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.” Today we continue presenting the awards with the winners of Best Integrated Digital Campaign.
By Brand: Hotel Jen, by Shangri-La, Hong Kong
Description: To create buzz around its first anniversary, Hotel Jen launched the “We Are One” integrated campaign, featuring visual assets that were specially created to drive awareness of the brand across various online platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Periscope, WeChat and Weibo.
The campaign included six 24-hours-in-24-seconds videos capturing the most exciting experiences in the cities where Hotel Jen is present. The videos were followed by nine themed birthday parties in nine cities, which were streamed live via Periscope.
“One of our main social media goals is to continue building authentic relationships with our followers and influencers who share our love for travel and life,” said June Ng, social media specialist at Hotel Jen. “We don’t pay anyone to say good things about us, which is why we have increased our focus on building rapport with our international community in our social media programs.”
Results: Website traffic increased 13% as part of “We Are One.” The campaign generated 17 million social media impressions, with the strongest impact in China, where the campaign surpassed expectations by 23%. Videos received about 8,000 views worldwide with high engagement, averaging about three minutes per video per view. Hotel Jen also reports a 60% uplift in conversion rate with over 1,000 bookings generated.
Runner Up: Secrets Resorts
By Property: Secrets Playa Mujeres, Mexico
Description: Leading up to “engagement season” in November 2014 through January 2015, Secrets Playa Mujeres launched the “Love it, Book it & Get More” promotion giving the first 50 couples who booked their weddings at the resort perks such as fire dancers, fireworks, drone video footage, photography and more.
The dedicated digital/social media component included a Facebook contest where participants could enter to win a dream wedding at the resort by answering which special wedding day extra they would choose, while weekly prizes helped keep the conversation going. Sponsored Facebook posts and display ads highlighting wedding and resort beauty shots were also optimized to drive traffic to the Secrets Playa Mujeres wedding inquiry page and contest participation.
“We launched ‘Love It, Book It, Get More’ to help answer the million-dollar question for the wedding industry: How do we make the celebrity dream a reality for the average bride and groom?” said Amanda Davis Pak, senior product marketing manager for AMResorts. “The promotion was easy to understand and enticing.”
Results: Twenty new weddings were booked within 12 weeks, generating US$165,360 in revenue. Additionally, the contest secured more than 500 entries with emails as well as 33,800 Facebook impressions and engagement.
Runner Up: Hotel Jen, Singapore