Social media has taken a centre stage and been influencing customer buying behavior. So, how can hoteliers ensure that they are using sites such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to their greatest advantage?
Online Reputation Management is essentially monitoring online opinions about your brand and using the information to create online strategies that promote your company successfully. The ever increasing reach of the internet has allowed customers to share their thoughts on every aspect of life. This ultimately includes your hotel. This is why it is so important to maximise positive comments and limit any negative commentary as much as you can. If a customer searches for your brand online and finds a multitude of mediocre or lacking reviews, it is unlikely that they will chose to patronize you. However, all is not lost; because in fact, the art of online reputation management can be mastered in three simple steps.
Tracking is the first port of call. As mentioned earlier, almost every traveler will perform online research prior to making a booking. Therefore it is important that hotel owners know exactly what is being said about them online. The use of social media networks to respond to appropriate social activity and hotel mentions will have a large effect on the hotel’s overall reputation and branding. Simply obtaining and updating accounts with all of the major social networks will enable you to track everything that is being discussed in regards to hotels and your brand.
Having gathered the information, the next step is to analyze. Reputation management tools allow you to know what guests are saying about you at various sites from one single platform. You can identify your pros and cons and develop your marketing campaign based on your strengths.
It’s important that you respond to customer feedbacks, even if it’s negative. This shows your sincerity in addressing their concerns. Engage with customers as much as possible, responding to reviews positive or negative. Learn as much as you can about each specific site and its limitations. Most importantly, find and communicate with your target audience, only then will you build unique and loyal customer relationships.
And remember; social media is a constantly growing and fluctuating enterprise. Learning to be flexible and dexterous now will greatly increase your chances of improving reputation.
Authored by: Ayushi, a digital enthusiast whose interests lie in all things technology and management. She is associated with eRevMax, the company behind the innovative hotel management software, RateTiger.