How Hotels, Resorts, and Casinos Can Leverage Social Media

Hotels, resorts, and casinos are trying hard to engage with their consumers on social media. They are trying their best to “show off” their brand to their consumers in an effort to engage their current consumers, and attract new consumers.

The key to successful engagement lies in making things convenient for the consumer, the messaging has to inform & ENTERTAIN, and you have to look for ways to leverage every interaction.

Not just online, but you need to involve your direct marketing channels to drive effective engagement across channels.

Here are some practical ideas on how Social Media can be leveraged -

1. Twitter - You should tweet about events leveraging your brand, your performers, & special events at the property. Mix up information with an occasional special coupon driven by trivia. Of course, all coupons have to be redeemed in person.

2. Blogs - Take the feedback you get from your consumers and post that on your blog. Invite some of your patrons to write about their experiences. Genuine articles work very well. People can blog about their first visit or special events that they celebrated at your property.

3. Facebook allows you in to the 'living room' of your patrons. Give them an opportunity to share their pictures & experiences on these pages so these can further be shared with friends & family.

4. Flickr & YouTube allow you to share your experiences. Yes pictures & video are worth a million words. Encourage your kitchen or your bartender to whip up one of their favorite recipes. Capture this on YouTube. Take pictures of cakes & pastries and post these on Flickr. Be sure to tag both video and image with the right captions.

5. Email is your enabler. Encourage & reward your EMPLOYEES to collect email ids from your patrons by focusing on the value of the email program. If you use your social media channels effectively, your employees can talk about what is being shown off on social media.

Done correctly, this can help lure the patrons to sign up for email.

You have to be a little careful here not to create too much virtual reality. The experience over the web should be done as “teaser information” to drive the patron in.

Read more >>

Five Tips from Cyber Monday and Black Friday

Here are five quick tips to make sure that your consumer is engaged.

Tip One – Know your consumers preferences so they don’t have to go through dozens of items to find something of “value.”

Tip Two – Offer the consumer the ability to find a “gift.” Gifting guides are useful and much appreciated by the consumer.

Tip Three - Track what your consumer adds to their basket and also their clicks. Now use this information to build up a preference database on them.

Tip Four – Keep checking in with your consumer in real time across channels to see if they are satisfied with what they have purchased.

Tip Five - Let your consumers browse your social media channels to get instant feedback on what they are looking at. Also, listen to them on social media channels – you will hear the real buzz and a little nudging from you will encourage a satisfied consumer to share their story with their friends.

Keep your focus towards building relationships with the empowered consumer. Let this holiday shopping season be the start of a grateful relationship.

Read more >>

Engaging Subject Lines from Last Week

Last week launched the start of the holiday shopping season – retailers launched cross channel marketing initiatives to drive foot traffic in stores, cross channel sales, and an attempt to grow their consumer connections.

Three things highlight how the merchants tried to keep the consumer engaged.

First, the merchant built up the anticipation of carrying great value and an incredible array of merchandise.

Second, the merchant reminded the consumer that they were willing to match the price with an affiliated offer.

Third, the merchant used three to five “awesome” deals to draw the consumer in.

The key now is to see how well the merchant can sustain the relationship with the consumer.

Here are some standout (both good and bad) messages from last week:

1 - Online Only: Black Friday Deals Revealed Today (made it on Wednesday & was preceded by the message below on Tuesday)

2 - Enjoy these early Black Friday Specials before they are GONE

3 - Get a sneak peek @ our 3-Day Black Friday Sale

4 - Unbelievable Thanksgiving Specials - Open for Details (sent on Friday morning)

5 - Black Friday Breakfast Deal (the amazing deal offered a 10% coupon :)

Do share your favorite subject lines...

Read more >>

Happy Thanksgiving: The Best Holiday Marketing Strategy

Many years ago, our lovely receptionist Diane would buy bicycles for foster children in early November and leave them in the reception area. She spent her own money to purchase every one of the bicycles and put them up for display.

As people walked in and out of the office each day, they stopped and looked at the bicycles. Many of us would make a donation that would pay for a part of a bicycle, an entire bicycle, and sometimes multiple bicycles.

Diane left cards for people to sign so recipients would know who the kind donors were. Some donors opted to remain anonymous. Others unable to donate would simply sign the cards. Watching the bicycles being gifted and reading all the cards inspired others to do the same. When Diane was out of bicycles, she purchased more and brought them into the office.

During the holiday season, Diane hosted a party for these young children. The children took the bicycles home, the donors were happy, and a very grateful Diane walked away planning her next act of kindness.

I began working in the office with Diane in 1990. Over the years, the number of bicycles gifted would increase exponentially. Every year, there were more people who wanted to help the foster children. Diane was very kind and was always cheerful to all as we walked in and out of the door. She built relationships with people all year and when it was once again "bicycle season," we all wanted to do something nice for her and support her cause.

As you think about the holiday season and your social media strategy, consider Diane's motives and actions and apply those same ideas and principles to engage with your consumers.

Here are some ideas to consider:

Acknowledge and engage in a dialogue with your customers. You could start by asking them their plans for the holiday season; it could be a destination they are visiting, things they plan to purchase, or time spent with loved ones. Share what you are planning to do and get a conversation going.

As the holiday season approaches, give them things that they can share with friends. You could give them online cards, a holiday game to engage, or even an incentive of sending their friends sample items.

Think about purchasing your own "bicycles." Feature the charity you support or the causes that you endorse, and make an investment in "gifts." You can now ask your consumers if they would like to be part of the team that signs the cards or buys gifts for the recipients.

When you throw the party and give away the gifts, share pictures on the site. You could also get recipients to come up with personally drawn thank you cards – all of which you should consider publishing on your social media sites.

The best holiday marketing strategy is to be genuine, to empathize with your consumers, and make them want to connect with you. Think about what your brand stands for and do something unique to leverage your ability to connect.

I originally wrote this article for ClickZ. Here is a link to the original article. I know Diane had a great thanksgiving, I hope you all did too!

Read more >>

What gets you friends and followers?

While the "F" and "T" on billboards are understood by many, they offer very little reason as to the value proposition from the brand. Some brands spell it out by more by asking their consumer to become a fan or a follower. Again, there is very little reason as to why.

If you want your consumers to join you on social media - focus on intrigue, a genuine dialogue, and real time relevance. Here are a few simple suggestions in how you can use Facebook, your Twitter account, & your Blog to make connections.

Ask people to join you on Facebook to see the latest pictures from your 'special events.' Encourage people to upload their own events and this is what gets the dialogue going.

Give people a few reasons to follow you on Twitter - perhaps a special promotion code, a white paper or case study, good information, or even using Twitter to answer questions.

Offer part of your story in your Tweet or your Facebook update - put the rest of the story up on your Blog. You can use the blog to consolidate information and provide a central location for all your social media.

Do not forget to tie all social media sites back to your consumer information file. Provide a link to allow consumers to update their preference pages. Your preference pages need to be cross channel. Be sure to ask for social contacts, email addresses, and mobile numbers as part of your engagement strategy.

Read more >>

Five Quick Tips to Kick Off the Holiday Season

“Turkey Day” signals the start of the holiday shopping season. Offers have already been coming in with subject lines of, “Why wait for thanksgiving” or “75% off savings TODAY” or even, “Shop now at up to 90% off and loads of inventory.”

Your consumers’ inbox will be more crowded than last year. Additionally, the consumer will be hit by offers via multiple channels. Stores have already started advertising specials, plus there is the barrage of offers via mobile and social media.

Here are a few tips to “fine tune” your messaging so you can grab your consumers attention, connect quickly, and get them to take action.

1) Get to the Point, Quickly – Spend a little extra time on your subject lines, there will be tons of sales, promotions etc. so you need to make your message stands out – clever subject lines may not get you the same response as a specific, clear introduction. Yes, you can make longer subject lines work this holiday season.

2) An Interesting Offer Will Stand Out – Your customers and prospects know how frequently you mail; if you double the volume, they will notice. While consumers are expecting an increase in volume - think about coordinating your digital offers and also keep your offers interesting. Offer variety, don't just resend your email messages. Balance your frequency with the clarity of your offer.

3) Go Mobile, Go Social – You need to make sure you post your offers on your social media sites. In addition to that, make sure you listen to the conversations on social media. Watch the pulse of what your fans are saying about your company and the offers you are making. Make sure that the offers via mobile are to the point and supportive of everything else you do.

4) Remind Your Consumers About Expiration Dates – Play with deadlines and incorporate the phrases “shop early” or “email only” where and when they make sense. Urgency coupled with your creative could be great ways to triumph your efforts.

5) Wish Your Consumers – Also, even if you are not selling on the web – do not forget to wish your consumers and engage them during the holiday season.

Wishing you a great start to this holiday shopping season!

Read more >>

A Simple Mantra to Grow Your Digital Contacts

There is a frantic effort to collect as many digital consumer contacts as possible. Companies are springing up to seek and sell consumer digital contacts. A list purchase is no panacea for your digital database. Most consumers do not like the surprise.

To connect with your consumers you have to keep looking for consumers, do this consistently across all your channels, and keep things interesting for your consumers to stick around.

Start by making sure that you have your value proposition clearly defined. Let your consumer know what benefit they will get by providing you with their digital contact information. Keep checking on the value proposition to make sure that it is truly valuable, and up to date.

Train all your channels to speak consistently to the consumer. Do not slow the transaction down by asking the wrong information at the wrong channel. It is hard to capture an email id at a grocery store with people in line.

Make sure that your messaging is engaging and that your consumer is the one that is participating in the discussion. If you have promised to provide valuable tips, and special offers three times a week - make sure that you are not messaging your consumer every day with old content. Social media gives you an incredible opportunity to keep your content fresh.

Set goals and dedicate your efforts to capturing digital contacts. It will be your key to successful engagement.

Read more >>

Does an email open signify consent?

I received an email from someone I do not know, who works for a company that I am not aware of. The subject line in the email was vague as it said, “Our follow up meeting.”

I was 3/4ths of a second away from deleting it when something forced me to open the message. See, it came from a guy named Todd and between his name and the subject line, I kept scratching my head to be respectful to figure out who this really was.

I was right! The letter was out of the blue from someone who had purchased my email id. I did not know Todd, nor had I ever heard of his company, and the follow up meeting was something he was actually seeking. Todd wanted to build a relationship and introduce me to their products.

What has followed has been hysterical. I received another email with the subject line, “Your interest in technical training on our products…”

I opened this one to be further amused by the following text, “Thank you for reading the recent electronic newsletter we sent you on customer satisfaction, product support, and training. More details on his offers were followed by a request. Can we set up some time to talk next week?”

I then got another email with the subject line, “We are trying to get back to you.” This was followed by a third email message which said, “We have tried twice to get in touch with you by email, I will call you to follow up on this note.”

Next, I did get a phone call from Todd where I politely requested to be un-subscribed from his list. No problem he said and our conversation was over.

Just as I expected, I got another email from his company. This time it was from Julie, offering me the same. I opened it and I received the first follow up, “Your interest in technical training on our products…”

I guess the cycle will continue. Does an open signify consent?

Read more >>

How to mess up your post sale transactional message

Congratulations! You have just converted the prospect into a customer. You have convinced them to purchase a product or a service. You proceed to thank them for becoming a customer. You also decide that it is time to up sell them with offers that are relevant.

Timely emails are awesome - email marketers know that transactional emails have higher open rates, and usually have a higher rate of conversion as the customer is already in a buying mood. A few businesses do a great job in the further up-sell. Most do nothing at all. There are others that actually help 'un-sell' the consumer resulting in the original order or service being cancelled - the customer is back to becoming a prospect and the pursuit continues.

While some do a great job selling an extended warranty after the purchase, a few have lost the sale by reminding the new customer about the 'two month money back guarantee' or an upgrade to something else or the 'free trial being extended.' Worse yet, some organizations welcome the first time buyer into an open forum without really checking the content on the forum. The new customer is faced with more options, gets an opportunity to meet dissatisfied past buyers, & at times just waits for a better deal.

In B2B situations the rep may continue to list 'feature - function - benefit' after the prospect has agreed to purchase. The rep feels compelled to sell because they feel that the prospect hasn't heard everything that the rep has to say (or has prepared to say). The rep feels they still haven't sold all the virtues of the product or service. It is very easy to loose the prospect.

A suggestion to sellers - take a look at your post sale messages. Do include the 'thank you' but take a careful look at where your up-sell might lead the consumer. Think about setting up a recurring stream of thank you messages where you can lead your customer towards a goal state one message at a time. Think about having two sets of messages - one for the first time buyer & one for your regulars. The two groups react differently.

Learn when to stop selling past the close. Too many opportunities are lost in 'excessive' translation.

Read more >>

Is a deceptive call to action a violation of CAN-SPAM?

We’ve all been there, you get an email from a company but are not exactly sure why. I’m not talking about some funky segmentation or broad-brush promotional email – I mean an obvious what-the-heck-were-they-thinking?

In a quest to increase their interaction with consumers some brands relentlessly push three types of campaigns.

The first one is a random, 'what the heck were they thinking.' Imagine getting an email with an offer that is absolutely not connected to anything you have ever done with that brand. In fact, it is so random that it makes you wonder if they even bothered to look at your past transactions or purchases. We use an online service to send gift baskets to friends. Out of the blue we started receiving emails on outdoor barbeque equipment!

The second type of campaign that is a little worse is the one where you think they are on to something, but the landing page is where they fool you. I know that CAN-SPAM says that you should not use deceptive subject lines. I guess these companies decided to use a deceptive call to action. An offer to come check out the buzz on a companies social media site ended up taking me to their what-is-on-sale page. It did not happen once, it happens quite often.

I would like to call the third type of campaign the "Rip Van Winkle." This is where a company forgets to email you for months and all of a sudden you start getting messages from them without a reminder as to why they are re-starting their dialogue with you.

As a business, you build up trust and segment to personalize effectively. Do it well, and you can engage. If you confuse the consumer, you loose them forever.

Read more >>

Want to justify social media? Here are seven proven reasons...

Here are very valid, effective, and profitable reasons to run social media.

1 - You have to reduce costs. As marketers we pay for brand impressions. Many of our brand impressions cannot be measured effectively - social media can be measured and if you start leveraging your social media interactions to engage your consumers, you can reduce the spend on other channels.

2 - You have to learn to listen. People are talking about your brand and they are talking about what they need. You need to listen to their feedback and their conversations so you can improve your product or service. Most importantly, you need to leverage your listening into starting a dialogue with your consumers.

3 - You have to focus on customer service. Your customer service representatives can answer important consumer questions on online channels. When they do this, the viral nature of social media gets the word out - plus, the consumer is able to find answers. You can an added bonus when your consumers start answering questions on your behalf regarding your product or service.

4 - You have to establish credibility. You are the expert on your brand & you need to make sure that you are able to lead discussions and answer questions effectively. Your consumer will recognize you on social media channels and will appreciate your commitment to sharing your expertise.

5 - You have to spread the word. If you offer up a good forum, great tips, or something that is valuable - your consumers will share it with their friends. Your goal should be to listen, educate, & offer up an easy way for the consumer to share it with their friends.

6 - You have to drive revenue. Many business can measure the exact impact of their online sales. A few leaders are actually using social media to drive sales across channel. These companies are actually measuring the impact of social media in real sales.

7 - You need it to compete. Your consumers are already on social media. Your prospects are on social media. Your competitors are on social media. Perhaps you are already on social media as well, you just need to be more aggressive in how you approach your consumers.

Read more >>

Segmentation that did not work like it should have

A major financial institution took time to segment out their super elite. They created very compelling offers for these people. The men got cuff-links, women got scarves, & the address labels for the package that was mailed were hand written. The financial institution wanted to get the attention of the recipient and an in person meeting for their investment officers. Very stylish & elegantly done. When they designed the letter, one of their marketers put in a placeholder for the salutation that read, 'Dear Rich Bastard.' Unfortunately when the final letter was printed it still read, 'Dear Rich Bastard.' The customers found out first!

A 19 year old signed up to receive emails from a electronic game company. The first few emails were targeted and incredible. He purchased things from them. He is now getting offers that are more appropriate for a 10 year old even though there is no one at home that matches that profile.

I got two offers to sign up for digital wireless - 35% off, followed by a 40% off - all within 15 minutes. While I was thrilled that I got more, I did wonder if someone else got 50% off!

A good friend of mine was two nights away from achieving 'super-elite' status with a particular hotel chain. He checked into the hotel only to be banished to the 'basement.' When he checked out (two days later) his invoice welcomed him to the 'super-elite.' Sadly he was acknowlegded by a computer and not by the people who worked there.

A major airline has created an additional top tier segment. They want their special to become 'super-special.' Unfortunately, while their people channel has started doing a good job in recognizing the new tier, their systems keep missing out on 'basics.' Unfortunately, the 'super-special' tier keeps missing out on what they were promised and I sure hope that the airline goes back to the drawing board to fix things.

If you have a segmentation strategy, you need to test things out to make sure that your segmentation strategy is operational. In simple english, make sure it works!

Read more >>

You can divide and conquer through segmentation

Segmentation can be as important as any other component of message development. While most segmentation requires some preference data there are others that can be leveraged if you’re just starting out or have limited information or time:

• The Random A:B Split – Just divide the list, alter something and deliver… see which message performs better.


• The 10:90 Split – Take the item above a little further; randomly split a fraction of the list and send earlier in the day. Alter the subject line or the content to see which one performs better, now take the better performing message and deploy to the remainder of the list

These strategies need some additional data, enhance your sign-up process to include preferences – this data forms the foundation for a lot of the personalization that is possible:

• Message Type – Divide based on those who want HTML, text or rich text messages, or those that get it on mobile; include a link to the other types, just so the recipient can see the available options.


• Timing – Release by time zone or, if possible, ask your user what time they would like to receive your alerts (morning, afternoon etc.)


• Source code Segmentation – Your recipients didn’t just appear, they signed up through an inquiry, purchase, directly from your website. They could have found you as the result of a search, perhaps a contest entry, partnership or append so leverage that information.

Alternatively, you could bypass the whole personal preferences and just base it on the recipient’s actions – and not just the buyer or non-buyer segments.

• Operational Segmentation – Target people following the order process or an incomplete transaction; the same applies to your non-responders or inactive list.


• Transactional Segmentation – Your typical opens, clicks or responses can all be leveraged. Watch for multiples, repeated clicks on a certain section or item can tell you a lot about a person… and help you generate future offers.


• First Responders – By tracking overall counts, you’ll quickly identify the first responders; acknowledge them and put them into their own group to receive advanced notice of your communiqués.

These suggestions don’t contemplate the added potential gained from survey data… so keep dividing your list and make the messages as personalized as possible.

Read more >>