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The Social Media Mystery Are you finding the concept of social media difficult to understand? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Tuesday, June 30, 2009 Glenn Haussman

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Several years into the emergence of social media, most of the hotel industry’s smartest folks are still scratching their heads trying to figure it all out.  Sure, we’ve all decided that having a presence on hotel review sites like TripAdvisor is mandatory, but with all the new and emerging social media sites out there, it’s getting quite confusing.

Personally, we’re not convinced anyone has it all figured out. And frankly, we’re not even sure it’s possible. So for those of you out there feeling completely overwhelmed, don’t sweat it. The experts haven’t figured it out either.  To be clear, it’s no one’s fault. Basically this new medium is so different, dynamic and ever-changing, it’s seemingly impossible to stay ahead of how consumers utilize social media. If you can figure it out, then you’ve got the dizzying task of deciphering how those consumers want to be communicated to with every new channel that pops up. These days it seems as if there is a never-ending array of sites coming onto the scene, each with the potential to be the next big thing a la Twitter, or just fade away into the virtual abyss.

Then, if you do figure out where your customers want you to be, you’ve got to figure out how they want to interact with your company. And how often they want to interact. It’s exhausting just writing about it, let alone doing it.

But like those kooky kids sang in High School Musical, “We’re all in this together.” Truer words have never been uttered.

Speaking to people at last week’s Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC), as well as at HSMAI’s Revenue Management & Internet Marketing Strategy Conference (both of which took place last week in Anaheim, CA), it became clear the learning curve is steep. There is still plenty of head-scratching going on regarding how exactly to unwrap and master the social media mystery. Several years into this odyssey it seems as if most people are still stuck in Social Media 101.

To start with, most hotels don’t even have a consistent person handling social media. Turns out hoteliers have differing opinions on who exactly should be spearheading these types of efforts. While some hotels see this falling under the purview of marketing and public relations, others believe it should be a part of the sales team. Others also feel that maybe it should be the general manager or even the concierge. Some are even creating interdepartmental efforts, where certain people are in charge of certain efforts. But without a point person, things could potentially get out of hand pretty quickly.

The other problem is trying to figure out the over arching goal of a social media strategy.  Is it to boost sales? Perhaps it’s to engender loyalty. Or maybe it’s just to keep a brand at the top of the consumer’s mind. Then again, you may be thinking this is a great tool to listen to feedback to improve your hotel’s operations. Most likely, you want a little from column A and a dash from column B and perhaps a little bit from column C. Each strategy has different tactics, but it’s critical your company come to a consensus on this issue before embarking on a social media game plan.

Additionally, the whole notion of being able to make money this way directly has been elusive.  While Marriott has indicated it’s seen $5 million in revenue through a link on Bill Marriott’s blog (http://www.blogs.marriott.com), it’s not so clear-cut for individual hotels or even chains that don’t have the sheer name recognition of this lodging powerhouse.

The one thing we do know is that the clout of the hotel marketer and sales pro can get severely diminished as consumers cut the hotel brands out of the communication. It used to be that brands could deliver clear, highly controlled messages through channels such as magazine or television advertising or through a direct mail promotion. While those tools are still around, their influence on savvy consumers is waning. They’d rather talk amongst themselves.

 It’s not that they don’t value what you have to say to them; it’s just more empowering for the consumers to make their decisions based on their perception of your company gleaned through their interactions with other travel customers.
 
The trick is figuring out how to enter that dialogue without seeming intrusive or meddling. Hopefully you now realize you’re not the only one that’s befuddled here; we all are. And while the mystery of social media continues, tomorrow we’ll take a look at some great tactics that will help you start to have a more effective online presence than your website.