MIAMI—The can’t-miss, 19-story-tall, digital dancers on the side of the InterContinental Miami already have generated major buzz for the hotel. But going forward, expect them to play a much bigger role in the hotel’s social media efforts.
That’s because Christine Corson, the property’s marketing communications manager, plans to make a bigger deal via social media about who gets selected to “dance” on the tall tower.
Ideas include live streaming the hotel’s auditions with celebrity judges on Facebook for all to watch, just like a reality TV show.
First, some background.
The story begins in 2012, when owner Strategic Hotels & Resorts gave the hotel a significant makeover inside and out. The hotel had been a prominent part of Miami’s skyline for more than 30 years, but it had to keep up with new high-rise neighbors such as Kimpton’s Epic and the JW Marriott. The external upgrades included plenty of flashing, colored lights in a not-so-subtle bid to grab attention.
Of all the changes made, the most visible was the installation of a 19-story-tall LED lighting display on its tower. The display simply can show words such as cheers for a Miami Heat victory—but buzz came when the tower showed a shimmying, digital silhouette of a female dancer. People loved it or hated it, but either way they talked about it.
“Probably our biggest identifier is the dancer on the side of the building,” Corson said.
“We coined it the InterContinental Miami’s Dancer in the Sky,” she said. “It was a really great opportunity to be the first face—or body, if you will—of the InterContinental.”
In early 2013, the silhouette was that of an unknown female dancer. But in November 2013, the hotel held a contest with local arts celebrities as judges to pick three dancers, one of whom is male.
It was easy to leverage the contest as social media content, Corson said.
“We did a lot of social media pushes, positioning it as a combination of ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ and ‘Dancing With the Stars,’” she said, calling the social media efforts a success.
Social media potential
But that’s only the beginning, Corson said.
“We didn’t live stream (the auditions), but what we would like to do is develop the concept moving forward,” she said.
The auditions, for instance, can be a yearly or bi-yearly event with live streaming on a channel, such as Facebook—similar to what the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto did with its ribbon cutting ceremony in 2012.
In addition to social media, the video could be streamed on the various digital screens inside the hotel’s lobby and lounge areas, she said. Doing this could lead to more social media sharing—and buzz—because mobile-device-carrying guests and visitors lingering in those areas would likely be tempted to share the provocative dancer audition images with their Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram networks.
Covering the basics
The Dancer in the Sky might be the hotel’s sexiest social media element, but it could just as easily be called the icing on the cake.
The InterContinental already covers the basics with social media posts and campaigns designed around events such as Miami Heat games or Miley Cyrus concerts, or holidays such as Mother’s Day.
“We’re trying to activate both locals and followers who may have stayed with us before and followed us because they found us interesting,” Corson said.
Like Las Vegas, downtown Miami is known as a destination by electronic dance music fans. That’s because downtown’s Bayfront Park, which is just below the InterContinental, hosts the EDM world’s high-profile Ultra Music Festival every March. The festival lures top DJs from around the world and sell-out crowds. The hotel uses social media to leverage its proximity to the venue.
“When we do (social media) campaigns, we try to piggyback back off of events,” Corson said. “For instance, we did an Ultra package for a hotel where people get a hotel package that includes their stay, breakfast for two, parking and other perks. It’s right outside our hotel. We have a prime location in March when we were almost sold out—and then we did sell out. It was almost like a last-minute sales blast.”
The campaign, however, wasn’t just a “here’s a package for you,” Corson said. “We engaged followers to like us, follow us and share with us their favorite artists. We try to involve our customers and show them that we’re as much a family as we are a business.”
Relevant channels
This varied approach is working. The hotel’s Facebook following is now at approximately 39,000 and Twitter at 4,200.
“They follow us—and come back,” Corson said.
The hotel in March launched an Instagram account without much fanfare besides alerting followers on the Facebook and Twitter accounts; it now has about 300 followers. A separate Instagram account was created for Toro Toro, the restaurant located inside the lobby from celebrity chef Ricardo Sandoval. It now has about 100 fans. Neither account was launched with a specific campaign, but plans are in the works to give the Instagram accounts a boost.
In the coming months, Corson plans to help promote the Toro Toro Instagram account with an event with social media influencers and/or fans. “We want to do a social media push or fan event where we invite them to try a new item on us,” she said.
Pinterest not ‘our focus’
At this point, the hotel’s skipping Pinterest.
“I don’t think it’s for us,” Corson said, noting the property emphasizes group business more than leisure travel. Within the leisure base, the hotel already attracts a lot of weddings and high-profile charity events like the annual Make-A-Wish Foundation fundraising gala.
“We don’t have to do a lot of advertising or go out and search for business for groups or weddings,” she said. “We are lucky to have a lot of demand.”
She’s considered using Pinterest to speak with meeting planners and perhaps use it to reveal how the property does meeting setups, she said.
“But our focus is not on Pinterest,” Corson said, adding the site is a fad.
Sales potential
The hotel primarily measures success by engagement with social media users, be it a conversation with a guest having an issue in the hotel at 2 a.m. or a “thank you” to someone who shared an Instagram photo of Toro Toro’s grilled octopus.
Corson measures success by tracking the number of new followers or fans gained on a monthly basis as well as impressions from content, stories generated in the press from content and the number of “people having conversations about us.”
The hotel, however, is increasingly experimenting with testing social media’s sales potential, Corson said. That always involves a campaign where results can be tracked easily. “A campaign lets you know who clicked and liked” the offer, she explained.
Last month, for instance, the hotel did a campaign around Easter brunch that featured an offer to have brunch with parking and bottomless mimosas and Bloody Mary cocktails for $35 per person. People who clicked were brought to OpenTable.com to make a reservation and print it, although no money was collected at that point. Corson said: “131 people claimed the offer. It’s easy to see the responses.” Approximately 15% actually showed up to have brunch.
Corson and her team maintain an editorial calendar that highlights key dates, such as Miami Fashion Week in May and dates related to the Miami Heat. “We do a big push for the Miami Heat,” she said.
The calendar also is designed to keep guests informed of important events or launches involving the community, the hotel and restaurant.
“We try to encourage our guests to stay in the know,” Corson said.