FINAL EXAM

Please, find Exercice 1. here

Exercice 2. - Digital IQ

• What is the relationship between Digital IQ and revenue growth?
In the hospitality industry, it is a positive relationship between Digital IQ and year-over-year growth in Revenue Per Available Room (RevPar).The more your Digital IQ (combination of use between social media, your website, mobile and digital marketing) is high, the more your bookings will increase as you will be more visible for customers.
 
• What does Digital IQ measure, why is it important to the hotel industry?

Digital IQ measures the level of use of a company (or a brand) of digital tools such as sites, mobiles, social platforms, digital marketing and its efficiency in using them.

It is important to the hotel industry as more and more customers are using these digital tools to do their research. So, if the hotel industry wants to grow and increase their sales, its digital IQ has to be developed first.


The 4 sectors of Digital IQ are:
- 20% of Mobile (compatibility, optimization, and marketing on smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices).
The components of the Mobile sector are: - Mobile Site: Compatibility, Functionality, Transaction
- iOS Applications (iPhone & iPad): Availability, Popularity, Functionality, iPad Differentiation.
- Android & Blackberry: Availability, Popularity, Functionality.
- Mobile Innovation: SMS, Geo-local, Instagram, Other Mobile Marketing Innovation.

- 20% of Social Media (Brand presence, community size, content, and engagement on major social media platforms on global and select property accounts).
The components of the Social Media sector are: - Facebook: "Likes", Growth, Post Frequency, Applications, Responsiveness, Content, Interaction Rate, F- Commerce.
- Twitter: Followers, Growth, Post Frequency, Online Voice.
- YouTube: Views, Number of Uploads, Subscriber Growth, Content, Interactivity.


- 30% of Site (Effectiveness of brand site)
The components of the Site sector are: - Site Technology.
- Site Search & Navigation.
- Reservations.
- Property Pages and Destination Guides.
- Customer Service.
- Rewards / Loyalty Programs.
- Social Media Integration.
- 30% of Digital Marketing (Search, display, and email marketing efforts).
The components of the Digital Marketing sector are: - Search : Traffic, SEM, SEO, web authority.
- Display Advertising & Innovation: Text & Banner Ads, Retargeting, Cross-platform Innovation Initiatives, Presence on Emerging Platforms: Pinterest, Tumblr, Google+.
- Blog & Other User-Generated Content: Mentions, Sentiment, TripAdvisor Reviews.
- Email: Frequency, Content, Social Media Integration, Mobile Optimization.

• List 2 hotels/hotel companies in the top 10 of L2’s digital IQ. Compare + explain the differences in the digital tactics used by the 2 examples you have selected.

2 hotel companies in the top 10 of L2's digital IQ are Four Seasons and Hilton.

Four Seasons' new site delights and delivers strong visuals, curated travel itineraries and rich content such as user reviews, all shareable and mobile optimized. They effectively manage multi-property social media communities and create a cohesive brand experience online: the brand scored top marks in Social Media successfully managing both global and property accounts on all major social networks. Four Seasons is not afraid to experiment with emerging platfroms and empowers staff to contribute valuable content. Ther is one of only nine brands in the Index provinding links to trypAdvisor. Four Seasons takes integration one step further by inooperating ourated reviews on property pages.
A digital pioneer, the nrand was one of the first hoteliers to adopt Pinterest, it has multiple instagrams accounts across its global properties.
For Valentine's day, the brand launched a cross- platform campaign with romantic tips on its online magazine, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Hilton leverages technology on-property to deliver a digital guest experience. It has the highest scores in search marketing buttress Hilton's web authority. In addition, they have the largest and fastest growing community on Facebook.

Please find Exercice 3.

Exercice 4. - SoLoMo

• Why is SoLoMo an innovative marketing approach?

SoLoMo is the convergence in social, local and mobile media, especially in the context of smartphones, tablets or other mobile computing devices.
For the marketer, the message is pulled (and not pushed) as a result of the users location and activity on social networks.
It improves the guest experience (in the hospitality industry) and develops its engagement.

• How does it relate to customer discovery path?

It is related to customer discovery path as the use of SoLoMo multiplies customer's touch points. The customer discovers the company or the brand in a hole new way and the company becomes more visible and present in customer's mind.


Exercice 5. - New SEO

• What is the new - you heard it here first - definition of SEO?

The new SEO is not the new Search Engine Optimization but the Search Experience Optimization.

In other words, the new SEO is represented by the 5 take aways of SoLoMo:

• Start with the audience, not the technology: novelty has a limited window of value, but real benefits keep people coming back for more. Identify what people actually care about, and build the technology around that.

• Sharing must be about audience benefit: if you want people to publicly endorse your brand, make sure you offer them something compelling in return for their endorsement. The question to ask yourself is, ‘What’s in it for them?’, and not just ‘What’s in it for my brand?’

• Add value through utility: no-one will turn down a discount, but people will go out of their way to get additional benefits. Offer people what they really need, not just a cheaper version of what they already know they want.

• Keep it simple: this is the critical rule if you want widespread adoption. The number one reason for poor SoLoMo performance is asking people to do too much; any more than ’2 steps to benefit’, and you’ll lose the vast majority of potential participants.

• Build relationships, not spectacle: 97% off a full-day spa package is great, but people’s attention is quickly diverted when tomorrow’s deal offers 98% off a meal at that Michelin-star restaurant. The real value in SoLoMo lies in connecting with people, exchanging mutual value, and building relationships over time.

• How does it relate to customer discovery path?

It relates to customer discovery path as the customer will see its experience not only improving in a completely different way but actually discovering a hole new experience and it will increase its engagement or loyalty to the brand or company.