My Dad loves to put articles on my desk about what businesses are doing to market themselves and the various ways they are building awareness of their brands. I always laugh when I make my way to my desk and see a new stack of papers that I know I didn’t leave there the night before. As you can imagine, my desk is almost never really clean!

The last article he left for me was a clever little story about how one historic resort, The Grove Park Inn Resort & Spa in Asheville, N.C. The resort gave away 96 free rooms exclusively through Twitter. The Grove is celebrating its 96th birthday in July and they decided to use a different way to launch a giveaway. And let me tell you, it was definitely effective! I visited The Grove Park Inn’s website and they have a graphic inviting visitors to follow E.W. Grove’s Twitter.com page on every page of their website – so naturally, I had to start following them!

According to the article, The Grove uses its Twitter page to provide updates on Inn activities. A “tweet” was sent out at 11am on May 11 to their Twitter followers. The first 96 people to call the 800 number that was provided only through their “tweet” claimed a free, one-night deluxe Mountain View accommodation.

After reading the article my Dad and I were discussing the promotion and how clever we thought it was. It’s just another example of how powerful social media tools can be for marketing your business. Since my Dad, Tom Barcelona, hit the nail on the head, I thought I would include what he had to say below:

“Here’s an example of a hotel or resort property giving away lodging nights in an effort to have people “experience” their property. No different than a restaurant inviting VIPs to experience their restaurant prior to opening to the general public or a bakery taking free cupcakes to a chamber of commerce meeting. The whole idea is if people who know other people – people who are in a position to spread the word – experience your product or service – they will return and encourage others to come.”

Using Twitter to get the word out there and announce the offer enabled the hotel to advertise the promotion at no expense. They could have extended the same offer with an ad in USA Today or the Wall Street Journal, but they avoided that huge expense by using social media. More importantly, the response indicates that they accomplished their goals.

The article was from Club & Resort Business Magazine, June 2009 issue. To view the article visit www.clubandresortbusiness.com

1. 

   Mike Brandonisio

   June 30, 2009 at 7:01 AM

   Hi Juli,

   Yes, I could not agree more with you and Tom. Twitter and other social networks really have opened up a small businesses ability to expose what they have to offer to an active internet market. So often, as a small business person we can get caught up in the execution of our business. The social network’s structure allows us to stay connected with our markets more effectively these days by addressing them in mass and providing feedback on efforts.

   Thanks for the interesting post.

   Sincerely,
   Mike Brandonisio, Principal
   http://www.JIKOmetrix.net
   Reliable Web Hosting
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