Facebook Finally Gets the #Hashtag

ImageThe #hashtag—they help users categorize messages. Twitter, Google+, Tumblr, Vine, Pinterest and Instagram have them, and now it’s time to add the top dog of social media sites to the list. Yesterday, Facebook confirmed that it now officially supports the categorizing tool, allowing users to hashtag posts and making them clickable and searchable.

“To date, there has not been a simple way to see the larger view of what’s happening or what people are talking about,” Facebook’s Greg Lindley said. “To bring these conversations more to the forefront, we will be rolling out a series of features that surface some of the interesting discussions people are having about public events, people, and topics. As a first step, we are beginning to roll out hashtags on Facebook.”

Like the other social networks, clicking on a Facebook hashtag will bring up a feed that accumulates other posts that contain the tag. Linking an Instagram picture to you Facebook page? Those hashtags will be clickable, too. Users will also be able to create posts directly from a hashtag feed and search results. No need to worry about your privacy settings—Facebook clarified to ABC News that hashtagged posts will still respect your regular privacy settings.

Why the hashtag and not another method? Those at Facebook said that they’re already all over the social network thanks to other outlets like Twitter and Instagram. “People were already using hashtags on Facebook—we just made them clickable,” a Facebook spokesperson said.

Is the hashtag not clickable on your Facebook account yet? According to Mashable, Facebook will roll out hashtags to more users in the coming weeks.

How do you feel about hashtags coming to Facebook? Let us know!

Reputation Management – Social Media Gets Visual

Most recently, social media platforms like Pinterest and Instagram have been growing as top-runners in the social media scene. And according to Adam Leposa of HotelManagement.net, these visual-dominated apps give hoteliers an opportunity to develop their online reputations by showing off their products in pictures.

One big (and important) aspect of a guest’s hotel experience is the look of the hotel, which gives hotel operators a big opportunity to delve into visual marketing. “A lot of consumers are very visually driven,” said Kristen Poillon, director of marketing at HotelMe, an online review business affiliated with USA Today. “It’s becoming more prevalent; even on sites like Facebook, you’ve started to see a whole shift in the types of content that people are sharing—less text and more photos is the direction that a lot of these sites are headed toward.”

Screen Shot 2013-03-14 at 12.37.59 PMHowever, Leposa says that hoteliers looking to take advantage of these visual marketing opportunities should be aware that marketing on Instagram and Pinterest poses very difficult challenges than more traditional channels. “The main thing is that it’s really to tell a visual story, and not do a blatant promotion,” Julie Squires, CEO of Softscribe said. “It should be about your guests, not so much what you want to tell your guests. It should be about what your guests want to hear.”

“They might never come to your property but they’ll share that and share [this], and that helps from a reputation-management perspective, but not in a monitoring way, but creating a positive experience,” Tim Peter, managing director of Tim Peter and Associates, a web-marketing consultancy.

Fortunately, hoteliers aren’t the only ones to deliver the best content—one of the best ways to build a hotel’s visual reputation is to make sure guests can get involved as well. Building a sense of community can help hoteliers move away from damage control and work toward more positive aspects of marketing—giving them an opportunity to really engage customers.

“Look for people who are talking about you, your competitors, what they have to say, …what they’re pinning. Then, start to think about engaging with folks either by repinning their materials or sharing materials with them,” said Peter.

When it comes to tracking a hotel’s online reputation on these visual marketing platforms, it can prove a bit challenging. Some monitoring tools for these image-heavy sites are available to monitor image quality and others to monitor text and hashtags, but Leposa writes that the processes aren’t very sophisticated yet. “You have to rely more on the links going out than the text,” Poillon said.

When it all comes down to it, marketers do advise one technique for hoteliers to track their online reputation on photo-sharing sites: “Let the good overpower the not-so-good.”

To read Leposa’s entire article, visit HotelManagement.net.

Four Trends That Can Benefit You, Our Client

McConnell Marketing’s Megan Sovik blogs about the hospitality trends she and Katie picked up from the IHMRS/BDNY Tradeshow in New York City.

Katie Williams and I recently attended to the IHMRS/BDNY Tradeshow at Javits Center in New York City. The goal was to see what’s trending in hospitality design and to also make sure that we, at McConnell Marketing, are marketing our clients in the best possible way. The show was broken up into two sides: one that was interiors (i.e. furniture, décor—basically, all the pretty stuff). The other side was more operational (i.e. soaps, room amenities, etc.). They also had many informational sessions and speakers.

To be honest, the show was very overwhelming, and we walked the floor multiple times to make sure we didn’t miss anything. We wanted to get everything out of it that we could. After taking a lot of time to process and go through every piece from every vendor we talked to, there are four trends we came away with that we think could benefit our clients:

Square
Square collateral pieces are in—they actually have been for quite a while (and we’ve done quite a few pieces for our clients). What I didn’t expect to see was that so many pieces were small. It used to be that larger 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 pieces were the norm. Now we’re seeing printed pieces that are 4 x 4 or so, with tons of photos and little text. Nowadays, everyone’s trying to be environmentally friendly—and using less paper is a way to reduce your carbon footprint. At McConnell Marketing, we work with waterless printers and know quite a bit about recycled papers to take that idea even further.

Printing on Aluminum
One thing I didn’t expect to see is printing on aluminum. It may sound odd, but it’s a great for display materials. When I saw this, the first thing I thought of was posters and displays throughout a hotel. Rather than printing on a regular poster and coating it with a UV-resistant varnish or protectant, printing on aluminum is a great way to make these materials last longer. Images and sizes can be customized to whatever is needed. We’ve found a lot of vendors who do this. Let us know if you’re interested in seeing pricing!

Colors
Gone are the days of neutrals! Accent colors are everywhere! If this wasn’t evident by the choice of the last two Pantone colors of the year (tangerine and emerald green), it was very evident at the show. Katie and I saw lots of purples, royal blues, yellows and greens. Obviously you don’t want to go too far with too many colors, but McConnell Marketing will be happy to assist with picking out a color palette that works for you.

Technology
One of the coolest technologies I saw was for the bathroom (odd—I know). We first saw it working with The St. Regis Washington, D.C. years ago when they added TV’s to their mirrors. Well now it’s being taken a step further. Mirrors are now able to hook up to smart phones through blue tooth. They can play music, check your e-mail and play movies. We at McConnell Marketing are happy to provide you with ideas and collateral to instruct guests on how to use the technology.

 

So What Exactly Is Vine?

Screen Shot 2013-02-06 at 10.21.40 AMYou have probably heard everyone talking about Vine, Twitter’s “amazing” new app. The app has arrived on iOS, and you may have even downloaded it—but you’re probably wondering, “What exactly is it?” Alex Hern at NewsStatesman.com has all the answers:

Vine is an app—currently only for iOS—that records six seconds of video and posts it on an endless loop to your Twitter account. If you are familiar with the animated gif, this is very similar. The videos automatically start playing, are muted by default, endlessly loop and must be between three and six seconds long. “You aren’t going to be making movies with these, or even any sort of narrative video clip at all—it’s purely for sharing “moments”,” Hern said.

There are limitations, however. Hern said, “Vine offers no option for editing after you’ve recorded, nor does it let you import videos taken or downloaded elsewhere.”

So how does Vine work with Twitter? You can sign up with your Twitter account and share every post to Twitter by default. It’s also possible to use the service without Twitter at all. One can sign up with an e-mail address and then not export any video from Vine.

So what do you think of Vine? Will you be signing up?

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Tablet-based Concierge Programs Have Arrived

Aloft Hotels, part of the Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide brand, is piloting a tablet-based concierge program that allows guests to research local dining options, entertainment activities and so much more.

No longer will guests have to talk with a real-life concierge to get directions or restaurant recommendations. They can check flight status and print boarding passes with just a few simple taps on an iPad screen. Hotels will be equipped with two concierge stations near the front desk lobby.

Brian McGuinness, senior vice president of Specialty Select Brands for Starwood, stated “our guests tend to be independent and tech-savvy so the tablet-based concierge program allows them to conveniently plan their schedules in a familiar way that enhances their overall experience.”

Aloft now joins various other hotel groups that are digitizing service. Some hotels have even made the move to put and iPad in all guest rooms, charging them if they choose to take the iPad with them.

Sounds like a pretty good deal, right? To find out more information on how hotels are integrating tablets check out travel.usatoday.com.