on an on-going basis. Have leaders in the industry engage your audience on Facebook and Twitter and watch your social media presence flourish as you receive detailed monthly analytics of your social media progress & success.