How job seekers’ social media profiles affect employability: Evidence from a research study

 

Social media plays an increasingly important role in recruitment and employee selection. Recruiters are tempted to check on job candidates’ social media profiles (SMPs) because SMPs could reveal more dynamic information about the candidates than their resumes alone. 

By checking the candidates’ SMPs, recruiters can discover their real personality, which cannot be easily achieved even through job interviews. Meanwhile, hiring managers can also assess job candidates’ social capital based on the size and the composition of their social networks.  

The study

 

To investigate how social media may affect recruiters’ hiring decisions, Antonio Muñiz, who graduated from the master’s program at the Collins College of Hospitality Management, Cal Poly Pomona, and I conducted a qualitative study together. We published our work in the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management. This research answers:     

The two research questions

 

1. What information or job candidate’s personality traits revealed on their SMPs gets the hiring managers’ attention?  
2. How do such information or job candidates’ personality traits revealed on their SMPs affect managers’ hiring decisions?

 

The research method

 

We conducted 11 semi-structured interviews in 2018 with 11 managers in major hospitality companies, representing the restaurant, hotel, country club, even planning, and managed foodservice sectors. On average, these 11 managers had 19 years of work experience in the hospitality industry. They made hiring decisions, ranging from hiring two to 18 candidates a month. Following the suggestions of ensuring a qualitative study’s trustworthiness, we firstly recorded and transcribed the interviews. We then performed a content analysis of the qualitative data. Finally, we reported the narrative results with direct quotes from the informants. 

 

Finding 1: The recruiting channels and legal considerations

 

The informants rated Indeed and LinkedIn the preferred websites for recruitment and selection. Surprisingly, none of them were aware of any policies issued by their companies about using social media in screening and selection. Many informants also held reservations about using social media in screening because of privacy concerns, the uncertainty of the information revealed from the candidates’ SMPs, legal compliance, and time constraints. 

 

Finding 2: LinkedIn is the preferred platform

 

About half of the informants used LinkedIn in screening. Only one informant admitted that s/he screened candidates’ other SMPs besides LinkedIn. That is, s/he also looked at candidates’ posts, videos, and pictures on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

 

Finding 3: The preferable content on social media

 

Most informants favored pictures about food, catering, and events, news articles, and organizational social activities. Having a clear headshot/smiling, professional/appropriate content, positive/motivational content, and activities in general were mentioned once or twice only. 

 

Finding 4: The unfavorable content on social media

 

Inappropriate language or content, negative posts, personal information on LinkedIn, and anything discriminatory came to the top. 

 

Finding 5: The influential traits that may affect recruiters’ hiring decisions

 

Of the Big Five personality traits, hospitality managers looked for extroversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness. Additionally, leadership potentials, professionalism, a good match, the current position held, as well as skills and endorsements, can be influential. 

 

Finding 6: How candidates’ SMPs affect employability

 

Unfavorable content seemed to have a more substantial influence than favorable content. As far as a candidate’s starting salary is concerned, the informants only factored in the candidates’ skills and experience. 

 

The implications

 

Besides the research’s theoretical contributions, the findings provide helpful, practical implications for businesses, hiring managers, job seekers, and career counselors. We recommend: 

 

• Organizations should develop clear guidelines about using social media in recruitment and selection. 
• For a minimum, Organizations must provide guidelines or assessment rubrics that are specific to LinkedIn. 
• Hiring managers are advised to follow the company’s guidelines and policies if provided. 
• Hiring managers need to justify why and how SMPs are used in screening if no guidelines or policies are provided. 
• Job seekers are highly encouraged to build a complete LinkedIn profile with a professional picture that projects their personality. 
• Job seekers may consider sharing favorable content and should avoid the unfavorable content on their SMPs. 
• If possible, job seekers should have their LinkedIn profile and other SMPS critiqued by their friends, co-workers, and career advisors, as what they would do on their resumes and other application materials. 
• Career counselors should teach job seekers how to build professional SMPs, with specific examples of how they may strategically display the desired content favored by recruiters. 

 

Do job seekers need even more impeccable social media profiles during the pandemic? 

 

This study was conducted in 2018 before the pandemic hit the economy with numerous long-term effects. Nevertheless, I expect that job seekers’ SMPs may play an even more significant role in influencing recruiters’ hiring decisions for two reasons. On the one hand, more people are forced to leave their jobs, making it more challenging to secure a job offer in a competitive job market. On the other hand, more companies let their employees work from home permanently. The traditional screening methods, such as face-to-face job interviews in the workplace, may no longer be an option for hiring managers. 

 

Back in May 2020, it is reported that 84% of recruiters were adapting to new hiring practices that facilitate remote exchanges. Among them, 58% used LinkedIn, Facebook, and even Instagram to connect with potential hires. It is also believed that job candidates’ digital presence will matter even more in 2021 and beyond. 

 

Lastly, it is important to note that the above results were generated from 11 qualitative interviews. Although we took careful measures to ensure this qualitative inquiry’s trustworthiness, the results may not be generalized in other settings. Instead, this study’s strength relies on its in-depth, narrative results reported by those purposefully selected informants who have abundant first-hand experience of screening job candidates. 

Do you believe that people’s digital reputation is critical in a job search? How important are job candidates’ SMPs in helping them secure a job offer? 

Note: This post is also available on MultiBriefs.com; the picture was downloaded from ConstructionExec.com. 

7 technologies that will transform the hospitality industry by 2025

I was in Baltimore last week for the annual iCHRIE (International Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education) Conference, where hospitality professors and graduate students got together to showcase their research work and network with one another. Additionally, selected executives in major hospitality firms were invited to share their perspectives about the industry and their views on the future trends.

For example, Mike Webster, the senior vice president and general manager at Oracle Retail & Oracle Hospitality, spoke in the opening general session at the conference. He believed that by 2025, the following technologies would make transformational changes to the hospitality industry:

1. Wearables

Smartwatch sales in the global market hit a record high in the last quarter of 2016, at 8.2 million for the quarter and 21.1 million for the calendar year. Experts predict wearable tech will make transformational changes in the sport and fitness sector. Will wearable tech also transform how we run business in the hospitality and tourism industry?

Take the MagicBands at Disney, for example. Not only do they enable guests to enter the theme parks, purchase food and merchandise, and enjoy the FastPass+ access, but travelers can also skip the check-in line and unlock their hotel rooms with the MagicBands at the Disney resorts.

Disney will even ship the MagicBands to their guests before their arrivals. When guests link their accounts with the MagicBands, Disney can store their activities and preferences in the database to build a stronger customer relationship over time, of which the information can also be used to develop customized sales and promotion packages to the guests.

2. Facial recognition

It is not a new idea for hotels to let guests use their mobile devices as room keys. With the advance of facial recognition technology, travelers can possibly skip the front desk without carrying any mobile devices; they can access their guestrooms by just showing up.

Certainly, the advance of facial recognition technology can also make it easier for restaurants, hotels and resorts to track and analyze travelers' activities inside the facility.

In addition to their potential of enhancing customer service, wearable and facial recognition technologies can be used to improve back-of-the-house operations as well. For example, employees may use wearable devices and facial recognition technology in clock-ins and clock-outs. The data that is recorded about employees' activities at work can also be used by the management in scheduling and job designs.

3. Voice activation

Aloft Hotels, a Marriott/Starwood brand, recently unveiled voice-activated hotel rooms in Boston and Santa Clara. In a voice-activated room, guests can control the room temperature, adjust the lighting, choose what type of music they want to play in the room, and explore local attractions by talking to the room.

4. 3-D printing

The idea of using 3-D printing in construction has been tested for years. It may not seem real for a 3-D printer to create a skyscraper at this point, but it is now possible to construct a hotel room or at least, part of a hotel room with a 3-D printer.

As a matter of fact, Marriott has adopted the modular construction method to support its need for rapid growth.

Modular construction allows Marriott to build parts of the guestroom, such as the bathroom, somewhere else other than on the construction site of the hotel. When building a hotel, Marriott only needs to ship the ready-to-install bathrooms and other necessary parts of the guestrooms to the construction site. All it takes to build a hotel is to assemble the parts onsite.

The modular construction method and 3-D printing technology can hence be combined to speed up the time of building a new hotel.

5. Automatic or robotic services

Today, more service jobs are performed by machines than ever before. We have seen restaurants with no hosts, no waiters and no tables; robots are cooking food in the kitchen; and restaurant food is delivered by robots.

In the hotel industry, robotic butler service has also been introduced. There are also hotels testing automatic drink dispenser in events and guestrooms.

6. Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence allows machines to "think" like a real human being. Artificial intelligence will then enable a service provider to anticipate customers' needs even in automatic or robotic services.

7. Virtual reality

A few years ago, Marriott was experimenting with VR technology in operations, such as in sales and marketing. The hotel chain allowed guests to use VR to experience the Marriott products in selected world destinations. Likewise, Disney is planning to use VR to enhance consumers' experience in the theme parks and in video games.

A concluding remark

There is no doubt that the advance of technology will transform the way we run a hospitality business. Some jobs will be replaced by machines, but additional opportunities can also be created for those who are well-prepared for the changes.

Moreover, while the seven technologies listed above were suggested by Webster in the opening session at the conference, I elaborated upon his key points with specific examples I have observed in service operations. Hence, this is not intended to be a summary of his speech. Rather, I am hoping to get your input based on my own interpretations of Webster's ideas.

Do you also believe these technologies will soon transform the hospitality industry? If so, in what way? Are there other technologies that would also make transformational impacts to the hospitality industry by 2025 but have not been discussed in this post?

Note: This article was also published at MultiBriefs.com - the leading source for targeted, industry-specific news briefs. The picture was also downloaded from MultiBriefs.com. 

Advertising Methods Done Right (by Enmy Zheng Feng)

Hotels have a difficulty in building relationships with their customers through advertisements. Nowadays, it is not an easy task to inform a customer about one’s property, especially to the millennials. Some customers do not find ads credible or accurate, and new software such as AdBlock provides customers the options to remove advertisements from their computer. Today, people rely on social media to acquire and follow the latest trends. A new method of advertisement has taken over due to this concept. Many hotels are changing their marketing plan and trying to improve their social media presence to gain more sales. Moreover, Google has come up with a plan to help hotels acquire more businesses. 

Social media have become a great mean to advertise a product. However, advertising on social media is different than on television. It is not as simple as opening a Facebook fan page or creating an Instagram account. It requires hours of preparation and a good understanding of what customers are looking for. For instance, on Instagram, I follow a very well-known fashion stylist who is always traveling. Through her posts, I have noticed that she mentions the places that she has visited. The pictures that she posts show the beauty of those places and can inspire people to visit. The places she has visited, the hotels she has stayed, and the food she has eaten are all advertised in the forms of social media posts.

On the other hand, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts have utilized social media in a different manner. They decided to create a campaign featuring a plush toy named Maxine. This plush toy was featured in all the most well-known social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and etcetera. Maxine traveled everywhere in the Big Apple, and people were excited to see where Maxine was going to travel next. This was a genius idea since it was meant to target family travelers to their hotels. Kids loved the plush toy and they wanted to visit the same destinations that Maxine had visited. They were also able to interact with Maxine in their facilities. The campaign not only brought profits to the hotel, but also to nearby businesses featured in Maxine’s travels.

Google has been experimenting with a new way of advertising, according to Nicholas Ward (2016), CEO of a digital marketing agency. Every time a person searches for information about a hotel, or when they want to book a room through Google search engine, nearby deals will be shown at the top of the list. People will be able to click on them and more information about the hotel will be shown. Also, when changing the check-in and check-out dates, the deal will also change just like any other booking websites. Moreover, Google is trying to make the search engine better to their users by offering not only the best deal but also hotels that are similar in rating for people to compare. Users will be more well informed, and this will make their booking experience more satisfying. 

These new ways of advertisement will influence the sales of many hotels in the long run. On the other hand, it is important for hotels to understand this processes and to know how to employ each mean of advertising. For instance, for the hotel to thrive, it would be beneficial for the hotel to be seen in the nearby deals under Google’s search engine. This is because many millennials seek inexpensive hotels with a good location. Social media advertising can also be difficult but not impossible if they have a good sales marketing plan. I believe if done well, a hotel could increase its sales due to these new ways of advertising. What would the advancement in technology affect sales in the future? Would televised advertisement cease to exist? If so, why or why not?

About the Author

Enmy is a Chinese who was born in Venezuela. She loves to travel, discover new places, and plan events. These are the reasons why she chose hospitality management as a career. Enmy is fluent in Spanish, English, and Cantonese, and she is also in the process of learning Mandarin. Enmy is now a senior at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and she is expected to graduate in Spring 2017. She is very interested in event planning and wants to own her own event planning company in the future. She is diligent and cooperative, and she currently works at Wokcano, Pasadena as a host.

Reference

Ward, N. (2016, October 24). Google tests single hotel deal placements in search - Tnooz.            Retrieved November 02, 2016, from https://www.tnooz.com/article/google-tests-single-hotel-deal-search/ 

Olenski, S. (2014, February 7). The Impact Of Social Media In The Travel Marketing Industry.   Retrieved November 2, 2016, from                http://www.forbes.com/sites/steveolenski/2014/02/07/the-impact-of-social-media-in-the-travel-marketing-industry/#2f794f725c37  

Public Relations and Social Media (by Marlon Wong Granados)

“Every business interacts with a variety of publics: consumers, the general public, the financial community, the organizations’ employees, government, the media, suppliers, and many others. Public relations is the process by which the relationships with each to these publics is managed.” --- Reid and Bojanic, in Hospitality Marketing Management (2010, p. 492).

Just recently at my workplace, there was an incident regarding one of my coworkers. It turns out that he used Facebook’s personal messaging system as a medium to exchange harsh words with another person. This person was not in any way connected to our company, but after finding out where my coworker worked through my coworker’s Facebook profile, this person decided to post on our company’s public Facebook profile what my coworker had said to them for anyone to see. It appeared that my coworker said things that were not nice; and even though he thought he was having a private conversation via personal messaging with this person, this person exposed publicly what was said. The person also accused our workplace of hiring a person that was disrespectful and crass. The incident was handled by management, in essence it was a minor job in public relations, and as such the post was deleted, the person contacted by management, and after conducting an investigation, my workplace decided that my coworker must be let go.

This incident first made me think about our first amendment --- our freedom of speech. While my coworker said disrespectful words, was it right for the other person involved to accuse him at his workplace, to expose him on the company’s Facebook profile? Was it the correct decision for the company to let my coworker go? Secondly, I thought of the issue of public relations for company. A company’s public relations team might be an external company or it could just be an owner or a manager. Nowadays, companies should provide guidelines in employee manuals that refer to social media use, especially usage regarding the company. Even in the mentioned incident, where the private discussion was not about anything related to the company, the way someone projects themselves when speaking to another person, regardless of the medium, can be measured against the values of a company. While our company did have social media guidelines regarding the use of these tools concerning the company itself, and while there was nothing explicitly mentioned on the employee handbook about conducting oneself appropriately when speaking to other people outside of work, it was implied in our manual that we must conduct ourselves professionally in and out of work.

In the early days of Facebook, I wouldn’t think twice about posting any kind of status update, much less what I wrote in a personal message. In those days, while we still valued anonymity and privacy, as a society we were slowly changing. There was no Instagram or Yelp, and most people remained anonymous through nicknames and online handles. With the advent of social media sites, starting with Myspace, social media began to change. We started posting selfies, carefully manicuring our personal profiles, and increasingly communicating with one another online. Facebook came along and at first it was a college student only website. With the expansion of Facebook to encompass anyone in the world, including our parents and bosses, there were some issues that we began to deal with. 

Do we have to self-censor nowadays? If we do, does it inhibit part of our personality? What can companies do to protect themselves from incidents such as my coworker’s? As future managers, we will have to deal with issues such as this, and we must learn how to handle them effectively.

About the Author

Marlon Wong-Granados is a transfer student and Hospitality Management major at Cal Poly Pomona. His focus is on Restaurant Management. His ultimate goal is to be a restaurant operator and make a positive impact in the restaurant industry. He enjoys food, soccer, boxing, and travel.

References

Reid, R.D. and Bojanic, D.C. (2010). Hospitality Marketing Management (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 

The picture was downloaded from the TopRankBlog.com 

Documenting the Changes of B2C Communications on Facebook from 2010 to 2014

Last, I published a research study in Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, and I shared a brief discussion about this study on MultiBriefs.com.  In this study, I led a research team to investigate how restaurants' B2C communication strategies evolved on Facebook over time and how consumers' reactions to a variety of Facebook messages changed over time. 

We analyzed 2,463 Facebook messages initiated by 10 restaurant chains in the fourth quarter of 2010, 2012, and 2014.  We have found status updates experienced a substantial decrease by restaurants while usage of photo updates increased dramatically in the same period.  Photo remained to be the most "popular" media type, receiving most "Likes," comments, and shares from consumers.  Video was not "popular" at all in 2010 but experienced a slight increase in usage and slowly emerged in 2012 and 2014 as another "popular" media. 

Drawing from the research findings, I made the following recommendations to businesses: 

1. Engage with Facebook users in a consistent manner. We found that companies could win more customers over time by posting about the same amount of messages over the years.
2. Post high-quality photos. Because it seems "everyone" knows the power of photos on Facebook, now it may take more than just a regular photo to catch people's attention.
3. Use other picture-based social media tools to engage customers, such as Instagram and Pinterest.
4. Choose an eye-catching screen shot for a video cover.

If you are interested in reading more of our findings and implications, please email me for a desk copy of the article for personal usage or download the article online on Emerald Insight.

Have you observed any changes among organizations' or people's behavior on Facebook? Would you mind sharing your observations with us?

#B2C #Communications #Facebook #Research #Longitudinal

What Is the Core Principle of Social Media Marketing?

I attended the Social Media Marketing World Conference 2014 in San Diego (#SMMW14).  I heard many case studies and real success on social media marketing, which were drawn from different industrial sectors and represented a variety of social media platforms.  In the end, I made one conclusion: Listening and responding to customers is the core principle of social media marketing.  Companies now can answer the following questions by analyzing the consumer data on the Internet:

• For what purpose or on what occasion do customers use a product/service?
• What do they like or dislike about a product/service? And for what reasons?
• Who is actually buying and using a particular product/service?
• When is the best time to communicate with the target customers on social media?
• Where is the best "place" to reach the target customers?

Is it that simple?  Just "listen" to what customers said online, and then "respond" to what they need?  Check out my reflections on #SMMW14.

Brand Loyalty Programs: Let the Customer Work for You (Contributed by Cesar Tenorio)

One of the biggest issues that the hotel industry has been facing today is the lack of guest retention to a certain brand.  With the added competition of online travel agencies (OTA's) today, hotels are scrambling to try and get guests to stick around for more reasons than just room rates and complimentary Wi-Fi.
 

Cue in the loyalty program: a business technique that awards those returning guests through free parking, free snacks, a fancy name, and you guessed it, complimentary Wi-Fi.  However, even with the opportunity with all the perks and salty snacks that a hotel offers, marketing researchers are still scratching their heads as to what will make people not only prefer a certain brand, but also desire it.  It strongly poses the question, what do we have to do next? Or what new thing can we offer? Maybe it's time to start asking, is it time to step back and view the issue in a new lens?

To begin, we need to boil down this issue to its core: satisfying the guests' wants in a unique way.  I observed how many loyalty programs offer generally the same amenities along with the same customer service.  This leaves customers with no choice but to base loyalty programs off of price and free nights than rather the distinguishable experience that the hotel strives for.  Additionally, with the rapid advancement of technology, companies are slowly implementing online strategies to differentiate themselves.  The answer? Companies need to take some time to rethink their online presence and generate a solid, online game plan to stay ahead of the competition.

According to Access and Fast Company statistics, 66% of 18-24 year olds are more loyal to companies with a strong social media presence.  Meanwhile, the fastest growing demographic on Twitter consists of those in the 55-64 year old age bracket.  As you scroll down the tons of stories on Facebook or view the amount of Twitter 'favorites' a single tweet generates from Justin Bieber's latest arrest, the fact seems apparent that online social media is how people quickly  communicate today.  It has no longer become a hobby, but a lifestyle.  More and more people are implementing social media into their lives ranging from posting pictures of adorable puppies on Facebook to young women incorporating Pintrest ideas into their weddings.  If every brand boasts of such a unique culture, why not let guests become a part of it?  Better yet, why not let them take the wheel and drive?

It is a common rule of thumb that one satisfied guest may speak with two people about their experience, but will tell twenty people if they had a bad stay.  With the advantage of social media, those satisfied guests can now tell hundreds of people on a single media source.  The catch?  To find the motivation for guests to pull out their media device and capture moments that you want captured.

One of the more straight forward techniques is to visually impress the guest so that they will take a picture and share it with their friends.  Want to take it one step further?  Actively encourage guests to share their experiences through social media by taking photos of their drinks, views from their hotel room, and their trips that they embark while they're out of the hotel. Is there a bartender who can serve drinks while performing tricks?  Let the guests take a Snapchat video of the bartender expertly tossing bottles around and finish the spectacle by pouring a perfect long island iced tea.  Another way to get guests incorporated is by asking what plans future guests have when they stay at a particular hotel.  Even a simple 'Tag someone you love/know' while posting a picture of a popular destination is enough to get people talking and start tagging their friends.  The idea is participation in the organization.  The more that people are incorporated into the hotel culture, the more they will feel inclined to return to a certain brand. 

One amazing thing that I have seen is how small operations are able to have a hold on so many followers.  One Instagram user that I am impressed is Beautiful Destinations.  They have over a million followers on Instagram and the only things they post are beautiful photos of various locations around the world and ask their followers to tag someone else.  They constantly update their feed two or three times a day all while receiving over 10k favorites on at least every photo.  Large name brands such as Hilton and Marriott have just over 5K followers.  The demand for a shift towards a new loyalty program is higher than ever before.

What do you think would be a huge factor in guest retention?  Do you think small business tactics such as Beautiful Destinations would work for a large name brand?  Do you think social media can play a part in guest retention?

About the Author

Cesar Tenorio is a full-time undergraduate student at the Collins College of Hospitality Management in California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, where he is currently pursuing a degree in Hospitality Management.  He has held several different positions on campus including Resident Advisor, Orientation Leader, Executive Director for the Up 'Til Dawn fundraising event, and more.  He also held an internship position this past summer in the selective Hilton Worldwide program.  He has also received scholarships from both The Collins College and the American Hotel & Lodging Association.  Cesar currently aspires to receive a management program upon graduation and pursue an MBA in Finance.

References:

Lodging Staff. "Your Good Name." Lodging. n.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.

Wengen, Deidre. "Building Guest Loyalty in the Digital Age." Lodging. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.

Cooper, Belle B. "10 Surprising Social Media Statistics That Will Make You Rethink Your Social Strategy | Fast Company | Business + Innovation." Fast Company. N.p., 18 Nov. 2013. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.

Carter, Brandon. "The Access Loyalty Blog." The Access Loyalty Blog. N.p., 21 Nov. 2013. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.

Social Media in Hotel Operations - by Yu Hsan Wang

The amount of smart phone users are ever-growing, and ownership of smartphones have become the norm.  With carriers rolling out cheap data plans, wireless internet on the go has become extremely affordable.  The widespread access to internet content on mobile devices has made it possible for millions of smartphone users to stay connected through social media regardless of their location.  

According to the article, Social Media Inspires Hotel Design by Terence Baker, many hotels are incorporating social media into their hotel designs in order to keep up with the trends of the digital age.  By capitalizing this idea, hoteliers are able to attract consumers and provide them with a brand new experience where they can “meet, interact, have fun, compete, experience, flirt, tweet and much, much more” (Baker).  A hotel property in Dublin offers Twitter-themed rooms where customers can “tweet” requests such as filling their mini bars.  This innovative service makes it extremely easy for the room service department to keep track of requests; and on the other hand, the sales for mini bar items may increase due to the curiosity to try out this service.

Aside from offering a wide array of unique services through social media, hotel owners can also utilize this platform as a source of research.  The 1888 Hotel re-designed the rooms by browsing through countless hotel design photos that were shared on Instagram, where “every angle, detail and element of the hotel was looked at through the prism of an Instagram photograph” (Baker).  

By looking at the trend on Instagram, hoteliers can have a grasp of what is liked and what is not by consumers and remodel their properties to cater to the likes and wants of customers.  When digital meets design, hotels are able to provide customers with a sense of participation where their voice is heard and their meets met. Besides offering a brand new experience to customers, hotels are able to save money on their R&D sector by crowdsourcing ideas from various social media sites, creating a win-win situation where they make more money by spending less.  These secondary data are an inexpensive, yet valuable asset to hotel owners; they can keep track of real-time trends and interact with users to improvise on the service they deliver.

The trend utilizing social media in hotels have also become a marketing scheme for hotels where customers can gain access to live updates about the events and happenings of the hotels in which they plan to stay.  This way, not only can guests obtain information easily, they can also share this information with their friends and create a word of mouth effect, which can bring in even more potential customers to the property. 

What kind of service would you, as a guest, wish to see in hotels that incorporates social media?  If hotels are a place where people go for getaways, will the incorporation of social media contradict the very essence of taking a rest from life?

About the author: 

Hi all, my name is Yu Hsuan Wang, but you can call me Alicia.  I am a third year hospitality management student in The Collins College of Hospitality Management at Cal Poly Pomona, with an emphasis on hotel management.  I was a transfer student from Mt. San Antonio College, the school that opened my eyes to the world of the hospitality industry.  I am originally from Taiwan where tourism is an integral part of the country’s economy; and because of that, there is a bright outlook for the hospitality industry.  I hope that I can learn as much as possible and bring it with me back to my home country one day and make practicing it into a career.

Creating Original Content --- First and Foremost for Blogging

Do you know many websites are built on a WordPress (blog) theme?  Oh yes.  People are very likely reading blogs when they browse contents on the internet, and blogging can be very effective in marketing communications and making sales.  Yet, how does blogging different from Facebook or Twitter updates?  What can we expected from a good blog post?

Blog is definitely different from Facebook, Twitter, or other social media sites.  Blogging is more than just an update.  There is no set limit on how many characters a blog post can have, allowing people to publish longer and more in-depth discussion.  Plus, bloggers can embed other social media contents in a post (e.g., pictures and videos).

I started blogging about four years ago.  When I first started, I did more “sharing” than “creating.”  I shared the news articles that I found interesting and relevant to my target audience.  My blog posts read more like summaries of relevant news articles with very little in-depth discussion.  Over time, I saw a steady increase of pageviews, but I wondered why would people want to read my “summaries.”  They can easily find summaries of news updates on the internet.  If they only want to read the news articles that are relevant to them (e.g., my blog is related to hospitality management and social media), they can sign up for those subscription services available on the internet and the news will “find” them instead.  Moreover, if I only want to share news articles, I can do that just as well on Twitter or Facebook.  Why do I bother to talk about those updates on my blog?

To me, a good blog discussion must reveal what is “inside” of the author, and good bloggers post original content.  They share their unique perspectives of an event or develop knowledge-based propositions.  If a blogger simply shares a summary of somebody else’s work, s/he is just “manipulating content.” Creating original content should be the first and foremost indication of a good blog post. 

In fact, creating original content has become extremely important in social media marketing and business communications. Taco Bell, for example, shared in the Big Data Idea Exchange Workshop @UCIrvine that the company had sent the social media team to The New York Times and The Huffington Post for training because Taco Bell also wants to be a content creator on social media.  Evidence from Taco Bell’s social media presence has shown the training had paid off.

Do you read blogs? Please share with us what blogs or websites you visit often and what draws you back to those blogs or websites. 

References:

The picture was downloaded from Profalbrecht.wordpress.com 

Integrating Mobile Technology into Customer Service

Today, 52% of the population have smartphones, of whom over 94% are expected to use smartphones in searching for local business, according to a recent newsletter I received from the California Lodging Industry Association.  Many OTAs (online travel agents such as Expedia.com and Priceline.com) and entrepreneurs are getting into the “app business,” and they are doing very well (as suggested in the Bloomberg video).  Hotels and restaurants for sure would also like to have a piece of the pie. 

Indeed, many hotels follow the SoLoMo (Social, Local, and Mobile) movement and have introduced many mobile apps.  The big hotel groups, for example, all have mobile apps, allowing customers to search and make reservations using mobile devices; but at the same time, there are also other apps for different hotel brands within the same hotel group and even apps for individual properties.  Moreover, there are concierge (service) apps for luxury and upper upscale brands.  Really?  Does a hotel group need that many apps?  Will customers get confused in front of “the sea of mobile apps?”  If people are not using those apps, how much can mobile technology help hotels improve customer satisfaction and business?

To provide customers exceptional “total guest experience,” hotels must ensure high service quality when customers search information prior to purchase (i.e., “search quality”), when they actually make a purchase and stay in the hotel (i.e., “experience quality”), and even after they leave the hotel (i.e., “credence quality”).  Most mobile apps that are available in the app store right now, however, only have one focus on either search quality or experience quality.  Personally, I have not seen a mobile app that truly integrates technology into all three stages of service quality.  As a traveler, I would prefer one powerful app that provides me the total guest experience.  With this powerful app, I can search and make reservations on my phone, check into a hotel with the same app, use the same app to request anything I need during my stay, such as wake-up calls, extra towels, and room service, and lastly use the same app to retrieve and track the information of my previous stays and/or complaints.  Am I asking for too much?

I am not sure if hotels have the mindset of competing with OTAs when they invest in mobile apps.  I hope they don’t.  Because without the big picture of providing exceptional total guest experience, they will never be able to develop a powerful mobile app that truly integrates mobile technology into customer service, and they will not be able to compete with those OTAs that are specialized in “search experience.”

Do you use any hotel (or restaurant) mobile apps?  How do you like or dislike those apps?  What can hotels (or restaurants) do to improve customers’ mobile app experience? 

 

Some relevant discussions within this blog: 

SoLoMo for Social Media Strategists 

 “SoLoMo”and Legislation

Is It a Good Business Strategy to Offer Phone-Free Discount?

Renaissance Hotels Replaced Concierge with “Navigator”

References:

The picture was downloaded from BlogOnline.co.uk.

Interested in a Sales/Marketing Position? You’d Better Start Tweeting

Traditionally, companies promote sales by initiating one-way, and often persuasive messages to influence buyers’ purchasing decisions, but social media has destroyed the “one-to-many-communication” model. And because of that, if one wants to work in the field of sales and marketing, s/he must know how to communicate effectively on social media.

Well, many people have already been active on Facebook and Instagram. Isn’t it enough? Probably, at least they know how to “talk” as a customer. The challenge is B2C (business-to-consumer) communications are very different from C2B (consumer-to-business) and C2C (consumer-to-consumer) communications because everything posted on a company’s Facebook page or Instagram profile must reflect a brand’s or a company’s core value. Do you notice any differences between the Facebook messages posted on McDonald’s page and the ones on Chick-fil-A’s page?

A good sales/marketing manager must also know how to measure and document the ROI (return on investment) of a company’s effort on social media marketing. Very likely, most internet users do not even pay attention to how many friends they actually engage on social networking sites. If that’s the case, can they determine if a B2C communication strategy is working or not based on measurable outcomes?

Additionally, a good sales/marketing manager must go beyond Facebook and Instagram. At a minimum, s/he must also be active on LinkedIn and Twitter. According to the Wall Street Journal, Twitter now has over 230 million monthly active users. Some companies have already gained great success in promoting sales on Twitter. For a hotel, Twitter can be an “easy and inexpensive way to get in touch with its audience and to form community bonds.”  

If you still feel doubt about Twitter, let’s hope the following Bloomberg video will add some weight to my argument. In your opinions, what are the important skills that a sales/marketing manager should possess in the social media era? What can a candidate do to better prepare himself/herself for the challenges facing sales/marketing managers these days?


References:
The picture was downloaded from Guladigital.com.

Learning while Tweeting: Why Not?

Using smartphones in class?  Don’t students have enough distractions?  Doesn’t tweeting or texting make students disrespectful to the professor in class?

As a professor myself, I certainly understand how distracting a smartphone can be to a student in class, but at the same time, I also believe using smartphones and tablet computers can enhance students’ learning experience if they are used appropriately.  Here is my experience.   

When I taught at Texas Tech, I had a strict policy that prohibits students from using laptops and cellphones in class.  I adopted the same policy when I first moved to Syracuse University (SU).  It made sense at that time because I wanted students to engage with me in face-to-face and verbal discussion. 

Time has changed, however.  When I developed and taught the social media class at SU and RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology).  I turned to the opposite direction.  I requested to teach in a computer lab.  Students were encouraged to used laptops, smartphones, and tablet computers, and they were required to tweet during class.  I administrated class discussion on Twitter.  Afterwards, either a student or I would summarize the class discussion on Storify.  Students could refer to class discussions (notes) on Storify at any time.  It seems to me students were engaging on Twitter.  In the end, they also became very familiar with Twitter as a communication tool, which was also one of the learning outcomes of the class.  I have found it very helpful by allowing students to use tablets or smartphones in class. 

Will students take advantage of the lenient policy?  What if they also check on something that they are not supposed to, such as writing a none-class-related post on Facebook or shopping online?  I take it this way – if students are good at multi-tasking, which means they are able to engage on Twitter and do other things at the same time, I respect them and let them continue what they are doing in class.  If they are not participating, I will “pull” them back to the class by asking them to elaborate what is said on Twitter. 

Very soon, I will be teaching in The Collins College of Hospitality Management at Cal Poly Pomona.  I feel fortunate that I can teach in the “smart” classroom, which can be controlled with an iPad and has multiple screens.  I am encouraged to replace the professor-centered idea with a student-centered pedagogy.  It doesn’t matter what subjects I am teaching, I will definitely encourage students to use smartphones and/or tablet computers to interact with me, in addition to face-to-face conversations.  I am looking forward to trying out new educational apps and new teaching tactics in the “smart” classroom.  Please stay tuned for more updates.

In the end, I would like to share with you a Wall Street Journal video, which is also about using smartphones in classroom.  In your opinions, should students be allowed to use smartphones in class?  Why or why not?  What are the best practices for professors to engage with students in class?

Relevant discussion:

The Challenges of Using Social Media in Teaching

Teaching Social Media in Business Schools: What Needs to Be Covered?

Text Messages that Teach: A Great Example of Entrepreneurship in the Mobile Device Market

Can a Tough Cell Phone Policy Teach Teenagers Cell Phone Etiquette?

Still Feeling Reluctant to Adopt a Social Media Strategy: Please Think Again

Reference:

The picture was downloaded from Kellimarshall.net