Social Media Monitoring Project -Fianl blog: Hostelling International Social Media Analysis

                                                          ---Way of Living

 

Goals on Social Media sites

 YouTube says, "Let us know if you have uploaded a new Hostelling International (HI hostels)video recently and we will add it as a favourite."

Pinterest says, "Say HI to the world with Hostelling International and be inspired by our hostelling community."

Hostelling International Boston says, "We'd Love to Hear from You."

So, Hostelling international is working on create an online community and expect for more interaction.

Customers participation & Online Dialogue

The most active social media site is, of course, Facebook. People post on different topic: advertisement for hostelling international from all over the world; expression of one's own experience in travel and with hostelling international; some ask help with online survey about cultural activity.
 I am not sure if this is normal that I never found a negative post on their Facebook page, maybe just because people are happy when they are traveling.

Hostelling international's respond is usually prompt, less than a day. People ask questions about discount, some even ask about the price, hostelling answered every of them. And once a girl asked help for a cultural activity, hostelling provide information for her and it seems the information is useful and she found the right person to turn to.





For Hostelling international twitter, interaction is less remarkable. The most useful function is to outreach.
What does TweetReach Report mean? 

Ongoing campaign- The Big Blog Exchange

The launch of the main competition site for the exchange will take place on 1st March 2013, where potential travellers can log on, create a profile and start encouraging others to vote for them. Selected bloggers will be flown across the globe by HI, to their exchange destination. There they can explore the area, experience new things and immerse themselves in local traditions and cultures.

Hostelling International uses different social media sites to promote this competition.The cover page of Facebook and Twitter is all The Big Blog Exchange. Facebook post latest status, Twitter promotes a lot in this campaign.

Google Trends

   What does Google Trends mean? 

As the pictures shown above, Hostelling International is not a hot topic to search, the trend is going down these years. I am surprised that there is no result for The Big Blog Exchange, what I expected was a surge.

More analysis for the Regional Interest, as a global brand, Hostelling International is a more popular search topic in Canada and United States. Higher place are California, which is a hot travel resort, and in Massachusetts, where a new hostelling is recently open. Although Asian is kind of quiet, big cities like Beijing and Shanghai stand high in the search.  

Social Mention

           

             

 As shown in the picture, The Big Blog Exchange is being discussed more often then Hostelling International and has a more wide rang of influence. When it comes to passion, Hostelling has 40%, The Big Blog Exchange has 24%, which is good for a new campaign.

H

 

IceRokcet

How to evaluate data on IceRocket?

That is information from the universe!

It shows that the percentage of post is much higher when it comes to The Big Blog Exchange and post per day is 61, which is much higher than 2 of Hostelling International.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Hostelling international did a good job on providing varies social media sites and keep them active.

• More dialogues should be created, not just on face book, but also other social media websites.
• Connect social media website with Hostelling international official website, especially the local ones.

           Hostelling International Chicago  
           Hostelling International New York
        One of the most attracting feature of the official website is that they provide event and activity, which is attracting to visitors. But this information is usually not available on social media website.

• Launch more campaigns like The Big Blog Exchange which can interest people, like photo contest, which is less time-consuming and can reach.
• Consistence connection with people who like travel, who like share experience.  Create a platform for people to upload pictures and write stories.
• Cooperate with other brands. Remember Sustainable Brand is the top contributor to tweet exposure. World Boston helps to promote activities of Hostelling International Boston. National Council of International Visitors accommodated Emerging Leaders in Hostelling Internatioanl Washington DC.

Once again, I would like to go back to Hostelling International Mission,"education,knowledge, love, culture,understanding". Hostelling International is not just for accommodation, it is a way of living. 

Groundswell embraces employee within the company

By understanding the power of groundswell and how it would contribute or threaten companies and brands(Chapter 1--3), Li and Bernoff created several strategies for tapping the groundswell(Chapter 4-9). Clear expectation can be met by using different approach: listening, talking, energizing, supporting, and embracing. It is easy to be overlooked but extremely important is what groundswell can empower employees in the company and the future platform of groundswell(Chapter 10-12).

 How leadership and employee engagement can affect a company? Let's see the video:

                                

According to Deloitte Consulting LLP principal Doug Palmer, "social media software can help employees build relationships with one another, share knowledge, and collaborate." 

As the CEO of Avenue A/Razorfish, Clark wrote blogs post addressing concerns, which is openness and things aren't happening in secret. As a results, employees felt more assured that the acquisition would be good for them. (P222)

There are several benefit of this new communication channel:

Transparency: It brings a open culture for a company. It is often said that, "how a company does things is more important today than what it does." Forming a Culture of Candor within its employee can really help a company build an open attitude towards public.

Promptness: Everything is just a click away when it comes to the explosion of Internet, which makes it easier and less time-consuming to get access to information. Everyone in the company can respond effectively when  instructions are send through social media websites.

                     

Less-bureaucracy: Instead of passing messages by a top-down method, the equal access and openness atmosphere on groundswell can create a more less-bureaucracy organizational culture, which is encouraging for employees to concentrate on company's bottom line.

Another benefit groundswell can offer is to embrace new employee stepping into the company and get to know the organizational culture.

Like Organic, whenever new employees join, they get a page on Organism and are expected to keep it up to date.(P224)

The big task for new employee is to learn and scientific research has shown that we learn best by experiencing , different social media tools and the involvement of groundswell can definitely sever this purpose. There are some useful social media tools for employee engagement. 

Facebook Groups: Groups help gather employees; within groups, shared updates, photos, documents and more under specific settings of choosing can be used effectively to transfer messages. Here is an example of Russian Women Entrepreneurs Facebook Group.

YouTube: Australian companies, such as Fosters (@FostersCareers), are building strong talent management teams, adept at using LinkedIn and other social media tools to attract top talent, inviting potential employees to learn more about a career with their business. Recruiters are often online for a period, with “Ask and Expert” segment, to answer any questions that applicants may have. They have also done a good job with attracting and explaining expectations for new employees by a serious of video on YouTube.

There are other aspects need to be taken into consideration when it comes to how to embrace employee within the company.

Skepticism vs. Brave:

Readers responded with comments like "It will never happen" and on engineer specializing wrote, "Give me a server and I'll get it run in a day" (P223)

Innovation is always going with skepticism and obstacle, it requires visionary and courage. Having high social media intelligence is a power tool to be brave. Companies have the responsibility to lead and encourage employees.
 

Cost vs. Impact:

Some post that this wasn't possible because it would cost Best Buy close to $1 million to implement.
 (P218)

In a company, people are willing to see low cost and high impact; at lease a certain level of cost and relevant impact. It is understanding when people set back when they estimate the impact is not promising. Social media community do provide a platform to expand impact with a low price when it is used wisely.


   
Short term vs. Long term:

Strategically, you will need that connection to the groundswell. Companies need connections to their markets to create long-term loyalty. (P238)


The explosion of information on social media makes it more approachable, and in some way, makes it invaluable. It is easy to get people's attention in a short time, and the more important task is to keep the connection and concentrate on long-term impact.