Use of Social Media on Small and Medium Hospitality Enterprise - Research Paper Example

USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON SMALL AND MEDIUM HOSPITALITY ENTERPRISE due: Social media has gained much popularity in the recently. People are always online either chatting or digging for information. The continued use of the internet has narrowed the globe into a village, which is called as a global community. People can hold meetings online and also order some services or products. The development of social media platforms has further accelerated the digitization of the way businesses are conducted. Traditional methods of communication are rapidly being rendered obsolete. Businesses such as hotels have adopted the social media platforms. The social media tools include Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, which are the commonly used tools. Flickr is another social media tool, though not freely used commercially. The social media tools have been incorporated into the businesses as promotional and marketing tools. Videos are uploaded in YouTube, where potential customers can watch them and then make informed decisions on their hotel choices. The customers can also use the same social media tools to enquire more about the services or brands offered by the organizations. The technology has seen small businesses scale to unimaginable heights after proper use of the social media tools. This paper seeks to discuss the use of social media tools in small businesses is done. The point of reference is Cragwood Country House Hotel, which will be utilized in a case study. Contents Abstract 2 Contents 3 Introduction 4 Literature review 4 Case study 6 Methodology 6 Structured approach to evaluation 7 Reflection of the literature review 9 Structured approach to a new social media strategy 10 Strategy 10 Strategy implementation 11 Opportunity 11 Discussion and conclusion 12 Facebook 14 YouTube 14 Twitter 15 Recommendations 16 Conclusion 16 Appendices 19 Bibliography 21 Introduction Social media have become so popular and found home in the hotels and tourist destinations. The social media has enabled visitors to reserve bookings online and also share their views with the other social media users. Social media have significantly helped in popularizing the hotels. The hotels have high-speed internet services, enabling visitors to browse and initiate real-time online conversations. The use of these services has brought numerous benefits to the hotels. The benefits include but not limited to getting customers’ feedback on the services offered, which enables the management to improve their customer services. Rating of a particular social medium is shown by the popularity rate of members in a given media. For instance, in Facebook, the number of users liking the page of the hotel displays the popularity of the Facebook page, translating to an equivalent level of popularity of the entire hotel. Literature review Social media is has found applications in many businesses. When coming up with a new strategy of marketing and advertising a business, enough groundwork need to be done. Proper evaluation will ensure the effectiveness of the social media settled on. The management should evaluate the existing social media in use and determine what can be improved on the existing social media tool. The management should also take time to analyse the three most important tools used in social media. The social media include the Trinity, blogging, micro-blogging and the social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. The use of Flickr is however only limited to personal use. Commercial use of it requires an approval from the Flickr community (Newson, Houghton, & Patten 2008, p.72). Marketing should be integrated with the social media as a way of improving on the hotel’s advertisement. Well implemented social media strategy also works well in managing the reputation of a business. Engaging in social media means the management has a responsibility of maintaining the reputation of the enterprise. People are continuously talking about the business’ products and the brands offered. The management of an enterprise need to be aware of such people’s conversations and be ready to take react appropriately. When someone writes something positive about the company on a blog, the business should appreciate and commend the compliment. Likewise, the business should acknowledge receiving a negative comment, and should take appropriate action. Unlike the conventional press, the social media serve well as a reliable marketing tool (Amerland, 2012, p. 100; Thevenot, 2007, p. 287-289). Social media serves as an inexpensive tool for finding more of traveller details. The Trip Advisor, a popular travel website helps in driving an active conversation with customers. Engagement of potential clients through social media networking assists in boosting sales and managing the expectations of a business. The management of the company operations is a crucial business’ social media strategy (Moliterni, 2008, p. 432). Derived from the many benefits it offers, social media tools such as Twitter has been adopted by many businesses, especially hotels that rely on intensive advertising so as to lure many tourists. The hotels have to prove that they are unique in a way, so as to stand out from the rest and win the tourists’ hearts. Twitter, for instance, has proved to be an extremely useful tool for generation of buzz on the online social media campaign. It however needs reinforcement with other tools such as the Facebook, blogs and websites for it to be fully effective. Of late, passive consumption of Twitter by ta bulk of users has been witnessed. Social media networking, coupled with the conventional marketing channels, works to amplify the influence and widen the group reached by the marketing messages. Orchestrating the Twitter with other channels such as YouTube provides a wide-reaching media campaign, translating to a better marketing tool for the hotel (Amerland, 2012, p. 104). Case study Cragwood Country House Hotel is used as a case study for this discussion. The Hotel, located in Eccelrigg, Windermere, England, is an example of a hotel that has fully embraced the use of social media. The address of Cragwood Country House Hotel is Windermere LA23 1LQ, England, United Kingdom. Their high speed Wi-Fi allows an easier time to the customers in terms of sharing their views and also helping the management in the improvement of their services. The number of likes and the visits are indicative of good utilization of the Facebook page. The hotel’s official Facebook page has 485 likes and 2,794 visits. The administrator of the page also keeps updating it regularly. The creator of the page had aesthetic value in mind. The page cover page is well illustrated by a high definition photo of the hotel, clearly showing the beautiful green scenery surrounding the hotel. Its location on the shores Lake Wildemere makes it even more fascinating to the eyes of any potential customer. To make full utilization of the social media, the hotel also has a provision for Twitter. Their twitter handle is fully functional with 2,830 followers, 390 following and 1,855 tweets as per the time this investigation was being carried out. Additional photos have also been posted on their pin interest and the Facebook too. Methodology This study is based on Cragwood Country House in England, UK. The hotel wishes to implement a new strategy so as to boost the hotel’s business. Social media is a promotional tool, to attract more tourists to the hotel. The main intent for picking this hotel was because it is an average hotel with a potential for growth. The other reason was that this hotel mainly deals with tourists’ reservations, especially newlyweds who visit it for their honeymoon. The primary analysis will be done on the adoption of social media by the hotel, and how the usage of social media can speed up the growth of the hotel. Social media have found applications in various disciplines. Its use can longer be ignored since it produces great advantages to the users. Social media are an excellent advertising tool, which is very cheap and has affordable by all. The primary social media are Facebook and Twitter. The others include travel sites such as the Trip Advisor. Logging into these social sites provides the user with much information, allowing him or her to make informed travel decisions. The sites provide the full details of a particular destination or a hotel. For instance, when one visits the Cragwood Country House Hotel’s Facebook page, he or she finds all the information needed. On Twitter, a would-be customer can even initiate a conversation with other clients. This will enable the customers to share their experiences of the hotel, thus drawing more customers. In the areas where the customers were not satisfied, the management of the hotel will be in a position to correct and improve. In the evaluation of the use of the social media, the centre of focus would be the Cragwood Country House Hotel. Investigation will be done on how the hotel has made use of the social media, Facebook, Twitter and Trip Advisor and how this has impacted on the hotel’s operations. The question of the best strategy to improve the hotel’s business by using social media will be answered in this discussion (Safko, 2010, p. 704). Apart from marketing, the social media can also be utilized by the management of the hotel to change the organizational culture. Structured approach to evaluation For proper assessment of the use of social media on business operations, a number of issues will be explored. The exploration will enable us to come up with a better strategy for implementation of an effective social media tool, for expansion of a business. A better strategy for acquirement of a useful social media tool will involve various parties concerned with the company. The parties will range from the management to the clients. Employees of the enterprise have a bigger role to play in the attainment of a better social media usage. The website of a company falls under the social media. Customers need to know the web address of the enterprise. The website will be used by clients to discover the products offered by the business, book reservations and checking in. For instance, the Cragwood Country House hotel has put their website on their Facebook page. When a customer searches www.cragwoodhotel.co.uk, he or she can accesses more information, which is not provided on the Facebook page. To further make the website known to the customers, the receptionist may give out the web address to the customers via the company’s voicemail. When the customers are put on hold, they can be advised to visit the hotel’s website as they wait to be attended to (Safko, 2010, p.704). Another useful approach to implementing the social media tools would be to watermark the URL and the Twitter account on the videos. Mentioning the twitter account and the URL in the podcasts would also be very effective. The broadcast would increase the awareness of the hotel’s existence globally thus raising the clientele. The other good strategy would be to include the Twitter handle on the official emails sent out to customers. Mentioning of blog address would also increase the customers’ visits to the sites, where they will get more information. Including the blog address in the podcasts and videos will also make a better marketing strategy. When doing advertisements via hard copies, brochures bearing the hotel’s social sites should be included. For instance, brochures and direct mail pieces should take the ‘Visit Us at…’ or ‘Follow us on @ YourName’ will work miracles as far as advertising the hotel is concerned. Further exploitation of the social media tool will involve adding a hyperlink to the blog address of the hotel. Every mail sent out should have the hyperlink. The hyperlink will catch the attention of the mail recipients, who will in turn spread the good news of the hotel (Safko, 2010, p. 704). Mentioning the Twitter address in the hotel’s blog will also serve well in advertising the hotel. In the blogs, microblog tweets containing the address to the social networks will work efficiently. The microblog tweets display the web address, and a customer can then download the PDF containing the hotel’s telephone number, from which they can call the hotel. Once the customers call, they can then be directed to the hotel’s website where they will find the Facebook, Twitter accounts of the hotel, creating a complete, effective social media coverage. The use of the social media will give the management an opportunity for creation of demand through marketing. Development of a search engine optimization will speed up the research by potential consumers. The search engine optimization will ensure the users find the Web. The website descriptions and keywords should be used as the primary search tools for hotel. The site can also be linked to famous local attractions surrounding the hotel (Sturman, Corgel, & Verma, 2011, p. 409). Reflection of the literature review The social media tools will significantly boost the hotel’s revenue. They will enhance the hotel’s operations, cutting the cost and providing an efficient mode of working. Embracing social media comes in as a very crucial tool especially in a business such as Cragwood Country House Hotel. Tourists will rely heavily on the information provided in the social media. An indicator of the number of people visiting the Facebook page of Cragwood Country House hotel will be the number of likes. The likes will be accompanied by almost an equivalent number of posts, comments, shares and post likes. To fully utilise the social media tool and the hotel should develop a mobile application. The application should then be promoted the Facebook page and their website, so as to achieve a proper model of integration (Xiang & Tussyadiah, 2013, p.155). Structured approach to a new social media strategy Additional sources of revenue and traffic can be obtained through the social media. The social media provide a new and modern way of obtaining the required traffic and income. The good thing about social media is that it does not require huge costs. Competition has been witnessed from all companies including hotels. Counteracting the competition requires companies to come up with better and smart ways of advertisement. Many hotels are doing extra-ordinary things to cope with the game. An opportunity such as Twitter and Facebook has provided a better strategy (Safko, 2010, p.702). Strategy Creation of an ordinary Twitter account may not be suitable enough for the hotel. Creativity comes in handy if the strategy has to outdo the other competitors in the market. Development of an informative but simplified Twitter account will work better. The staff should also be well trained on the use of the account. Tweets should then be created based on events, deals, packages and new products in the hotel (Safko, 2010, p. 702). Many opportunities would be derived from the use of the well-developed Twitter accounts. One of such opportunities would be customers tweeting their hotel recommendations. Continued tweeting with the customers will raise special Twitter rates. The raised Twitter rates raise the traffic of the use the social media by the hotel. By so doing, credibility conversation will be obtained, increasing the traffic further. The second opportunity will be when the customers initiate the conversations by enquiring what unique products the hotel offers. The products provided by the hotel may include dog parks, security and meals to which the hotel tweets back. By maintaining such an active Twitter conversation, a solidified booking will be established, cutting the operational costs of the hotel while at the same time achieving high customers’ inflow. The customers will also achieve satisfaction since they will be well furnished with information (Safko, 2010, p. 702). Strategy implementation Cragwood Country House Hotel will be advised to seek the services of a well-established design company to create high standard and unique twitter accounts for the hotel. The social media icons of the hotel should be included on the hotel’s website so as to increase the users’ visibility. An editorial calendar should be involved in the maintenance of the social media to ensure there is a continuous process of reviewing of tweets. Opportunity The main objective for the continued use of social media is increased revenue through the special follower rate in Twitter. The high follower rate increases the hotel’s credibility among the social media community resulting from building trust and provision of a top-notch customer service (Safko, 2010, p. 703). Social media provide many opportunities in the hotel industry ranging from customer service to public relations. A Facebook page of a hotel like the Cragwood will reveal the travellers’ use of the social media, by the number of questions asked through the site. The hotel management on its side has taken its role to provide answers to the questions asked and provide compliments to the customers’ appreciation of the hotel’s services. By cleverly answering the customers’ questions online, the would-be customers get the assurance that the hotel takes its customer service obligations seriously (Benckendorff, Sheldon & Fesenmaier, 2014, p. 140). Social media are, therefore, a powerful tool for creating instant customer satisfaction. Its ability to even initiate and maintain a chat with a client makes it even more powerful and impressive. Discussion and conclusion Utilization of social media such as Facebook does not just provide a means of communication but also forms an important tool for establishment of organizational culture within the hotel. Social media is used by the management as a tool for changing the values connected with a particular hotel brand. Social media are used a marketing channel and an evaluation tool for identification of current trends to be used in improving the customer portfolio. Managers can monitor the developments of their hotels through the Facebook. Increasing number of likes are indicative of an active. By counter checking with other rival hotels, the management of Cragwood hotel will be able to keep up with stiff competition. The management is also able to monitor the daily reports from various software programs, enabling them to maintain their operations. The daily reports obtained from the social media are also used to show how the hotel is operating in the social media, and what is said about the hotel. Knowledge about the opinions of people concerning the hotel helps in the identification and maintenance of customers’ needs (Rospigliosi & Greener, 2014, p. 647). The social media also finds applications in stimulating users to create contents that enrich the community. A hotel may for instance, initiate a conversation in the social media about their favourite dishes they would like made. Such a conversation makes it convenient to the customers, since they can make captain orders before moving to the hotel. When they finally reach there, the food will be ready, thus saving them time. The hotel also benefits from such arrangements out of the fact that it can meet the full requirements of the customers (Minazzi, 2014, p. 105). To gain popularity among potential users, social media come in handy from the fact that it is based on communication between individuals online. Social media are classified as a digital media. Unlike the traditional means of marketing that was one way; digital communication employs a two-way communication where the receiver of the information can answer instantly. In digital transmission, the receiver of the information is spreads messages in social media and also comments. When Cragwood Country House Hotel markets its products online, the recipients receive the message instantly. There is, therefore, a creation of a direct link between the sender and the recipient in social media marketing. The online kind of communication has given the consumers a reliable means of communication and a new position. In addition, the new technology and the new channels of communication have offered a mutual benefit to the marketer, the hotel, and the consumers of the hotel’s products. For efficiency of the system, the employees have to learn the technology and also know exactly what kind of information they need to publish in the social media. This calls for responsible employees’ behaviour who understands the relevant and desirable information to broadcast via the social media tools. Social media tools such as Facebook provides not just a way of communication but also forms an important tool for establishment of an organizational culture within Cragwood Country House Hotel. The management of the hotel will use social media as a crucial instrument for improving the hotel’s image and reputation. The social media will also be used to evaluate and identify the other rival hotels, so as to come up with a better strategy for beating them. Daily reports obtained from the software programs will enable the management to know how the hotel is discussed in the social media, whether positive or negative. From this knowledge, the management is then able to come up with ways of containing the situation (Rospigliosi & Greener, 2014, p.644). For the effectiveness of the social media usage, the management needs to identify who should be allowed to make the publications. Filtering of the content put on the social media is critical since it avoids putting the reputation of the hotel at stake. The management should also learn and make use of the social media tools that are popular with the younger generation. Once this has been established, it will possible for the management to dedicate all the content pertaining to the youth along that channel (Rospigliosi & Greener, 2014, p. 647). Facebook Facebook is the most popular soil media tool. Its extraordinary high level of acceptance makes it very popular, and the most sought after tool for use by businesses. It has a massive potential economic value and is used as a comprehensive platform for use in both internal and external communications (Pesonen, 2011, p. 537-546). It is a primary social media tool in use. Most of the people using the internet access Facebook, a fact that could be attributed to its simplicity in use. It is estimated that two-thirds of travellers who use the internet are on Facebook (Leung, Schuckert & Yeung 2013, p. 195-206). The conversion rates from Facebook referrals exceed those from the other online travel sites by far. Out of this fact, hotels are rapidly integrating their reservation system into their Facebook page. Customers do not need to leave their current pages to make bookings. Facebook page provides the booking provision, making it very convenient for the online users (McCarthy, Stock & Verma, 2010, p. 4-18). YouTube After going public in 2005, YouTube has been adopted in the tourism industry for promotional services. Videos of the hotel’s activities can be uploaded in YouTube, as a way of publicizing the hotel. For instance, the Cragwood hotel can take videos of their customers’ wedding vacations and then upload them online. The uploading has to be with the customers’ consent. The potential clients will be attracted to the hotel after viewing such videos. Uploading videos in YouTube also adds richness to a hotel’s website, making it more attractive to customers (Reino & Hay, 2011, p. 4). YouTube is another useful tool which the management of the hotel can adopt. YouTube will allow the hotel to embed videos in their websites. The embedded videos will make the page attractive and also increase its popularity on the search engine pages (Weber, 2013, p.140). Hotels should build video and page content in accordance with the potential customers’ most frequent search topics. The use of YouTube has not however been very efficient as a result of lack of the management to keep updating the content uploaded in YouTube (Information Resources, 2014, p. 304). Twitter Twitter is another micro-blogging social media platform, allowing users to publish and share short texts not exceeding 140 characters. It permits the sharing of videos and photos. Twitter is the most used microblogging network (Juanjo, 2013, p.13).The Twitter platform has opened new possibilities and opportunities in the field of tourism communication. Twitter is currently being used by more than 200 million people globally. Many users find it friendly due to its simplicity and its suitable characteristics which make it a perfect platform for promotional and instrumental information for tourists. The management of hotels can make use of Twitter to give information about their offers (Xiang & Tussyadiah, 2013, p. 228). A twitter account is another useful social media tool that the hotel should consider exploiting. For effectiveness of the Twitter account, the hotel should create a customer backdrop for sending out daily messages. Recommendations The use of social media comes with its legal concerns. For instance, a legitimate matter to consider is the maintenance of a control on the usage of social media sites by the employees of a given corporation. In this case, the hotel will face a challenge in the implementation of the social media policy. Inappropriate postings will cost the hotel badly. Employees of the hotel need to be reminded of the dangers of the internet, such as lack of privacy. The lack of privacy presents the problem of lack of confidentiality of the information posted (Oleary, Sheehan & Lentz, 2011, p.125). The use of Facebook can be improved by including apps. There are more than 80 percent of travellers using their mobile devices and quite a large number using their mobile devices to make online bookings. Users should make of the apps in their smartphones to check in. Such developed social media strategy should also include a website based on comprehensive monitoring. The employees tasked with monitoring the social media strategy should also be supplied with iPads to keep continuously the customers in check. A well-developed website should combine many features such as expert assessments of the hotel so as to provide a complete and reliable information about every product or brand. Customers’ comments should also be incorporated in making decisions for the hotel. The customers’ information, whether positive or negative, should be reacted on since it has much influence on the operations and the future of the hotel. Conclusion The social media is a robust and reliable means of marketing and communication by businesses. It is the best platform for acquiring an efficient marketing strategy. The social media ensure maintenance of a healthy customer relationship. It creates a golden opportunity for improvement of customer service at an affordable cost. Social media platforms have granted great success for businesses like what has been discussed in the case of Cragwood Country House Hotel. The Twitter account will allow the hotel to consistently maintain a good relationship with its customers. The customers can use the Twitter account to make bookings in the hotel. The continuous use of the Twitter earns the hotel increased Twitter rate codes, on a monthly basis from the social media community. Use of Facebook, on the other hand, favours the hotel by getting mentioned in the hotel industry-relevant blogs such as the Hotel Interactive, out of the continued use of Facebook (Safko, 2010, p.73). There are other blogs such as Hotel Marketing Strategies, which will also mention the hotel for its exhaustive use of Twitter. The mention will continually increase the popularity of the hotel, meaning an excellent reputation for the hotel. The social media have become a very favourite means of media in the recent past. Experts have expressed their views that social media is likely to replace emails and is soon going to be an enterprise solution for facilitation of collaboration, teamwork and knowledge in large corporations. Surprisingly, the social media have as well replaced Google as a method of search. Social media have become the preferred platform for dissemination of critical business in a quick and effective way (Thomas & Barlow, 2011, p. 21). At a surprising rate, social media has also emerged as a crucial means of enterprise strategy. Well implemented social media strategies have created competitive advantages over many large organizations. The use of readily available social media tools such as mobile apps has ensured the employees are walking with the business in their pockets, where they can respond to customers at any time. The current innovative uses of the new social media technologies are set to bring a complete revolution in the way businesses are run. The tools have gotten applications in customer support, sales and marketing, making running the businesses even more fun. The continued use of social media sounds an alarm to all managers to embrace the new technology in their operations. Time is long gone when some managers used to regard the social media as just a social phenomenon. Social media have become a business tool in this era. The companies assimilating the social media are assured of success in the form of a competitive edge against their rivals. Sufficient resources should, therefore, be dedicated towards the development of social media programs. 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