Social media has changed many aspects of the world of marketing, from word-of-mouth to hyper-local and micro-niches (and other hyphenated terms). Marketing’s become much more a game of precision, rather than blasting out information – Seth Godin calls this the bullhorn.
This, for the most part is true. Except in the world of promotion.
In a recent post, Chris Brogan wrote about the benefit he derives from having a large following (a “bullhorn) on Twitter. As an example, he writes the following:
I get tons of value from Twitter every day. Heck, just today, I mentioned on Twitter that I’ve made the Roger Smith Hotel my exclusive hotel in NYC, and that spurred a new conversation with a hotel in Boston.
I replied with the following:
A Boston hotel reaching out to you versus Jeff Cutler, Bob Collins, Doug Haslam, or any number of other Boston-based social media pros — who are actually in Boston far more often than you (surely because of your work schedule) and regularly throw events in the city — shows that celebrity (the bullhorn) counts more than focused relevance.
The bullhorn still wins.
Of course, this is how it is, but not how it should be.
This hotel in Boston, looking to introduce itself as the place to stay in the city if you’re a social media person — much like the Roger Smith Hotel is in New York — figures attracting Chris’s attention is the way to go. Chris Brogan, by the nature of his business and the demands on his time, can be little more than a bullhorn for this Boston hotel. If Chris writes a tweet, as many as 115,000 people around the world will see it. Not a bad blast.
But 115,000 people aren’t all watching Chris’s twitter feed all at once. And I doubt Chris is going to send multiple tweets, staggered at different times, promoting your hotel (or anything really). He’s just not the kind of guy to do that. So the bullhorn is less effective for the hotel than it would seem.
On the other hand, if they reach out to a handful of local social media personalities (especially those that host regular events) and use the power of more people — with less followers than the bullhorn, but with a more dedicated community — spreading the same message, they would stand a chance for much more consistent promotion of their hotel and what they offer.
This is what the Roger Smith Hotel has done so effectively. When Brian Simpson and company started their campaign to make the Roger Smith the New York hotel social media people run to, they didn’t do it by focusing on a single, big name personality. They did it by reaching out to everyone.
Coming to town for a conference? Check out the Roger Smith!
Having a ladies weekend in the city? Check us out!
Need space to host BarCamp? The Roger Smith’s got it.
Want to grab a drink after work, or some brunch on the weekend? Check out Lily’s at the Roger Smith!
The way I see it, this doesn’t just apply to the hotel in Boston. Or to hotels in particular. Any hospitality-based business can garner larger support by connecting with groups of locally-concentrated social media personalities.
Less bullhorn, more handshake.
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Brilliant, and exactly. And they could totally do BOTH (since both provide their own angle), so why not?
Great post Gradon. Love it.
If it weren't so much harder to go the “hand shake” approach, there would be a lot less bull horning out there. Plus, no one is ever going to attempt to hold you accountable for the 30 seconds you spent replying to Chris Brogan on Twitter, but they would if you spent hours searching for internet celebs in need of a cozy bed away from home.
Even harder still is to not focus on the “social media personalities” and focus on real people. Think: smaller audience, MUCH bigger influence.
It really isn't that hard to focus on “real people.” You wouldn't need to focus on specific personalities as much what anyone says. The Roger Smith tracked simple phrases like “hotel in New York”. When they found people tweeting about trips to the city, they reached out. Combine that with offers for locals at the restaurant and bar, and it's a win.
It really isn't that hard to focus on “real people.” You wouldn't need to focus on specific personalities as much what anyone says. The Roger Smith tracked simple phrases like “hotel in New York”. When they found people tweeting about trips to the city, they reached out. Combine that with offers for locals at the restaurant and bar, and it's a win.
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