Social media has become more than a nice accessory for hotel brands and individual properties looking to engage guests and drive business. More than just producing a “like” or follower, such programs are increasingly becoming revenue generators, or will need to do so in the near term.
With a similar focus on ROI, HOTELS revised its 5th annual Social Hotel Awards judging criteria based on evolving trends in social media and the importance of better proving ROI beyond “likes.”
The winners were selected by a panel of social media experts and the editors of HOTELS. Over the next few weeks, the editors will present the brand and property-level winners in seven categories. Today we start by presenting the winners for Best Facebook Page.
Brand (tie): Fairmont’s “purposeful shift”; Hilton clicks
As part of Fairmont’s strategy, the brand made a “purposeful shift” toward featuring attention-grabbing video content on its Facebook page with videos including the “Ultimate Rockies Road Trip,” featuring birds-eye footage of mountain sierras; recipes from select hotels and resort, and guest photos. “We strive to make our Facebook environment a source of unique content that our fans come back to time and again,” says Michael Innocentin, Fairmont’s executive director of digital marketing.“The platform is also used as a tool to foster meaningful engagement and make lasting connections with our guests.”
Fairmont saw a 29% increase in Facebook fans, a 53% increase in engaged users and an increase by 34% in total impressions.
Hilton Worldwide utilized Facebook to support Stop Clicking Around direct booking campaign, considered the hotel giant’s largest-ever global campaign. The promotion of Facebook also resulted in guests sharing their own experiences and rewards among their peers with user-generated content. “Creating genuine individual experiences and having passionate people behind them is what made this campaign a success,” Gurmej Bahia, senior director of regional marketing, eCommerce and digital acquisition for EMEA at Hilton.
Hilton spent US$2,550, reaching 629,000 existing guests or potential guests with 27,000 post-click engagements. For every dollar spent, 246 people saw the message and 10 people interacted.
Runner Up: ITC Hotels
Property: Ode to the local nuances
With a Facebook following already over 5,100 in April 2015, the The Otesaga Resort Hotel still wanted to grow its fan base and engagement. A series of interactive Facebook content campaigns showcased the historic nuances of the resort, golf course and surrounding village of Cooperstown, New York. Using hashtags #CommonLinks, #CooperstownWonderland and #MostPerfectVillage, the team came up with thoughtful images and posts that featured the hotel in a unique way, including a map series of local attractions in close proximity to the hotel. As part of the program, Otesaga held several sweepstakes to encourage even more participation among its guests.
“This content garnered hundreds of likes, shares and comments from fans as if the hotel was a dear old friend,” says Tjibbe Lambers, director of marketing at Otesaga. “The page was filled with memories and anticipation from all over the country.”
The hotel also created a video series showcasing a then-and-now view of the history of Otesaga. These video pieces were viewed thousands of times on social media, along with image posts sharing historical stories from our century-old resort hotel.
For the first sweepstakes in May 2015, Otesaga received more than 1,200 entries, 167 Facebook shares and more than 1,800 visits. Otesaga also used Facebook Pixels to track sales driven by social media and reports that the content series alone helped sell 11 packages.
Runner Up: Rosewood San Miguel
