Google > Case Studies > Fairmont Hotels harness the power of Google Analytics to optimize social media marketing

Fairmont Hotels harness the power of Google Analytics to optimize social media marketing

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Company Size
1,000+
Country
  • Worldwide
Product
  • Google Analytics
Tech Stack
  • Google Analytics
  • Twitter
Implementation Scale
  • Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
  • Brand Awareness
  • Customer Satisfaction
Technology Category
  • Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
Applicable Functions
  • Sales & Marketing
Use Cases
  • Demand Planning & Forecasting
Services
  • Data Science Services
About The Customer
Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is a luxury hotel company with more than 60 distinctive hotels and resorts worldwide. The company uses social media channels such as Twitter to increase awareness of offers and drive traffic to sites within their portfolio. They faced a challenge in accurately identifying and tracking website traffic generated by their tweets, as many Twitter users don’t use the web interface, instead employing one of the many desktop clients or mobile apps available. In addition, a link that’s been posted on Twitter might be forwarded via email or SMS, resulting in traffic that should be attributed to Twitter activities being reported as direct or other referral traffic.
The Challenge
Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, a luxury hotel company with more than 60 distinctive hotels and resorts worldwide, was looking to optimize its social media marketing efforts. The company uses Twitter to increase awareness of offers and drive traffic to sites within their portfolio. However, they faced a challenge in accurately identifying and tracking website traffic generated by their tweets. This was due to the fact that a significant proportion of Twitter traffic doesn’t originate from twitter.com; many Twitter users don’t use the web interface, instead employing one of the many desktop clients or mobile apps available. In addition, a link that’s been posted on Twitter might be forwarded via email or SMS. In all these cases, any traffic which in theory should be attributed to Twitter activities would be reported as direct or other referral traffic.
The Solution
Fairmont Hotels & Resorts solved this problem by using Google Analytics’ campaign tracking variables. These variables allowed them to tag their links so that Google Analytics could recognize and measure non-AdWords campaigns that brought visitors to their site. When campaign tracking variables were applied to any link in Fairmont’s tweets, the traffic resulting from those tweets was correctly attributed to the respective tweet regardless of where the visitor found and clicked on the link. To keep the links short and not use up valuable characters in a 140-character message, Fairmont’s team used free URL shortening services such as goo.gl. Google Analytics allowed Fairmont to compare the quality and growth rate of the Twitter traffic generated by their own activities compared to the “organic” traffic received from Twitter. Since each Twitter post was uniquely tagged, they could review how each one performed, first by selecting the chosen traffic channel and then by selecting the specific campaign.
Operational Impact
  • Fairmont Hotels & Resorts was able to accurately identify and track website traffic generated by their tweets.
  • They were able to compare the quality and growth rate of the Twitter traffic generated by their own activities compared to the “organic” traffic received from Twitter.
  • They could review how each Twitter post performed, first by selecting the chosen traffic channel and then by selecting the specific campaign.
Quantitative Benefit
  • Improved understanding of social media referred visitors.
  • Insights into effectiveness of social media campaigns.

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