E-Marketing Associates

Plan Your Travel Itinerary with Trippy and TravelMuse

Golda Criddle by
on February 22nd, 2012

Yesterday’s travelers were limited to travel agencies, books, brochures and traditional word of mouth for travel advice. Now the entire world is available at your fingertips through websites, online travel agencies and social networks. New social travel sites are popping up every day with different approaches to help travelers plan their trips.

The latest entry in social trip planning is Trippy, a site that revolves around planning a trip based on recommendations from your friends. The site differs from Gogobot and Gtrot in that it aims to build your entire itinerary from your Facebook friends.

When you create a trip on Trippy, you are told right away which of your Facebook friends “know” your destination, having lived, studied or visited there in the past. You can also specify whether your trip is strictly business, budget, romance or even adventure, and tell your friends what you want to experience during your trip. You can then add places, restaurants and hotels you are considering visiting, eating in and staying at. At the end of the process, Trippy provides you with a customized trip URL that you can share on Facebook or Twitter to get your input from your social circle. When your friends click on this link, they will be able to view your proposed itinerary and make comments. You can plan your trip by the day, and when you’re ready, check rates and book your hotel within Trippy’s platform.

Another great site for planning your trip is TravelMuse. The site acts like a scrapbook for your trip, as you can save any web page into a folder so that all of your ideas are in one central place. TravelMuse offers its own Bookmarker to make this process as easy as accessing your bookmarks through a browser. You can also view your saved items on a map, on a calendar, and look for other things to do when you have a few extra hours.

A unique feature of TravelMuse is the “Get Inspired” tab, which allows you to build a customized trip based on your interests and preferences. You can select when you wish to travel, what airport you are flying out of, your favorite activities, maximum flight time and budget per person. From these parameters, TravelMuse will build an entire trip for you within seconds. Talk about making travel easy!

What social travel sites will you use to plan your next trip?

Categories: B2B & B2C,Blog,Clients,Facebook,Hotel Internet Marketing,Hotels & Resorts,Hotels & Resorts,Internet Marketing,Social Media,Social Media Marketing,Travel,Twitter — Tags: , , , , , , ;

How to Respond To a Negative Hotel Review

Golda Criddle by
on February 17th, 2012

Review sites and social media are tools that all travelers use when looking for hotels to stay in. They are becoming extremely important in today’s travel industry, especially now that OTAs like Kayak are starting to integrate TripAdvisor reviews directly into their searches. In this high-tech world we live in, it is best for general managers to interact with their customers on social media, especially when it comes to online customer reviews.

Sooner or later you’ll encounter a negative review on Yelp or TripAdvisor that isn’t a spammer or false claim. What do you do? In most cases, you should respond. Follow these simple steps in crafting your response.

  1. Respond in a timely fashion. Responding quickly shows the customer that you are monitoring your channels closely, and that someone cares about their con
    cerns. Other people are also more likely to read your response if it is put up quickly.
  2. Be polite, calm, and professional. Treat this review like any customer service request and be courteous.  Be sensitive to the customer’s feelings. Such professionalism will enhance your online reputation.
  3. Be honest. Perhaps the criticism was just a simple misunderstanding. Is there information on your website that addresses their complaints? Or if they had a problem with your staff, apologize if necessary and look forward without accusations.
  4. If the customer’s criticism is valid, acknowledge that there is a problem, and something is being done to fix it. This shows the customer that their opinions have been heard. Perhaps you should speak to your staff about the importance of friendly customer service.
  5. Thank the customer for his or her review.  This shows that you appreciate the customer’s feedback. It also encourages further (possibly positive!) feedback.
  6. Offer compensation if appropriate. Usually a discounted room or upgrade is enough to compensate the customer for any wrongdoing. In most cases, it will also damage your hotel less than a bad online reputation. Ask for the customer’s contact information so that you can contact them immediately upon offering the compensation. This also shows potential customers that you are willing to rectify your mistakes.

Your customers will appreciate that you cared enough to respond to their complaints, and your hotel will look great to other possible guests. Who knows, maybe your response will even get the customer to write a more positive review in the future!

 

 

Categories: Blog,Hotel Internet Marketing,Hotels & Resorts,Hotels & Resorts,HSMAI,Internet Marketing,Social Media,Social Media Marketing,Travel — Tags: , , , ;

Current Events Boost Facebook Engagement

Renee Radia by
on February 8th, 2012

Looking to increase fan engagement on your Facebook page? Who isn’t? A recent study by Buddy Media shows how incorporating current events into your posts can drive fan engagement to new levels. The study focused on 1,400 brands and used last weekend’s big game as a case study. It looked at brands’ Facebook engagement rates, which include interactions through Likes, comments, and shares. The result was that in the six weeks leading up to the Super Bowl and on Super Bowl Sunday itself, brands that posted content using the keywords “Super Bowl” saw a 60% increase in engagement!

EdgeRank, Facebook’s news feed algorithm, takes many characteristics into consideration when it decides where content shows up in users’ news feeds. If a post has a high level of engagement or the user that shared the post has a close relationship with another user, the post is displayed more prominently on someone’s news feed. This is another factor accounting for the high engagement rate – because these posts were getting many Likes, comments, and shares, they were getting placed higher in users’ news feeds, which only encouraged more Likes, comments, and shares. There is something to be said about using the keywords “Super Bowl” though, since this event is inherently one of the biggest events in the US all year– such a giant increase in engagement might not be realistic for every post about a current event.

A great way to find current, up-to-date news that you can post about is to see what is trending on Twitter. Twitter constantly refreshes its left-hand “Trends” tab with real-time topics that are garnering the most buzz at that moment. An important caveat to remember when considering posting about a current event is that you don’t want to force your brand into irrelevant conversations. It might reflect poorly if you seem to be posting just for the sake of getting more engagement. Try to find a unique way of joining the conversation by making the post relevant to your brand and its message. Be weary too that you might get lumped in with other people or brands who have posted about a similar event, as Facebook frequently aggregates posts about the same topic and it is easy to get lost in the shuffle.

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

How SMBs Can Join In on the Google+ Hangout Trend

Golda Criddle by
on February 3rd, 2012

Google+ gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “hanging out” with its video Hangout feature. It takes chatting online to a whole new level by allowing for spontaneous face-to-face online gatherings. Any Google+ user can start a Hangout with up to 10 other users for any length of time for free.

Many businesses, public figures and celebrities have started using Google+ Hangouts to reach out to the public including the White House, David Beckham and The Muppets.  Most notably, President Obama used the social network’s video conferencing tool to create a virtual town hall meeting focusing on the economy. He took questions via Twitter and YouTube. Five Americans in citizens across the country also participated in the Google+ Hangout, and were able to ask follow-up questions in real time after the President spoke.

Further, NBC’s Darren Rovell will host a Google+ Hangout to discuss this year’s Super Bowl commercials on February 6. Users will be able to use a feature of Google + Hangout that allows users to share and watch YouTube videos simultaneously. Rovell explained the purpose of the hangout: “The day after the Super Bowl is when people head back to their office water coolers to discuss what they loved and what they didn’t. Our conversation is about taking all those water cooler conversations and bringing it to a national, digital stage.”

Both of these hangouts take advantage of the “Hangout on Air” feature that allows Hangout to act as a live broadcast to the public. Google+ Hangout combines some features from programs like Skype and GoToMeeting such as multi-people video conferencing, and screen-sharing for free. This is what makes Google+ Hangouts unique.

Google+ Hangouts can be useful for small and large businesses alike. Here are just a few ideas for using Google+ on a smaller scale:

  • Customer Service:  Personalize your customer service by helping out your customers face-to-face! Private hangouts can be a great way to offer excellent support and you’ll be able to get visual cues and live feedback from your customers.
  • Brainstorming: If your business operates remotely, Google+ Hangouts allows for weekly or monthly communication through virtual meetings. You know ideas flow freer in a group setting. You can also use Hangouts with Extras to watch inspiring YouTube videos to start or end sessions.
  • Instructional Classes/Webinar: Chef Lee Allison uses Hangouts to teach cooking classes. You can teach skills from software to social media through video with interactive chat. Hangouts make question and answer sessions easy, personal and informative!

Can you think of other ways to use Google Hangouts to promote your business? Please feel free to share your ideas in the comments below!

Categories: B2B & B2C,Blog,Clients,Google,Internet Marketing,Photo & Video,Social Media,Social Media Marketing — Tags: , , , , , , ;

Hotels Get More Analytical with Trip Advisor’s New Feature

David Sotelo by
on January 30th, 2012

Hotel owners are always looking to find better ways to drive more sales and a huge part of your online marketing is through web analytics. One of the largest online travel agencies has implemented a new dashboard that will excel in just that. This could be a valuable tool in addition to what is currently being used to monitor your online data. TripAdvisor is a huge source of traffic and a hospitality hub when it comes to travelers looking for reviews, prices and hotel information. The new analytics will allow hotel sales managers and owners to get good insight into how they can improve their campaigns and guest experiences.

There are quite a few free features and functions being introduced but among the more prominent ones is a list of a hotel’s competitors that are most viewed by the consumers they are targeting. You will be able to get your sites popularity ranking, summary of reviews and comments by ranking as well as your TripAdvisor ranking. There are also added features for business listing subscribers including trending graphs that will show page view trends over time, performance metrics such as a property’s business listings compared to other properties and top special offers by click through which are recommendations based on the offers that receive the most clicks.

The free service is available now and the business listings versions will be available within the next few weeks. The great part is that if you registered on TripAdvisor as a business representative of the hotel you will be able to use the free service. The TripAdvisor management dashboard looks like it can be a valuable tool for hotels considering the volume of traffic that TripAdvisor gets and the wealth of information it can generate. Using analytics can make a huge difference in taking your hotel where you want it to be.

Categories: Blog,Hotel Internet Marketing,Hotels & Resorts,Internet Marketing — Tags: , , , , ;

Introducing TripAdvisor, Gogobot and Foodspotting for Facebook Timeline

Golda Criddle by
on January 27th, 2012

Very soon Facebook users (which, let’s face it, is just about everyone) will no longer be able to ignore Facebook Timeline. The new format will be rolling out by February 1 to all users. And with it, comes around 60 new lifestyle applications, with three familiar names in the travel world: TripAdvisor, Gogobot and Foodspotting. It has never been easier to share your travels plans—past, present or future—with friends and share the foods you love.


TripAdvisor’s app is called Cities I’ve Visited. The app allows you to pin cities you’ve traveled to on your travel map, display it on your timeline and many other personal travel stats on Facebook Timeline. You can share with your family your trip to Morroco, and what monuments you visited and restaurants you dined at. It’s a great way to take advantage of the new storytelling aspect of Facebook Timeline through travel.

Gogobot’s app is similar, but turns users into travel experts rather than just telling stories. When you use the Gogobot app with Facebook Timeline, your records of where you’ve been, what restaurants you’ve ate at and what attractions you saw are compiled into a “Destination Guide.” You can not only share this guide with your friends and family, but also act as a travel guide to show them the best places to eat and play.  You can share upcoming trips and ask questions from friends, and display customized postcards made from Gogobot’s iPhone application. You can also express your dreams by listing the places you want to visit. The more interaction you post to Facebook Timeline, the more Gogobot Travel Expertise points you receive to make you a trustworthy source on travel.

Foodspotting’s app also focuses on sharing. What’s better than a tasty dish? Sharing your pleasure with all your friends, of course? Now it is very easy to share your Foodspotting activity on your Facebook Timeline. You can control who sees your Foodspotting activity, fortunately, and it is all contained in one little box so it won’t clutter your Timeline. Your friends can also view your Foodspotting page to see which dishes you’ve become an expert in.

The new Facebook Timeline is all about encourage users to share more, through check-ins, posts, and other activity. There’s not much word yet on how Facebook Timeline will affect business brand pages but Facebook is known for its cohesiveness, so they will likely experience similar changes in the future. Do you have ideas on how to use Facebook Timeline to promote your business? Please share your ideas in the comments below!

Categories: B2B & B2C,Blog,Facebook,Internet Marketing,Lifestyle,Social Media,Social Media Marketing,Travel — Tags: , , , , , , ;

Hotels Find Success with Social Media Contests

Renee Radia by
on January 25th, 2012

Now, more than ever before, hotels are taking things to the next level thanks to social media. Hotels are realizing that they can make their guest interactions fun and mix things up with unique contests that make their fans more passionate about their properties. The following are some examples of creative contests hotels have done using social media that will hopefully stir up some ideas of your own!

  • Hotel Palomar in San Diego recently completed a unique contest that took participants out into the city to explore. Instead of a simple “’Like’ us to win…” contest that we’ve all seen overdone, the Kimpton brand hotel utilized the mobile app “Scavenger Hunt with Friends” where participants submitted photos online as a way of checking off their scavenger hunt finds. Items on the list were designed to get users out and about in San Diego, taking creative photos and performing fun and local activities in order to do so.
  • W Hotels encouraged the use of location-based mobile apps by running a campaign that gave users incentive for checking-in to their hotels on Foursquare during the Summer DJ Series. The first person to check into a given event received a free 2-night weekend stay as well as free bottle service. Foursquare Mayors drank free on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The East coast properties also ran a timely video contest where participants had to commemorate the legendary Times Square kiss by reenacting and filming it.
  • Casa del Mar in Santa Monica ran a contest called “What’s Under the Sheets?” late 2009 where it posted a photo of 2 giant wrapped items in the hotel’s lobby. Throughout the contest, the hotel released clues about the identity of the items. People submitted their guesses through Twitter and the winner received a fun spa package stay at the property.
  • Jet Luxury ran a Twitter contest last year that was designed to encourage conversation on the microblogging site. Participants were entered into a drawing to win a package if they tweeted about their favorite of the brand’s hotels and why they liked it. Instead of a massive retweet or spam message, organic conversations about the hotels took place.
  • Le Parc Suites in West Hollywood has recently reached out to the dog-lovers to have them vote on the next “Director of Pet Relations.” Various pooches are on display on a Facebook landing page each with a short bio and cute photo. The winning pooch will be featured throughout the hotel and will receive many perks!

 

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

Is Google’s AdWords Express Right for Your Hotel?

David Sotelo by
on January 23rd, 2012

Online advertising is growing at fast pace and is actually projected to surpass print in spending for the first time in 2012. AdWords specifically has been successfully helping companies generate more business for many years but many are unaware of Google’s AdWords Express. Google AdWords Express is online advertising that aims to make advertising as easy as possible for local businesses by doing most of the work for them. Google automatically manages many of the components that you will find in traditional AdWords such as keywords, bid setting and managing those bids. It’s ideal for businesses that would like to get involved with paid advertising but may not have the time or resources to analyze and manage advertising campaigns.

So what exactly does AdWords Express do for you to make the process simpler for the advertiser? Well there is quite a few including managing your keywords, bids and targeting your ads. There is no need to deal with analyzing keywords or figure out the best areas or demographics. Since Google is doing most of the work you can have some relief that they will attempt to optimize your ads based off their ever changing algorithms.  What you will have to do is give some basic information about your company, determine your budget and Google will take care of the rest. You don’t even need a website to participate; Google can direct potential customers to a Google Places page or Google+ page.

This may sound great and it could be for the right individuals but there are some concerns you should be aware to determine if AdWords Express is right for you. Paid advertising is not rocket science but there is a fair amount optimizing to do and it can be somewhat complex which can really be a big difference for your business’s bottom line. Optimizing your online advertising requires that you test different ads and see which ones are performing well and which ones are not. You want to know which ad’s have lower click through rates (ctr) and conversions so you can decide whether you should improve the ads or scrap it all together. There are negative keywords that may need to be included to eliminate people who may not want what you’re selling.  You want to know which exact keywords, or phrases are generating the most clicks and determine if a bid should be raised or lowered.

AdWords can be a very efficient and effective way to generate business online but it can be quite consuming and so if you don’t have the time or resources to dedicate to paid advertising then AdWords Express may be just what you are looking for. AdWords Express takes the guess work and know how out of paid advertising and that is not always a good thing. If you don’t have the time then AdWords Express is probably better than nothing and a good start but taking control of your ad campaigns is what you should eventually aim for.

Categories: Blog,Google,Internet Marketing,PPC — Tags: , , , , , , ;

7 Subjects to Spruce Up Your Hotel’s Blog

Golda Criddle by
on January 20th, 2012

In the age of micro-blogging social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, is blogging still an effective way for hotels to reach out to guests? Absolutely.  Although tweets and posts are a great way to instantly connect, blogging is an essential tool for story-telling.

People love stories. It is the reason why movies, books, and television are so popular today – we are always looking for the next great story. In a way, marketing is all about advertising a great story. The best way to tell a good story is with new, fresh content, and blogging is one of the best ways to generate interesting content. Further, you can convey much more information and spur more conversation with a blog post than a 140-word tweet.

Some may think that it’s difficult to think of a topic to write about every few days or even just weekly.  Luckily, hotels are part of the broad lifestyle category that covers many different avenues. Here are some ideas if your hotel blog is looking a little stale:

  • Local events:  Guests are always looking for cool things to do in the area, so why not help them out?
  • Hotel renovations: Perhaps your hotel is building an underground bar, or finally updating the pool. Post about them so that they are inclined to come see the new area!
  • Recipes: Perhaps your restaurant chef is a whiz at coming up with delicious food? Why not share a few of his recipes?
  • Local News: Guests are not only interested in the weather in the area. You can post about venue updates, renovations, or oddball news.
  • Spotlight loyal and frequent guests:  Tell their story on your blog – it’s an incentive to keep coming back!
  • Spotlight employee/Day in the life:  You can tell the story of a day in the life of a chef, hotelier, host, and much more. It’s also a great way to reward your employees!
  • Local venues:  Is there a happening bar, delicious taco spot or great theatre nearby? Tell your guests! You can even make a “best of” list! Once again, it’s yet another reason for them to come back.

Whatever you choose to blog about, make sure to add a personal touch to show that your hotel has a personality. Feel free to share your ideas below!

Categories: B2B & B2C,Blog,Hotel Internet Marketing,Hotels & Resorts,Hotels & Resorts,Internet Marketing,Social Media,Social Media Marketing — Tags: , , , , , ;
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