Martin and the Power of Social Media

By Sacha Declomesnil

If you’re wondering what social media are and how they can be applied to the workplace, here’s the story (fictional, but realistic) of Martin, a young marketing professional. For him, social media have been a part of daily life for some time.

Martin is marketing director of Welligan, a well-known boutique hotel in Montreal. This morning, Martin is up as usual at 6 a.m. He likes to have his morning coffee while perusing RSS feeds sent to his Google Reader. Today he finds some international statistics regarding upcoming trends in the luxury tourism industry. He sends them to his VP, a stats junkie, so that they can discuss them at their next meeting. Martin then clicks the article’s Share button as a helpful gesture to his friends in the industry, with whom he’s created a group on Facebook.

He then commutes to Welligan by bus. During the ride, he logs on to Twitter using his “smart” cell phone, a product from the latest generation of the BlackBerry family. Already, he’s received "tweets" from his friends concerning the article he shared earlier. A discussion ensues on the network via text messages of 140 characters maximum. Martin tells himself he should include the most relevant comments from his "followers" on Twitter into the next article he writes for his blog: blog.welligan.com.

As soon as he arrives at the office, Martin does the same as everyone else: he reads his e-mails. He then takes care of some daily business, and visits the TripAdvisor Web site, which has sent him an alert about a newly-posted comment concerning his establishment. A dissatisfied customer has written a nasty note complaining about the lack of choice available for breakfast. Martin takes the time to respond to the comment. He explains the hotel’s current policy as well as the improvements he intends to implement without delay. He even offers the disgruntled customer a suite at the same price as a regular room for his next visit, and throws in a free breakfast in appreciation of the customer’s contribution in improving the hotel’s quality of service. It also serves as an incentive for the customer to personally confirm the improvements brought on by his comments.

Martin then begins writing the text for his blog. He wonders whether he should set up a social network for Welligan’s customers. He could establish his network for free thanks to Ning.com. He decides that he’ll speak to his agency rep, with whom he’s scheduled to meet in the afternoon.

He goes to lunch with a new acquaintance he met online through his friend Eric, who put them in contact through LinkedIn by mentioning that they would surely discover new business opportunities if they had a chance to meet in person. The individual he’s meeting organizes conferences for the high-tech industry; this could be interesting. Martin already has a few ideas to discuss.

Upon returning to the office in the afternoon, Martin finishes his article and publishes it on the hotel’s blog. He also returns to the TripAdvisor site, where his response to the dissatisfied customer has already generated a number of positive comments, so much so that certain amateur tourism bloggers are mentioning him and the hotel’s exemplary service in their own blogs. Martin proceeds to read every comment thanks to Google Alerts, the automated monitor he’s installed. He makes a point of thanking EVERY blogger who mentioned him with a short note in their comments section. If they liked his response, they’ll also like his resourcefulness.

Afterward, he goes to a meeting with his advertising agency representative, who shows him a mock-up of a brochure intended for distribution to customers at check-out time. It explains how to post favourable comments online on the more popular travel sites like TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet.

That evening, Martin has dinner with the director of bonjourquebec.com, who explains that his Web site will soon be offering social networking functionalities much like those of TripAdvisor. Martin thanks himself for asking his agency to include this site in his brochure. Finally, on his way home after a busy day, Martin updates his Facebook page from his cell phone. He writes, "Gas is expensive, but my hotel is full. Thank you, social media!"

A story by Sacha Declomesnil, Web marketing consultant and social media specialist. Martin and the Welligan are both fictitious entities. However, Google Reader, Google Alerts, Twitter, Linkedin, Ning, Tripadvisor, LonelyPlanet, BonjourQuébec and facebook all exist.