Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/422436
28 | www.travelweekly-asia.com Social Media: How to create great content and engage witH cuStoMerS By Morris Sim, ceo & co-founder, circos Brand Karma Social media is a mainstream communications channel and effective use of it requires travel brands to develop great content and engage with the community. Shangri-la taipei on tripadvisor However, brands don't control content about them. tripadvisor, one of the largest hotel review sites in the world, contains reviews on over 600,000 hotels written by everyday travellers. the site is often used to research where to stay prior to guests booking. Shangri-la taipei is one of the hotels that acknowledges that and makes it a point of responding to reviews – even when they're negative or contain complaints. travellers don't expect perfection in their travels – they use review sites to set their own expectations and determine the value of the guest experience. Keep responses to reviews authentic MarKetinG an important part of this is how mishaps are remedied and what the attitude of the staff is in dealing with issues – are they defensive or helpful, competent or clueless, etc. often hotels will lose sales not because it had service issues, but because it was poorly handled or worse, no one ever responded to legitimate complaints on social media. the importance of review also extends to private accommoda- tion. in 2013, airbnb generated uS$250 M in commissions, which puts the value of bookings on air- bnb to be between uS$2 – $3 Bn. its rise is in part due to authentic reviews that both the hosts and guests can write about each other. the ability for hosts to review their guests levels the playing field and reduces the urge for guests to be unfairly negative.