SOCIAL MEDIA IN HOTEL

I remember those days when auto-makers took a paradigm shift from carburettor system to fuel injection system of combustion in cars. The reaction in this part of the world was that of consternation, and thereafter a tepid wait for the failure more than the success. With the benefit of hindsight, one cannot but appreciate the relevance of improvement and need for change in all human endeavour  In the hospitality industry, sales and marketing has never been a mainstay of owners as mentioned in one of my earlier pieces. But, the story today has changed from traditional process of manual sales and marketing to digital marketing supported by rich visual content whether you consent or not.

Very few big hotels are on the net; fewer small hotels on the same net that has almost infinite capacity for contents at a relatively low cost implications. The excuse from my experience on the field is that the literate level of the Nigerian market does not support a sophisticated on-line or e-marketing. And this conclusion is reached by the support of the following premiss. Nigerians are not organized and that account for the reason why they hardly make reservations either for rooms or dinner. Secondly, that we do not have the infrastructural basis like regular power or and effective telecommunication network. Lastly, that we are discretionary spenders that cannot be persuaded by marketing strategies in our choice of brands. While the arguments seem to be cast in stone, the truth is that change is inevitable.

With Pinterest, Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Twitters and the likes, the question is how long can you continue to remiss your consistent turn-down of these social medium? Do you have to be on all social medium? Which one is more relevant to your hotel? What advantage do they have over each other? These and many more questions are expected to plague your mind if your interest is involved in playing in the big digital landscape. Answers to these relevant questions proffered here can only be academic at its best and with no significant result. To make a decisive impact in e-marketing, you must have a proven hospitality consultant that can drive the program taking cognizance of your hotel’s marketing peculiarities.

The general rule is to try and encourage guests to be on the same page with you by guiding them to your website with incentives and offering discounts on on-line bookings. Over 60 hours of video are uploaded every minute on YouTube.  About 90% of all information transmitted to the brain is visual. And, 40% of people will respond faster and better to visual information than text. (Source: Zabisco) If you are still not convinced of the need for e-marketing with the above statistics, you must be driving a pre-millennium car. 

Patrick Adegbamigbe

Hospitality Consultant

234 80 57736980