I could not resist drawing our readers’ attention to this article below. PLEASE NOTE THE HEADLINE. This headline really means ‘MOBILE REVENUE ACCELERATING AT 30%.
I’m sorry, social media experts’ – this is more piggybacking, you just can’t justify this, and its time we had or had not if there isn’t) – honest and realistic commercial assessments of social media business performance and ROI IN ITS OWN RIGHT. Look at the commercial stats below, where’s social media??
Most of you who know me, and have read my musings, will know what I think of the term ‘social media expert’. Bluntly, there’s no such thing – yet (I think of the 30 + years of practical experience it took me to know what i know -relatively speaking you can now become a social media expert in 10 minutes, apparently). And any I think I know have little or no practical experience, they can write for Britain, but where’s the practical proof of concept and ROI that the commercial world requires? So imagine my delight when i came across this must read, by Debbie Goldberg. Debbie Goldberg and her husband Adam founded Fresh Brothers pizza in 2008. The company now includes six units throughout the Los Angeles market, and has been named “Best Pizza” by the LA HotList. Goldberg manages the chain’s social media campaigns and also runs her own personal blog, Manhattan Beach Momma. Enjoy – - – - – - – - – - -
Have you noticed these days how just about everything has become ‘social’, as social media and its enthusiastic band of experts look to cash in on its ‘popularity’, largely resulting from its success as a self fulfilling prophecy, but with little real substantive proof in terms of proven commercial successes. Continue reading
Social Login Preferred to Site Registration
According to the Janrain Social Identity study, conducted by Blue Research, consumer frustration at being asked to register on a website continues to grow, and almost eight in ten people want social login to be offered as an alternative. Continue reading
Have a look at this article -
Note this statement – “Because the goal of revenue management is to maximize revenue many hoteliers are actively working on their social media strategy knowing that if they can engage and capture guests on their own Facebook page or through Twitter and have them book directly, the acquisition cost is lower than through an OTA.”
I couldn’t resist posting a comment as you’ll see, not because, as you all probably know by now, i have a love-hate relationship with OTA’s, but because, as in just about every article I read about B2B and commercial use of social media, there is utterly and absolutely no understanding of the cost (and worse still the risks) of social media activity, its usually either ignored, or assumed to be free (with no downsides usually reported either).
The quote above again takes no account of the cost of the social media activity.
This is a major issue I have with social media, this idea that many think its free (often because its done in house) and its anything but. We really need to compare apples with apples here. One thing about the OTA costs is its absolutely transparent, and all the OTA marketing effort is included in the commission %
I suspect by attributing a ‘real’ (and reasonable) cost to social media activirty, the reverse of that statement is probably true. Furthermore if you employ the services of a so called ‘social media expert’ (an expression I have a major problem with), this will only serve to exacerbate the situation.
UK hotel OTA lovers, get a bit of this, below – - – - – - – -
Story Highlights
According to the report, “Surviving the Current Market Mania with a Solid 2012 Plan,” by Bronto Software, while traditional digital channels such as search and email continue to dominate retailer marketing spending, social and mobile channels are growing in importance.
To many this may be obvious, but my experience tells me it isn’t. It came to my attention again most recently on a daily deals issue very topical these days). Here’s the scenario:-
Intermediairs such as OTA’as, daily deals sites, GDS &c charge commission on the AT inclusive value of a booking. That effectively means they are charging commission on VAT.
Elsewhere I have posted my thoughts on rate parity. Those of you who know me know that it is one of my pet hates.
You will also know that I detest some of the rate shopping tactics and related attitudes employed bhy the OTA’s in particular. Wish they would focus more positively on their ‘lambs to the slaughter’ suppliers (hotels), rather than have this witch-hunt to ‘find them out’.
