Facebook and Twitter kill hotel 'PR as we know it'
The growth of social networking by consumers and the use of social media by hotel marketers have resulted in a dramatic shift in hotel PR strategies, according to marketing and PR experts debating the trend at a recent Hotelier Middle East roundtable.
“The value of the term ‘customers come first’ now really applies,” said Raffles Dubai director of marketing and communications Dima Ayad.
“Whenever we develop campaigns or start anything, social networking or otherwise, it is completely different, because PR as we know it has gone, burned, done, finished. [The days of] sending a press release or a photo caption — it’s over. That era has officially changed and it’s made our job more tactful and less polished,” said Ayad.
The PR experts agreed that not only had PR changed, but that it needed to change.
Ayad explained that Raffles Dubai found this with the recent relaunch of its Fire and Ice restaurant and had sent different press releases to trade, consumer, lifestyle and fashion media.
“They are different target audiences that want to hear different things and we were flat out honest with what we are doing. Why were we modern European and now we are a steakhouse? [The answer is] fusion can be confusion and the fact that people love steak and there are carnivores in the market. Be real and you notice that you get exposed better,” said Ayad.
Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates assistant marketing manager Sanaz Ghahremani said that it was true that PR strategies had to shift but that in the Middle East many traditional methods would remain.
“Arabic media prefer the traditional ways, the photo captions, they like printed press releases,” said Ghahremani.
However, Ayad warned that it was important to ensure that hotels engaged properly with Arabic media.
“They tell you that they always feel like second best because we do everything in English and we translate. If your target audience is guests of the GCC, why are you writing to me in English translated into Arabic?,” said Ayad.
The Monarch Dubai personal assistant to regional director UAE Gabriele Feile, also the hotel’s social media champion, said a solution would be to have someone at the hotel ‘tweeting’ in Arabic on Twitter.
“It’s much cheaper; it doesn’t cost you anything to go on Twitter, except the time of course. It’s authentic,” said Feile.
Aloft Abu Dhabi online marketing manager Daniel Spikjer added that a mistake made by Middle Eastern hotels was to approach social media and PR differently from in Europe.
“A lot of people that come here from Europe and London tailor what they used to do there and I think that is actually a mistake. People here are not stupid, they are not living in the Stone Age, and if I speak with Arabic people, they encourage us to do the same as in Europe,” said Spikjer.
Going forward, the experts agreed that social media would continue to grow and that it would complement traditional methods
Ayad concluded: “I think it’s going to become part of the integrated marketing communication tools that we use. Imagine driving down a highway and not seeing any ads — it’s not going to happen, the world is about brands. But it will definitely make us less rigid. We will always be communicating above the line, below the line and this one is definitely through the line and talking normally”.
For a full report from the Hotelier Middle East social marketing roundtable, see the November issue of Hotelier Middle East out next week.
What are your views on the impact of social media on hotel PR and marketing strategies? Post your comments on this story!