Gregory Laguesse MBA 2B Digital Marketing 1st semester

Question 1The resolution chosen for this exercise is resolution number 1:HOW CAN YOU MAKE AN IMPACT ON FACEBOOK?

WHY THIS RESOLUTION?

1) I believe this resolution is important for some Hotel Brands with a high Corporate Level in the Social Media decision process. I especially think of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel L.L.C. which limits their branded hotels in their social media planning evolution by imposing a high level of standardisation.

While the company does present a Facebook Page, the latter is operated solely by the Corporate offices on behalf of all The Ritz-Carlton hotels worldwide, which ends up being very restrictive!

As an example only nine hotels have been entitled to a Facebook Page, when the Company is planning to have reached 100 hotels by 2012…that’s not even 10% coverage of its asset on the world’s most potential networking platform!

2) While monitoring direct competition, it is to be noted that The Ritz-Carlton use of Facebook presents an immense field for development. I have chosen this resolution as a matter of URGENCY.

Benchmark used here is Four Seasons, our main competitor as regards our segment.Their Corporate FB page links to ALL of their hotels: NO RESTRICTION even at Corporate Level!The Tabs are more personalized “For our Fans” invites fans to post reviews on their wall, to download mobile apps, to answer polls…and it is even used to upsell via an invitation to purchase Gift Cards!

3) When considering its philosophy, The Ritz-Carlton commits itself to deliver the most unique & personalized experience to its guest as stated in The Credo card delivered to every employee.In this respect, there seems to be a gap between the reality of its service, and that of its Social Media Strategy! Therefore Facebook seemed to be the most appropriate platform to correct this mistake. All the more after Facebook’s narcissism problem is duly noted and taken advantage of!

4) Eventually, the segment targeted by the group is that of ultra affluent transients. I believe the very same target is easier to reach first via Facebook because they are the segments who most proactively use and praise social networking and can influently generate additional guests & ultimately, revenue! Twitter may have been more appropriate for a better mix of Corporate & transient segments, which is not the case here.

WHAT ACTIONS WOULD GIVE THAT RESOLUTION EVEN MORE IMPACT?

A first Facebook recovery plan would aim at developing and approving a Facebook page of each resort & hotel of the group and aim at a minimum 1000 fans for each of this page at the end of 2011.The Facebook Corporate Account would then be used as a platform to improve visibility of each of its hotels’ Facebook page, and include a new Tab listing all of them.

1) Mystique, which is The Ritz-Carlton intelligence platform to collect data, history & preferences of each visitor & guest could be directly linked to each Facebook Page. This way, Facebook fans interactions would directly feed the Mystique platform.

In a reversed manner, data collected on Mystique intelligence platform, which among others, classifies important guests between different categories such as: “Most valuable Guests”, “Repeat Guests” or “VIP Guests” could be used to feed Facebook Pages! In other words, if the Mystique system tells you that a guest that a guest is valuable, loyal, or even influential…Why not invite them to follow you on Facebook via direct mailing, while checking out, or any other way? These guests would act as the perfect window in order to reach their alike community via Facebook.

2) The same would be applicable for Media visits, especially influent bloggers which are the new concern for the industry, with the benefit that The Ritz-Carlton could dedicate a tab to media releases while impulsing its fans to leave comments & feedback regularly onto this section. A good way to do that would be to regularly organise contests with questions relating to previous releases! Any prize then would be conceivable: free cocktail, free upgrade, free night or dinner…By virally spreading their releases onto the Fans community, The Ritz-Carlton Hotels could even get the media involve into the process. For instance, media using the hotel to organise VIP interviews (singers, sportsmen…) could offer the winner to participate in the interviewing process for a WOW experience! Associated to any famous individual, such an initiative could create a real buzz which would be profitable both for the hotel, & the media!

3) At The Ritz-Carlton, Powerscourt where I used to work, one problematic came from the fact the signature restaurant Gordon Ramsay was not directly managed by the latter itself because he was already busy enough in London with more signature restaurants or in LA shooting a new season of his popular TV Show! This ended up with guests frustrated to hear the Chef was absent… Therefore, by having its own Facebook page, this hotel could regularly post recipes by Gordon Ramsay, or even upload videos of the famous Chef! Fans could even be entitled to interact with the Chef regularly via UStream which would be more convenient for Gordon Ramsay himself who cannot be physically everywhere at the same time though he certainly wishes to!Both parties would gain in credibility and visibility!

3 EXAMPLES OF HOTEL/BUSINESS SUCCESSFULLY EXECUTING THIS RESOLUTION

As quoted before, Four Seasons seems to achieve better than The Ritz-Carlton already, nevertheless some businesses & hotels managed to create even more impact by using FB!

1) Victoria’s Secret

The Chat Tab severely increases interactions between the Brand & its fans!

Branded content is regularly updated on a special tab and is virally spread!

Above: upselling while virally spreading…Fans create customers, and customers create Fans!

Above: Viral spread is extended to other social networks and even to mobile platforms!

2) NBA Facebook Page:

Below, left hand side:

The NBA Fans community is quite big and is impulsed to regular visit via tabs offering to interact with real NBA events such as the “Skills Challenge” Tab.More events are directly communicated via the profile picture for a direct visual appeal!

Below the right hand side:

Contrary to Victoria’s Secret, here the NBA FB tabs offers a complete upselling strategy: dedicated online store via a special FB Tab, targets fans Advertising space targets other brands and/or impulses co-branded events!

3) LOEWS HOTELS RESORTS:

Not necessarily the Hotel’s page which raises the most of Fans and the best impact but: Dedicated to optimize service Live Chat available with Hotel staff! A good complement of info as compared to what’s on their website Interest & engagement of Fans are proactively acted via exclusive contests & imagery

content (pics+vids) Enhances PR with dedicated “articles” and “events” tabs

Question 2

From the article, what role does technology play in a hotel's internet strategy success? If you are an independent, limited budget hotel (or business) what steps would you take to compete effectively online?

From looking at internet users today, it seems that technology tends to accompany internet in a more mobile way. Indeed, the booming of smartphones and the development of Sixth Sense technology as we have seen, among others tends to highlight the omnipresence of internet in everyday life. Therefore hoteliers now have the opportunity to use this same platform to accompany their guests, build up loyalty programs, raise awareness, increase visibility…but above all: TO INTERACT with them!

As a limited budget hotel, initiatives of increased interactivity as seen below in the company Scottseller below, which is a pre-owned car retailer:

On the right hand side of the picture, a window pops up everytime you connect onto Scottselectcars.com availing you of a unique online service: Live Chat with an automotive expert of the company!

When clicking on the “Chat Now” click option, an interactive window opens

Such a service enhances your capacity & willingness to look after your community, whether they are already guests or not! It would not be very dear to operate within a concierge service. It could actually be undertaken by exisiting staff and therefore cost nothing.Of course could be argued that the above instance is not exclusive to mobile technologies. Nevertheless, ScottSelect is also focusing on mobile technologies, see below:

The Quick response code is to be scanned with your mobile device and contains unique alphanumeric data that can lead you to an exclusive website, discount, freebies online in not even a second!Quick response codes can be created without any cost and are a good way to link your ad viewers to your website, or even to your product!You can display QR codes in video ads as seen above, or in paper ads (press), in the street, or even onto your website, or Facebook page... They are either a way to interact with receptive ad viewers and lead them to more exclusive information and service concerning your hotel, or a way to coordinate your online effort. For instance you can display a QR code on your Facebook account to tie your Fans to your website and impulse sales!

Another way to follow guests through their mobile devices is to partner with location based services. Below is an initiative from Four Seasons Hotels in California:

Four Seasons partnered with Gowalla in order to automatically generate a travel itinerary designed by their concierge when guests check-in with Gowalla! Such an initiative is almost costless and could be implemented by an independent hotel as well. Integrated to your Revenue Management strategy, you could even include spa or restaurant discounts to the guests checking into the different itineraries via Gowalla (or any other location based services) in order to upsell the different outlets of your hotel.

Question 3

From the Build Your Own Brand video series – what are the KEY elements to online branding, according to Loic LeMeur?

From watching the BYOB series, the key elements to online branding seem to be many! Among them, the priority seems to point at not focusing on your brand, on your product…as it used to be with ad campaigns.Therefore the brand is not a window anymore but rather a partner. In other terms, you now need to build a community, treat them as friends, be generous, understand their interest: focus on them not on you! As enhanced in 2006 by TIME magazine’s personality of the year (“YOU”), the web is no longer a one-way stream! You need to interact more than to showcase and talk about yourself!In this respect, ask for feedback also is very important in creating trust and commitment among your community.

In my opinion, businesses which are excellent at focusing on their community, interacting with them and creating engagement are:

PORSCHE

Above you can see how Porsche manages to enhance engagement among its fan base. They have created many Facebook apps where their community can interact with their favourite brand & product in a personalised way and then share it with their friends!

Another app allows you to create your own statement to describe the latest Porsche product.If you visit their FB account, there is eventually a last app of interest the “Porsche Family Tree” which impulses Fans to upload a picture of a Porsche and tell the community about a story associated to their experience of the brand!

A second business which would be complimentary to Porsche in my opinion is Burger King. The following FB strategy has built its success on its understanding of both the Fans & the specificity of the FB platform:

Above is a very impacting FB campaign called the Whopper Sacrifice!This app rewarded Fans with a free Whopper flame-broiled burger whenever they sacrificed 10 of their FB personal friends! Moreover, your friends would be notified the reason why they had been deleted via direct messaging so that the campaign would virally spread even faster! This way, BK also secured a minimum direct reach of ten friends and ensure the campaign would be a success!

The reason why it is complementary to Porsche is that BK is rewarding enagaged Fans with a free burger. Moreover, it has understood the specificity of the FB platform by securing viral spread!

Question 4

From the Build Your Own Brand video series – choose any 2 online tools that were mentioned:

Apart from FB, one online tool that I would use is twitter.comThe way I would use Twitter within a hotel would be by focusing on the interactions between on & offline channels. In other words, I would create individual accounts for my staff presenting specific fields of expertise. For instance, on the Sommelier’s nametag would be also written is @twitter ID so that guests could later on consult him and build a special relationship with the hotel! Twitter accounts could be created for many employees of the hotel: the concierge, the spa therapists, the chef, Housekeepers… As an independent hotel, their twitter reference would be highlighted on the website and other platforms used by the hotel to show the hotel is looking after its guests in a proactive way!Being proactive, and available prior to arrival would be a good way to understand guests preferences and ensure the most personalized service.

The second tool I would focus on is video! I believe developing a youtube channel is not very costy to operate and can be then be integrated via your FB account as well, not to mention your website and other online platforms you may use to communicate about your hotel. A video channel can be used wisely to share expertise from your staff: a recipe from the Chef with advice on cooking…A sales rep could also guide viewers to an exclusive tour of the hotel, explaining the specificity of its location, its design, its history…any information guests are eager to discover and share with their friends!Again, video could be great to inform the latest spa treatments, hotel services of the hotel…Eventually, the advantage of a YOUTUBE channel is that it allows interaction with viewers, and you can measure the impact your video has.

Above, just to give you an idea of the interaction you may create via Youtube is Al Jazeera’s Worldview channel.Every month, Al Jazeera invites its viewers to ask their questions to political leaders via Youtube. This is done in three easy steps:1 ASK => You upload your questions.2 VOTE => All the questions uploaded are then submitted to the vote of anyone visiting the youtube channel.3 WATCH => The questions are asked to the political leader of the month and you can watch them answer on Youtube.

The same kind of interaction could happen for a hotel business, where you could ask your viewers suggestions of videos they would like broadcasted, submit them to a vote and then deliver the video content information of their election!

Question 5

Definitions:

Location based services are online apps, usually used via mobile phones which basically enable you to register where you are and share it online. You just simply “check-in” the place where you are by using the app. The app has the faculty to locate where you are, as a GPS would do. The difference with a GPS is that you can interact with it online by checking-in and therefore sharing where (and when) you are with your friends and community. To name a few: Google Laterals, Facebook Places, Four Square, GOWALLA…

Plug & Play is often used in relation to technology which does not need set ups in order to be operated. The advantage being that anyone can use it, without being acknowledged about it!

Social Rewards has emerged jointly with the development of social media. Contrary to Loyalty rewards, it does not reward you for you economical influence (how much products you have bought, consumed…) but rather for your social influence (how many consumers you are likely to create, generate…). The reward can be a discount, a free service or product, exclusive information…

Social Commerce refers to an online trend which consists of sharing information on what you have bought, how much you paid for it, what is your level of satisfaction…Online platforms now offer purchasers to express themselves about their buying experience in order to prevent, or advise likely minded customers.

Tweets are to Twitter what a post is to Facebook. Tweets have been limited to 140 caracters so that they could be shared via text messages as well. Twitter users may use those 140 caracters to publically share links, content…