For many of us Facebook users, we are accustomed to our news feeds being populated by highly individualized and targeted content – whether it’s sports, music, political news or highly niche information. The social media giant’s dynamic algorithm has ultimately allowed it to be the “hub of all things” on the Internet.
This was one of the key themes at the recent Facebook F8 Developers Conference, where a big push was how advertisers and brands can use new APIs to test and launch programs directly into users’ news feeds.
In terms of the hospitality arena, these APIs will allow major hotel brands to inject special offers, loyalty program updates and other curated brand news right into their current and prospective guests’ feeds. Since the Facebook user data is very robust, the content and offers provided will also be very targeted – especially in ways that go “one layer deeper” when it comes to guest preferences.
Facebook has the potential to become the complete guest personalization engine for hospitality providers. From reporting and analytics to the ability to segment users based on preferences, this will be a 360-degree platform that could change how brands interact with guests.
In addition, most hoteliers would no longer need to build their own personalization engines. However, this comes with the challenge of Facebook owning all of the data – but many savvy brand managers are aware of the pitfalls and opportunities that come with this type of strategy.
And this isn’t just for hotels. Many other consumer and business-to-business brands could also embrace Facebook as its CRM platform. This will, of course, result in Facebook becoming even more important in the Internet arena, but the outcome could be a way to provide the most personalized offers possible to guest.