In all my time researching for The Big Brand Theory, few experiences have been as enjoyable as looking into the social media presence of Sandals Resorts. Their locations are so picturesque, the images so lush and inviting, it took me away and had me imagining the sand beneath my toes and the sun against my skin. When I snapped out of my daydream, I got a chance to speak to Tiffany Mullins, the Social Media Manager for Unique Vacations Ltd, to discuss how Sandals utilises social media to engage with their audience.
Take Me Away
Sandals' social media presence is impressive, with more than 590,000 likes on Facebook and a cumulative following, across the @SandalsResorts and associated @WeddingMoons handles, of more than 170,000 on Twitter. Sandals also has more 50,000 followers on Instagram and close to six thousand on Pinterest. I asked Mullins about that visual element that drew me in and how Sandals' utilises that aesthetic draw to engage their fans. "Our strategy is to evoke an emotion with every single social media post, to truly capture the Sandals Resorts Luxury-Included experience and what makes each Sandals property unique. We've found that posting images that contain lots of natural blues and turquoise from the ocean and clear skies work well, especially for our followers that live in cold climates". This was a really interesting answer, and speaks to level of importance Sandals places on that visual element - the focus on a very specific colour palette not only appeals to the Sandals audience, but it also helps the brand build a level of consistency across their content, a mood that's then associated with the brand. "Our social media is a virtual vacation for every follower." I really likes this statement, a great way for Sandals to approach their social presence.
In terms of platform focus, Facebook is where Sandals sees the most engagement - a whopping 99.4% of their social media referral traffic comes from Facebook, so it's obviously the platform of choice for their audience. "Facebook is a terrific traffic-driver and a great way to reach the majority of our luxury travel audience. It's also a great place to listen for feedback", Mullins said. "Instagram's the network where we're able to visually inspire past, present and future guests. And Twitter's where most of our conversations happen, and forms a very important element of our customer service. We're able to listen to multiple conversations and engage or assist where needed in a very quick turnaround time." It's interesting to note the different and very specific approach to each platform, each has it's own purpose within the wider Sandals social strategy, as opposed to using the same messaging across each feed.
The Voice of the People
With the strong visual focus of Sandals presence, I asked Mullins how they go about creating and capturing those photos. While they use a combination of professional photographers and the visual talents of their own staff, Mullins said that most of the images come from their guests. "Who better to tell the story of their Sandals Resorts experience than our guests? As our CEO, Adam Stewart, says, 'Social media defines who we are. Our guests are sharing their stories from our resorts day-in and day-out. The truth is, it doesn't matter what we say about Sandals Resorts, it matters what our guests say.'" This is a great example of the power of user-generated content (UGC), and the way it can be used to both build content and generate engagement. Allowing their guests to be the visual 'voice' of the brand is a great approach, and based on the engagement Sandals' sees with their posts (well over a thousand likes per-post on Facebook), it's a strategy that's clearly working.
Tagging Recognition
Another interesting element of Sandals' social presence is their utilization of their own hashtags, specifically created to link users to their campaigns and properties. The hashtags #closeryourlook, #12daysofsandals and #sandalslove all feature prominently throughout the Sandals social feeds - I asked Mullins about their hashtag strategy and what they've found effective in their strategic implementation. "Our strategy's two-fold; We use hashtags to drive our message home and focus on the exact delivery of what we want to communicate. Our hasthags are not always branded but are designed to be a straight-forward marketing message. For example, #CloserYouLook was a concept created by our advertising agency that translates not only to our luxury-included experience, but also to our attention to detail and what truly sets us apart. From a social perspective, our guests get #CloserYouLook experiences every single day of life on resort, so we ask them to share those experiences as a testimonial to our advertising message. It's the 'Circle of Life' at Sandals Resorts - we make the promise, we deliver on the promise, our guests share the promised experience and we use that information to make business decisions."
"From a measurement perspective, hashtags are the way to go. A hashtag is basically a conversation topic and through tools like Shoutlet, we're able to track the legs of our campaign, paired with robust Google Analytics and conversion tracking."
One of Sandal's major annual campaigns is #12DaysofSandals, where followers of Sandals' social properties are invited to answer questions to win daily prizes. The campaign's been a big success, and the results from their 2014 campaign were again solid, with more than 12,000 tweets and 1,200 Instagram images sent with the #12DaysofSandals hashtag. I asked Mullins how Sandals goes about monitoring these campaigns and interacting with their community as a result. "There's no subsititution to one-on-one community engagement," Mullins told me. "No program or software can take the place of our whole team coming together on a huge campaign like #12DaysOfSandals, engaging in conversations uniquely and individually. We're normally outnumbered (in a good way), but having a system to pull in all of the conversations, like Shoutlet, enables us to track our team's progress and ensure everyone's responded to or recognized." Mullins also praised the interactivity of Twitter chats; "We love Twitter chats because it's an opportunity to come together and talk about a specific topic that resonates with our guests and travel partners - and we giveaway a bunch of trips. We love our jobs."
A Vow of Humanization
In terms of interaction, Sandals' main goal is to humanize the brand and make real connections with their audience. "We take a social vow to humanize the Sandals, Beaches and Wedding Moons brands - we believe that one way to achieving this is immediate and constant interaction with our online communities." Mullins said. "No one likes an auto-responder or a super-corporate response and we refuse to take shortcuts when responding. Social media users are hip to that game - they like to know they're talking to a human being, and not just a brand behind a computer screen." This approach to humanization, while a challenge to scale, is an admirable approach and gets to the heart of what social media is all about - being social. Sandal's vow is certainly inspiring, particularly when you consider the scope of the interactions they deal with.
Of course, the next question is how many people they have available to support such a vow? "The Sandals social media team is dynamic." Mullins explained. "We not only have a social media team focused on the 'traditional' social media, like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, but we also resource two team members solely to our online reputation management, as well as a developing team who foster group communities and proactive social media outreach." Mullins noted. "In 2015 we're going full-force with strategic communities like travel agents and weddings on all social networks."
Such focus on social media marketing doesn't happen overnight - I asked Mullins how Sandals had seen the integration of social into their brand experience and where they see it going in future. "Three-and-a-half years ago we weren't active on social. With the support of our leadership team, it's now become part of all aspects of our business. Social media isn't a department unto itself, it supports and advances the goals of marketing, advertising, customer service, PR, sales, resort operations, and our executive team." Mullins told me. "The future is engaging with our travel agent community, as well as investing in social customer service. We're a family-owned, Caribbean company - every resort and every experience is personal, so in the same way, every bit of feedback is also personal. We're dedicating social team members to our customer service and those who sell us, like travel agents, because investing in those relationships allows us to then invest more in our product. Remember that whole 'Circle of Life' thing I referred to earlier?"
This is great insight, a great overview into a company that's integrated social into the very core of who they are and what they do. It's not so much that social has become an end unto itself within Sandals' organization, it's another element, another channel to utilize for various purposes, and praise must go to the Sandals leadership team in having the courage and foresight to back such innovation.
As noted in the opening of this piece, Sandals' social media presence really does feel like a virtual vacation, the images and experiences shared on each of their social profiles definitely work to establish a feel, to capture the essence of what the Sandals brand is all about. In speaking with Tiffany, it's clear that this is an organization that has absorbed social media into their culture and is working to utilize it to maximum effect. In closing our chat, I asked Mullins about the value of social and what she believes the true value of social media is. "The true value of social media is the humanization of a brand'. This statement perfectly sums up Sandals' social presence - it's not about straight marketing, it's not about selling with each and every update. It's about interacting, welcoming conversations and working to meet the needs of their online communities. Humanization is a great term to describe it, and Sandals certainly does that, by listening, responding and being available where their audience wants them to be.