TheMarketingblog

B2B publisher takes followers on social media crusade : Hospitality & Catering News

The enigma of social media marketing adoption was once again addressed by B2B publisher Hospitality & Catering News recently at one of their roundtable events.

Under the #HandCSocial banner Hospitality & Catering News with sponsor partners Armourcoat and C&C Catering Equipment seem to be on a crusade to better understand and report on their industry’s use of social media.

Doubtless the delegates at these events debate and discuss many aspects of social media, but in summation of the event we felt that the view of Nick Green, Head of Restaurants and Hotels, Villeroy & Boch UK does resonate with our own, if you are going to do it like every other marketing discipline do it well.

Nick Green, Head of Restaurants and Hotels, Villeroy & Boch UK

To scrutinise the social game at any company maybe they should be asking if they would empower those same people speaking on behalf of the brand socially to do the same offline at an industry conference. The evening certainly did emphasise how important in every way, including human resources applied, social media marketing is, and how it should be part of a cohesive strategic marketing plan.”

Nick Green, Head of Restaurants and Hotels, Villeroy & Boch UK

One very neat bit of brand experience marketing applied to the #HandCSocial events is their choice of location. To date all have been held at the citizenM hotel in London’s Bankside, where to quote Lisa Grainger in The Telegraph Travel, ‘a space that feels more like an arty friend’s apartment than a hotel’. The word social applies to every element of visiting citizenM.

The next event sees #HandCSocial travelling north to visit the vibrant hospitality scene there and locating the event at Hotel Football in Manchester, part owned by Manchester United legends Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville. This leg of the social media crusade will benefit from another clever brand experience venue selection and the input of delegates from the North, where social tone can be down to earth, funny, doesn’t take itself too seriously but always engaging.

Here’s the full article – Social Media Engagement – what does it mean for your business?

Please Note: There’s also a very interesting reference in the article and link to a podcast, well worth a listen to Thomas Kilroy @mykitchensync reporting on the advent of luxury bottled water menus and much more.