Guestsourcing: A Practical Guide

Earlier, I defined guestsourcing as a way for hospitality companies to involve their customers in the promotional process. The rewards include:

• Having a wider range of media to work with
• Access to a broad content base that increases your search rankings
• Increased loyalty from your guests

Now, I’d like to get practical and show you how to take advantage of this concept.

It’s very important you approach this right. Michael pointed out in a recent comment:

It seems to be more genuine and effective when it isn’t forced. Beyond the effort involved, when you court users who are not familiar with social media and not quite sure how to review…it can look and feel awkward…from bad reviews, to “shill” looking reviews.

I agree completely: timing is everything.

The perfect timing

Over and over, I’ve observed the best time to ask for online participation is after you receive positive guest feedback in some form. This may seem like a no-brainer, but it works.

If you get nothing else out of this article…

The next time you receive positive feedback, ask the guest for some type of online contribution. This works like magic for getting reviews on TripAdvisor, but remember we’re discussing guestsourcing here – the art of getting media on the web.

Ask the guest if they would like to share some photos of what they liked about your hotel. Perhaps this will be on Flickr…or just attached to a TripAdvisor review. The important thing is getting the content online – where potential guests can see it.

Turn existing fans into online participants

Earlier this week I talked with a hotel that had a very strong offline fan base, but just recently began social media marketing. With just a little bit of promotion, these fans quickly started participating and submitting their own content. It’s especially important to leverage your existing reputation if you’re new to this.

Listen and reach out

Be aware when prominent bloggers and media producers are visiting your area. Roger Smith did that with Chris Brogan. You can do that by monitoring Twitter and other channels to see who is visiting your area.

Reach out to media producers!

From a marketing perspective, these are among your most valuable guests.

Create a contact point

Designate a social media contact person to provide help and access. Make it very easy for people to get in touch with them: by phone, email, Twitter, etc.

Guestsourcing Photos and Videos

Build a Flickr group to serve as a central collection point for photos: both for contributors and for viewers.

Showcase the best guest photos on your website, like Sunriver Resort. Reward creativity with attention.

Actively solicit new submissions on your site, and in your Flickr group.

Provide a standardized tag – yourhotelname – to make discovery easier.

With video, you may want to note what Omni Hotels is doing. As part of their Omni Flips for Summer package, guests are loaned a Flip Video camcorder for the duration of their stay. A “Summer Fun Counselor” helps guests process and upload their videos.

Encouraging blog reviews

There are many bloggers that exclusively write hotel reviews – either professionally or as a hobby. You want to treat your visiting bloggers like royalty, because they have the ability to sway online perceptions. (Which I say without bias, because I’m not a hotel review blogger…)

I recommend putting together a special blogger’s package. This can include:

• A hotel fact sheet (like you would use with the press)
• The background story on the hotel
• Interview access to the owner or general manager (as appropriate)
• High-resolution hotel photos
• A neighborhood guide (including the best cafes with wifi!)
• …and of course free internet access to write about you

Create a separate page to promote this

You may want to create a separate page on your website for visiting photographers and bloggers. Having links and suggestions all in one place provides easy access to all the information above.

There are no rules

You need to use your intuition on what is appropriate for your hotel and each situation. Hopefully this guide will give you some ideas, but in the end you need to…

Go out there and experiment!

Photo credits: Youssry, jenny downing