Social Influence Action Plan

Hilton Bora Bora Nui Resort & Spa

Looks like paradise does it?

I am sure that each one of you would be so glad to go over there one day … this hotel

is so far away that you will then start looking for more details on internet (no phone call as it

is too expensive!) ; unfortunately, you won’t find anything except the official Hilton page

with a brief presentation of this resort.

In this report will then be presented a real social influence action plan that will help

this hotel, managed under the worldwide renowned Hilton brand, to develop its online

visibility and create a real community around its heavenly destination!

As nothing has been implemented for this hotel to be active online, we can actually

create profiles on any social platforms, after having fixed goals, linked with the general

management’s vision and mission.

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1 st step : the general management should be aware that, nowadays, online interaction is

a crucial factor in a hotel development, generating in the end a real increase in revenue in a

perennial way! Therefore, we could show them examples of online success via the creation

of interaction with its community, like the Wyndham Hotel Group who has the most “likes”

on its Facebook fan page with 321 000….

2 nd step : once the general management is convinced that they need to be active on the

internet, a reputation management strategy should be adopted, and a reputation manager

should be hired.

3 rd step : identify the key, social and peer influencers and create a community: this

reputation manager will be in charge of dealing with the global online image of the hotel, and

will create a community using key platforms such as:

The creation of a professional Google+ page will be an advantage as this tool is brand

new for businesses and the reputation manager won’t have any difficulty setting up a profile

and starting creating its circles. These lasts are one of the most important criteria, as well as

the interaction on the wall: posting great content and relevant information will attract

people in the hotel’s circles. The HBBN should then target guests who already came to the

hotel and who left positive comments on Trip Advisor or event their own personal blogs. It

should also target businesses that could be interested in organizing a seminar or an incentive

travel in Bora Bora for example; travel agencies who sell this destination; in the end all

these people will then influence their own circles … and this is

what we are looking for!Please have a look at the Azimut Hotels, leading Russian hotel chain, which has a

great Google+ profile with relevant content and 116 circles!

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Nowadays more than 800 million people

subscribed for this social media, any hotel should be

present on it if they want to be known worldwide.

For this particular Hilton Bora Bora Nui Resort &

Spa (HBBN), only 417 people “like” it, and 14 talk

about it, and there is NO interactions on the wall

… please have a look here!

The Six Senses Resorts & Spas is actually

really good at communicating on Facebook, with a

page for each of its destination and hotel (with even

an entire page dedicated to actual available jobs!):

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Following key institutions with a great number of followers linked with the Hilton

values will be an important step into the online development of this hotel. For the moment,

there is no profile created for the HBBN.

Thanks to this article on the

Mashable website, we know that some

companies are not looking for the

number of followers, but for quality,

“communicating with people who are

genuinely interested in what is going

on the resort they are looking for.” The

HBBN will then have to do both on a

short term basis: follow as many

people as possible, but with

relevancy with its values and

interests!

When typing in Google the key

words “resorts and twitter”, I clicked on the first one and it is doing really good as there is a

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really active interaction and conversations on the wall, with people from anywhere in the

world talking about the Diamond Resorts. The HBBN reputation manager’s duty will then

also be to appear #1 when typing these kinds of key words!

For a destination like Bora Bora, how could we communicate without thinking about

sharing videos and pictures to show the environment? A game could be created such as

posting a video/picture describing a Polynesian island each week, in order to have people

worldwide making research on what is showed in the video, and each week an island has to be

discovered, with a reward for the winner!

Only 8 pictures are available on Flickr; on YouTube we can nearly find guests videos

only, without any comment or conversation!

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Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts will be one of the perfect examples as they have created Four Seasons Magazine with videos shared on

YouTube; people then can have an idea of the essence and purpose of the brand thanks to this alive medium.

The Hôtel du Louvre is also doing a great job on this

platform by showing the “backstage”: the social media manager

is even in charge of filming some room renovations in order to

make this hotel more alive and active within its community. This

transparency really attracts people!

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Food reporter: as the Polynesian

culinary experience is unique, the hotel

should also share its local dishes from its

“gastronomic” restaurant in order to attract

people that belong to the greedy

community!

As people working for this

culinary sharing social media also taste

any kind of restaurants in France (even

Michelin stars), one person could be

invited to taste the local food and the

Hilton Bora Bora Nui Resort & Spa will

be part of the community!

Have a look here at how people do

talk about the Hotel de Crillon in Paris!

This platform could also be used later in the social interaction plan for this hotel,

maybe not until the second year of existence. Indeed, the online community should already be

targeted and loyal before trying to make them “check in” in the HBBN via Foursquare. Even

if Bora Bora is far from everywhere (18 000 km from France), occupancy rates are high and

honeymooners are still selecting it for their trips. This is why it is crucial to have a strong

community before going on this platform in a short term.

4 th step : answer 100% of negative comments about the hotel on Trip Advisor, within

a week delay. Actually, the HBBN does not have a significant and active impact on this

website, and should now use it as a real tool. Indeed, only 403 opinions are available, and

NO answer has been provided, even for the worst comments ever!Guests are not invited to leave comments; there is no interaction or thank-you-note

(for positive comments). Taking this objective, the Guest Relations Manager should be

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trained so that, when talking with guests before leaving the hotel, she should orient them into

leaving a comment online on the social media platforms, in order to get more positive

comments and strong worldwide affluent people!

In case of a negative comment, write in a polite way, understand the complaint, and

apologize for it and search an excuse or compensation will be the minimum to communicate

on. The Hôtel du Louvre in Paris is actually doing a great job on this matter: each negative

comment should be answered and communicated to the general manager, and the reputation

manager also has the duty to answer to a minimum of 50% of positive comments . The

answers always look the same:

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Typical answer from the social media manager for a negative comment

5 th step : Once the Hilton Bora Bora Nui Resort & Spa is well established on social

platforms and achieved a real positive image, all the direct links should be set up on the

official Hilton webpage and people should be able to leave comments directly on the website;

this last should then be strongly improved (a little bit later in the strategic plan).

One of the main onsite duties will be to train staff as guests usually complain on

Trip Advisor about the inefficiency of the local workforce. This matter will be part of an

active Human Resources policy and strategy, and it does not belong to the reputation

manager’s duties, but this fact will have a significant impact on the overall reputation of the

hotel!

6 th step : measuring it all. The general management will then be eager to have

concrete results. Indeed, after having invested in a new employee and strategy, they should

be happy with the whole image that has been created around the Hilton brand and the location

of this resort.

Success should be measured with the number of followers on Twitter, “like” on

Facebook, comments on YouTube for great videos, etc. The level of interaction on the

different wall will also be measured, and in the end, if the positive and active image of this

hotel is spread worldwide on the web, then the occupancy rate will surely increase…

Conclusion: the goal that the general management and the reputation manager should

bear in mind during this whole process is that the community should be core, not the

business.

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“The purpose of a business is to create

a customer”

-Peter Drucker-