I had the pleasure of meeting Zac Long at a recent stay at the Marriott World Center in Orlando, FL. I was so impressed with how he was embracing social media on behalf of Marriott that I wrote a blog post about him for Jenise Fryatt when I returned. Now I've had the distinct honor of interviewing him for my blog so you can all get a little more insight into what makes him tick! Please enjoy!
Question #1: What exactly is it about social media that is attractive to people like hotel customers? Why have you been successful tying social media into attraction of new or repeat customers?
The "social" aspect of Social Media is extremely relevant in any consumer goods or services company, and even more so with travelers. The hospitality industry is all about experiences, a traveler in a new city needs a bed to sleep in, but it's the service from the likes of a Marriott or a Hilton that separates them from Mom & Pop Motel XYZ. Building on that idea from an industry perspective, from a consumer perspective having that great experience then leads to even more social interactions as the travelers return home and share those experiences.
These days that means Social Media: users updating their Facebook status gushing about the great time they had on a vacation, posting pictures to Facebook or Flickr, and writing reviews on sites like TripAdvisor. From the 25 billion pieces of content posted on Facebook each month (http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics) to "over 35 million trusted traveler reviews & opinions" on TripAdvisor (http://www.tripadvisor.com/ homepage), people are interested in sharing freely on the new Social Web. This is the reason why we have been successful in using Social Media to directly speak to the customer, travelers want to connect with a real person even if it's online. It's having that local insider's connection before they even get to their vacation destination who talks to them on their preferred contact medium, which frequently is social media. Focus on the individual as you remember the "social" in Social Media, savvy users these days don't want to speak to a machine, they want to use Social Media as a direct access to a real live person. Respond back to comments and create new posts using a natural, conversational tone to let your personality shine through and let the readers know that they are indeed talking to a real person and making a connection.
Question #2: What incentives or suggestions do you use to attract those who are reluctant to use social media to get involved and online?
The rise of the celebrity Twitter account has helped us get new users to "buy-in" to the idea of Social Media. Our new "Princess of Tweets," Sarah, was a little hesitant at first. She understood the successes we were having with the unexpected delights and making a connection with guests, so she saw the power of Social Media. To get her to fully onboard and understand more closely the dynamics of Twitter (RTs, Follow Friday, etc.) we set her up with a private Twitter list of her favorite celebrities that are on Twitter. By following that column on her Hootsuite deck, their was a reason for her to be interested in checking twitter and keeping up with how the entire system works. Replace movie celebrities with anyone from NASCAR drivers, Basketball stars, or of course the early adopter Technology pundits and I believe you will find their is something for everyone on Social Media. Have someone just follow their favorite people and ask questions about what RT means, or the proper way to RT for example. Use this as a learning process while also showing them case studies of where you (or others) have had success in the Social Media arena.
Question #3: In terms of social media strategy, what is the one piece of advice you have learned that you were shocked about or initially resistant to?
If I had to boil it down to one piece, it's to think long term. Social Media does work, but unless you're really lucky you won't be an overnight sensation. I think we all thought people would be really interested in what we had to say just because we were using Social Media. If millions of people read what Ashton Kutcher had for lunch, then surely they want to hear about mine too! Of course this is a bit oversimplified (unless you're a celebrity already too!), but also speaks to being relevant and giving users a reason to read what you have to say. It takes time to build credibility and a following, so don't give up if you don't immediately see results even after 2 months. Celebrate the small success such as slowly increasing the number of readers to you blog, fans on your Facebook page, or followers on Twitter. Use these small milestones as roadmaps along the way to set concrete goals which you can show others in your organization, and keep setting new ones along with plans to get there.
A blog post to get read by 500 readers may be a realistic goal if your last one had 400 hits, so now how would you get those extra 100 readers? Should you submit the article to a news aggregator like Digg or Reddit? Again think long term and stick with it, crank out those blog posts or tweets on a consistent basis even if you think no one is hearing you. When you finally do break through, now you have a history that users can go back to read about. The great thing about the internet is that nothing is ever lost, the blog archives are still there to be read by users months later and to be indexed by the search engines. The final word is to circle back to my answer to your first question, which is to make everything personal. Treat your readers with respect and talk directly to them, not through the dry words of a corporate PR press release. We turned the corner when we stopped simply sending out PR press releases through our Social Media outlets and instead began engaging with our followers.
Connect with Zachary Long
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Tags: Social Media/Technology
