Social media, new guest of the industry

By: Duván Chaverra A.

It is no secret that the phenomenon of social networks has revolutionized the way we communicate in recent times, especially since the Internet became an indispensable tool for the human being and a necessary means for the performance of the vast majority of activities that are carried out on a day-to-day basis.

Facebook and Twitter are the most famous social networks in the world, both have similarities and differences that have allowed them to gain followers and that made them the maximum reference point of this media phenomenon that allows us to approach people or places anywhere in the world with the power of a single click.

Facebook allows you to create pages where you can share photos, links, leave comments to interact with users, among other options. These pages can be created in modalities such as groups or sites in which the visitor can become a member or fan.

Twitter, on the other hand, is a slightly simpler tool, in which you can leave messages about the current state of a person or company so that all browsers know what is being done at the present time, and interact.

HOTEL & RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT was given the task of consulting with an expert in the subject of social networks, in order to transfer this matter to our industry and know how this means of communication is being used to achieve a more personal approach with the visitor, client or simply with the curious who likes to walk around the network looking for all the sites that appear on their screen.

Social networks do not distinguish between sex, age or social class which makes them much more accessible to all people who are looking for a means to express their opinions and be able to be more participatory within the world around them.

Our guests to talk about the subject are Edwin Bernal Holguín, a Colombian industrial engineer who has been analyzing the web and the multiple phenomena that occur there for more than 11 years and who has his own company called Geosdigital, which is responsible for advising on projects and development strategies for the web. And Pablo Nieto, general manager of the Hotel 101 Park House, located in Bogotá (Colombia).

With them we can enter to study both the vision of the web expert and the vision of a hotelier who seeks to get the best out of social networks.

Let's start by analyzing what are the types of services that hotels can offer their customers through a social network. In the first instance Bernal indicates that the services are not distinguished from those that can be offered physically, the difference, according to our guest, is in taking advantage of virtuality.

"The services offered online do not differ from those that can be offered in physical, the most important thing is that the media vary, although before something was promoted in the web portals now it is done (in the form of conversation) in social networks, integrating it with the network itself (for example 20% discount to the first 10 fans who respond to this message) by making it typical of the network grows in popularity, followers and influencers," he explained, adding that "remember also that if you are working on the network the public is already there, offer virtual services as long as you have the resources to maintain it: chats, reservation systems, virtual tours, image galleries, virtual communication for guests, etc. The user experience is the most important thing, as well as the testimonials and comments."

On the services, he said that "the work in social networks is focused on two strategies: positioning (international and national) and sales of all the products and services of the hotel, either through booking engines in accommodation or in complementary services".

Competitive advantages
The manager of the 101 Park House hotel expressed that the main competitive advantage that social networks have are the benefits that both the hotel and the guest can obtain: "It is the way to be closer to our guests, support them in any requirement and be offering them our experiences constantly, whether they are outside or inside the country. You could say that the biggest advantage is the speed and speed with which our guests can contact us and in the same way we can respond to them."

In this aspect agrees Bernal, who says that the important thing about being in a social network is not only that the name of the hotel appears there, it is to make it constantly active: "The competitive advantage is not really to use the social network, many use them but not properly, the advantage is to achieve the greatest possible interaction between the navigators and your hotel, in the spaces where they are, and there it becomes an advantage for the guest, since he does not have to go to where the hotel is, but quite the opposite: the hotel goes where he is".

Speaking of benefits, Edwin Bernal explained that being able to adapt and know how to take this tool along the right path can be very profitable: "I highlight one benefit among many: Flexible organizations that, being able to accommodate the needs of customers, can find new markets, new businesses, more public, greater diffusion, all translated into benefits as a result of the effort invested for it."

On the benefits that this phenomenon has brought to the 101 Park House hotel, its manager said that interactivity with its customers is what stands out most about the experience on social networks.

"The permanent contact with our guests, sharing images of moments and experiences lived in the hotel, we are a big family, we share the successes of our guests, their important dates, their family or professional successes, we communicate our achievements also and we invite them to give us suggestions and to tell us their needs constantly. In conclusion, that the client is up to date is a mutual benefit."

A strategy that requires commitment
The interaction on social networks must be serious and constant, when you get to fall into monotony the client stops participating in conversations and the image of the hotel can drop noticeably by the fact of not paying attention to its guests.

Finally, Edwin Bernal comments that in any case social networks will not be a formula that leads companies to success or failure, rather it should be taken as a new option that if handled in a good way can bring many returns that were not thought before, that is, this can be converted into an added value.

For him it is important that from the maximum representative of his hotel to the smallest consider it important to participate in a web project, because it needs a measurement and continuous monitoring so that he can get the most out of new technologies.

"Social Media and social media campaigns are only part of the process, do not consider it as something unique and magic formula, it is not so, there are many sites on the network, be part of those that succeed, not those that do it because someone said 'it is important to be'. Its website, ease of use and usefulness for the navigator are determining factors, and even more so the evaluation and continuous evolution of these factors".

Bernal added the following to end his participation: "Remember. Right now any of your customers are commenting on you or your hotel on a blog, posting a video on YouTube, writing on your Facebook profile, reviewing your services on Twitter, Linkedin, and hundreds of networks.

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Hotel participation in social networks

The following analysis provided by our guest Edwin Bernal, shows the participatory growth of the hotel industry on social networks:

As a result of a study by Social Media Hotel Marketing, it was shown that 75% of hotel chains have a Facebook page, and of these 55% use Twitter.

In some of the organizations analyzed, 15% do not have information on their Facebook page, and to find out the addresses of those environments on Facebook and Twitter (sample of the study) each organization's website was first accessed but only in two of the cases, (10%) the link to Facebook or Twitter was there. The rest of the sample was taken from Google search results (with the words string name and the words Facebook/Twitter).

Through this search, only 20% of the sample could be located. The rest of the addresses were located in the search engines of Facebook and Twitter.

"Addressing communication in virtual communities and social networks (Social Media) is not precisely creating Blogs, uploading photos to sites like Flickr, creating profiles, groups, events, pages and applications on Facebook, this communication is based on understanding where your target market is and through that segment it according to your products and services, then define a clear strategy where time and resources are invested to give strength to your campaign in virtual media, not as an effort atomized by a segment of the sales team, as a unique response to the work of the competition in the same spaces, but as a joint work of all levels of the organization and as a response to phrases such as: 'Stop interrupting people in what they're interested in and be part of what people care about', by Craig David (JWT's Chief Creative Officer). And in order to expand their capacity and speed of communication with their customers," said Bernal.