The Seventh Art Media study suggests that engagement should not be the key focus of building your Facebook pages. See http://bit.ly/facebookhospitality. I have to admit, it is surprise, but in fact it makes a lot of sense. I don't think you can ignore engagement and it is a part of being social, but it should not be your only focus. More on engagement, see http://hubpages.com/hub/the-facebook-business-model. The Report has some vital insights:


- If you don’t plan, you might built the wrong community

- Engagement is not Facebook’s strong suit. Impressions returns more to the bottom line.

- It requires work to grow and sustain a Fan base. You need a steady flow of the right type of content.

- Don't repeatedly post the same under-performing content types.

- Video is a booming engagement tool, but hospitality is lagging due to poor quality content, subject matter and execution. This is a huge missed opportunity.

- Too much content being posted does nothing to enhance a guest connection.

Download the the White Paper: “Hotel Brands and Facebook - identifying the opportunities”


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Apple plans to build Niche social networking apps, not websites. Apple still believes that desktop and mobile applications will be the glue to the future of computing. Apple’s recent moves into focuses like Game Center (games) and Ping (music) show this way of thinking. Apple's new projects, like the ‘Find my Friends’ feature in the latest iOS 4.3 beta, indicate that Apple is aiming at  the geo-location market, as a component of the its social networks.

Even to Apple, the future is Mobile. The number of Mobile devices sold by Apple in the last quarter:
- 16.24 million iPhones
- 19.45 million iPods
- 7.33 million iPads
- 4.3 Macs - 75% are laptops


Apple's apps strategy is interesting, but I don't believe that applications are the way forward as a vehicle to deliver information. Applications are great for delivering services, but completely out of place for website information. "Travelers look at 12 to 20 hotel and tourism websites before making a final choice. Imagine if travelers had to download an app each time they wanted to see a hotel."  http://hubpages.com/hub/travel-on-the-go.

Mobile websites, like http://travelonthego.mobi, are here to stay, and while Apple's niche strategy is smart, Facebook has a rather large lead and a network that has only just begun to come into its own. Facebook innovation and invention in the Travel arena is just beginning. More on Facebook, see http://hubpages.com/hub/the-facebook-business-model.

 
Simon Sinek talk on how to engage fits perfectly with Social media. His Golden triangle Philosophy is made for Facebook.

The idea is to turn the normal approach to marketing upside down. This he says is an approach used by all successful people. The concept is to talk about WHY you do what you do before you speak about the what and the how. See this video and more about using Facebook in travel at http://hubpages.com/hub/the-facebook-business-model