Most hotels and resorts in Australia have not adopted social media. Social media is not going away, it is not something you can forget about and hope it passes by quietly. Social media is not a fad, its a trend, a game changer that needs to be adopted.
Your Customers are already social!
Your customers are already there. Your customers are already engaging with their friends, family and peers. Your customers, both potential and past, are turning to social media to make buying decisions. Only last week I turned to my Facebook friends to make a decision on seeing Seal in concert at the Brisbane Convention Centre. I trusted the opinion of my friend that saw Seal in Melbourne and as result I jumped on eBay and at the last minute bought tickets. My friend was right and I had a great time! This is happening every minute of every day.
How many of your past guests are being asked by their friends where to stay on their next holiday? How many of your past guests are sharing their holiday experiences with their friends on Facebook, or followers on Twitter. Good or bad, these experiences are being shared. Some of your customers will have hundreds of Facebook friends and thousands of Twitter followers. Customers reviewing your hotel through social media is happening, and you need to get involved.
Twitter has recently displayed the importance of search by modifying their home page to include a prominent search box. Similarly, Facebook's search functionality is now searching status updates along with web results. Google and Bing both recently announced that their search engines will display results from Twitter as they move closer to real time search results. As Facebook is projected to hit 375 million users by the end of the 2009 there is no better time to get started.
