KEY LEARNING FROM GULFHOST DUBAI 2017
Launched during Dubai International Hospitality Week (DIHW), Gulfhost 2017 is the new hospitality and food services expo in the Middle East, co-located with four other shows - The Speciality Food Festival, Seafex Middle East, and Yummex Middle East - and The Hotel Show. Showcasing the A-Z of restaurant, bar and café solutions in one place, more than 2,000 exhibitors participated across DIHW, with Gulfhost hosting 16 country pavilions. Here are the key pearls of wisdom Nasrala shared:
People are the power: Millennials and Gen Z trust people rather than brands. This makes social media the best medium to showcase your F&B or hospitality business since people engage and share. Online interaction has a big bite: 49 percent of dine-in and in-store purchases actually come from at least one online interaction. This is huge and growing year on year.
The best recipe to maximize ROI: Measurement and attribution are more than buzzwords. They should be focused on if you wish to identify your real return on investment (ROI) and quantify the value of your social media efforts.
Content with a purpose: While the temptation to post ‘Hello Friday’ and similar messages can be hard to resist, they don’t actually help your brand. Your posts should be about awareness, sales, loyalty, customer relationship management (CRM), feedback and customer care.
The Beirut-based branding and interactive agency, Wondereight was an exhibitor, panel speaker and silver sponsor of the first edition of Gulfhost, with CEO and co-founder of Wondereight discussing ‘The trends of Social Media in 2018’
Likes and followers aren’t the icing on the cake: Focus on ROI, not on likes. Make engagement your central goal, not followers.
The kings of the new era: Social media commerce, influencers, live video and messaging apps will rule supreme in advertising in 2018.
Gamification plays for winning results: Gamification has the potential to increase marketing effectiveness by 400 percent and many leading brands are turning to it to maximize