Libra OnDemand announces its presence on three social networks – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn – to interact with the public by sharing company news and information on its Web-based suite of Customer Relationship Management applications. Based on its success and skill-set, Libra OnDemand also offers a Social Media Consultancy to assist anyone looking to better understand the bigger picture of tying social media into long-term marketing strategies and improving customer service.

“Social media is the new social discipline of CRM,” said Gregg Hopkins, Libra OnDemand CEO. “Facebook isn’t just a way to chat with friends and family, Twitter is more than just a streamlined text-messaging vehicle, and LinkedIn is certainly is not just a glorified Rolodex. These social channels empower organizations to efficiently monitor user profiles for service response and improve relationships with customers. Each plays an important role by providing an open forum for people worldwide to air their grievances, give praise or simply inquire about an organization’s products or services. Each also serves as a support channel for identifying trends and monitoring feedback as a way of establishing more productive customer – or potential customer -- interaction.

“We encourage anyone interested in becoming part of our social community – especially those curious about CRM, email marketing, and profile/loyalty management – to follow Libra OnDemand on Twitter (http://twitter.com/libraondemand), become a fan on Facebook (http://Facebook.com/libraondemand) and visit our profile on LinkedIn, (). As a CRM company, we have been extremely successful within the social media landscape because we view all sentiments and inquiries as valuable, actionable sources of information.” According to Facebook, more than 300 million individuals and corporations are users of Facebook, and more than 33 million persons presently communicate on Twitter, which hosts approximately 1 million “tweets” per hour, according to a recent 2009 Wall Street Journal ComScore report.

As Libra OnDemand uses social media channels to communicate with its customers, Hopkins said he encourages hoteliers to use these same communications mediums to better interact with their customers.

Channeling CRM Information to Hotels
Libra OnDemand's Twitter integration is designed to help hoteliers actively engage in this communications channel. By capturing a customer’s social profile and integrating it with the hotel’s CRM profile, Libra OnDemand is giving hoteliers a more complete picture of the guests’ social interactions that can be used to accurately market to these guests as well as respond to their individual preferences. Knowing how to track and respond to mentions of a property in Cyberspace or Twitterspace, for example, and store social profiles from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogs or even emails into the hotel’s CRM, is key to successful social media networking.

“CRM is all about customer interactions, and Twitter and Facebook are becoming vital in customer-centric communications,” Hopkins said. “It allows travelers to Tweet to you their pre-stay service inquiries/amenity requests or post-stay comments, and also allows a hotel’s responses to be visible to the masses. This way, you are building your company's social presence, publicly responding to your customers' public questions, and creating awareness for the brand or independent property.

“Some hotel companies are finding that tracking Tweets is an important part of their concierge program, while others use it to support their guest-retention program by immediately responding to unflattering posts about a poor guest-stay experience to offer assistance and do whatever is necessary to retain that customer’s business,” he said.

The Twitter tab in Libra OnDemand allows hoteliers to monitor all mentions of their property or brand and to respond to those mentions, as well as any direct messages or @ replies. This tab also is used to send out special offers or promotions. The “Contact” profile has been enhanced to show a real-time feed of Twitter messages for each contact, with an ability to send messages back to the customer directly from the Libra OnDemand application.

Facebook's primary role is to be the brand-centered community where travelers or guests go to socialize with their peers. It is a great way to communicate with a hotel’s loyal customers and Facebook followers and build on the trust and brand identity the property has created.

“Integrating both Twitter and Facebook with a CRM such as Libra OnDemand is critical to achieving a hotelier’s or marketer’s effective utilization of these tools and ensuring the management team's involvement with them,” said Nikolai Balba, Libra OnDemand Chief Technology Officer. “Twitter and Facebook must become an integral part of a hotel’s marketing strategy and customer communications for 2010 and beyond in order to remain competitive.”

“When hoteliers look at customer profiles in the CRM, they should see guests’ Facebook and Twitter IDs, along with their phone numbers and email addresses,” Balba explained. “This is critical marketing data to capture. It’s also important that hotel personnel respond to these inquires – whether by phone, email, Facebook or Twitter, depending where the inquiry is coming from. Due to the open nature of social platforms, when someone has a question, concern or praise for your property and they voice it publicly through social media, it gives hotel operators the ability to capture that information and use it as an opportunity to build customers’ trust and brand awareness.”

There are multiple use-cases for Twitter in hospitality, including:

• Communicate price promotions and special package offers to Twitter followers
• Engage in any conversations mentioning the property or brand
• Provide concierge services by creating a property/brand concierge account on Twitter and encouraging guests to Tweet their inquiries to it
• Use Twitter as a messaging channel to notify guests of reservation confirmations, upgrade offers, room readiness, etc.

“It is not a matter of hiring a social media guru to deal with these technologies,” CEO Hopkins said. “Social media is to be part of a hotel’s overall CRM strategy and a job description item for all property sales, marketing and other customer-facing personnel. By becoming a fan or follower of Libra OnDemand, we can assist all customers in improving their social media presence.”

For more information on Libra OnDemand CRM products, visit .

About Libra OnDemand | Libra OnDemand leverages the power of the world’s most popular on demand platform (salesforce.com) to provide a comprehensive suite of hospitality specific applications: customer relationship management (CRM), sales force automation (SFA), database email marketing, catering & event management, loyalty & rewards management, reporting & data analytics, and integration & centralization tools. Designed to drive sales and increase revenues for the world’s premier hospitality organizations, Libra OnDemand is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application that is easy to use and requires zero upfront investment. For more information about Libra OnDemand, contact [email protected] or visit the website .

Gregory Hopkins
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