Reader Sylvie asks:

“…I do wonder though how many people think we post false reviews as well. I’d like to think that none but I’m sure they’re out there. How does a company go about ’showing’ their integrity? Proving they’re honest?”

Again, I’d like to take some pointers from the world of ecommerce. There, the credibility of the reviews has a large impact on sales performance – so the industry has developed creative ways to prove they’re real.

Here are 3 powerful ways to prove review integrity:

Postcards, letters, and hand-written feedback

Give away free postcards to all of your guests. If you’ve provided a great experience they will often write back to you. I saw this all the time when I worked as front desk staff at a hotel.

If people send you a postcard or letter, scan it and upload it to your website. It’s harder to fake that.

I like what Hotel SO is doing in New Zealand with their online guestbook:

Hotel SO online guestbook

They even posted this to a separate domain for easy reference…brilliant!

Signatures

If you can’t get someone to write you a whole handwritten letter, at least get their signature on a paper (with permission, of course). You can then scan and add it to your website along with their comments in digital form.

Online video or audio

This is the hardest, but most compelling. If you ever have the opportunity (and permission) to record video or audio content of your guests’ feedback, do so. Showcase it on your blog. Featured on your website.

Your goal is to get some guest feedback in rich media formats. Reviews are typically more believable when they aren’t just typed text.

More importantly, make sure there is no reason for someone to doubt the authenticity of your reviews. Most people will trust the testimonials that you post to your website…unless there is good reason to believe otherwise.

Claim your hotel (or business)

Start off by claiming or listing your hotel in Google Maps.  This step is crucial for optimizing your local search visibility.

In my experience, even 15 minutes making sure all the details & keywords are correct pays dividends for months after.

Use the map on your website

Many hotels are using Google Maps on their directions or ‘find us’ page. It provides an extra layer of functionality to a traditional map image: allowing your visitors to see satellite and street view, as well as custom directions from anywhere they are.

Google provides a little widget that makes this process super-simple. First, you just search for your location – and click the Link link:

Following the customize embedded map link will lead to a page where you can edit the view, and obtain the website code:

Make a custom map

A logical step in concierge marketing, a custom map can show guests the special attractions in your area. Here’s a good example that Xotels created for the Puerto Antilla Grand Hotel in Spain – it shows golf courses in the region:

You may want to take this a step further and add rich media to the map. A 3rd-party tool such as Trippermap allows you to add your own photos to a custom map – which could work well for custom city tours:

Trippermap

Advertise on Google Maps

If you’re advertising in Google AdWords, your text ads will have the opportunity to display to people searching the maps.

For additional coverage, some businesses are painting logos on their roofs – like this Target store in Chicago:

Chris has a (spoof) tutorial on how to optimize your roof ads for Google Maps.

This post is by guest expert Neil Salerno.

At last, most hoteliers would agree that the only way to measure the effectiveness a hotel website is to track the number of reservations being generated from it. For those of you who are still satisfied with simply knowing how many visitors your site gets, you may be missing the big picture. Getting more visitors doesn’t necessarily mean you are getting more reservations.

There are actually two separate issues at hand:

1. Driving visitors to your site
2. Converting lookers into bookers once they visit

Many people are quick to consider search engine optimization, but more people need to concentrate on WSO, website optimization. WSO is your site’s ability to sell your hotel, once users visit the site.

There are many WSO points which contribute to making a productive hotel web site. Contrary to the belief of some site designers, a hotel website is not just an attractive online brochure with moving parts, bells, and whistles; it should be a tool to generate sales; and that takes marketing expertise. Unless one is designing a site for a museum, there are definite marketing principles involved in the design itself.

Perhaps the most difficult undertaking is to make people understand that their attractive web site may be a marketing failure because it lacks the sales tools to produce reservations; such as well-written, keyword rich, sales text, technically acceptable photography, an easily understood navigation scheme, researched and carefully chosen search terms/phrases, workable description and title Meta Tags, and a good link strategy.

Here are nine steps that others are using to help ensure that their site will capture a greater share of online reservations.

Avoid Flash Intros and Other Flash Elements

An introduction landing page may look pretty, but they don’t do a thing to help your site’s popularity nor its productivity. I’m sure one of the most frequently clicked links on these web sites is “skip intro.” People aren’t looking to be entertained, they are looking for information. Tell your web designer, no thanks on flash intros.

Search engines only read text. A little flash can be attractive, but too many web designers get carried away with it. Your web designer needs to spend more time developing text, which is far more important to the success of the site.

There appears to be a growing preference towards developing the entire site in flash. It sure is pretty but it has some huge problems. It’s costly to produce and costly to make changes. Most flash requires navigation links to be double-clicked in order to function. This may sound like no big deal, but many users will assume the link is broken, since we are all so accustomed to single-clicking links.  This type of site may be perfect for an art gallery or museum, but dysfunctional for a hotel sales site. Second, flash confuses search spiders and almost always encourages a low site ranking. Third, take a good look at successful booking portals like Expedia, Travelocity, etc…No flash!

Be Careful with Photos and Other Graphics

Photos create interest, but text sells. You can make your photos more interesting and searchable by simply adding text descriptions to every photo. This works especially well for “photo galleries” on your site. Since search engines only read text, your photos will become part of the search process and actually increase the popularity of your site.

Navigation Scheme on your Site

The first rule of hotel site design; don’t make it necessary for visitors to “learn” how to navigate your site. Website designers, who lack hotel marketing expertise, tend to become overly creative when designing and naming navigation elements. Your site’s navigation scheme is among the primary evaluation essentials for search engine spiders when ranking your site.

Drop-down menus are acceptable, but stick to common labels. You can’t go wrong with common labels such as “facilities”, “amenities”, “activities”, etc. Talk about confusing, we even saw one web site that labeled their home page “lobby.” Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Navigation elements do not need to jump, twirl, or flash in order to create interest in your site.

Meta Tags and all that Technical Stuff

There is some debate over the importance of Meta Tags, some search engines swear by them, some don’t. It only makes good ‘ole common-sense, however, to make sure that you have the proper tags attached to your site-they are free. Want to see your tags? It’s easy, go to Explorer and find your site, then click view, source.

There are various tags, such as Title Tags, Description Tags, Key Word Tags, etc. If there are tags entered, how well were they researched? How accurate are they? For most search engines, tags help them find your site. By the way, some Meta Tags should be different on each page of your site. There are several web sites which will allow you to see how many searches were performed, during the previous month, for each search term used. They will even suggest search words and phrases you might never have thought of. Don’t guess; you could be wrong.

What Does Your Site Say? (and how does it say it?)

The most common error on hotel web sites is poorly developed text. I can always recognize a site designed by a techie; the text usually looks like an after-thought. Text is the most important element of the site for two reasons; text is the only element that search engines can see, and second, text is what sells your hotel. Photos create interest, but text sells.

Realizing that most visitors will rarely read your entire site, it’s essential that the text is written in order of importance from top to bottom. The first two to three paragraphs should include as many key words/phrases as possible to facilitate searches. Be careful not to overdo it, you could be accused of spamming.

Home page text is obviously most critical. This is your opportunity to clarify your location, not simply your address and the most important selling features of the hotel. The location description should contain distances to room generators, such as attractions and businesses, etc.

Don’t forget to ask for business; you are writing sales text, not a brochure. The old concept of features and benefits still apply. Write as if you are talking to your visitors; forget ninety-dollar technical terms: talk plainly. Developing text should consume the most time and thought in designing your site.

A Booking Engine Could be Your Best Investment

For the life of me, I can’t think of a single reason why every independent hotel site shouldn’t have a booking engine attached. Independent hotels need a booking engine to gain equal footing with franchised hotels. Simple fact is that more and more users are booking reservations in real-time online. Email availability inquiries just don’t do it, anymore.

Not all booking engines are equal. Look for an engine that can be easily maintained; you will have to maintain rates and room inventory. Look for a well-designed engine, which is user-friendly and professionally designed. Look for an engine that charges a flat fee each month with no commissions or booking fees. Look for an engine that has a good technical staff to assist you.

Above all, don’t expect Internet users to be satisfied with email reservations on your site. We can only guess how many reservations you could be missing. For those of you, who think that a booking engine is financially out of reach, think again, the return on this minor investment is huge.

Collect and Use Your Web Site Data

There are many web site data collection software programs and basically they all collect just about the same information. You need to know your primary feeder-markets, primary referral sites, most productive search engines for your site, etc.

Make sure that your web master knows how to use this information to make changes to your site. There is no “perfect” web site; only those we continue to strive to make perfect. Software such as Google’s Analytics can show the popularity of each page on your site, so adjustments can be made. This service collects data from visitors to your web site. Yes, it’s affordable too; for now it’s free.

In the old days of print advertising, my favorite saying was “50% of all advertising is a waste of money; the problem is we don’t know which 50% it is.” This is not true with a web site; we can easily see what is productive and that which is not productive.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising

In those good ‘ole days, we had to spend money to advertise our hotels, without knowing what the response would be, if any at all. Pay-per-click advertising is exactly as it appears; you only pay for those users who actually go to your web site.

Check it out; it could be a great investment if you find someone who knows how to use it properly and will maintain it for you. It could help you dominate your competition.

Develop a Link Strategy on your Site

Several search engines also use your site’s popularity to rank your site. They measure in-coming and out-going links. Links to attractions and relevant locations can be very useful. Use some caution, however, it helps to link to those sites that are most popular and never place out-going links on your home page.

Dollar for dollar, Internet website marketing represents the best-value sales tool available to hotels today. It still provides a great return-on-investment and is the great equalizer for Independent hotels. Don’t be satisfied with a site which looks attractive, but produces too few reservations

Neil Salerno, the Hotel Marketing Coach, advises hotels on how they can best use their websites to attract more guests. You may email him at NeilS@hotelmarketingcoach.com.

This post is by guest expert Neil Salerno.

There’s only one way to know whether or not your website is doing its job and, that is, to check the number of reservations it’s generating. If you have an independent hotel, this is an easy task; your booking engine’s analytics should tell you. If it’s franchised, it’s a little harder because most brands don’t want you to know how much your proprietary site is contributing to bookings. Many don’t want you to have a proprietary site at all.

Unfortunately, many franchises still discourage the use of proprietary websites and/or measuring your own site’s production. It’s a matter of self-preservation; they’re afraid you won’t need them, I guess. A big hooray for enlightened brands like Hilton and Preferred Hotels, which support the use of proprietary sites for their hotels. It makes common sense; proprietary sites can do what franchise sites cannot. Only a little more than 20% of searches are performed by brand name, anyway.

Is Your Website Producing Business? (Do you know?)

More and more hoteliers are turning to the Internet to sell their hotel rooms, food, beverages, and other facilities. But, the question is just how effective is that website to attract visitors and book business? It is amazing how many hoteliers have no idea whether or not their site is actually producing business and appear satisfied with only knowing how many visitors the site gets.

Would you hire a sales person and not measure how much business he or she books? Would you be satisfied just knowing how many people they talk to? I doubt it.

More than just the way they look, too many hotel sites are not designed to be found through generic search nor are they designed to drive reservations. In the last few years, many website designers have gravitated towards building websites for hotels. Unfortunately, many of them have no hands-on experience with hotels to understand how and why people choose a hotel online. It’s also sad that many of them don’t know how search engines work either.

Destination-focused Websites

Some hotel sites are nothing more than online brochures. A hotel online brochure is a site, which only covers information about the hotel itself; that makes it dead-in-the-water from a search standpoint. Someone who designs such a site, doesn’t understand how travelers use the Internet to find and book rooms.

Few people choose a hotel before choosing a destination. The fact is that most travelers first select a destination, attraction, or activity, then select a hotel within the scope of that destination. Hotel online brochures mention little, if any, information about the destination features nearby. Yet, this is the most important search findability information on your site. Selecting a hotel is most often the “second” decision made by travelers.

A Matter of Value

The location, not the address, of a hotel plays a very important role in the process of determining value. Most travelers do not choose a hotel by facilities and rates alone, it’s value that counts. How convenient the hotel’s location is, as compared to where they need or want to be, is their primary value decision.

It’s Also a Matter of Search Findability

Just designing a website that looks great is a small part of a site designer’s responsibility; almost any site designer can make an attractive site. You’ve read a lot about a site’s search ability or findability; to me, the most important part of any site. Many site designers appear to have been enlightened about the use of title and description meta tags; important search elements, but we still see a lack of understanding about keyword search tags.

Many search engines, like Google, search for keywords within the body text of each web page. This is why keywords are useless unless they have been incorporated within the site’s content. Remember, content is king. Researching and using popular keywords is essential to generic search. Generic search incorporates location attributes; trip types, such as meetings, weddings, etc; and popular attractions or activities.

Getting on page one of generic searches is an achievable goal for all hotels; the ultimate goal is to be within the first three generic search results. Pay-per-click advertising is a great tool for sponsored search results, but is too costly if generic search is ignored.

Competition has never been keener than it is today and the vast majority of travelers are using the Internet to decide where to go and where to stay. There is markedly less incidental travel since the recession started; making productive hotel websites more important than ever before.

Promoting your hotel through the Internet does not end with the publication of your website on the web, it only begins at that time. There are many hoteliers that are successfully marketing their hotels online through packaging, special promotions, holiday activities, and guest comments. Are you?

Neil Salerno, the Hotel Marketing Coach, advises hotels on how they can best use their websites to attract more guests. You may email him at NeilS@hotelmarketingcoach.com.

The other day I saw a tweet by Hollie Walker that caught my eye. She was promoting a new virtual tour of her hotel, but instead of the ubiquitous URL-shortcuts on Twitter, Hollie was able to include a full, descriptive URL. With Director of Sales & Marketing Brad Logsdon, the Hilton Anaheim has registered a separate domain for each of their web sales tools:

• HiltonAnaheimTour.com
• HiltonAnaheimVideo.com
• HiltonAnaheimBlog.com

It’s a brilliant idea: instead of explaining website navigation to potential guests, you can give them a simple, easy-to-remember address. With domain registration available for under $10, I’m surprised more hotels haven’t tried this.

I asked them a few questions about the strategy in an email:

How did you come up with the idea to host each tool on a separate domain?

We just completed a $70 million dollar renovation to our hotel and wanted to show it off.

What are some benefits?

The online virtual tour is a great tool for our sales department. Not a lot of people want to carry around stacks of paper and sales kits anymore. The virtual tour is great for answering client questions especially while on the phone with them. We can walk them through our hotel virtually and we’ve had great response from our clients.

Who developed the mini-sites for you?

We have an independent company that created the tour and video for us and they really showcase our hotel well.

How do you promote them?

We promote online through an array of social medias, our personal blog, and our email signature line. It is amazing how rapidly social media is growing!

This just may be the best $20-30 investment you can make for your web presence. What do you think?

When a guest leaves you a positive review on a site like TripAdvisor, it’s not only more powerful than advertising – it can have multiple uses. I encourage you to “recycle” your positive guest reviews to get the most benefit:

1) Publish it on your website – Rather than just pontificating on how great your hotel is, get others to sing your praises. You may want to feature positive reviews directly on your home page, or create a separate page like the Inn at Bay Harbor did.

2) Include it in your reservations system – In my web booking system makeover, I talked about the importance of reassuring the guest if you want to improve conversions. You may want to put the positive review in the sidebar so it’s visible without being distracting. With a little piece of code, you can randomly draw from a list, and display a different review each time.

3) Feature it in your offline advertising – Electronics retailer Best Buy understands the role customer reviews play in influencing buying decisions. That’s why they use snippets of online reviews in their print advertising.

4) Use it in your marketing collateral – Take this beyond advertising: what other communications materials could you put positive feedback on or in? Newsletters? Press releases? Social networks?

5) Borrow it for your AdWords campaign – Frankly, I’m a little hesitant to share this tip because its effectiveness may diminish if a lot of people use it. In limited AdWords test campaigns for a few clients, I’ve experimented with using guest testimonials in the ad copy. Because this stands out from the self-praise most hotels publish, I’ve seen excellent results. You may want to give it a try:

Guest-written Adwords copy

In last week’s lessons from ecommerce for hotel websites, I shared some tactics you can borrow to improve your website’s effectiveness. Now I’d like to focus specifically on improving booking conversion rates. Again, this draws heavily from ecommerce, but the principles are just as useful for you.

Conversion Optimization 101

Simplify, simplify, simplify – each extra step or request for information is a chance for the person to abandon the process. Remove everything but the core essentials. Less is better.

Save the spiel – don’t spend a lot of time going through the details of your reservations policy. Today I used a hotel reservation system that devoted an entire page with over 800 words to explain the intricacies of their reservation procedure – ouch! Sure, you may have to remind us of the basics, but don’t get so wordy…and don’t take a separate page for it.

Reassure the customer – as your potential guest is finalizing the booking, you want them to feel good about their decision. The key: providing just enough information to accomplish this (not enough to distract them from completing the process).

Provide live help – it could be the difference between making the sale and losing it

Emphasize security – what technology are you using to protect online transactions?

Work everywhere – if you’re using advanced JavaScript or Ajax programming, make sure it works in all major browsers on all major platforms. A cool feature that works in Firefox on a Mac may not function in Internet Explorer.

Show progress – indicate where they are in the booking process, and how many steps are left

Fail gracefully – No availability? Give a solution: perhaps a phone number to call directly

What’s Your $300 Million Fix?

For one website, it was replacing a “Register” button with one that said “Continue.” You will never know until you test. Get testing software installed on your website, then always be testing.

There are some important lessons hotel internet marketers can learn from their colleagues in ecommerce. In many ways ecommerce is more competitive than hospitality – with more focus on price and less flexibility to differentiate your offering with an exceptional guest experience.

This level of competition forces some ecommerce websites to the cutting edge of internet marketing tactics. Here’s a few ideas you may want to try:

Focus on the landing pages

A “landing page” is the first page a website visitor sees on your site. Building custom landing pages is often used together with a special promotion or advertising campaign to increase conversions. The page’s content can be uniquely written to tie into your campaign’s message. The landing page gives the visitor a good first impression and clear next step to take.

Is there collaboration between your hotel’s marketing and web development people to create relevant landing pages for each campaign?

Focus on the content

I talked about content marketing for hotels in depth yesterday, so I’ll just add this: ensure your hotel description pages are very compelling. If your room descriptions are boring, considering hiring a talented copywriter to freshen them up. (Armando wrote a nice post on writing descriptions that sell.)

Is your hotel’s website full of vivid descriptions and exciting content?

Have a strong call to action

A call to action is where you clearly ask for the reader to take a step leading to the sale. In direct marketing, this may request the recipient call for more information. On a hotel website, it begins by giving prominence to the booking module. (You’ll need to know usability expert Jakob Nielsen’s f-shaped pattern for reading web content.) I see too many websites that lack clear directions for their visitors.

Is your hotel website providing a clear “next step” for visitors?

Build the list

Many of the top internet marketers credit opt-in mailing lists as one of the most powerful tools in their arsenal. I know people that build a product, announce it through their mailing list, and make hundreds of thousands of dollars within 24 hours.

That may not be realistic for many hotels, but it doesn’t detract for the fact that email list building is essential for keeping in touch with potential buyers. You’ll probably even want to create a few lists – including one rewarding your best guests.

Is your hotel actively building an opt-in email list?

Craft an “iron-clad” guarantee

Especially with independent and boutique hotels, one of the biggest reasons people don’t book a room is because they fear making the wrong decision and wasting time and money. Online guest reviews and social media have helped eliminate some of that fear, but anyone selling anything can improve by offering a strong guarantee.

Home page of Zappos.com

In ecommerce, creating an “iron clad” guarantee is very important. In retail, Zappos.com has achieved success by offering a 365-day return policy along with free shipping both ways. This eliminates the fear of buying the wrong shoe size – something very important to their customers.

Sites selling digital information often go a step further – since their products are intangible. I’ve seen offers like “double your money back” or “money back & keep the product” work well. Of course, this more costly to do with tangible products, but it’s an undoubtedly compelling offer.

Is your hotel guaranteeing a great experience in a meaningful way?

Provide live help

Again, the Zappos screenshot above is a great example of this: “Have questions? We’ve got answers right now!” When people are traveling, they often cannot (or don’t want to) make a phone call to your hotel. But having a live person provide an answer to their question in real time may be the difference between making the sale and losing it.

Is your hotel offering some form of live help to potential guests who cannot call you?

Include real guest reviews

Again, the point here is to make a potential guest as comfortable as possible with creating a booking. TripAdvisor makes this easy with a few options for review syndication.

Important note: Only publishing positive comments isn’t nearly as powerful as including both good and bad feedback. (My radical proposal)

Is your hotel putting un-edited guest reviews on your website?

Cross-sell & upsell

Many ecommerce websites I buy from have sophisticated engines that suggest other products I may be interested in. This often has the effect of increasing the overall order amount, and is excellent for building revenue. You do need to use caution here though: Get Elastic shares the do’s and don’ts.

Is your hotel cross-selling and upselling rooms and hotel amenities?

Test, test, test

Top ecommerce sites are continually testing new things. It’s the only way to achieve continual improvement. I’ve seen examples where changing one word in a headline increased sales over 3x. What difference could a seemingly insignificant change like that do for your website?

Tools like the free Google Optimizer make this process simple – there’s no excuse to not be testing.

Is your hotel actively split-testing new website features?

• Think like a publisher
• Create informative content our readers will love
• Distribute it as far as possible

That has been my mantra for the past 7 years I’ve been working online. I’ve been involved with a wide range of companies, and this policy has worked equally well in every industry. Why?

Photo by mpclemens on Flickr

Content is your web presence. It’s why the web exists. It’s how people find you.

Content makes it easier for people to find you. When people perform a web search, they’re looking for some specific information. The more information you have published, the chances for people to find your website improve.

Content makes you a subject authority. As a hotel, you want to be the source of information for people planning a trip to your city. Now more than ever, people want to be educated before they make a purchase.

Content makes you more valuable to your customers. For instance, if you’re trying to sell to corporate meeting planners, a portfolio of informative content makes that easier. Research performed for the development of your content makes you a better resource, and increases the value you offer.

Content has multiple uses. The educational material you produce for your target audience can be adapted to multiple formats and uses. For example, one good article could become a series of blog posts, videos, or a podcast.

Content almost always provides higher ROI than advertising. I have managed campaigns for myself and other clients, and in my experience, building a network of great content provides more benefits than paid “interruption” messages.

Content has long-term payoff. Unlike advertising, great content will stay around and provide you with ongoing results. It’s an investment that keeps on giving.

Probably the top three people that have influenced my thinking over the past few years are:

• David Meerman Scott
• Scott Ginsberg
• Joe Pulizzi

(These guys publish some great content on…publishing great content. I’d recommend you subscribe to their newsfeeds and read daily.)

Around 2002 when I was getting started in web marketing, great content was a good way to attract links to our websites. In 2004 when I started blogging, great content was needed to build our blogs. Over the past few years, the explosion in social media popularity (Digg, Facebook, Twitter) provided even further incentives with the opportunity for viral distribution. It’s been interesting to watch that while the publishing options may have changed slightly, the need for great content has remained.

A few days ago, Todd Lucier raised the need for two social media teams: one to listen to your customers, and the other to produce great content. If we believe the trends underlying social media truly represent a fundamental change in the way people buy, then we’ll allocate our resources accordingly. You need to get more people involved.

If you don’t have the time or expertise to develop all of your content, consider hiring a journalist. With the state of print media declining, many talented writers are open to taking part or full time work outside traditional media.

Whatever your publishing strategy is, you want to create content that is:

1. Timely (current and delivered to the right people at the right time)
2. Comprehensive (a true resource)
3. Useful to the reader (they bookmark & keep coming back)
4. Easy to find (search engine friendly)
5. Easy to share (linked to social media networks)

In the words of Scott Ginsberg, “The more you give away, the wealthier you will be.”

Today’s question: what valuable content can you produce and give away for free?

“The problem isn’t piracy, it’s obscurity.” – Tim O’Reilly

Building an online community of raving fans is something many marketers attempt, but not all achieve. When done correctly, it can be a powerful way to build loyalty and spread your message. The bad news: It’s not something that can be forced.

Photo by Anirudh Koul on Flickr

You can’t force people to be fans

The web is all about democratization – putting power in the hands of its users. We love that when users generate positive content about our hotel, but it also means we have less control over what they say. For this reason, you cannot coerce an effective community.

You CAN plan elements of success

I’ve been involved in the launch and management of about a half-dozen online communities across a wide range of topics, and have noticed patterns develop for what works. While all marketing is experimentation to some extent, I hope you can take some of these best practices in growing your fanbase.

Why do you exist?

Before developing an online community for your hotel or brand, make sure you have a strong reason for doing so. People don’t usually join an online community unless they receive attractive benefits. What compelling reasons can you offer?

To build this value, you may consider creating the community around a concept that is larger than just your hotel. Would promoting your city or area draw more visitors and add more value? What about dedicated information for a specific niche you serve?

Understanding online leadership

Good online communities require strong leadership – which doesn’t always come from the organizer. Many times a couple members will emerge as natural leaders. Let that happen, and enable them to lead. Give them moderation roles, and involve them in the planning. You need to release control to some extent.

Good moderation – not censorship – is important

Inevitably someone will eventually say something you don’t agree with or feel damages your brand. To maintain your credibility and authenticity, you need to avoid censoring these comments. Public negative feedback needs to be addressed publically – not instantly removed as a knee-jerk reaction.

That said, strong online communities have a set of values that they expect members to abide by. Abuse and personal attacts cannot be tolerated. It’s a fine line to walk between moderation and censorship of detractors. The first is essential, the second must be avoided even in appearance.

Members attract members

Online communities are a prime example of the network effect – their value increases with its size. In order to build a vibrant community, you need to build your user base. For that to happen, you need to promote like crazy. Link to the community from your other outposts on the web. Advertise and recommend it on your main website.

Plant content to get started

Upload photos, videos and other hotel information. Post some questions to get the discussion going. Post valuable content that will attract traffic and encourage feedback and interaction. There needs to be activity to attract new members.

Some suggest using dummy accounts to create the illusion of activity. I don’t think that is wise or nessessary. Instead, get members of your staff and people you know involved from the beginning.Real people and real interaction gives you real credibility.

Generate some buzz!

Start a contest. Announce a giveaway. Break news in the community first. This draws traffic, encourages participation, and rewards your fanbase by making them feel like an insider.

Offline fans make strong online fans

It’s interesting to note that some of the strongest online communities are built around offline relationships. Even in the digital age we live in, we still need real human interaction. The popularity of Meetup.com is a good example of this. How could you provide opportunities for your online fans to get together and build friendships offline?

Your goal: integrating the digital experience

Obviously, one of your biggest target groups for the online community will be your hotel guests. You need creative ways to invite these offline fans to your online presence. (Hint: it’s probably going to look similar to the ways you encourage social media reviews.)

Facilitate content co-creation

Many online communities thrive on sharing rich media and other content. (Just look at Flickr.) To make this happen among your fanbase, you need to make creating content easy. Link to your presence on media sharing sites, and provide keyword tagging and content submission suggestions. Make it easy for your guests to create content and share their experience.

The platform doesn’t matter

A successful community can be built around a forum, a blog, or on a social networking service such as Facebook. There is some debate out there on whether you should use an existing network or build your own on a service such as Ning. In my opinion it doesn’t matter. There are some good examples of online communities across a variety of platforms:

• New York’s Pod Hotel uses a forum to connect guests
• Wnydham uses a microsite with a forum and blogs for Women on Their Way
• Jitendra Jain also uses a microsite with articles, videos, and a forum for his Young Hoteliers community
• Amy Graff blogs for Best Western at On The Go With Amy