Jupiter Hotel Social Media Promo: Merging Real World and Online Social World

We here at PinkBananaMedia.com believe the future of marketing in 2011 is the merging of the "real world" with the newly developed "online social world" we've all been personally building over the past few years.  Many analogies have been made to social media marketing being "word of mouth" marketing, but it's so much more than that.  It's not just what we say that helps spread the word and make a video, a photo or a really good article stand out amongst our friends... it's also in what we do, how we "tag, comment, like or share" that allows the best of the best in these categories to rise to the top and get the most visibility.

Utilizing the power of Photo Tagging, one solution we developed with our friends at Travelocity was the idea of shooting compelling photos at a sponsored event and encouraging folks to quickly and easily find their photos on Travelocity's Facebook fan page and tag themselves (see Tips & Tricks:  Shooting Photos at Events at http://www.pinkbananamedia.com/pdf/pbmbizreport_july2009.pdf).  Well, the folks at Jupiter Hotel in Portland, Oregon have taken that concept one step further, developing a social media marketing campaign around Jupiter Lily, a very stylish and well-dressed mannequin set up in their lobby for hotel guests to shoot photos with.  Turning it into an online social media contest, hotel guests are encouraged to "take a photo with Jupiter Lily & post it on Facebook to be entered to win a free hotel stay."

The results have exceeded the Jupiter Hotel's expectations!  Hundreds of photos have been posted, tagged and spread virally online, both on Facebook and on Twitter.  Jupiter Lily has become both a myth and an icon in Portland, where the discussion at parties and dinner conversations revolves around "who is the real Jupiter Lily" and does she truly exist in person.  So not only has the Jupiter Hotel succeeded in modern day social media marketing... they've also entered into the "old-school word of mouth" world that can make a marketing effort such as this become legend in the both the travel and local circles of Portland and beyond.

Links:

 - www.jupiterhotel.com

 - www.facebook.com/JupiterHotel

 - www.twitter.com/JupiterPDX

Social Network Marketing for Hotels, Resorts and Guest Houses

At times, I like writing my replies to clients in this blog as well... it provides me, as well as you, the reader, with a contemporary snapshot of what our company sees as the best overall strategy and formula for social network marketing at this moment in time. In 6 months from now, perhaps this strategy will change a bit, but overall, we believe this strategy does better than the old 80/20 rule of reaching 80% of your audience with a minimum of effort... we believe it's getting closer to 90/10 now!

Hi Marti,

I reviewed your website at http://www.xxx.com and I believe that for your cottage, what you would want to do is:

1. Create a Facebook fan page
2. Create a Twitter account
3. Link these two up at www.facebook.com/twitter
4. Set up a blog and link this to the Facebook page using their “Notes” section and to Twitter using either TwitterFeed.com or HootSuite.com
5. Next, come up with unique content for your blog, written in first person, that keeps your content and your property’s “story” alive and well in the social networking world you’ve set up. Include any new seasonal promotions, specials, etc., as well as fun and unique stories related to life at your accommodation, the neighborhood, and the interesting guests you’ve had stay with you.
6. Set up a photo account on Flickr.com and begin uploading some photos there and on your Facebook fan page about your property. When you have guests, upload those photos and identify the guests on Flickr, as well as ask them to stop by your Facebook fan page and leave a positive testimonial and tag themselves in the Facebook photos.
7. Unique to hotels of all sizes, be sure to have a TripAdvisor.com profile and monitor the reviews. Ask your folks to leave reviews there as well. For the GLBT audience, there is also GayCities.com, OutAdvisor.com and PinkChoice.com for GLBT accommodation reviews.

I believe that with this formula, you’ll be hitting 90% of your potential audience with a minimum of effort, and that this effort will soon become your top marketing activity and your #1 source of new bookings. This formula/strategy will also significantly improve your website’s positioning in Google and Bing and will become a cornerstone in your search engine optimization (SEO) as well.

Attached is our rate card with more detailed information… please let me know if this might be of interest for you to pursue.

Thanks,
Matt Skallerud