This past week, the Soho Grand Hotel launched a brand spanking new , complete with customized graphics, a reservation system loaded directly in, an interactive neighborhood guide with links to their awesome blog Grand Life. Take a look:
So what’s the problem you might ask? Well, nothing. They did a great job, and knowing the team behind the Grand Hotel’s digital platform, especially the irreplaceable , the did all their research and pulled off exactly what they should have. Except for timing. Because they launched this initiative roughly at the same exact moment that Google Plus launched. This means that the power and scale of Grand Life’s Facebook just got severely marginalized. Doesn’t mean they aren’t valuable or that bookings and deals and terrific web traffic won’t go there way but it just means that by waiting so long to launch this, they’ve proven how ephemeral social networking can be. Especially for businesses.
Now I don’t know what went on internally with Soho Grand’s team. It’s possible they ideated and launched this in 5 weeks. And if they did, great for them. But I am guessing that this is something Steven and his team wanted to do for a long time and for which the natural bureaucracy of an offline hospitality business dragged their feet on.
If that is the case, then it cost them. And I am not saying that Google Plus is going to kill Facebook. In fact, it may make Facebook stronger and better at what IT IS. But the mere fact that another major social network launched, one that as of this writing has crossed the 10 million member mark already, in the time that it took to get this Facebook strategy launched, proves the point that marketers and brands cannot wait to act.
When you need something done, do it. Don’t spend months and weeks analyzing and researching and putting it off. Marketers and consultants, designers and developers as well, need to move quickly and efficiently. And most of all, those holding the purse strings need to know that their instransigence, their caution, is costing their companies a great deal of money.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Facebook is still a much stronger product for brands to use than Google + – you’re talking about a user base of 750 million vs. 10 million (and those are 10 million who aren’t even really using + yet).
Until brands can figure out what to actually do with Google +, being on it just for the sake of being on it is a waste of time and resources.
I hardly think launching a new Facebook page ‘around the same time’ of Google + would affect the interaction with the brand negatively, especially when the vast majority of those engagers aren’t even on Google + yet. You’re comparing apples to oranges. This point would make much more sense if you were comparing the launch of a new Facebook product to the launch of Google +.
Not really sure what the point of this post is…
Reply
tell you what…register your name and email and i’ll tell you what the post is “really” about. I don’t need to talk with anonymous commenters…
eh screw it I’ll tell you anyway, the point of the post is that you can’t wait to act, because in the digital space change is always coming, sometimes networks emerge quickly and without warning that gain traction
Reply