Social Media in 2014

Ok, I'll admit it. I'm from the 'Baby Boomer' generation and Social Media has not been a big deal to me. But it is getting harder to ignore the growing importance of Social Media in the Hospitality Industry.
I just read an article by Esther Hertzfeld, Hotel Management Technology News, about four W Hotels in New York City now offering a $3000 service to enhance your wedding experience. The service includes creating a unique wedding #hashtag, live tweeting of your wedding and reception, creating Pinterest boards to "inspire" your honeymoon plans and registry, and "will put a Shutterfly book together afterward so you can reminisce over all of the social media milestones from your big day."
Over the top? Perhaps - but, wait a minute. Look at any 2014 Marketing Trends report and you'll find Social Media a growing hot topic.
From Social Media Today.com, "Recent studies show the increasing influence of social media in the search and planning stages of travel, while pure research seems to be slightly declining."
From Hospitalitynet.org, "Social media and mobile will be inseparable. Ericsson estimates that there will be over 50 billion connected devices in circulation by 2020. In North America, 2014 will mark the first year that online access is greater from mobile devices than a desktop or laptop."
From Hospitality.cvent.com, "User-generated content will be the biggest thing in social media for 2014. Retailers are already using their customer's own content to build up their sales. 2014 will be the year hotels find ways to capitalize on user generated content to increase group bookings at hotels."
From Hospitalitynet.org, "Select social media has a place in meetings. Social media has minimal impact on securing corporate meetings business, with the possible exception of LinkedIn. During meetings, however, planners and conferees use Twitter and LinkedIn for communicating with each other, and also with moderators."
Now is the time to think like the W Hotels in New York City - how can we use social media to value add our hotel and make it stand out from our competitors? If you are doing something unique with social media at your site, let us know and you may find yourself in the next HUG Newsletter!

Kathy Traylor