Twitter – Another Perspective
What hospitality marketing professional hasn’t been caught up to some degree in Twitter Mania? Let’s sell some rooms! So & So just sold 400 room nights through a promotion on Twitter. We should be out there.
I’ve read the same articles you have about a hotel that unloaded gobs of rooms through Twitter (usually at a steep discount). But what I haven’t read yet is an authoritative Twitter Case Study showing the manpower investment actually provided an acceptable ROI.
Sometimes it’s best to step back and see what others are doing.
I did read an interesting story in Brand Week saying major marketers are somewhat underwhelmed with Twitter. According to the article:
- Hyundai, which was named “Marketer of The Year” by Advertising Age is ready to write the microblogging service off. Joel Ewanick, group VP of Marketing says he finds Facebook, which has copied most of Twitter’s best features, to be a superior platform.
- Procter & Gamble execs recently told venture capitalists that they didn’t think Twitter was “particularly relevant to what they’re doing on the brand-building and advertising side.”
- Verizon, a company that spent more than $1 billion on advertising in 2009, has around 5,000 followers. Coca-Cola has 15,000.
- Apple’s not even on Twitter.
- Some corporate Twitter accounts suffer from prolonged neglect. Delta Airlines’ Twitter page went from June 17 to December 22 last year without a single Tweet.
One Twitter success story cited in the article comes from Dell Computer which traces $6.5 million in 2009 revenue to its outlet store as a result of Twitter – an asterisk in the balance sheet for a company with $50 billion in sales last year.
The article does point out that companies like Dell, Comcast and Best Buy are using Twitter successfully for customer service. And others like Dell are using it to promote specials.
It’s true the number of followers for celebrities like Ashton Kutcher or Oprah Winfrey have helped create Twitter Mania. Someecards which has 1.7 million followers vs. Hallmark’s 2,000 shows how a small company can use Twitter to outflank an older, bigger rival. But Someecards has a “voice,” a definitive edge to its Tweets that few hospitality marketers might find appropriate for their properties. You’ll have to read the article for more on this.
Now I’m not saying Twitter can’t find a place in your overall hotel marketing program. But remember – it’s a marketing tool. Evaluate it like you would any other tool. Set objectives. Determine how it will impact your customers. Decide what resources are required. The service may be free, but the manpower requirements to create and manage a successful program are not. How will you measure success? What’s an acceptable ROI?
Safe Travels – Madigan Pratt
PS – If you know of a great Twitter Success Story – one with proven ROI, please let me know. I will be glad to feature it in a future post.
Tags: customer relationship marketing, hospitality marketing, hospitality roi, hotel case study, hotel marketing, Internet marketing, luxury hotel marketing, small luxury hotel, social media
5 Comments to “Twitter – Another Perspective”
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Here is my two cents:
I think the biggest issue is that it is not a “set it and forget” it tool. Delta, which was mentioned in the post, simply did not use it. Twitter is not a magic marketing tool. Like anything else, it requires strategy and it is not for everyone. Just like radio ads or sporting sponsorships are not for everyone. The PEOPLE that have the best results using Twitter are just that – PEOPLE. It is a social networking tool – people must be involved. It is very different than the mass marketing channels that these big companies are used to.
Companies like Comcast cable have been using it to successfully handle customer complaints that have been broadcast over the twitterverse. Zappos which prides itself on customer service has made a great use of Twitter with the CEO actually tweeting and speaking to people.
Hotels that use it just to sell rooms with promotions don’t understand the power. To those properties, I suggest that their account reps have personal accounts and use it to develop and strengthen relationships rather than just pushing their brand on people.
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Madigan Pratt says:
Thanks Jessica,
I couldn’t agree with you more. Probably one of the biggest problems with these “free apps” is that people think the solution is free as well. Its not!
It takes a great deal of strategic thought and rigorous implementation to get the most out of these free apps and that takes PEOPLE and that costs money. Lots of money to do it right.
The simplest (least costly) way hospitality marketing people use Twitter is to sell rooms. Rather than building a robust community of like advocates they attract travelers who only buy on deals. These aren’t the loyal customers a brand is built on.
But for not much money or effort they can show some results – rooms sold. A short sighted way to look at new apps, but one management seems to focus on – short term sales.
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I’ve done quite some social marketing for hotels. I admit I haven’t found a great way to use twitter yet but I keep trying. With Twitter posts now included in google searches it may become a valuable tool.
I have however had a great success with Facebook pages for hotels and they are starting to turn out bookings and a great community of interested customers. Notably for luxury hotels that want to humanize their contacts with their guests and potential guests. Even without the use of “special offers’ and cut-rate prices. -
Great article, I appreciate your caution however, I have founnd that by the use of funnels or “feader” sites linking back to your GDS booking engine that Twitter is very trackable and can show a definite ROI! I quoted you in a BLOG I just wrote, you can find it here: http://tiny.cc/0fczg. Thanks again! James
Agreed. However, some of the most powerful functionality of Twitter comes from it’s API and all the cool ways that your Twitter content can be sent in the first place (like HootSuite) and syndicated (posted to your FB page and website automatically). Using twitter.com is not terribly useful.
Great blog!