The Chesterfield Hotel in Mayfair, London celebrates their 89^th week at the top of the table.

Download this list as a PDF here

(List is correct as of 8th January 2012)

The data in this list differs slightly to that of our Facebook list and is ranked according to the hotel’s influence on the twitter verse.

We’ve used twitter.grader.com to rank each hotel on twitter. This clever little app considers many different factors including number of followers, number of followings and number of posts (among many others). This creates a score, enabling each twitter account to be ranked out of all the accounts that have been graded in the twitter network.

It basically gives you an idea of the impact each tweet has.

The grade is out of 100 and represents the percentage of accounts that have less of an impact than yours. For example, a TwitterGrade of 95 means tweets from your account have more of an impact than tweets from 95% of all other graded accounts on twitter. Pretty impressive hey?!

As with all our lists, we’ve done our best to recognise every contender for the list but a few are bound to have slipped through the net. If you think your hotel should be included on the list, please let us know by commenting below, remembering to include your “@” twitter account name.

The list is open to all hotels in the UK.

Kinnitty Castle, Co.Offaly celebrate their 23rd week at the top of the list, Well done.

Download the list as a PDF here

(List correct as of  6^th February 2012)

The list is by no means final so if you feel we’ve missed you out, please let us know by commenting below and your hotel/group could appear on next weeks list.

The list is based on the number of fans the Facebook page has and is open to all hotels in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

This list only considers Facebook Pages as opposed to groups and personal profiles.

A Page or a Group, which is better? Well the answer to that depends on you and what works for your business.

Facebook Groups:

1. Set up for more personal interaction, they are highly active and require constant engagement.
2. Connected to the profile of the people who administer them.
3. When you post something as a group administrator, it appears to be coming from you and is attached to your personal profile.
4. Groups are great for organizing on a personal level and for smaller scale interaction around a cause.
5. If the group is under 5,000 members, group admins can send messages to the group members that will appear in their inboxes.
6. Permissions settings make it possible for group admins to restrict access to a group, so that new members have to be approved.
7. Groups can’t host applications.
8. You can advertise your group.

Facebook Pages:

1. Access to a Page, however, can only be restricted by certain ages and locations.
2. Page admins can send updates to fans through the Page, and these updates will appear in the “Updates” section of fans’ inboxes.
3. There is no limit on how many fans you may send an update to, or how many total fans a Page can have.
4. Pages can host applications, so a Page can essentially be more personalized and show more content.
5. Pages can benefit from social ads that publicize the fan connection between a Page and a specific user.
6. Pages are better for brands, businesses, bands, movies, or celebrities who want to interact with their fans or customers without having them connected to a personal account, and have a need to exceed Facebook’s 5,000 friend cap.

Neither Groups nor Pages have great moderation features. If someone posts spam on your Group or your Page, you have to remove it manually, and you can also remove specific members.

So it’s up to you who best suits your business right now and going forward.

Be sure to check back every Monday to see if your hotel has made the list!

Has your hotel made the list?

Body:

It’s time for this week’s Top 30 Irish Hotels on Twitter. 1 hotel has moved up the list this week!!!

Sheen Falls Lodge celebrate their 3rd week victory at the top of the table this week.

Download the list as a PDF here

(List is correct as of 27^TH January 2012)

The data in this list differs slightly to that of our Facebook list and is ranked according to the hotel’s influence on the twitter verse.

We’ve used twitter.grader.com to rank each hotel on twitter. This clever little app considers many different factors including number of followers, number of followings and number of posts (among many others). This creates a score, enabling each twitter account to be ranked out of all the accounts that have been graded in the twitter network.

It basically gives you an idea of the impact each tweet has.

The grade is out of 100 and represents the percentage of accounts that have less of an impact than yours. For example, a Twitter Grade of 95 means tweets from your account has more of an impact than tweets from 95% of all other graded accounts on twitter. Pretty impressive hey?!

As with our Facebook list, we’ve done our best to recognise every contender for the list but a few are bound to have slipped through the net. If you think your hotel should be included on the list, please let us know by commenting below, remembering to include your “@” twitter account name.

The list is open to all hotels in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Be sure to check back each week to see if your hotel has made the list

Google recently rolled out “Search Plus Your World,” a layout that includes social recommendations made by users in your Google+ circles. When logged into your Google account, not only do you see results with recommendations…:…if there is enough interest, there is a separate sidebar dedicated to relevant Google+ pages:

You can also toggle between showing and hiding “personal” results in the upper right-hand corner. Showing these results displays relevant articles/posts/shares on friends in your circles:

This hyper-personalized results page lets you see what your friends are saying about a topic. Since users are much more likely to rely on friends’ recommendations, this is a powerful search tool. The other effect “Google Search Plus Your World” has on search is how you collect data. When logged in, users’ search terms are encrypted, meaning they show up in analytics tools as “unknown.” With more benefits available to logged-in users, the number of encrypted searches is bound to rise. Ostensibly the goal behind this new offering is to provide users with a more personalized search; however, the social benefits tend to heavily favor Google.

What Does it Mean for Hoteliers?

With such a large market share, Google is somewhat able to dictate what businesses must do to be successful. With a greater emphasis on social relevancy and personalization comes the expectation that businesses will catch up – sooner rather than later.

As Google seems to be favoring its own social networks, it is imperative that hotels develop a Google+ page. While some hotels have already created pages, the adoption rate is not as quick as Facebook and there is still room to be an “early adopter” in this channel. In no uncertain terms, the more you interact with other Google+ users in your circles, the greater the likelihood that your content & activity will show up in personalized search results.

What is the Solution?

First, create a Google+ business page. Add a quality photo and fill out the ‘About’ section to get started. Good examples to follow here are Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Coca-Cola, Ford Motor Company, and the HeBS Digital client, Sorrel River Ranch (screenshot below). This will make it easier for people to find your page and add it to one of their circles.

Second, maintain your Google+ page. Think of it as an extension of your Facebook page or a blog – it needs to be updated regularly to avoid becoming stale. Nothing is worse than having a social media presence where the last activity was months ago. Share interesting articles, comment on activity within your page, and actively reach out to users you find interesting or engaging. The more circles you are in, the higher your chances of showing up in their personalized results. Posts will show up on a main “feed” where users can interact with your posts: comment, share, or +1.

Read More at HeBS Digital Blog

Start the year with a focus on spicing up the hotel’s Facebook page to grow fans, increase interactions and ultimately prove a return on investment on your page. Pepper in some of the best hotel apps on the hotel’s Facebook page to attain your social media goals. Adding tabs to your hotel’s Facebook page will not only make your page appear more interesting, but will actually give visitors more to do on your page! Applications capture visitors’ attention, draw them in, push them to interact with the page and provide opportunity for fans to take action with the brand.

Flavor the Hotel Facebook Page with these Apps:

Welcome Tab – Greet newcomer’s to your page as you would welcome guests into your hotel. I would even recommend setting this tab as the default page that appears to new visitors. Utilize the page to invite them to your hotel and ask them to like your page! Simply create your welcome app as an iframe and you are on your way to gaining fans to the page.

YouTube – After you’ve welcomed your guest to the page, offer a tour to show them around. By adding a YouTube app that connects to videos of your hotel, you can show off the property without leaving Facebook. The video component is engaging and a fantastic way to show searchers your hotel beyond the photo albums.

TripAdvisor – You can only say so much about yourself; offer visitors a chance to hear what others have to say about your hotel by adding a TripAdvisor app. TripAdvisor will provide the html code to add a snippet of current reviews and hotel ratings along with a link to write a review. This app is a great addition so long as your hotel has a high rating and mostly all positive reviews. Otherwise it will just advertise the hotel’s weaknesses and have a negative effect on goals to drive revenue from Facebook.

Twitter – Looking to share even more information with your fans? Then add the Twitter application to the page. The Twitter app pulls in all your tweets from Twitter to your Facebook page. The app promotes your Twitter page to attract fans from Facebook to convert to followers on Twitter too. Be sure to optimize your Twitter page with these helpful tips.

Coupons – Everyone is looking for a deal! Create a Coupons app to offer a deal such as 10% off dinner, or a free room upgrade to your Facebook fans. The coupon app encourages visitors to like the page and is an extra incentive to take action and visit the hotel. Plus, hotels can track the coupon and in turn measure ROI.

Email Sign Up – Your page offers fans so much information but they still can’t get enough! They want the opportunity to join a mailing list. Add an Email Sign Up tab for fans to add their contact information. Check out Constant Contact or MailChimp’s app to add a basic form and start transferring fans from Facebook to contacts on your email list.

Read More at BlueMagnet

Today, the Google+ team has announced a new feature that lets you start a conversation directly from search results. For example, if you search on #StopSOPA, you are shown a box to start a new conversation about the topic and the search result is tagged in your post.

Here’s what the Google Team had to say about this new handy tool:

Today we’re introducing a new feature that lets you share directly from Google+ search results, and contribute to a topical Google+ stream. For example, if you search for basketball and then want to make a post about how your favorite team or player is doing, you can share right from the search results.

Just look for the sharebox after searching on Google+, and you’ll see an opportunity to “join the discussion” about whatever you’ve searched for.When you post from the search results page, it automatically includes a link back to the original search stream. This way others can join the active conversation as it unfolds.

Read More at TNW

The Chesterfield Hotel in Mayfair, London celebrates their 86^th week at the top of the table.

Download this list as a PDF here

(List is correct as of 17^th January 2012)

The data in this list differs slightly to that of our Facebook list and is ranked according to the hotel’s influence on the twitter verse.

We’ve used twitter.grader.com to rank each hotel on twitter. This clever little app considers many different factors including number of followers, number of followings and number of posts (among many others). This creates a score, enabling each twitter account to be ranked out of all the accounts that have been graded in the twitter network.

It basically gives you an idea of the impact each tweet has.

The grade is out of 100 and represents the percentage of accounts that have less of an impact than yours. For example, a TwitterGrade of 95 means tweets from your account have more of an impact than tweets from 95% of all other graded accounts on twitter. Pretty impressive hey?!

As with all our lists, we’ve done our best to recognise every contender for the list but a few are bound to have slipped through the net. If you think your hotel should be included on the list, please let us know by commenting below, remembering to include your “@” twitter account name.

The list is open to all hotels in the UK.

This has led to brands building a presence within Facebook so they can benefit from these lower costs. The new research, released today, is based on 326bn impressions for 266 clients across 205 countries.

The study also found that CPCs in the US increased by 55.7% between Thanksgiving and December 17. However, CPC price for Facebook ads dropped by 11% in the UK between the third and fourth quarters of 2011. The drop follows two quarters of rising CPC prices in the UK, and contrasts a 1% rise across the UK, US, German, French and Canadian markets

Average cost per thousand rates were flat in the UK in the same period, compared to an increase of 8% across the five markets. The report also found that CTR increased by 18% from Q1 to Q4 in 2011, which TBG says suggests that advertisers are building better ad creatives and taking advantage of Facebook’s targeting options. CTR differs greatly between sectors though, as the graph below demonstrates.

Read More at Econsultancy

Kinnitty Castle, Co.Offaly celebrate their 21^th week at the top of the list, Well done.

Download the list as a PDF here

(List correct as of 16^th January 2012)

The list is by no means final so if you feel we’ve missed you out, please let us know by commenting below and your hotel/group could appear on next weeks list.

The list is based on the number of fans the Facebook page has and is open to all hotels in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

This list only considers Facebook Pages as opposed to groups and personal profiles.

A Page or a Group, which is better? Well the answer to that depends on you and what works for your business.

Facebook Groups:

1. Set up for more personal interaction, they are highly active and require constant engagement.
2. Connected to the profile of the people who administer them.
3. When you post something as a group administrator, it appears to be coming from you and is attached to your personal profile.
4. Groups are great for organizing on a personal level and for smaller scale interaction around a cause.
5. If the group is under 5,000 members, group admins can send messages to the group members that will appear in their inboxes.
6. Permissions settings make it possible for group admins to restrict access to a group, so that new members have to be approved.
7. Groups can’t host applications.
8. You can advertise your group.

Facebook Pages:

1. Access to a Page, however, can only be restricted by certain ages and locations.
2. Page admins can send updates to fans through the Page, and these updates will appear in the “Updates” section of fans’ inboxes.
3. There is no limit on how many fans you may send an update to, or how many total fans a Page can have.
4. Pages can host applications, so a Page can essentially be more personalized and show more content.
5. Pages can benefit from social ads that publicize the fan connection between a Page and a specific user.
6. Pages are better for brands, businesses, bands, movies, or celebrities who want to interact with their fans or customers without having them connected to a personal account, and have a need to exceed Facebook’s 5,000 friend cap.

Neither Groups nor Pages have great moderation features. If someone posts spam on your Group or your Page, you have to remove it manually, and you can also remove specific members.

So it’s up to you who best suits your business right now and going forward.

Be sure to check back every Monday to see if your hotel has made the list!

Twitter and others are complaining that Google is throwing its massive 65 percent-plus market share weight around and quashing smaller competitors. The reason Twitter and others are so threatened is that the pattern of shared links within Google+ provides a decent enough indicator as to what links are interesting. What’s important is what’s trending, and algorithms can get a sense of that with just a subset of everything that’s getting shared on the Web.

The most interesting aspect of Google’s move, however, is its tacit acknowledgement that its stalwart search links are largely irrelevant and might as well be replaced with social results. Google search results are essentially gamed results produced by search optimizers.

Google is ditching search graphicIn other words, the search results that we supposedly value so highly are themselves paid placements, just like Google’s keyword ads. It’s just that in the case of search results, link owners have paid for SEO (search-engine optimization) to get Google’s attention instead of paying for SEM (search engine marketing) to make Google give their links prominence. Either way, though, searches are mostly just producing ads by any other name.

In addition, Google’s famed PageRank algorithm carries less and less weight these days, since fresh news and results inherently don’t have as many inbound links as older content. (If it helps, you can think of PageRank as a kind of paleo-social search–just one that moves way too slowly for the modern Web.)

Read More at Socialbeat