During a panel discussion titled ‘Social Media – A Golden Opportunity’, our panelists discussed what social media gives and takes away from brand profile, revenue management and more.
Reydan Ulusan, marketing & ecommerce manager Best Western Plus Doha commented: “Research shows that 50% of people come through peers rather than advertising, so this is why it’s really important for people to give their opinions.”
During the debate, moderator Martin Baeuerle, hospitality consultant, MB Hospitality Consulting, asked how the hoteliers make self-promotion work for their hotels.
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Noha Belhaj, marketing communications manager for Grand Hyatt Doha said that it’s a case of “Getting them to talk, to respond”.
“For example, ask, ‘what’s your favourite thing to do on a Friday morning?’ — it’s not easy to measure revenue, but you can measure engagement.”
Fellow panellist, Katie Roberts, PR & marketing communications manager, Doha Marriott Hotel, said that hoteliers need to give followers “the tools and hashtags”.
“You need to make sure people know you’re there, so I think that’s also really important. If someone is in a restaurant and taking a photo of a dish, let’s build on that in our restaurants and our outlets. It’s about how quickly we respond to that and encourage them to post content on our behalf.”
Belhaj added that it’s important to engage with influencers, which Joelle Lahlough, cluster PR & marketing manager, Wyndham Grand Regency Doha & Ramada Encore Doha, agreed with.
“People blog about your services - that's growing, and people are seeing a lot of positive feedback from that.”
Both Roberts and Lahlough agreed that knowing how often to post is also crucial.
“I think there’s a misconception that it’s an easy thing to do but it’s not,” said Roberts.
“It’s very time-consuming and thoughtful.. We do around two – three posts per day on Facebook; for Instagram it’s the same, for Twitter it’s four times. Also we want to use video content more with YouTube.”
Lahlough said: “If we post something on Facebook or Instagram, we can’t post too many so we need to know when to post what to post.
“People need a reason to relate to your product or service – post something that will get people to relate to you.”
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