Social media continues to grow in importance. It has not only become a critical tool to interact with customers, but is also a key element that impacts organic search rankings for your hotel. Hotels that take advantage of this hot trend are seeing significant benefits in terms of online placement and revenue.
Top five reasons for your hotel to incorporate social media
Saturate the search engine results page with your hotel -
Search engines give higher relevance to businesses connected through different social media channels resulting in higher placement in search engines
Attract new users -
Social media is the fastest growing category of Internet marketing and can drive increasing traffic to your website and blog
Establish a relationship with your customer -
Social media enables you to establish a 1-1 relationship where you get regular feedback on how your customers are reacting to your marketing messages.
Establish yourself as an expert in your market -
The use of social media channels can help establish your hotel as an expert in your destination. People like to buy from experts and like to follow experts on their blog posts, Tweets, etc.
Rank in search engine's latest real time search algorithm -
gain additional exposure and traffic when social conversations rank in real time search on Google, Yahoo, Bing.
There's a lot of buzz around social media marketing strategies for businesses and how hotels can benefit from social media optimization. Milestone embarked on social media optimization for hotels with one of the first destination blogs for a hotel in Chicago in January 2006 http://blog.rivernorthhotel.com. Since then, Milestone has been dedicating significant efforts on social media optimization services for hotels and officially launched a bundled service called Graviti™ in 2008. Milestone has optimized social media channels for over 150 hotels worldwide ranging from Facebook custom designs to a full-service optimization across all the social media channels. At Milestone, we continue to experiment with the latest technologies and bringing our innovative strategies and trends to our hospitality customers.
Graviti™ is a bundled social media optimization service for hotels that is the outcome of cutting-edge research and innovation. Graviti™ combines Milestone's social media expertise to provide hotels a consistent brand image across social media channels. Graviti™ packages include a combination of the following products depending on the scope of the plan selected:
Graviti™ Process -
The following is provided with the Graviti product:
Social Media Questionnaire
Client will need to fill out a social media questionnaire which collects the most important hotel information and top offers and events in the market
Keyword Research
Milestone will conduct keyword research to determine the top keywords to target for the client's social media channels
Content Calendar
Milestone researches relevant events and things to communicate on the social channels, and sets the broadcast calendar for social media. Our suggested messaging includes local events and items of interest to the hotel's target clientele.
Design
Design social media icons and banners to be placed on clients site
Create Twitter background design
Channel Set-up, Training, and Promotion
Train client on how each channel works, and how to edit and navigate around the network
Train client on what to say and post on each channel to reach goals
Monthly, weekly, and daily checklists with action items to keep clients on track
Performance Tracking and Reporting
Milestone will provide reporting on a monthly basis
Content Calendar -
Milestone provides a content calendar feature to its Graviti™ clients. Milestone researches relevant events and things to communicate on the social channels, and sets the broadcast calendar for social media. Our suggested messaging includes local events and items of interest to hotel's target clientele.
Facebook -
With Graviti™, Milestone will set up and optimize the hotel's Facebook page. Facebook enhances the hotel's organic listing, improves brand reputation, and allows the hotel to offer unique deals and grow its fan base. With Graviti™, Milestone will optimize the hotel's Facebook page with customized content based on keyword research. Learn more about Milestone's Facebook optimization with Graviti™
Flickr -
Flickr is a photo sharing website by Yahoo. Milestone will set up and optimize the hotel's Flickr account to increase traffic to the website and make the hotel appear in image searches. We have seen tremendous results from sharing these photos. Tagging of the photos under the right categories also assists with search engine optimization, resulting in not only clicks from the photo-sharing websites but also from increased rankings in search engines. Learn more about Milestone's Flickr optimization with Graviti™
YouTube -
Online videos are one of the fastest growing forms of media on the Internet. The online video developed for search engines is vastly different from the standard videos. With Graviti™ Milestone will set up and optimize the hotel's YouTube channel with search engine optimized video. Learn more about Milestone's YouTube optimization with Graviti™
Twitter -
With Graviti™, Milestone will set up and optimize the hotel's Twitter, a micro-blog. Twitter can be used to improve site indexing and page rank, interact directly with consumers, expand brand recognition, and drive traffic to the hotel's website. Just like the Facebook page optimization, Milestone will create a customized Twitter profile optimized with keyword research. Learn more about Milestone's YouTube optimization with Graviti™
