Instructions:
Please respond to the student’s reply listed below in more than 250 words and include at least one cited source/reference in your response. Explain why you agree or disagree with their statement (I included the original question for reference).
Original question:
Are you following and/or subscribing to any hospitality brands’ official social media pages? Based on your experiences and/or credible sources (e.g., news articles, academic papers, etc.), please provide an example of a hospitality brand that effectively interacts with customers using social media.
Question student response (Andrea). Respond to Andrea:
“I follow Virgin Atlantic’s Instagram page. I have always been a huge fan of their off-kilter, non-traditional promotional style, which directly mirrors that of the company’s famed founder, Sir Richard Branson. In my experience, Virgin does an extraordinary job of effectively interacting with customers via social media. For example, the top post on their Instagram page today is a promotion for “Virgin By Design,†a book which details the 50-year history of the Virgin brand (Virgin, 2022b). The caption for this post doesn’t read something boring like “Check out our new book.†Instead it reads, “That’s our kind of Monday Motivation. Screw it, let’s do it†(Virgin, 2022b).
Now, this kind of advertising clearly isn’t for every demographic. In fact, it could be downright offensive to some sectors of the market including the elderly, children, or religious groups. However, this is the brand that Virgin has unapologetically built – and it’s working out for them. Kate Talbot from the Digital Marketing Institute (2019) call’s Virgin’s “red hot attitude†cheeky, flirty and stylish, noting the undeniable success of their “disruptive innovation.â€
Additionally, this post directly tags @RichardBranson, showing his direct connection to the brand and making social media followers feel directly connected to the impressively successful mogul (Virgin, 2022b).
Examples of Virgin’s innovative customer interaction techniques abound through the company’s Instagram posts. For example, one post shows an image of a woman’s hand holding up a Virgin boarding pass enclosed in a Kate Spade wallet with the caption “Virgin Atlantic are runway ready, are you? (Virgin, 2022a). Not only does this post bend what’s expected from the social media brand of an airline, it also co-promotes it alongside a well-known known designer, greatly enhancing Virgin’s social capital. Virgin has created a brand that feels interactive, while calling to a very specific – and elite – clientele.â€
Requirements:
- Participation quality can be enhanced and improved by linking work and life experiences to the topic at hand, referring and/or linking to previously discussed concepts, providing full justifications for arguments and avoiding minimalist responses (e.g. “I agree†or “I don’t think so†or “maybeâ€).
- Participation quantity AND quality are integral to excellent discussion posts (more than 200 words). While you are required to meet both quantity (word count) and quality standards, a qualitatively sound response is integral to an excellent discussion post.
- To earn the maximum number of points for your posts, your responses must be consistent with the kind of depth commensurate with that of a master’s level student.
- You should clearly and thoroughly address every aspect of the discussion requirement with the appropriate amount of detail that removes any ambiguity about your position on an issue
