Social Media Marketing is the Future of Hospitality Branding
Chris · May 31, 2007
Dr. Hunter Madsen, Director of Public Relations for Yahoo! Canada was one of the keynote speakers at this week’s Online Revealed travel marketing conference in Toronto.
Dr. Madsen talked about branding in the online space, and he drove home the fact that social media is driving “brand engagement”, especially in Canada.
Two out of three Canadians are highly active on social media sites today. Why do we go there? Yahoo’s research suggests that Canadians visit these sites for entertainment, information and knowledge.
Further, a full 78% of Canadian adults consider the internet to be an important, and influential factor in their perception of brands.
Madsen offered these basic principles of social media marketing (thanks to Sally Falkow)
1. You do not own your brand. It lives in the hearts and minds of your customers and the public at large
2. You have to be authentic. People want genuine, from the heart content. They’re not interested in marketing message-speak
4. Tolerate and learn from negative feedback
5. Empower and showcase your advocates. Help them to talk about your brand.
According to Madsen, social media marketing is about inspiring and empowering people to tell your brand story in a way that enhances your brand online.
Review sites, guest and visitor testimonials, affinity communities...these are the strongest influencers of online purchasing behaviour in Canada, yet hospitality and tourism organizations have still not fully embraced this type of content throughout their brand websites. At least not yet.
With conference delegates in attendance from a number of major hotel brands, DMO’s and other tourism organizations, there was much lively discussion on the topic of social media.
One thing was certain...conversations throughout the conference reflected the industry’s desire to begin leveraging opportunities in social media marketing.
