Benoit Marketing

If companies want to stay in touch with prospects and guests today, they need to follow them onto the social Web, including blogs, consumer review sites, social portal sites (such as MySpace, Facebook and Bebo) and real-time conversational applications (such as Twitter). These ideas are all part of each clients marketing plan for 2009.

By year-end 2008, 86 million people in the US, or 44% of all Internet users, will be regular visitors to social network sites, according to eMarketer estimates. That figure is up from 38% in 2007. The number of people reading blogs in the US has also reached mass scale, with nearly 105 million readers in 2008, accounting for 54% of the Internet population.

Advertising on Social Networks: Under Construction

The amount spent to advertise on social media has been constrained by a number of factors, not the least of which is discovering the right ways to “talk” to consumers on these sites. I recommend waiting until this area settles and is more trackable before spending any money in the arena.

Cost-Effective Opportunities Through Social Media

Using social networks, blogs and other Web 2.0 applications as an advertising platform is only one strategy that can be used to stay in touch with prospects and guests. In fact, there are a number of things we can do on these sites that require relatively little or, in some cases, no money.

Look, Listen, Lounge and Learn

At a bare minimum, we should be spending time personally exploring social sites and blogs, particularly those that relate to the hospitality, travel and within your state. By doing so, we can learn about and stay in touch with prospects and guests on a scale never before imagined.

By adopting the four L’s—namely, look, listen, lounge and learn—we will gain valuable insights that can be leveraged in online and offline campaigns. Think of these Web 2.0 sites as a form of perpetual focus group on steroids. And there are a host of new tools and technologies that enable marketers to monitor, evaluate and learn from the millions of consumer conversations taking place all over the Web. What’s more, if you are feeling a little bolder, we can join in on the conversation, as long as they add value.

a. Learn how guests are talking about your property.

b. Learn about real or perceived problems relating directly to your property or customer service.

And make no mistake: Whether or not you listen in, those conversations are going to take place.

c. Unleash the wisdom of the user. The real challenge is to not only monitor the conversations, but to process the information and do something with the feedback. In the long run, this could be the best investment you make.

Join in the Conversation

Beyond observing and learning, add your own two cents’ worth to conversations. The trick is to carefully select the communities in which they participate and to make sure they are adding some value. You must earn the right to participate in such environments, or risk alienating the guests or prospect you are trying to woo.

Advertising messages in social environments need to be as targeted as possible. The leading social network sites allow for very granular targeting, so ad messages can be defined and refined.

Keep Brand Fans Happy

In a difficult economy it is usually easier to market to an existing customer than to acquire a new one (especially if acquiring a new customer requires heavy price discounting). With a relatively small investment, we can use social marketing to cultivate relationships with customers who have already expressed interest in your property.

And there is no better time to build loyalty than to reward these guests. So why not give them the tools to spread the word to others, whether it be 10 friends or 10,000 friends?

Tap into Coveted Influentials

We can go a step further and form relationships with influentials, those people who have the power and influence to spread messages far and wide. Imagine, for example, how valuable it would be for a property to have a well-known blogger who writes for a travel sites (Eric Potter, for example) mention your property in his blog.