Blog | E-Marketing Associates

Everyone Loves Coupons. Are Yours Mobile Ready?

	by David Sotelo on October 27th, 2010

We have had past discussions about mobile marketing topics such as group buying sites, Google tags and geo-fencing. I would like to introduce you to a growing and more specific area of mobile marketing which is mobile coupons. Everyone loves coupons; we love them so much that Jupiter Research estimates that by 2011, over 87 billion dollars in sales will be generated by 3 billion mobile coupons. ABI Research also states that 63% of consumers feel a coupon is the most valuable form of marketing. That combined with the projection by Nielsen that 50% off all mobile devices will be smart phones by the end of 2011 makes for an encouraging future for hotels with a mobile marketing campaign.

Mobile coupons basically work the same way as a traditional paper coupon in the sense that it is a discount offered by the seller targeted to a buyer in exchange for a purchase. Modern technology has now allowed coupons to be sent to our mobile phones which opens the doors to a thriving digital channel. There are a few distribution options available including having a simple text message that contains a coupon code which can then be used on a company’s website or shown to cashier at a retail store. A newer option is a barcode which is a 1d or 2d graphical image that will show up on your phone’s screen. You can then have the cashier scan the coupon and you get your discount, convenient as that. Several well known companies have implemented mobile coupons in their marketing strategy such as Target and Morgan’s Hotel Group. Morgan’s Hotel Group has used a 2d code in the form of a ‘25’. The link provides access to a number of different services and offers that have generated increased revenue. If you have a special in your hotels restaurant or salon you can deliver a more personalized offer to subscribers instantly who may have a greater interest in those services.

The days of having to flip through print advertisements and clip coupons are and will become less and less common. Your hotel is a great business to embrace and incorporate mobile coupons into your marketing efforts. Today’s mobile technology has shown to increase turnover, revenue, retail traffic, customer databases and loyalty. The convenience factor, using real time data, and that ability to deliver relevant and non-intrusive offers to a precise demographic are a powerful tool to have in your arsenal. So what are you waiting for?

Written By: David S

Categories: Blog — Tags: advertising, coupon, Geo-location, Hotel Mobile Marketing, mobile, Mobile Marketing, promotion, Smartphones;

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How Blogging Can Help Your Hotel

	by Jacquelynn Mendez on October 25th, 2010

According to the Washington Post, Marriott has made more than $5 million in bookings from people who have clicked through to the reservation page from its On the Move Blog.

Still don’t see the value in blogging for your hotel?

The Opportunity
As of today, there are a number of hotels, from Marriott International to the Hilton Anaheim, who are using the power of blogging to develop and reinforce their hotel’s brand, connect with guests online and further their SEO efforts. With the right message, voice, dedication and personality, any hotel can bring thousands of Internet users to their website by sharing attention-grabbing information. As seen through the 6,000 visitors a week that the Marriott blog receives, there is definitely an audience out there that is interested in reading about industry news, company success stories, local events and the hotel staff.

According to analysts at eMarketer, 51% of internet users read blogs. That’s 1 out of every 2 web surfers! That means that if this same readership trend continues, the number of blog readers will likely grow to 60% by 2014. Now why wouldn’t you want these people reading about your hotel?

Where to Start
Blogging isn’t for everyone. When looking for a blogger, it is important to choose an individual, or group of individuals, who can authentically write information to represent your specific hotel or brand. The writer, or writers, should know and understand the guests and brand well enough to write compelling posts that will capture the attention of your desired audience.

According to Social Media Examiner, outstanding blog posts should include the following 5 elements:
- Has engaging content
- Offers easy to consume content
- Mixes content types
- Is search engine optimized
- Encourages interaction and action

With sites like WordPress and Blogger, starting a blog is not as difficult as it looks. All it takes is a multitude of ideas and an individual willing to spend the time on creating relevant content and keeping the blog readers engaged. But growing an audience is where the challenge comes in, so it’s important to stay motivated, try new techniques and spend time on outreach. It takes a well thought out strategy to reach the type of numbers Marriott has gained through thier blog.

If any readers have helpful tips to share for any person or company starting a blog for the first time, please feel free to write these in the comment section below.

Written by Jacquelynn M.

Categories: Blog — Tags: Blogs, hotel Internet marketing, Hotel Social Media Marketing, Hotels Blog, Marriott, Social Media Marketing;

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Social Media Management Tools For Your Hotel

	by Andrew Valdes on October 21st, 2010

So by now we have told you all about the various social media platforms out there and how they can benefit your hotel’s marketing efforts, but with so many different social media accounts to keep track of and stay up to date with it can often be difficult to properly manage and maintain your hotel’s social media accounts. Thankfully there are a few social media management tools out there to help make your life easier.

Social media management tools are meant to organize and keep track of your social media accounts. Not only are you able to monitor multiple accounts across the various social media platforms, but you can also simultaneously produce content for all of your active accounts, as well as track analytics and traffic.

There are two major management tools out there that are favored by a lot of businesses out there and could prove beneficial in organizing and managing all your social media channels.

First up is Tweetdeck. Tweetdeck is a real time browser that provides users with a simple solution for those looking to manage all social media profiles. Tweetdeck can be used to connect your hotel with its contacts across Facebook,Twitter, Myspace (not that anybody still uses Myspace), Linkedin, and Foursquare. The application itself is very easy to use as it provides users with a simple dashboard view of various account updates, mentions, messages, and even photos and videos. The Tweetdeck dashboard is customizable, allowing you to organize which feeds you wish to subscribe to and what type of content is displayed on your dashboard. Overall Tweetdeck is a solid jumping off point for organizing your social media accounts especially for those looking for an efficient and simple way to monitor social media accounts. Not to mention there is no charge to use the site.

For those of you who are a little bit more social media savvy and willing to dedicate more time into managing your social media accounts, HootSuite is probably the management tool for you. HootSuite allows you to monitor up to five networks, spanning across any type of social media platform. HootSuites design is focused on how you customize it using streams and tabs created and organized by you. That way you are given the flexibility to monitor and organize your social media accounts and feeds in any way you so choose. What makes HootSuite even more unique is its ability to provide you with information about your social media audience. Users are able obtain info on followers through bios and a “Klout” score based on that persons influence, and presence. You also have the option to keep tabs on particular followers or social media accounts that you may want to keep an eye on. Like Tweetdeck HootSuite also provides you with the opportunity to manage your social brand as a whole by providing you with the opportunity to make status updates and post content across all of your social media platforms. Last but not least, HootSuite also offers become a paid subscriber which would allow you to gain access to their Analytics and metrics information. All in all HootSuite offers a more in depth way to keep track of your social media sites. The only downside is that to fully optimize all that it has to offer you need to dedicate a solid amount of time into the site.

There are other options out there for managing your social media accounts so be sure to do a little research and see which management tool is right for you and your hotel. All in all keep in mind these sites are designed to make the task of managing multiple social media accounts easier so don’t feel obligated to subscribe to a social media management site. But for those out there who are trying to manage 4 or 5 different social media accounts these sites can prove to be a great help in cultivating your social media activity and online presence.

Categories: Blog — Tags: Factbook, Foursquare, HootSuite, hotel, Hotel Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Management, Social Media Marketing, Social Media Strategy, social networking, Tweetdeck, Twitter;

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Social Search Is Here. How Will It Affect Your Hotel SEO?

	by David Sotelo on October 20th, 2010

Search engine optimization is once again going through some more changes. Social search is a fairly new buzz word that started gaining some traction about a year ago. Social search is a type of web search that retrieves results based on the social “footprint” or social data of the user. The idea here is that the information within your social network such as your likes and interests for both you and your friends can be very pertinent for future searches. The key here is and always will be results so by accumulating more data about your likes and interest the more personal and relevant the results will be. It looks from what we have seen so far it will have an impact on search engine optimization. Google and Microsoft have both taken a proactive role with optimizing search by making it more personal and tailored to your like and interests.

Microsoft and Facebook have recently partnered up to make Bing more social. They have decided to do this by integrating Facebook data such as your “likes” into their search engine. So, let’s say you’re searching for a hotel, Bing will integrate hotels from your facebook friends and “likes” to display results that are more personalized to what you may like. The more social you become the greater amount of information Bing has to calculate providing a more immersive and tailored search experience. The role on how this will affect search engine placement is not well known at this point but there is an agreement that it will.

Google has charted social search waters first with its Google Social Search. There are some similarities with Bing but there also some significant differences. It similar in the sense that its main goal is to help you find more relevant public content through the integration of your social graph. However up until this point google’s searches are not based off likes from people you chose. They do pull public web content written or published by your Google contacts related to your search query. So this means you do have to be signed into your Google account. Google has fairly recently improved their social searches through their relationship with twitter. You can now retrieve “tweets” about a specific topic through their search engine.

What does this all mean and how does it help you? It means first that search engine optimization will again be changing. How much it will change have yet to be seen but you can be assured that it will and the ability to adapt to these changes is imperative. What matters most are the results which is to deliver the most relevant and helpful information between buyers and sellers. Social Media is experiencing high growth and showing no signs of going away so make sure you understand how it will weave its way into the search engine world.

Written By: David S

Categories: Blog — Tags: bing, Facebook, google, microsoft, SEO, Social Media, Twitter;

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Geo-Fencing: Capture your customers on the spot

	by Jacquelynn Mendez on October 18th, 2010

Imagine being able to send a coupon or promotion to your ideal customers right as they are passing by your business.

Now…stop imagining and start doing it.

With the constant rise in smartphone usage and the remarkable advancements of geo-location technology, businesses are currently finding new ways to target and deliver messages when their ideal buyers are in the most convenient locations to buy. As of today, US companies including North Face and Sonic Drive-In have already found a way to do this and have stepped ahead of the game by using “geo-fencing” technolgy to deliver SMS messages to consumers in an extremely targeted, engaging and effective way. And now, thanks to the advanced technology of the network provider O2 media and popular location services platform Placecast, Starbucks and L’Oreal are giving this new cutting edge advertising a chance in the UK.

How Geo-Fencing Works
Currently known as “geo-fencing”, this new form of technology allows companies like Starbucks and L’Oreal to “fence off” geographic zones and push SMS discounts to O2 customers who opt-in to the service then enter the specified areas. In other words, when a customer is passing by a Starbucks, the company can have a coupon or advertisement automatically pop-up on that individual’s cellphone when he or she hits a certain radius from the coffee shop. So now, even if the potential customer wasn’t planning on getting coffee, he/she may think twice about it since they’re already nearby and now have a coupon. It’s like creating top-of-mind awareness at the most convenient time.

What this Means for the Hospitality Industry
This new form of advertising can be very advantageous for businesses within the hospitality industry. It’s no secret that cellphones are steadily becoming an essential component of everyday life, so unlike other print advertising that is easily ignored, these text message ads will actually grab the attention of a majority of audiences. For hotels, this could be a great way to promote all the different amenities within the property, especially to those guests that are already staying there. For example, what if all the hotel guests got a mobile coupon for the restaurant or bar downstairs as they walked into their room? Not only is the location convenient, but the discount or promotion will likely be the extra push needed to make the choice. This will also be a great way to grab the attention of late night party goers that may need a hotel room after a long night out. By creating that awareness during the exact point in which the purchase can be made, your business will automatically make itself a contender against all of the top-of-mind brands.

Written by Jacquelynn M.

Image Source: Mashable

Categories: Blog — Tags: Geo-fencing, Geo-location, Hotel Mobile Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Placecast, Smartphones, Starbucks;

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Group Buying Sites: Are They Worth The Risk

	by Andrew Valdes on October 14th, 2010

There is no doubting the impact social media can have on a hotel’s marketing strategy, especially now with Location based social networking beginning to hit its stride, there is an abundance of social networking options that can help your hotel reach consumers. In previous posts we have gone into mobile marketing, SEO, and location based services, but today I would like to briefly explore yet another emerging social media trend, and that is “group buying” social sites.

I’m sure you all have used or at least heard of deal sites like Groupon, LivingSocial, and Tippr, these sites have recently grown in popularity as these sites offer up daily deals, usually at discounts up to 60% on a wide variety of products and services. While group buying sites prove beneficial for the consumers who subscribe these sites, there is a bit of a risk involved for the businesses that choose to utilize group buying sites. Previously group buying sites primarily featured deals from restaurants, retail shops, and miscellaneous services but now we are beginning to see hotels start to jump into the trend. While the idea of group buying sites seems equally beneficial for hotels and consumers, there is actually a bit of risk involved when deciding to get in with these sites.

Before we get into the risks that come along with these sites, let’s explore some of the positives that group buying sites can provide for a hotel. As opposed to offering up discounts and deals through your hotel’s twitter or Facebook page what makes group buying sites so enticing is their ability to reach out to new customers who may not have heard of your property or simply have no intentions of visiting your hotel. What these deal sites do is provide incentive for their subscribers to go and check out your hotel, driving a large number of new customers to come out and experience what your hotel has to offer. This creates an opportunity for your hotel to turn these new customers into loyal followers given they have a positive experience with your hotel.

Furthermore you don’t necessarily have to offer up discounts on room rates, with these sites it is best to get creative in what you offer up, since deal offers tend to be based on geographic location and what areas users are subscribed to.

While group buying sites can prove to be a great way to reach out and connect with new customers, as mentioned earlier there is a bit of risk involved. First, most of these group buying sites do take a cut of the revenue that is brought in by these deals, often times that cut can be as much as 50%. So you do have to make sure your deal is enticing enough to draw enough customers in so that you can see a significant profit. Also since group buying sites are based on a deal a day system, your hotel’s deal may last no longer than a day so you must make sure that not only what you’re offering is significant enough to draw interest, but it is also crucial that you provide a positive enough experience so that customers will want to come back and willing to pay without the discount.

All in all when considering using a group buying site, it is best to keep in mind what your hotel has to offer and how you can best match your product with your own target audience. None the less these sites can prove to be a great way to get customers to check out your property, and generate quick revenue, and build brand loyalty with your hotel.

Categories: Blog — Tags: Brand Awareness, deal sites, deals, discounts, group buying, groupon, Hospitality, Hotel Marketing, Hotel Social Media Marketing, Living Social, Marketing Strategy, Social Media, special offers, Tippr;

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How Social Media Can Impact a Business

	by David Sotelo on October 13th, 2010

There was a recent incident that I think really captures the role and importance social media plays in any business. Gap recently got brave and decided to change their logo, however after overwhelming negative feedback primarily from Facebook and Twitter they decided to keep their original logo. Management made an immediate decision to bring back the original blue logo. Some of you may remember back in early 2009, Pepsi Co had redesigned their newly bought subsidiary Tropicana’s packaging. Within one month they changed it back due to a large volume of e-mails and telephone calls.

This brings up an importance of having a social media presence that is both executed effectively and managed well. Gap’s experiment may have been intentional or not but it demonstrates the countless types of mistakes company’s make. Today’s technology and platforms such as Facebook and Twitter allow any company to understand the wants, needs, and concerns of their products, brand, industry and company almost instantaneously. This is huge because since the origins of business, companies had to rely on a trial and error type model to see what works and what doesn’t. This can be not only expensive but detrimental to a business if it doesn’t succeed. Only large companies with huge marketing budgets were able to have focus groups, run product testing or conduct surveys and studies.

The value here is the ability to understand your buyers, the direction you can take your business to become more successful and separate yourself from the abundance of companies who either don’t care or do not know how to understand and implement marketing plans and strategies to move forward. Social media has provided an opportunity for each and every business to take a proactive role with not only their marketing but the future of their business.

Written by: David S

Categories: Blog — Tags: advertising, Brand Awareness, Facebook, Hotel Social Media Marketing, Social Media, Twitter;

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Don’t Think Mobile Ads are Relevant to your Hotel? Think Again!

	by Jacquelynn Mendez on October 12th, 2010

According to Nielsen, a global leader in measurement and information, smartphone penetration of the US mobile market will overtake feature phone penetration by the end of 2011. In addition, a remarkable number of studies have shown that a relatively large amount of individuals joining and adapting to this smartphone revolution are travelers. Knowing this, it is important for hotels to reach these hyper-interactive on-the-go businessmen or trippers in the places where they like to research, purchase and post reviews most often, including the mobile web. One valuable way to reach this audience is with mobile advertisements. But before implementing this new method of marketing, it’s important to research the unique features of each mobile advertising network to decide which one will be most effective for your property’s particular audience and niche.

AdMob
AdMob, which was acquired by Google in May 2010, is one of the world’s largest mobile advertising networks. Established in 2006, this emerging company has already gained publishing rights on over 9,000 mobile sites and 3,000 applications, including AOL, TV Guide and CBS News, so they are capable of reaching a variety of customers. One major advantage of working with AdMob is that it is simple to use and offers its customers an array of real time analytics that are easy to read and understand. Additionally, AdMob runs ads on a variety of mobile devices, so you can reach your audience whether they are using an Android or an iPhone.

Millennial Media
Established in 2006, Millennial Media has become the largest independent mobile advertising network. The company has earned itself impressive awards and has established itself as one of the most innovative and effective businesses for mobile advertising. According to Nielsen, Millennial’s network has the largest potential reach in the US, with the deepest coverage over all types of publishers and demographics. A key differentiation for Millennial is that it has highly sophisticated user identification and management technology that allows advertisers to target a very specific reach and allows them to control how often users see an advertisement. Similarly, its SMART (Scorecard for Mobile Advertising Reach and Targeting) report provides advertisers with very detailed analytics and insights into targeting.

iAds
As anyone can assume about any Apple investment, iAds are relatively sophisticated and offer advertisers a multitude of opportunity. Like Millennial, iAds let you target your audience by a variety of very specific criteria, including demographics, application preferences and location (Home and current). Apple also provides advertisers with very detailed analytics that significantly helps with targeting. On the other hand, one major setback with iAds is that these ads are only served to Apple users, and with the Android market constantly on the rise, this might not be ideal for every business. But iAds should not be completely dismissed because some hotels may benefit the most from using a mix of advertising networks.

Written by Jacquelynn M.

Categories: Blog — Tags: AdMob, Android, apple, Hotel Mobile Marketing, iAds, Millennial Media, Mobile Ads, Nielsen, Smartphones;

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How Your Hotel Can Establish An Authentic Social Media Voice

	by Andrew Valdes on October 8th, 2010

So we’ve gone over all sorts of social media platforms, their latest developments, and how you can utilize these sites to develop a sound social media strategy but one major factor that goes into obtaining that strong online presence, that most of the hospitality industry has overlooked is the development of a meaningful, authentic voice within your social media accounts.

As former hotel GM and Social Media Consultant, Daniel Edward Craig puts it, “The travel industry is ahead of the curve when it comes to social media, but in terms of originality and meaningful engagement hotels are lagging behind.” Basically what he is saying is that most of the most of the hotels out there are posting the same content in the same perky tone, and not doing much to differentiate their hotel from the hundreds of other hotels out there using social media to promote their property as well.

With more and more hotels jumping into the social media scene, it has becoming increasingly vital that you develop an authentic and engaging voice that can make your hotel stand out from the pack. In this post we will go over a few tips to help develop an authentic voice that can best represent your brand, thus strengthening your online presence.

1. Think before you post. Most hotels that are on either twitter or facebook are constantly updating their profiles with numerous posts. While it is good to keep visitors informed on all things current with your hotel, try not to bombard them with meaningless posts. This leads to the next tip.

2. Don’t be afraid to get creative. A key component in developing an authentic voice through social media is to avoid simply posting information on your accounts. With all the comings and goings of guests and visitors, and the abundant resource of content and information to draw from, try to captivate the imagination of travelers through compelling story telling. Through this sort of meaningful engagement you will make travelers want to be a part of the unique hotel experience you have to offer.

3. Get your guests involved. Most hotels don’t allow their facebook or twitter accounts to feature user generated content. Most hotel social media sites only feature their own posts and outside of comment posts, they don’t really engage with users. Guest-generated content keeps them involved and interested in what your hotel has to offer. Some ways you can encourage guests to get involved is to come up with contests, encourage the sharing of stories, videos, and photos, even ask basic questions like “what’s going on this weekend?” Anything that you can do to generate conversation is good for building a solid rapport with your guests.

4. Don’t fear the critics. You know how the saying goes, “everyone’s a critic.” Often times your hotel’s social media accounts will come across a guest who may have some not so pleasant things to say about your hotel. Instead of immediately going on the defensive and confronting the customer or avoiding negative comments by deleting comments or simply not allowing them all together, you can address any problems right away by opening up a dialogue with any disgruntled guests. Don’t be afraid to take responsibility and respond to traveler feedback. Guests will see that you are engaging, open minded, and willing to do whatever it takes to ensure your guests have a positive experience with your hotel.

5. Quality over Quantity. Lastly, a successful social media strategy cannot be measured by how many friends or followers you may have or how many posts your hotel can pump out, instead success can be measure by how meaningful the content you produce is, and how engage d your friends and followers are.

Ultimately these tips will help your hotel develop an authentic voice that can help your hotel stand out from the pack, further develop your online presence, and keep guests engaged and interested in your hotel.

Categories: Blog — Tags: Facebook, Hospitality, hotel, Hotel Social Media Marketing, Hotels, How To, Social Media, Social Media Campaign, Social Media Strategy, social networking, Tips, travel, Twitter;

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The Blue Bird Get’s A Makeover

	by David Sotelo on October 6th, 2010

Twitter has received a significant upgrade and there are some interesting changes that are a going to be a welcome addition to any businesses social media marketing campaign. If you never used twitter before for whatever reason you may want to look closer at this new version. Twitter has stepped up its game not only being more user friendly but allowing businesses to take on a bigger role.

Twitter has not always been known to have the most streamlined and user friendly interface. However the ability to communicate in real time, access to current and relevant information instantly, and the sheer reach of twitter has established it as a force to be taken seriously. The new changes look like they will help engage the users more and this engagement is where the new twitter becomes a more valuable tool.

There are several changes including a new design, multimedia, related content, and mini profiles. I will examine their new design and multimedia due to their relevance.

1) New Design: Twitter had redesigned their main user page to have 2 columns instead of one which does a very important but challenging accomplishment. It keeps the user on twitter by displaying information like videos, photos, and links where in the past it would have taken you to another site. It has improved its platform by allowing other sites and information to exist on twitter. These columns scroll infinitely which unlike the past does not limit the number of characters used.

2) Multi Media Content: Photos, video and other media can now be embedded on twitter. This new interface thanks to a number of 3^rd party partners is very attractive to advertisers and business. Advertisements will be commonplace. This embedding of multimedia can be a great way to promote an important aspect of your business through video or photos. If leveraged effectively this can be a powerful way to reach the customers you want and share with them information that is important to them and your business.

There will be more changes rolling out to improve the performance but twitter 2.0 seems to be a definite step in the right direction. Twitter has evolved from a gossip network to an information network. With 90 million tweets daily and 370,000 new accounts being created every day, is your business being tweeted about?

Written by David S.

Categories: Blog — Tags: advertising, business, multimedia, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Twitter;

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