Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/422436
www.travelweekly-asia.com | 29 W Taipei MARKETING AcTIvE coNTENT MARKETING: W TAIpEI Take for example, the W Taipei: since the hotel opened, it has engaged in active content marketing via its Facebook fan page. As of this writing, its fan page has over 75,000 fans. Looking at the content posts of the W Taipei, you'll find variety; in fact, there's a 4:3 mix of promotional versus non-promotional content. The language used per post is engaging and in-line with the W brand. The photos are of high quality, visuals well designed. All of this leads to sharing in the form of Likes, Comments, and Shares that keeps the brand relevant and oft-mentioned in social media conversations… accelerating its rise to the top of the market in Taiwan. That's because the W Taipei understood that in order for it to succeed as a hotel brand, it needed to be a media brand. Its content, when shared, made their fans hip and cool. Consequently, the fans rewarded the hotel by helping to generate awareness and refer customers. In essence, W Taipei's fans became its marketers. Note: Brand Karma provides the only holistic marketing solution designed for hospitality and travel professionals to attract and retain customers via social and digital media. Headquartered in the United States, Brand Karma has offices in Japan, China, Taiwan, and Singapore. For more information, visit www.brand-karma.com. A question in the executive suite has to be: what is the ROI on social media? Consider this – historically, brands that don't engage in new communication channels rarely survive the paradigm shift. So the ultimate ROI is that a brand still has a business in this new world. Short term, if a brand can develop captivating content and genuinely engage with customers, then monetisation opportunities are also available. Starwood APAC did exactly that. In 2013 Starwood generated US$2.5 million in revenue from offer-related booking solely via advertising on Facebook. The reasons it succeeded were because it had a strong brand in social media, compelling offers that made their destinations more attractive than the com- petition, and used the new targeting features of Facebook to identify the right customers and convert with precision. But before brands spend money advertising on social media, they need to cover the basics: build the brand in social media, engage with fans, and be prepared to deal with crisis. RoI coMEs AfTER ThE hARd WoRK's bEEN doNE: sTARWood