Hotels and Restaurants on Facebook Graph Search – First Impressions and Tips
Having obtained early access to the beta of Facebook Graph search (currently only available to US English users), I immediately (of course) dived right in to see if I could replicate the funniest Facebook Graph searches that have been making their rounds on the web. While the feature certainly didn’t disappoint, it was also time to test out the more serious aspects of Graph Search for hotels, restaurants and all things local… the power of lasting social recommendations.
Just as Google has been trying hard to put a ‘social’ twist to all things search, Facebook has now put a ‘search’ twist to the social experience. From the standpoint of a local business like a hotel or restaurant, the most irritating thing about social platforms is that they do not offer referrals with any longevity… i.e. it’s not very easy to dig up the best Italian restaurants your friends have been to (or like) in the past few months, without racking your brains and doing some serious timeline stalking (doubt if anyone has the time or patience either). Most social platforms have been trying hard to fix this problem…FourSquare’s interface changes are a great example, with a renewed focus on local discovery and highlighting businesses and specials near you.
6 Hotel Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2013
As hotel operators and marketers face another fresh, promising new year ahead, many are watching the social media space closely to gauge the level of time, expertise and financial investment that will be required to make it all worthwhile. Having observed the space keenly so far, here are 6 quick (personal) social media predictions for the hotel industry in 2013:
Pinterest for Hoteliers – A Guide to Pinterest for Hotels, Resorts and Restaurants
Pinterest has been all the rage recently, with various news sites and brands sitting up and taking notice. Pinterest.com isn’t new, though…it was (Beta) launched in 2010 and rose to fame in 2011 when it was declared one of the 50 best websites of the year by TIME magazine. By the end of last year, it garnered a lot more attention as it made it to the Hitwise list of top 10 social networks, Techcrunch’s best new startup title and also gained a reputation for driving more referral traffic to online retailers than YouTube, Google+ or LinkedIN.
So what’s the big deal, you ask? And, what, pray tell…is it exactly?
What Digital Marketers Really Do
In the tradition of the most recent meme to hit the Interweb “What People Think I Do / What I Really Do” here’s a low-down on What Digital Marketers really do…enjoy.
Never heard of the meme? “What People Think I Do / What I Really Do” is a series of images / pictures illustrating a variety of preconceptions associated with various professions or areas of expertise. Learn more about the meme here.
Hotel Social Media Articles and the Diffusion of Innovation
It’s interesting to see how the buzz around social media and related developments has gradually grown over the past two years in the hotel industry. In 2008 social media was still considered a fad and made the odd appearance here and there in hospitality news media…now in 2010 you hardly find any hotel news publication, hotel blog or newsletter worth their salt without the token social media piece.
Looking at the wide variety of hotel social media articles, however, it appears very clear that the technology adoption curve (or diffusion of innovation) is alive and well. Every hospitality blogger and hotel news company is talking about social media…but the articles (and authors) clearly follow the curve. I thought it’d be fun to list some of the types of social media articles and blogs currently making the rounds atop the diffusion of innovation curve…here goes:
The link between Facebook, Organ Donation and Boiling Frogs
Now that I have your attention with my intriguing post title, allow me to explain just what I mean… and boiling frogs and organ donation do indeed feature in this little blog post!
All the recent furore over Facebook privacy has shown no signs of abating…and for good reason. Privacy, after all, is a sensitive and important issue. Or is it?
There’s no doubt that Facebook has made a startling entrance in the online world and taken over our browsers and mobile screens rather quickly. Official stats from Facebook claim that 400 million users currently use the service and almost half log on every day. Globally it appears that people now spend over 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook…an enviable record for any platform.
The amount of information shared on the site has also grown in leaps and bounds. Users typically share a substantial amount of personal information, photos and information on personal preferences. Choices of who we connect and communicate with also give away loads of behavioural information (in fact, Mark Zuckerberg claims he can predict a relationship breakup in advance of it actually happening, plus who you may end up with next, with a 33% accuracy based on this data alone).
Matt McKeon recently put together a great graphic that illustrates the amount of data that is now publicly available via your typical Facebook account. Check out where we stand in April 2010 in the graphic below…and visit the site to compare how things have changed since 2005.
Video – Socialnomics and the Social Media Revolution
A great new video doing the rounds on the Internet, in true ‘Did You Know’ style (the original video by Karl Fisch that captured our imaginations). This video asks – Is social media a fad? Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? Welcome to the World of Socialnomics:
YouTube Video (watch above)
Hotel DNA in the Digital Age – Can we evolve?
While most traditional marketers, media gurus and public relations experts grapple with just how to leverage the power of digital media and social networks…real emerging trends sometimes go unnoticed. Sometimes all it takes is to tap into the world…and particularly the people around us to realize just how life as we know it is changing.
Full Video Interview – Marc Andreessen on Charlie Rose
A great 60 minute interview on Charlie Rose with Marc Andreessen, the man behind Netscape and Opsware, both companies that were acquired and made Andreessen a billionaire. In this interview Marc talks about a variety of topics, including Cloud Computing, Facebook, Twitter and Ning. Some really great insights on tech development and the (non) impact of the current recession on Silicon Valley. A must watch for any tech enthusiast!
You can watch the entire interview below (note: 60 mintues long!)
http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-3628271656800759125&hl=en&fs=true
Hotel Mobile Marketing – A Hotel Guest Story From The Near Future
Here’s a peek at the hotel guest experience in the near future. With mobile phones becoming an increasingly important marketing and CRM channel, improving technology and awareness will soon allow hotel marketers to enhance the hotel guest interaction, in a very similar way to what’s described below…
Hotel Booking and Research
Sam wants to book a hotel for an overnight stay in a nearby city in a weeks time.
He visits a website to look for hotels to see what’s available.
He sees a hotel he likes and book a room online.
