The King of Pop is dead. News that spread around the world through the internet faster than what one could have imagined. In an article with the headline "Jackson dies, almost takes internet with him", CNN.com international describes how the internet took strain and almost collapsed through the amount of activities, updates and articles about the death of Michael Jackson. As expected, the news spread immediately, but what is most interesting is that TMZ followed by Twitter and Facebook broke the news, Microsoft Bing failed with all the other traditional news agencies.

Minutes after his death, Michael Jackson was the most searched name on Twitter. Websites started crashing due to people wanting to find out more about what had happened.

Not even 24 hrs after the tragedy, there are already more than 10 groups and fan pages for Michael Jackson on Facebook, with the biggest group counting 993,196 fans - the number is increasing by hundreds in seconds while I am writing this article. In fact, I cannot even join the group because the system is currently overloaded.

So what does that tell us? With all respect due, this article is not a tribute to Michael Jackson, yet it is a (sad) prime example of the incredible efficiency of the internet - and social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter. The dynamic is self-motivated and the speed is immeasurable. You might wonder how this will benefit you, keeping in mind that an icon like Michael Jackson is not associated with your hotel (even if he had stayed there) and obviously we do not want to start marketing on tragedies. HOWEVER, this example shows how powerful the social media networks are. It is big events like this that prove which networks really work and it shows that there is a shift in the way we communicate and share information. And it proves the fact that the internet is surpassing the traditional communication channels.

On a less tragic note, today's US president Obama used social networks such as Facebook and Twitter in a very effective way, increasing confidence and followers during his campaign - until today still.

As much as social media is often praised on the one hand, but frowned upon on the other hand, it DOES have an effect. An effect that is gigantic and can be used to your benefits which brings us back to one of the components of inbound marketing. It is content that counts, information that is relevant to the people who read about your property. Yet not only that, it is also actual events that are happening right now that you can link to your property. The choice needs to be considered carefully since being associated with a negative event that happens in your area will not bring you clients.

Like some advertisement agencies used to link certain products with selected celebrities in other industries (e.g. the Calvin Klein perfume represented by the top model Kate Moss), you have to find (positive) actual events that are on people's minds and relevant to your hotel in order to jump onto the wagon.

Written by Melanie Floor