SKEMA Digital Marketing in Tourism and Events: January 2013

Thursday, 31 January 2013

Social medias : a key new tool for customers and hospitality companies

With the fast growth of new technologies, our habits have significantly changed during the last decades. Thanks to the Internet development, we now have a large amount of different source of information. In the tourism industry, social medias have proved that they have a real impact on customer decision-making process, but do also constitute a real opportunity for companies.

On a customer point of view, Social Medias has changed the way customers search for information and determine where they will stay. During the last decade, we observed a “phenomenal increase in travellers using customer reviews on social media websites such as Tripadvisor in their search for information about hotels” (Mc Carthy L., Stock D., Verma R., 2010).

A study conducted by these three authors allows us to determine different trends. First of all, it shows us that the leisure travellers are more likely to use that information than business travellers. Indeed, business travellers often follow the choice of their companies and keep using search engines or Online Travel Agents (OTAs). It is also relevant in this study that the word-of-mouth from friends or family has a strong impact on a hotel perception in customers’ mind (see table below). Social Medias posts can be considered as extension of this word-of-mouth which could explain the importance of these new tools, which represents key information sources for leisure travellers. (Mc Carthy L., Stock D., Verma R., 2010).

Source : How travellers use online and Social Media Channels
to make hotel-choice decisions

On top of that, the study highlights the importance of Social Media by analysing the likelihood that customers will choose a hotel depending whether it has positive or negative reviews. The study results differentiate the diverse standings of the hotels but as the results are surprisingly similar, we decide not to do so. The likelihood of guests booking a hotel that have negative reviews is under 2.5 chances out of five whereas for a hotel which has positive comments, chances are between 3.5 and 4 out of five. This makes a huge difference in term of image and companies have to maintain their good online reputation.

Finally, at the opposite of the often-repeated factoid that unsatisfied guests are more likely to comment compare to satisfied ones, the study came to the conclusion that there are three chances out of five that a customer will post a comment after his stay whether his experience was positive or negative. It creates data about hotels that companies are not able to control and that can have a huge impact on their attractiveness for potential customers. Stuart Greif said: “social media constitute a focus group of millions of people who provide information without being prompted”.

The table above also demonstrates that OTAs, travel-related websites or search engines remains the main sources of information. This is linked to the fact that customers are not able to do their bookings directly via social medias. It influences a lot the late stage of the decision-making process where customers will gravitate towards a more tightly defined set of channels where they will have the opportunity to finalize their choice (Mc Carthy L., Stock D., Verma R., 2010). There is here a real challenge for companies to optimize their use of social medias by using them as distribution channels.

Customer relationship management is already a major aspect of social media as it allows companies to improve their customer services at a modest cost. (Wooden M.). This is extremely important to respond to customers’ post and some companies like McDonald’s, have a real work to do as “someone is posting or talking about the firm every seven seconds on average” (Mc Carthy L., Stock D., Verma R., 2010).

Companies also use social medias in order to promote themselves through online campaign. For example, RCI has created YouTube “webisodes” regarding its flag-ship Oasis of the Seas, which had received 700,000 hits as of his speech in October 2010.

Social medias have changed the relationship between companies and customers. Customers have now access to new relevant sources of information in their decision-making process, while companies have to deal with non-entire controlled tools of promotion.

Bonetto Thomas & Bunoz Nicolas

2010: Mc Carthy L., Stock D., Verma R., 2010. How travellers use online and Social Media Channels to make hotel-choice decisions, Cornell Hospitality Report

Social Media: A Growing Challenge for Event Planners

Source: MPI, 2012. The Value of Connection: A Review of Social Media Trends.

“Social media are phenomena that everyone wants to understand, many want to use and no one can escape.”, Dr. Emma Wood of the International Centre for Research in Events.

Social media application in the event industry is evolving, and meeting planners need to respond to new complex trends in multiple channels. According to MPI’s Future of Meetings report, commercial communication and user interactions are growing in importance, especially in emerging countries. Therefore, meeting planners should adapt their attitude to social media and establish new connections with and among users around the world.

Social media are becoming more fragmented, channels are growing in numbers, and as a result, the online environment is more dynamic than ever. Connectivity is no longer the issue, it is the longevity of information online that meeting planners need to consider.

How do event planners react to these trends? Some meeting organisers create online platforms and forums for current events in order to facilitate communication between participants. Others make use of new network features such as event calendars and geo-locators for smartphones and tablets. These tools allow people to build a tighter interactive network based on their interests and location. On the other hand, companies are able to offer relevant events and enhance the visibility of their meetings.

New classification of social media

Generally, users behave differently according to demographic elements, such as regions, gender or age. But they perform differently on different platforms. Marketing experts Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein classify platforms based on the amount of personal information they contain and the level of interactivity of the medium.

Source: MPI, 2012

Media richness is more important for companies according to Dr. Bruce Weinberg and Dr. Paul Berger of Bentley University. Along with richness, how long can a new posted information exist is another main consideration for companies. For example, blog and web communities are long-lasting, while FaceBook and Twitter are relatively short-lived. The difference also warns meeting planners to choose the right social media platforms. The challenge here is to use different techniques in order to capture audiences and inspire advocates in different channels.

So far, many businesses have treated social media as a tribune in stead of a community. To build successful relationships with people, they should not be treated as users, they should be encouraged to be proactive and creative. Thus, businesses can benefit from customers’ ideas, recommendations as well as criticisms. It is important to simultaneously nurture such forums on multiple channels and learn how to adapt branding and product offering.

A new approach to social media

To get the satisfying results, MPI recommends the following steps:

“1. Join in but don’t own. Experiment with social media as a person before jumping in as a company spokesperson.

2. Create when you’re ready. Format your organizational network as you would your social network. Start by thinking who you can help rather than what you can gain.

3. Segment on social media use. Don’t assume everyone will use each platform in the same way (if at all). Identify real friends and nurture them.

4. Develop strategic, targeted, device agnostic strategies. Technology may change rapidly, so have a strategy that works regardless of the platform

5. Monetize online access. As social media becomes a vital part of the meetings product, consider ways to monetize it, but only if it provides real value.

6. Personalize by serving. Online communities of shared interest are new market segments. Identify, join, nurture and serve.

7. Build social media into your marketing mix. Integrate them into communication, product, value, accessibility and convenience.

8. Humanize the company voice. Participate as a contributor and not a marketer.

9. Don’t forget the internal customer. Social media are increasingly used within organizations to create better satisfaction, collaboration, creativity and trust.

10. Use features as they become the norm. Don’t rush into each new development; do recognize the new normal when it lands.”

One question remains unanswered: are social media a threat to the event industry?

Even though social media have proved to be an indispensable tool for online communication and marketing, some event planners fear that one day they may phase out traditional face-to-face meetings. There are others who are optimistic that virtual communication increases the need to develop virtual relationships into real-life social experiences. Still others believe that social media are already an integral part of the meeting itself. They are being used before, during and after events.

It seems unlikely that events will go entirely digital, at least not anytime soon. However, it cannot be denied that technology is already the main driver of most societies.

Key words: meeting industry, technology, social media, future of meetings

For more information:

http://www.mpiweb.org/blog/trends/20130128/10_ways_to_create_value_with_social_media

Written by STOILOVA Lilyana & OUYANG Xiaozhao

The QR Code, an added value to your business.

What is it exactly ?

A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response Code) is the trademark for a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional bar code) first designed for the automotive industry in Japan. Bar codes are optical machine-readable labels attached to items that record information related to the item. Recently, the QR Code system has become popular outside the automotive industry due to its fast readability and greater storage capacity compared to standard UPC barcodes. The code consists of black modules (square dots) arranged in a square grid on a white background. The information encoded may be made up of four standardized types ("modes") of data (numeric, alphanumeric, byte / binary, Kanji), or through supported extensions, virtually any type of data. Users need to scan the QR Code with their smartphone or tablet and will directly be diverted to the link or content defined in the QR Code.

Can the QR code be used in every tourist area ?

Yes.

In big cities, through the QR code, transportation areas (train station, bus station, airport) provide immediate information to the users such as the schedules, the stops or the traffic state.

Also, museums and recreational places are using this tool to allow visitors to get information about paintings or maps to facitilitate their moving. It has been a revolution for blind people since QR code offers a lot of audio explanations.

Hotels have started to develop the QR code as a marketing tool, diverting the customer to hotel blog, that summarizes nice restaurants around, events or activities recommended by the staff.

Finally, QR Code can also be a promotional tool where visitors can find coupons for activities or tickets to events.

Just follow the trend as cities do.

According to the statistics agency Comscore, the number of people in Europe who scanned QR Code increased by 96% during the year ended July 2012. This is a huge trend that pushes cities to integrate the tool into their infrastructure. Here below is an example of Lisbon, where a QR Code is integrated into the basalt and limestone streets.