E-Marketing Associates

How Twitter Can Help Your Hotel’s Customer Service Shine

David Sotelo by
on June 29th, 2011

Twitter is used for many purposes, some use it to stay informed on the most current news, some use it to reach out to people and stay informed about people they want to follow, some use it to gossip and talk about random things and some politicians even use it to unintentionally derail their careers. With all these uses there is one that any business, especially hotels can use it for; great customer service. Customer service is the pillar of any successful business growth strategy and Twitter has proven to be a great customer service tool. I want to discuss how Twitter can be used a customer service tool and can strengthen your business.

Customer service is very important for a business but it can be a consumer’s worst nightmare with all the frustrations of calling a company’s customer service line. Twitter addresses two major issues a call center or front desk deals with; 1) wait times and 2) miscommunication.  Twitter is an efficient and fast platform that allows both the customer and the customer service department to communicate in real time and resolve small to medium problems relatively fast. Bigger problems may take more tweets or they can funnel a customer to a call or a follow up but the customer knows they are being attended to. Miscommunication can be an obstacle many times with customers talking endlessly about this or that and not being clear about what they want. When it is in text is easier to interpret and doesn’t get lost with a verbal call.

Customer service is often dreaded upon by many consumers and not often perceived in the best light. Twitter used effectively can improve your brand image and can really bolster your customer satisfaction rates. The cost can be considerably less than a full service call center and more efficient than responding by email. Twitter is great at responding quickly and transparently but one really great benefit is that your tweet may answer a number of peoples same problem. When you receive a phone call only you and the other person know what’s going on. A tweet can be viewed by anybody with internet access and can make a big impact in reducing the number of customer inquiries and problems.

Twitter is being integrated into our digital space more and gives not only hotels but any business a golden opportunity to be proactive and take control of their customer service. Be authentic and engaging and your customers will appreciate it, perceive your brand positively and if you stay consistent you will see the benefits begin to affect other aspects of your business.

Categories: Blog,Social Media Marketing,Twitter — Tags: , , , ;

What Businesses Need to Know Before Switching to New Twitter

Jacquelynn Mendez by
on June 27th, 2011

Nine months after the launch of New Twitter, the popular social network is finally preparing to completely eliminate the old platform and force users to switch over to the new updated version.

Before last week, Twitter gave users a choice to either move into the new version of the network or stick with the original. But in a move that we all knew would be coming, the popular social media marketing platform added a new message for those who haven’t converted, saying, “You will automatically be upgraded to New Twitter very, very soon.” There is no saying how long “very soon” will be, but for businesses that haven’t updated their profiles, now is the time to make the switch in order to keep any branded backgrounds up-to-date and in line with the new Twitter layout.

Customize Your Background for the New Version of Twitter
The design on the new Twitter has different dimensions than the original, along with a range of features that changes the fluidity and color scheme of the background. Due to these new adjustments, customized backgrounds that once looked great on the old Twitter tend to lose their appeal with the new design. So to avoid any loss in branding, businesses should make the switch over now. This will give users enough time to customize their background to meet Twitter’s new parameters and match the look that they’ll like to portray to their followers, making the shift a smooth transition.

That being said, I have found a few tips from reputable sources throughout the web to help your business customize its background for the new version of Twitter.

  • With the new design, the spaces to the right and left of the columns are fluid and will change based on the resolution and size of the browser window. The spacing is also a lot smaller from the original design. To give you an idea of the size change, in a 1280×800 browsing window, in the old design, there were approximately 251 pixels on each side of the Twitter columns. With the new design, this is reduced to 112 and 113 pixels.
  • When creating the background, keep in mind that the new design has a constant top toolbar that is 40 pixels tall and spans across the entire length of the page. Additionally, there is a 20 pixel tall space between the toolbar and the start of the two columns.
  • The right sidebar is now semi-opaque. This means that the opacity is about 75%, so you’ll have to be careful when choosing colors because your choice of colors and styles can have an impact on readability.
  • With New Twitter, the size of the sidebar can vary. After a certain resolution (about 1130 pixels), the sidebar will become fixed at 500 pixels wide. On the other hand, on smaller screens or in smaller browser windows, the size can turn as small as 380 pixels.

If readers have any other tips, feel free to add them in the comment section below.

Categories: Blog,Hotel Internet Marketing,Social Media,Social Media Marketing,Twitter — Tags: , , , ;

Vignette Photography Application for Android (Review)

David Sotelo by
on June 22nd, 2011

I wanted to review an application that has been around for some time but I thought it was worth a review for the growing number of android users that are always on the lookout for good applications. Vignette is a photography application and one of the better ones on the market. If you are looking for a photography application with features galore you will probably love Vignette. The developers are neilandtheresa and they offer a free demo version and a paid version that currently runs about $4.03 on the android market. I will be reviewing the paid version with all its bells and whistles.

I know that android has a default camera and many of the phone manufacturers often have their own camera application preinstalled which I must say are fairly decent. Vignette however is perfect for those who love taking pictures and want complete control to be the best smartphone photographer on the planet! Seriously though it is a really good photo application.

The effects and frame option are second to none. They have 68 effects and 56 frames to choose from and I must say that they are really fun to play with although many of them will probably not be used but still you have many to work with. You have everything from a generic film effect to tinted monochrome and they even have retro and vintage style effects. There are too many to name here, for full list check out their feature list. Frame options are great as well. You can have a full screen shots, 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio as well as panorama for an extra wide format. You can crop images and edit the picture about any way you please. There are so many effects and frame options to choose form that chances are if you want it to look a certain way it can be done.

There is a resolution option that will vary depending on your phones camera but you can take low resolution shots for texting and sharing and can take high quality shots that max out your cameras highest resolution. There is a quality setting of low, normal, fine and superfine to complement the resolution you are using. The camera hardware settings are nice. You can select your screen mode, white balance, sensitivity, focus distance, anti-banding, image stabilization, exposure and contrast levels and of course the shutter sound. If your camera has flash built in you can turn it off, keep it always on or set it to auto. There is even a shooting mode that lets you select normal, fast shot, steady shot, time lapse, strip grid, double and there is a self timer for those time when you nobody can take the picture.

This is a really good quality photography application; well as good as you can get for a Smartphone anyway. If you are unsure you can always try out their demo version which will give you a good idea of whether this app is a good fit for what you want. This may be too much for some users who don’t need all these choices and are content with the basic options there default application has. There is also a little bit of a learning curve with all the effects and frames to choose from so that might be a turnoff for basic users. The developers are prompt and responsive with their updates and anything that needs to be changed. I highly recommend Vignette if you are looking for a feature rich application for your Smartphone.

Categories: App Reviews,Blog,Dr. App — Tags: , , , ;

Taking Control of Your Business’ Online Customer Reviews

Jacquelynn Mendez by
on June 20th, 2011

For business owners who feel helpless against over-exaggerated, mean-spirited and oftentimes fabricated reviews on popular sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor and Citysearch, it’s time to let your voice be heard!

Now that customers have the ability to share their feedback instantly online, popular review websites like Yelp and TripAdvisor have evolved into the center of a business’ reputation. And although a few of these sites give employees the opportunity to reply, many owners still feel powerless against these ratings that can make or break their business. Don’t get me wrong, when used correctly, review websites are a great resource for both customers and businesses, but without any qualifying criteria or validation required to post a rating, these emerging platforms can be a little unfair.

How Pizzeria Delfina Fought Back!
The story of Pizzeria Delfina is an oldie but a goody about a small business in San Francisco that fought back against Yelp reviewers who, in their opinion, were abusing the platform. The pizzeria owner’s frustration with Yelp stemmed from her inability to have any say in the matter, since the platform does not allow businesses to publicly respond to or dispute false reviews.

Determined to have a voice, Delfina owner Anne Stoll cleverly took her fight offline and had her employees serve customers while wearing T-shirts quoting the bad reviews found on the popular website. So when customers ordered a Salsiccia pizza, their servers would bring it to them wearing a shirt that could have said, “The pizza was soooo greasy. I am assuming this was in part due to the pig fat.” The clothing artist who partnered with Stoll took the most outrageous and funny reviews to print, in hopes that these shirts would not only encourage happy customers to post their own reviews but also help take the seriousness out of Yelp.

Since the launch of the T-shirt tactic, Pizzeria Defina has received a lot of positive feedback on Yelp, so it’s safe to say that the bad reviews were likely not a product of low quality food or service. At first, some thought that the T-Shirt scheme would backfire, with people writing reviews just to get on a shirt, but Stolls welcomed this kind of behavior because it helped prove her point, saying, “Are they doing it to get on a T-shirt or did they have a bad experience? They can’t trust it.”

Letting your Voice be Heard
As a business, your online reviews and ratings are an important aspect of your reputation, and with the instantaneity of the Internet, one wrong move can reach the screens of millions in a matter of minutes. This is why it’s important to have a crisis management program in place that includes both online and offline efforts to reach customers from every end. After all, as seen through the story of Pizzeria Delfina, the internet is not the only way to get your point across to those that matter most.

Image Source: The New York Times

Categories: Internet Marketing,Social Media Marketing — Tags: , , , , ;

Astro File Manager for Android (Review)

David Sotelo by
on June 15th, 2011

Android Smartphone’s allow for the use of an sd card which is great because you can store all your audio and video data on there. Depending on your phone you may have a file management system on there that will provide a way for you to organize and manage all your data on your sd card. However, if you are looking for an alternative or maybe just don’t have one, then read on about Astro File Manager and see if it fits your needs. Astro File Manager is available as a free version and the paid version called Astro File Manager Pro. The Pro version is the same as the free version except that you get advertisements removed.

Astro is really more of a productivity tool than anything else. The main use is managing all your files on your sd card. You can move, copy and rename all your files. The app is rather easy to use and makes it easy to navigate through all of your files. You can choose to view all your files either in a list form or by icons which gives you a thumbnail gallery for easy viewing. It’s simple to make changes to the names or delete individual files, multiple files or an entire folder. Additionally, you can backup applications as way to manage and free up memory if your phone is limited on memory. This basically allows you to back up and un-install less frequently used applications.

A process manager is also included which allows you to manage running applications, services and processes. It comes in handy when you want to see statistics on your phones performance such as memory and cpu usage to see how applications affect your phone. You can also “kill” or end applications if needed. Sometimes you will run across Zip and Tar files, and so Astro has built in support for reading and extracting these compressed files. Astro does a good job of helping applications run faster by keeping the cache of applications on your memory card. Cache can easily be cleared if you do not want certain application data to be backed up. The search function is great when you want to find what you want and you’re not sure where it may be located.

The best part about Astro File Manager other than it being free is that it gives you an easy way to access your sd card and make any changes you want from one place. The layout is simple and all the icons are easy to read. It’s not a fun or exciting application but it gets the job done and does it well.

Categories: App Reviews,Blog,Dr. App — Tags: , , , , , ;

How Businesses Can Avoid Pulling a Weinergate

Jacquelynn Mendez by
on June 10th, 2011

Most people have heard the popular motto, “All publicity is good publicity,” but in the case of Anthony Weiner, I think we can all agree that this saying does not hold true. The now infamous Representative is facing an undesirable wave of ridicule and scorn causing congressmen throughout the U.S. to avoid social networking altogether. According to Twitter aggregator TweetCongress, tweets from members of both parties are down roughly 30% since Weiner’s lewd photo. Ideally, these men wouldn’t have anything demeaning to hide, but even if they do, these secrets shouldn’t keep them from utilizing social platforms for business. All it takes is a little education, a few set guidelines and proper usage to avoid another Weinergate.

Like businesses, congressmen have a personal brand to uphold and without proper knowledge of social media functions and capabilities it is easy for anyone to make a mistake that might compromise their reputation. So rather than entering this twenty-first century realm without a clue, it’s important for brands, both personal and business related, to take the initial steps needed to mitigate any potential Weinergate scandals.

Below are a few quick suggestions:

Training
In the case of Anthony Weiner, reports claim that the politician accidently sent a tweet that was meant to be a private direct message. Although this could have just been a simple accident, one way to alleviate any functionality confusion is through proper training and education. Each social media platform has an abundance of unique features and it’s important for account managers sending out these messages to know the differences between each one.

Social Media Handbook
With social media becoming such a major component of businesses marketing efforts, the outreach handled through these platforms should be in compliance with the image that each business plans to uphold. A way to accomplish this goal is through a social media handbook that outlines the expectations, standards and messages expected from account managers.

Keep Personal Separate from Business
Although the lines between personal and business can oftentimes be blurred, there should be a distinction made between what is appropriate for social networks and what is not. In today’s technology age, the information shared online can’t always be taken back, and knowing this, account managers should keep any career threatening information away from online media.

This is just a short list of ideas, so readers are encouraged to share any advice that they might have on the subject in the comments section below.

Categories: Blog,Internet Marketing,Social Media,Social Media Marketing,Twitter — Tags: , , , ;

Link Building Your Hotel to Increased Sales

David Sotelo by
on June 8th, 2011

Link building is a proven search engine optimization strategy and it got me thinking about the importance of link building after a recent blog post was picked up by a forum. A blog we posted about a smartphone application was picked up by a developer’s forum has and continues to generate heavy traffic to this site. Since the hotel business is so competitive and people use the web for so much of their information to choose a hotel I thought I would go over the importance of link building for hotels.

Link building is basically the process of creating inbound link for ones website. Creating inbound links can be accomplished through paid link building and organic link building. Paid is well just that you pay a site and they will usually post something such as a press release, review, blog post, blog comments, directory submissions and other content that can benefit your hotel. Organic link building which is highly recommended is getting other sites to link to yours though your content writing such as a blog post press release, article or just being proactive through public relations. There is no cost however it can take more time and effort because it is based off how relevant and worthy another site feels your content is.

So now you have an idea of what link building is you need to know why it is important and how you can do it. Let me say it is a good practice to look at link building as long term growth strategy and that is heavily tied into your entire marketing plan. It can be difficult to stand out of the crowd with hotels so you want to find a niche or angle. For example if you are a hotel that is eco conscious then host a conference for “green” events or invite eco friendly bloggers to hold an event there. The next step is to be proactive and let them know how important the ecology is to your hotel and the things you are doing that are earth friendly. This is a great way to get bloggers to link to your site. If you are a boutique hotel maybe you have specific demographic or cater to a certain type of market then you can generate some great blogs or videos that will have a greater chance of getting picked up by a forum and drive a lot of traffic to your site.

There are so many ways to implement your link building efforts and the payoff can be huge not only in terms of traffic but bookings, exposure, brand building and seo success. It can be beneficial to look at link building as a partnership that is part of a longer term growth strategy for your hotel. Make sure your hotel marketing and social media efforts include a well thought link building program and if you don’t have one then find a company that will have your best interest in mind.

Categories: Blog — Tags: , , , , , ;

The Picture Perfect Piece Missing from Your Social Media Strategy

Jacquelynn Mendez by
on June 7th, 2011

Remember when people used to say that a picture is worth a thousand words? Well that expression still holds true today and with the latest advancements in social media it’s even easier for companies to attract new business through photos submitted by fans.

Every day businesses are constantly on the hunt for more “Likes,” followers or check-ins, and although these stats are important, this obsession with numbers oftentimes causes account managers to overlook one very important social networking element… photos! I’m not saying that you should hire a photographer and post pictures that will very obviously depict your business as perfect, but instead, encourage fans to share their real life, real time images of your brand or business on social platforms. After all, if a picture really is worth a thousand words, then a great photo can have more value than a comment, “Like” and check-in combined.

Although user generated images are an excellent addition to any brand’s marketing, there is no denying that this feature may benefit some businesses more than others. Fan photos are particularly advantageous for restaurants and hotels because properties can gain a lot of exposure from a variety of pictures highlighting rooms, events, facilities and window views submitted by guests, that is as long as the images create a positive representation. Visuals show a side of a business that words simply can’t describe and for an industry in which customers rely heavily on visual appeal to make purchasing decisions, having pictures from trusted sources can be the last deciding factor. This is why the popular social startup TopGuest now rewards users for both checking in and taking photos at their favorite properties.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that comments, posts and actions aren’t important. If anything, a social strategy should strive to integrate each of these elements to paint the perfect picture of your business because people view and consume information in many different ways. Fortunately, popular social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare are constantly innovating their products to make photo sharing as simple as possible, so now it’s just up to businesses to use this technology to their advantage. This can be done through photo sharing contests, enticing incentives or simply by spreading the word to users. So what are you waiting for? It’s time to get your fans ready to say, “Cheese!”

Categories: Blog,Facebook,Hotel Internet Marketing,Hotels & Resorts,Internet Marketing,Photo & Video,Social Media Marketing — Tags: , , , ;

Even in Today’s Digital Age, the Advice of Ad Legends Lives On

Jacquelynn Mendez by
on June 3rd, 2011

In celebration of what would have been David Ogilvy’s 100th birthday, popular marketing news source AdAge recently called out for Twitter users everywhere to share their favorite moments, quotes and lessons from the advertising legend himself. Coming from a time when competition was relatively scarce and new forms of media were just coming out, some people might think that principles set by Ogilvy don’t apply to today’s industry. But if you read through the thought provoking clips of advice, you’ll immediately see that these core principles are highly relevant in today’s digital marketing world.

One quote from Ogilvy that is often used in popular published pieces says,

“The consumer isn’t a moron; she is your wife. You insult her intelligence if you assume that a mere slogan and a few vapid adjectives will persuade her to buy anything. She wants all the information you can give her.”

In case you’re wondering how this relates to digital marketing, when looking at social media, these words can easily apply to those that set up accounts then forget about them, thinking fans will just flock to their pages without any activity involved. Social network users (“The consumers”) are not “morons” and spend enough time on the Internet to know the difference between the companies that genuinely care and those that fake it. So rather than doing a disservice to the business by creating negative sentiment toward the brand, account managers should treat social networkers like the intelligent humans that they are and provide them with the information, service and conversation they seek in order to reach success. Of course this is just one interpretation of many that can come out of an Ogilvy quote.

Being a fan and follower of ad legends like David Ogilvy, William Bernbach and Leo Burnett, I think it’s great that their contributions to marketing, particularly advertising, are still acknowledged. With today’s consumers being bombarded with hundreds of thousands of marketing impressions a day, it’s becoming more important than ever for marketers to take a step back and utilize the core principles of creativity, relevancy and testing that were set forth by ad legends of the past. After all, these guys didn’t become successful by pure luck, their strategies helped create the foundation of great marketing. So take the time to look at the tweets with the hashtag #Ogilvy100, you may be surprised by what you learn.

Happy birthday David Ogilvy and thanks for the advice!

Categories: Blog,Social Media Marketing — Tags: , , , , , ;

Launcher Pro for Android (Review)

David Sotelo by
on June 1st, 2011

There is an interesting paradox that has come along with the growth of smartphones. The more growth and competition that arises the more these phone manufacturers try to separate themselves from the rest of the pack.  When they separate themselves they often do things such as create unique user interfaces in an attempt to differentiate them and create more value for the user so they will hopefully buy their phones but that does not always happen. Not all users like these interfaces and locked down boot loaders so an alternative is a launcher application such as Launcher Pro. What is a launcher? A launcher is a basically an interface for your phone that allows you more freedom and options to control your phone the way you would like.  I will go over the main strengths and some of the types of customization you can do with this launcher.

First let me state you cannot eliminate all aspects of the phone manufacturers interface or uninstall pre-installed applications but it does a pretty good job of minimizing what you don’t want. One of the key features is the ability to have up to 7 home screens to scroll through and with a recent update you can now have home screen looping that allows you to continuously scroll through all your screens.  Launcher Pro gives you a “clean slate” for you to work with eliminating the skins and widgets that come with many phones. Some people may prefer the interface that comes with the phone but if you’re like me and want to customize your phone to your exact liking then you will love the launcher. Another strength is the super smooth scrolling that makes it really nice to transition from one screen to the next and even has some really cool transition effects.

As I mentioned customization is what makes this a great launcher and there are quite a few that make is the app enjoyable to use. One that I like is the home key to default screen, this basically returns to your designated home screen whenever you hit the home button. You can change the background style for your dock which is shortcut to your frequently used apps that shows up on the bottom of the screen. That brings me to another nice feature; the dock can have up to 4 shortcuts on one screen and 5 each on the other two screens. What makes this nice is if you are on one screen you can still swipe your dock to access your shortcuts without leaving that screen. There are animated screen previews like Expose and HTC sense as well as an app drawer that give you a 2d and 3d effect. The app drawer is nice because you can actually hide apps that you don’t use like a lot of the bloat ware that comes with phones now. Hiding the apps can help improve memory usage and prevent them from background use.

Launcher Pro comes in two flavors the free version which is what I discussed here and there is also a plus version that runs around $3.49 that gives you some extra features most notably the use of various widgets such as social networking, contacts, messaging, bookmarks, and calendars. There are more ways to play around with Launcher Pro but I went over what makes Launcher Pro a great replacement for any smartphone interface. If speed and smooth transitions is what you’re looking for on your phone then Launcher pro is an awesome application.

Categories: App Reviews,Blog,Dr. App — Tags: , , , , , , ;