Social Media in the Leisure and Hospitality Sector

As social media becomes an integral part of modern society, a new report from BDO and DLA piper suggests that only a small portion of hospitality and leisure businesses are using these channels as marketing tools to generate business.

The British consumer is rapidly embracing social media, particularly when using discount vouchers or social networking sites to help decide where to spend leisure time. With the overwhelming take-up of smart phones I firmly believe this trend will accelerate.

Developing marketing and promotional strategies that are based in the new social media technologies will become increasingly important for hospitality operators looking to expand their market share.

Research into the report found that 38 million UK adults went online in May 2010 visiting at least one social networking site. With 500 million active users, Facebook and Twitter were chosen as the most useful social media channels, with one in five tweets on Twitter devoted to brands. Figures like these have made it apparent to hospitality and leisure businesses that social media is a channel of communication that cannot be ignored whether the business benefits or not.

To read the full report please click here.