Interesting bit of data analysis has found the differences between how people use search engines and social media sites when looking for new products.
Focusing on hotel search, World Independent Hotels Promotion looked at 10,000 bookings on the web to track what path the user had used before seeing or after leaving the hotel’s website.
Here is a handy illustration:
As WIHP notes, search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo are clearly doing what they intend to: finding websites.
But it seems, based on the data, social media sites along the lines of TripAdvisor and Facebook alongside blogs and media, are used as a source of discovering new information.
The data poses an interesting conundrum for hotels as they look to reach potential guests:Â where best to put their advertising spend, through keyword buying and going the enhanced SEO route, or on potentially lower volume sites but with audiences with different motivations for being there.
WIHP says:
“Hotel marketers should find ways to advertise on Tripadvisor and social media sites to reach new guests while using tools such as Google’s Remarketing and adwords to reach guests that are still shopping for hotels through search engines.”
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The stats seem interesting, but that infographic is really, really hard to read for those of us with poorer eyesight. I looked on the WIHP site, but couldn’t find it there either.
Can you post a link to the original (and hopefully more legible) image?
Thank you
@johan – here’s the original:
http://www.wihphotel.com/mag/2011/where-to-find-new-customers-online-seo-vs-social-media/
[it's actually not much clearer than ours. sorry
]
Actually, that is much better. If you click the image, it enlarges to the full size on which is easy to read
http://www.wihphotel.com/mag/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/how-to-find-new-customers-Graphs-for-hotels-wihphotel.jpg
Thank you!
This is a fascinating subject. Certainly I have had a much better response (for a small outfit such as us) from Facebook advertising – and better reporting – than any efforts with adwords. The trouble with Google, is that there is just too much Google.
SEO is 99% common sense … if you have a site with good, relevant and unique content describe you pictures and do the standard stuff, SEO is not rocket science. You only have to worry about it if you are trying to dress up mutton as lamb.
As an article, a useful start though much more analysis and insight into this subject would be valued.