Ok, I’ll admit it. I’ve been a little bit slow to jump on the social media bandwagon. After all Twitter, one of the most successful social media sites of all time, seems like a total waste of time at first glance. Even as an internet marketer I’ve struggled myself to find the value in social media in a marketing plan, let alone advise others. Recently, however, it all became so obvious.
For hotels and restaurants to successfully leverage the power of social media they must understand several basic truths about internet media and the flow of information in today’s world. After some healthy skepticism I am willing to embrace social media as a key component of my marketing plans moving forward and after reading this article I am reasonably sure that you will agree with me.
Make sure you use each of these every day! Haha.
In the old(er) days the world relied heavily on “word-of mouth” advertising to make buying decisions. Consumers understood that having a testimonial from someone who has actually eaten at the restaurant in question or stayed at the hotel being considered was very compelling.
Hotels and restaurants also understood word-of-mouth advertising. They knew that by creating a great service experience they were also generating positive word-of-mouth advertising. By creating a good reputation, attaching that reputation to a particular name, then spreading that name around to other locations they could leverage word-of-mouth advertising. Eventually companies took this idea a step further and sold the rights to use their name and the franchise was born. (I will discuss hotel and restaurant brands and franchises in another dedicated post very soon, but the quick take away is that consumers learned to trust a company based on the name on the side of it’s building.)
With the rise of mass media in the 1950′s and 1960′s companies could reach many more potential consumers using television, radio or print media than simple word-of-mouth advertising ever could. As consumers came to rely on mass media as a source of knowledge and information, word-of-mouth recommendations took a back seat to paid advertisements. In fact, the first mass media advertisements were simply word-of-mouth-like product testimonials from public figures that had gained a level of trust from society. More recently advertisements have became entertainment in and of themselves where companies produce elaborate but quick stories, many times just communicate a feeling about their product or brand (Superbowl Ads?).
In the internet age consumers have come full circle. Most consumers will no longer be fooled into blindly buying into a brand identity. Think of it this way: in the old days when a traveler needed a hotel in a place that they were not familiar with, what did they do? They went to a travel agent, because they were the ones who controlled the information about hotels. Additionally, travelers relied on brand identity to book hotels because they trusted that Hotel Brand X in New York was likely similar to a Hotel Brand X in San Francisco.
Fast-forward to today. Travelers no longer need a travel agent to gather information about distant destinations. Savvy travelers understand that just because Hotel Brand X in San Francisco might be great the Hotel Brand X in New York might be horrible.
Social media is the new word-of-mouth advertising. Twitter, Facebook, TripAdvisor, Yelp, Foursquare and many, many other sites have stepped in to re-create word-of mouth advertising. Consumers can now easily find detailed information on specific hotels and restaurants without relying on paid messages or corporate brand identity.
The implications for hotels and restaurants (and any other business for that matter) are huge, and here are just a few:
- Brand doesn’t mean the same thing that it used to mean (more in that brand and franchise post to come). Consumers no longer make purchasing decisions the way that they used to. Know the ways that your consumers make buying decisions.
- There is no hiding from the truth. If you manage a restaurant that is part of a popular national chain but your lunch wait staff stinks, your brand will not save you from the negative ramifications of running a substandard operation. On the other side, if you run an excellent operation, people will talk about that too. Run a great operation.
- Social media is the new word-of-mouth, and the conversation is happening whether you are a part of it or not. You may not like the internet or social media, but your consumers are using it and if you aren’t, you are missing out. Be part of the conversation.
- Just like any media, there will be people and companies that try to manipulate the internet and social media for their own good. Understand that today’s consumers can see through fakeness and insincerity. We all now have hyper-sensitive “spam filters”. Don’t be the company that sets off people’s mental “spam filters”.
