http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13059735

I adore Hulu’s real TV spots… Alec Baldwin deriding us as dimwit orangutangs or what have you.  I prefer Berkeley Breathed’s “Tv Brainmushed Ambulatory Vacuum Tubes”.

Whatever the case, I heard about “Spotify” launching in the UK today.  It is a similar ad model…. basically itunes for free, other than a quick add every 15 minutes or so.  FCC regs sure make it hard to work in the US, but it should be coming.  And it may be revolutionizing how we accept, use, and voluntarily pay for music.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7913959.stm

Of course, with being hacked recently… it is surely that Spotify is relevant that people are spending the time to mess around with them.  Naughty boys and girls at Itunes having off hours fun?

I kid I kid.

Cheers!

Direct ROI from social media, such as tracking someone from a review page to your booking engine is only one small component of the overall ROI.  Your analytic program can find the dollar amount in those conversions incredibly efficiently.  You can even have a graph.  I like graphs, and charts. and lots and lots of data… great stuff.

But frankly, I am nearly done with the ROI conversation (except that my clients are not there yet, so here we go again). It is IMPOSSIBLE to measure EVERY aspect of how valuable it is, at least so far.  We can provide relevant insight into what we are doing from time to time, sort of like taking a snapshot of an electron.  What we show you now might not be what we are working on in the next nanosecond, but you can see one scintillating aspect of how we build your brand, create business, and return on your investment with us “hired gun” online concierges.  I am constantly thinking and developing better reporting tools for my client, but it sometimes works better just to show what I am doing.

We want and need a lot of freedom to work on all these channels.  It is a lot to manage, and sometimes you get lost in 20 projects… so this is not a short term thing.  For social media campaigns to work you need to be experimental, playful, trusting, and patient.  But framing that with a long term and consistent approach is paramount.  Once you start this thing, you can’t stop.  Not that you would want to, but it might have a damaging effect.  If people expect you to be there, and you are not…. the online word of mouth can go south really quick (as you can read HERE and throughout my blog).

On a popular review site, there was a “thread” (IE conversation) about local hotels with large bathtubs.  One of my clients fit the bill, and being an active community member my suggestion of the hotel wasn’t looked at as spam or solicitation… it was just another of my many recommendations (or annoying remarks, depends what user you are).  This wasn’t in official capacity of the hotel, this was in a personal capacity while online.  As I said, this job is like an online concierge, and I am often talking about much more than just the properties… it is about the community.  Hiking, rentals, theatres, the weather and more.  So I simply told her that might be able to get a deal, because I was part of the team that opened it, straightforward and honest.

The person that asked the question messaged me privately, and I got more information about her needs.  For the sake of argument your hotel is empty.  She basically needs a $600 RACK rate room type for $200, which isn’t much above our Friends & Family, with the CPOR being $129 or so (yeah it’s large luxury property).  If you accept the $200 rate *and* are able to give them a room with a 2 person or larger style bathtub… she is *very*likely to write a good review on her preferred review network, as long as the services are up to snuff.  What’s more, she will be a willing and receptive social media advocate… and likely post her review to her facebook account, make a second review on tripadvisor, and twitter about her stay (in fact, you can ask engaged participants in social media to review you…they don’t mind at all).  These people are helping grow our online footprint.. keywords, optimizing, etc.

It is possible they deserve a discount, but you have to release yourself to the fact that you can’t control the message.  You are simply, in earnest, trying to get an eager guest to stay at your property.  You can’t be disappointed when she is honest about her stay, or says something you don’t like.  In all likelihood it *will* be positive because you engaged them, and created a positive, enthusiastic climate of your brand from start to finish.  In essence, a rate that might make a revenue manager cringe, or that a desk agent would never give a walk-in, is worth considering due to the amplified voice your online guest has.

An active person in social media that becomes an endorser is a huge brand advocate.  Beyond $200 of revenue that may have not previously existed, she will virally and offhandedly promote Cavallo for years to come with reviews and indexed search keywords.

What’s more… the more keywords, and the more “real” conversation that exists about you… the better you are indexed and the more relevant you become in search engines.  As search indexing changes in the next few years – aggregating pictures, videos, reviews, and other content – it will be paramount to start creating as much corporate or property level specific content as possible.  Everyone should be uploading photos of themselves to photo sharing sites – constantly.  We should be in chat groups talking about our brand – constantly.  Buy Flip Video cameras for the Executive team and have them load videos on youtube.  Have your pastry chef do a demo.  Have your spa manager tour the spa.  EVERY employee diggs articles about the hotel.  You need to add as much content as possible to get way out ahead of these other hotels that… well, frankly… aren’t reading this right now.

But this isn’t a science, and this is where experimentation and patience come in.  Would you take a lower ADR for that nicer room type with the bathtub, investing in your online reputation?  There are no sure things, of course.  If she has a bad stay, you can’t control the message…. But extending yourselves to an active participant should bode very well for your online reputation.

Let me know what you think, and expect one or two more of these “social media optimization” snapshots in the coming days.

But as a manager, my ears became bionic.  I think they would *actually* curve towards the direction of the whispers or furtive eyes having a private conversation.  You know those moments…. when you walk in and *KNOW* line employees were talking about you.

It makes you think, what the hell are they saying when I am not in the room?

I knew I was an awesome manager, and even if they were speaking kindly (**”oh he’s cute”**, no doubt) I would be suspicious as all get out.  I am an insecure type, so it would eat me up.  I think it was good in the end, because I became an even more hands on manager, and really worked in the trenches with my staff.

So part of my philosophy was always being available, present and accessible.  Being visible, and letting others know I was there for them prevented a lot of unfortunate situations.  I was able to resolve situations immediately upon noticing them, reinforce the quality of the brand, improve morale, root us in the community (long chats with locals about this and that), and probably prevented some bad talk about me, and more…. just by being an active, present manager.

What’s more, if you leave the room and don’t come back, people start speaking pretty freely when they know no one can hear them.  This, of course, is not good.  This is that guest or employee unleashing tirades with impunity.  You need to be there for them.

Well think of a twitter account like that.  Think of all your social media accounts like that.  It’s your online concierge department, and you are the manager.  A good manager is present, and available.  When you are, people know they can go to you, interact with you, utilize and trust you.  If you aren’t available (hiding in the back office reading the paper), you are missing opportunities and not doing your job… employees and guests alike are feeling ignored.

This is why you need to establish your social media presence.  This is why you need to reply to reviews… so reviewers know you are there and will review you more professionally.  This is why you need to search social networking sites, so you can assist in people’s conversations about you, or questions in regards to your offerings.  This is why RSS feeds become important, piping updates from Blogs to Facebook and more.

Otherwise, all your employees and guests that are online will know you aren’t in the room.  They will say whatever they please, and possibly consider you irrelevant. What’s worse, they might not consider you at all. You don’t want people knocking on your lobby door, asking questions and choosing their next stay when you aren’t listening. It isn’t just about missing out on an opportunity, it’s that ignoring it could be a real disaster.

I had been finding it difficult to explain *exactly* what I am doing for hotels.  Lots of the baby boomers are confused about it, but they know the kids are getting them on facebook.  Even the tech savvy ones that understand social media’s impact still can’t wrap their heads around it.  So I wanted to write a concise definition that I could pass around to clients, friends, family, etc.  I think this is good.  Any feedback is appreciated.  Cheers!

Social Media and traditional marketing, In or Out?

This isn’t marketing or press in the traditional sense, and thinking of it like that is where a very large disconnect will start to occur.

Print media marketing is highly manipulated brand management, with an “opt out” style of force feeding clients your information.  Most people think of this as spam now.  Billboards, print ads, radio commercials… all mentally tuned out and becoming ineffective.  That media model will always exist, but now….even Tivo makes it so people don’t even *WATCH* commercials anymore, let alone listen to them.  Print will always be around, but the media has effectively stopped working as it did.

Social media, conversely, is where consumers choose to “opt in” to your brand.  What’s more, they control your brand with one social voice, therefore encouraging you to build and maintain a brand that has an ethic, ethos, and intent that the consumer can identify with.  Damage control and retroactive brand management doesn’t work as effectively.

So, social media is not about forcing people to like your brand, but courting those that already do.  100 people interested in your brand are worth much more than the 10,000 print media people that are not.  There are photo sites, mini blog sites, and more where people are talking about you!  Conversation is happening everywhere, and it is important to engage these people as an interested, interactive community member rather than someone just selling something. Consumers will only trust, identify with, and endorse your brand if you are transparent and earnest.

Interested consumers are talking about you all over the world and you need to engage them!!

An aside about the hotel industry if I may:

Industry wide, we are not adapters… nor are we pioneers.  One of the most respected men I know in the industry told me an old industry joke:  “Pioneers were shot in the back.”

ROI is hard to justify when it comes to pioneering new technology that is buggy and will probably fail.  Anyone ever had to rip out faulty construction three days before opening will attest trying the “newer” tech isn’t always the “safest” tech.  And don’t get talking to me about radiant flooring used in commercial hotel projects.  Ugh.

So, it has been hotels standard operating procedure to do the following:

Wait for some other “idiot” (said endearingly) to pioneer the tech.  Let *that* person waste all their money trying it, figuring it out, and then fixing it when it breaks.

After 6 months, you take what they did, *AND WHAT THEY LEARNED*, and do it right, better, and cheaper.

This is a fail safe business plan to be sure, but it does backfire.

So back to the current state of things, IE Hotels Backfiring.  If you are a hotel and don’t get social media peruse the below.

Hotels seem to have a somewhat guarded and defensive approach to social media.  Even the wise properties that are innovative, internet aware, and with strong marketing teams… they are at times LOST.  Scared that their old marketing trends are dying, and now their rolodex and contacts and college degree are quickly becoming a vestige, or worse… irrelevant (that is marketing degrees are now sort of moot if you were in school over 5 years ago.  Yeah it hurts, I am getting old as well). I am not so quick to think it isn’t of merit… but it will take some fixing to get old marketers communicating with new marketers.  It is like the dorky book scientist that needs to explain his innovation to the public but cannot find a simple way to describe what a “Differential Microwave Radiometer”* does.

So… we have hotels looking at social media as a compartmentalized outlet for people to bitch about something with other bitchers (pardon the colloquialistic expression… just imagine you are at one of those managers meetings during a lunch hour with those “types”… you know?).

But it isn’t that.  Well it is.  Actually.  Just look at my previous post.  Sure I attack the consumer, but I must take a swing at the stodgy old hotelier once inawhile too.

Social media is a vital tool for a couple reasons.  One is that you can retroactively “hear” consumers and respond, both directly to them and about the situation.  How you respond is up to you…. like employees fishing comment cards out of the box and ripping up the ones with their name (saw it happen, never did it), or getting these comments to the department heads: GM for serious issues, Rooms for cleanliness issues, Maintenance for broken hooks, etc.  It can actually help you run your business, sure!

But what is more important is where it is taking your brand, and what being aware of social media can do for your brand in the coming 100 years.  Reidentifying, repurposing, and shifting your old brand (that was pushed through old media efforts) into this new world of anti-marketing and all advertising becoming spam.

The upshot is that you can reorganize your business into something with purpose, meaning, ethos, and intent.  Instead of pushing a terrible product (no offense, anyways I mean the other guy reading this) on people with glam marketing tactics like direct mail pieces and flashy billboards (that was tongue in cheek), you reorganize your structure to understand and yield to consumer demand and interest.

Finally, that one human to one human connection exists between social reviewer and business.  When you start seeing how the new market works, and how the new consumer handles businesses (in this case a hotel) you will be able to go from pushing your product, to listening, learning and then packaging your product into something not so much “sellable”, as something highly “DESIRABLE”.

Force fed consumers are a thing of the past, and now consumers create individuality with their demand for quality products to endorse.  People are empty vessels to fill with your brand if they so identify or appreciate the intent behind it.

Realize this.  It isn’t about selling a product anymore.  It is about creating a product people want.

When your brand / hotel / business stops pushing itself on a million people that don’t care about you, and really listening to the 1000′s that do… and modeling yourself to the market…. is when you will start being successful in this post-advert world.

(* a microwave instrument that would map variations / anisotropies in the CMB)

A lot of people thought the doc was a jerk.  Others thought the guy was standing for free speech.  Well let me tell you… I doubt he was a bad guy, and it certainly wasn’t about free speech.  It was just a wreck of a case, and there was nothing legitimate there except two wide eyed people dragging their own name through the mud.  They didn’t think it would get as big as it did, so they settled.

I don’t think the doc was a bad guy, necessarily.  I think he doesn’t get social media, and acted inappropriately, to a fault.

But I think the fact it settled so quickly was interesting.  These guys weren’t ready for the limelight, and they just wanted everything fixed.  But the public is clamouring for news on the way Yelp works.

And it does, but doesn’t, work very well.  So it is this duality that is starting to get picked up, and people are anxious for the resolution to these ongoing concerns.

I think this is all indicative of Yelp’s massive immaturity (young and dealing with new issues) coming to a head, and things going awry while their management insults people on threads, then deletes the threads when it isn’t comfortable…..

and the rest of the yelp crew is cold calling merchants with a hard sell all the while ignoring them while they create a social scene of hipsters that they can finally…. be.. .cool… enough… to … be… part … of.

This stuff has to be sorted out.  An egotistical doctor that doesn’t get social review sites is a perfect patsy to gel the power of the web 2.0 tools.  Hopefully this will start a conversation about how to fix yelp’s imperfections and flaws.

TWO FIXES that actually come from the flawed trip advisor:

1) Multi tiered rating like trip advisor.  A main overall star rating, but then a rating for cleanliness, service, food, etc.

2) Instead of trying to get money from merchants, and then ignoring them in favour of teeny bopper yelpers that cannot even spell…. allow businesses a discourse with clients.  Responding *TO* clients isn’t necessarily important or effective when you are talking about immature folk, ignorant people, or types that just want to rail against you, let alone shill reviews, etc.

This is a social, public conversation.  Business owners should be able to respond, rebutt, or remark in kind.

AND LAST ONE:

3)  START THINKING OF VERIFICATION PROCESSES PEOPLE.

the first social review site that can find a way to verify the actual transaction at the business will develop a more honest, trustworthy, and sellable brand.

Oh wait.

I just had a guest that we caught mid experience through her online review… resolved and righted the entire experience on site so that the latter half of the stay was perfect.  This woman decided to go on and review it based off the first half, suggesting “had I not complained” it would have remained that way the entire stay.

Oooooh… that is so unfair.

News flash to the grumpy reviewers… *WE WANT YOU TO COMPLAIN*.  Of course we do… while you are on site, or even if we catch your review during your stay, and we see you unhappy, dissatisfied, or angry… we are going to attempt to do something about it.  It is sort of in our interest to have you pleasured, versus consternated while gritting one’s teeth.

Typically, as hoteliers, we all dream and hope of the day there is nothing to complain about.  But that day won’t come, and if we think it has it means we aren’t listening.

SO… if there *are* issues, it is our business model and in our self respecting interests to want to resolve that situation.  To have a business dialed in enough to recognize the issues with one’s experience and resolve them seems to me to be a rolemodel of a business; catering to consumers, and listening to demand. 

For someone to go home after the experience and pretend nothing had actually happened but a miserable stay seems short shrift and unfair.  Of course, I am a skeptic enough to suggest we may have failed miserably, or the gaffe was insurmountable.  I am also a realist enough to simply suggest there are some miserable people out there that don’t feel they have a voice.

But that would be wildly unfair in favour of the consumer.  The client is always right as the adage has gone from century to century.

In regards to reviews… we love them.  I am not saying they are worthless by any means.  Of course, review us!  Don’t hold back!  We take anything and everything *ANYONE* writes straight to the heart.  We think about it, talk about it, and learn from it.  We have made changes because of it.  So it is effective.

But just remember business is a two sided affair, and for it to work most efficiently we would love to know what you are having problems with, instead of waiting and venting your frustrations through a stoic keyboard.

If you do the latter, there is no guarantee that your review will ever reach us with the depth of space that is the online reviewing portal world.  Even if we do see your placid words on a lonely page, we are ill prepared to relate to the depth of sentiment or for those words to properly intone your experience.

We will try.  No doubt about it.  I am scouring the internet for people’s experiences as we speak.

But if you want a sure fire way to alert a business to a problem, get someone to listen, and resolve professional issues to your satisfaction… don’t hesitate to actually talk to a human while you are there.

Completely novel concept, to be sure.

Hell I have fun being employed to do what I do… but actually fixing the problem seems a better outcome than us retroactively realizing we had a chance to make someone happy and missing it.

It works for both sides a lot better in every possible way….

Let us know of any issues, inconveniences, thoughts, comments, etc while *AT* a property…. instead of waiting to vent your disappointment through tapping out idle words into a machine lacking listening skills.

Just a thought.

We want to be the best, and if we aren’t we want to get better.  Alerting us to problems long since passed doesn’t seem like the most efficient way of helping us to get there.

Again… some react in favour of the brand.  Others react in favour of the consumer.  This online reviewing world gets some heated opinions.

But what happened to the old days where people in business actually dealt with issues and talked face to face about things?  I am as modern as the next guy… but dammit we need professional consumers again.

Just the odd rant now and again.  Thanks for pondering along with me.  I felt those eyes shifting over the lines.  Cheers to you!