Withering. And soon, totally dead.On Thursday Twitter announced that it will shut down Vine, the social media giant’s short-form video sharing service.Few in the hospitality sphere ever did much more than experiment with the platform. Since its launch back in 2013, most major hotel brands claimed their vanity URL, presumably for the sake of brand management, but seldom, if at all, published. (One notable exception being Four Seasons, which was still sharing vines as recently as March.)Other major corporate brands did, however, give Vine a swing. Lowe’s, Nike, Samsung, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola have all had an active presence on the platform. Dunkin Donuts went so far as to buy airtime in five-second increments during Monday Night Football and run Vines as stand-alone commercials.We have enough history now in the evolution of social sharing to understand that digital communities come and go. Remember Myspace? Google Wave? Ping?The challenge for hotel marketing teams has become deciding which social channels hold the most potential for reaching travelers, and how to allocate its finite time and resources.The content arms race amongst hotels is real. Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, G+, LinkedIn – social navigation bars are increasingly crowded.So what happens when one of the current, seemingly ubiquitous channels goes away?Many of the forces that lead to the demise of Vine were internal, which has led some to wonder if Twitter may fall next. Instagram is the social network darling of the day, particularly in the hospitality industry, but how certain is it that the platform will boast the same audience and influence in five years that it enjoys today? What about ten years from now?Which brings us to the fruit that Vine leaves us.We’re reminded that technology is a tactic, not a strategy. Storytelling is a strategy.Customer service is a strategy.Crafting a unique guest experience is a strategy.Brands that chase the latest technology without a quality core strategy will forever be chasing the latest technology.When a hotel’s marketing efforts have a foundation of sound principals, the rise and fall of technology can’t shut it down.
Withering. And soon, totally dead.On Thursday Twitter announced that it will shut down Vine, the social media giant’s short-form video sharing service.Few in the hospitality sphere ever did much more than experiment with the platform. Since its launch back in 2013, most major hotel brands claimed their vanity URL, presumably for the sake of brand management, but seldom, if at all, published. (One notable exception being Four Seasons, which was still sharing vines as recently as March.)Other major corporate brands did, however, give Vine a swing. Lowe’s, Nike, Samsung, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola have all had an active presence on the platform. Dunkin Donuts went so far as to buy airtime in five-second increments during Monday Night Football and run Vines as stand-alone commercials.We have enough history now in the evolution of social sharing to understand that digital communities come and go. Remember Myspace? Google Wave? Ping?The challenge for hotel marketing teams has become deciding which social channels hold the most potential for reaching travelers, and how to allocate its finite time and resources.The content arms race amongst hotels is real. Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, G+, LinkedIn – social navigation bars are increasingly crowded.So what happens when one of the current, seemingly ubiquitous channels goes away?Many of the forces that lead to the demise of Vine were internal, which has led some to wonder if Twitter may fall next. Instagram is the social network darling of the day, particularly in the hospitality industry, but how certain is it that the platform will boast the same audience and influence in five years that it enjoys today? What about ten years from now?Which brings us to the fruit that Vine leaves us.We’re reminded that technology is a tactic, not a strategy. Storytelling is a strategy.Customer service is a strategy.Crafting a unique guest experience is a strategy.Brands that chase the latest technology without a quality core strategy will forever be chasing the latest technology.When a hotel’s marketing efforts have a foundation of sound principals, the rise and fall of technology can’t shut it down.
