Why Social Media Matters to the Hotel industry?

Social Media is one of the hottest trends nowadays. We hear everyone talking about social media and the number of users increases day by day.

The idea behind social media is to connect people and friends and provide them the platform to engage with each other. Most commonly used social media tools are: blog, facebook, twitter, myspace, youtube, linkedin, tripadvisor and many more.

Why is it important?

We are living in an information age which is fast changing and more competitive. The internet provides endless sources of information and gives the platform to connect the market and share information.

People like sharing information, comment and talk about their experiences. Social media at this point provides the platform to make their voice heard by everyone.

According to many researches people trust their virtual friends comments and recommendations more than hotels and companies. Over 70% of people looked at a review before they make their hotel booking in 2008. What this mean is that more and more people are using review sites such as TripAdvisor to gather information about people's experiences who stayed there before. And these reviews affect their purchasing behaviors’.

As you see Google and other search engines display more social media related search results:

Search Results from "Yahoo"

Search Result from "Bing"

This is not the only reason why hoteliers should consider Social Media and define a clear strategy for Social media channel. There is another as important reason which is Universal (Blended) Search which effects your online visibility and organic ranking.

“Also known as blended or federated search results; universal search pulls data from multiple databases to display on the same page. Results can include images, videos, and results from specialty databases like maps and local information, product information, or news stories. (according to searchenginewatch.com)”

Why Universal Search?

- Because it is the future, because search engines like Google and Yahoo start increasing the usage of it.

- Because search engines want to provide the most relevant results to the visitors, they blend the search with text, images, audio, video, blogs, maps and other applications to make it happen.

- More importantly it is free and increases your organic ranking.

Implementing Social Media Marketing Strategy will increase your organic ranking and online visibility. It also helps build awareness and branding and reputation.

Make sure you have a clear social media plan and strategy to benefit from online visibility and visitors purchasing behaviors and keep your credibility online.

Velit Dundar