Social proof should be in every hotels’ marketing toolkit. The technique, which uses the thoughts and feelings of others to influence customers, feeds into our need to belong and our unshakable trust in ‘people like me’.
We hear time and time again from our clients and partners that social proof is especially crucial for winning over customers in Asia. That’s partly down to massive adoption of social media and mobile, both of which make social proof easier to find for consumers and easier to harness for business.
With intra-regional travel the dominant force in Asia Pacific, hotels there have got to be using social proof and using it right. The latter is harder to do than it sounds, so here’s a few thoughts on how to maximise the value from social proof.
Reviews — from the right people in the right places
Not all reviews are equal as far as Asian customers are concerned. According to Expedia, reviews of Westerners are of little use to this audience due to differing standards on things like cleanliness. So what matters is that your reviewers represent the full range of your potential guests.
Make sure you are encouraging your Asian customers to leave their feedback and perhaps offer incentives that can be claimed in- or post-stay once they do. Display such reviews prominently on your website and where they appear on external sites, respond to boost visibility.
If your reviews are coming via social media, make sure they are on the right platform. Facebook, for example, is blocked in China so Weibo will be more useful there.
Engage customers on social media
While we’re on the topic of social media, it’s worth noting just how powerful a medium it is in APAC. The region is home to 54% of the world’s social media users and 56% of the world’s social media mobile users, according to We Are Social and Hootsuite. Customers there are already online and primed to share, so give them every opportunity to do so.
