Karma Goes Social

The Karma Group's Creative Director, Clinton Albuquerque states, "Traditional marketing and PR weren't providing the immediacy and specific target marketing that we required. We wanted to engage our audience on a regular basis and increase our brand awareness through the latest online channels."

Social media marketing has become recognized as a key driver of brand affinity and brand awareness in the travel industry. Through increasingly popular channels such as TripAdvisor, companies are finding that they can make a personal connection with someone who has expressed an interest in their brand. These connections are two-way dialogues rather than a one-way marketing "push." Mr. Albuquerque adds, "social media is a breakthrough marketing channel. We can now listen and interact with people, not just broadcast to them. It allows us to tailor our content to match their individual interests. Moreover, the feedback we obtain from these conversations helps us make our product better and more responsive to our target markets."

Many industry insiders believe that social media is the future for the travel industry. Ric Shreves of water&stone notes, "the travel industry, more than any other I know of, benefits from word of mouth and viral marketing. Travellers trust what other travellers tell them, and photo and video sharing sites tap right into human nature, where seeing is believing."

Karma Resorts is expanding rapidly. The Group currently operates two oceanfront luxury resorts on Bali's dramatic southern peninsula and another in Koh Samui, Thailand, all of them earning industry accolades, including membership of the Leading Small Hotels of the World. Development is now underway on two new luxury villa resorts. Karma Margaret River celebrates the idyllic charms of this famous winemaking region in Western Australia, while Karma Agung, named after the sacred volcano that rears skyward behind it, spills down a hillside on Bali's magical eastern coast. Exquisite new luxury villa resorts will soon unfold in Palawan (Philippines), Langkawi (Malaysia), Lombok (Indonesia), Fiji, Goa & Kerala (India) and Mykonos (Greece), putting Karma Resorts at the vanguard of 21st century global luxury living.

By creating a custom social media marketing campaign, the Group hopes to continue to engage their target markets and keep them more in tune with the rapid changes that happening within the resorts. To manage and execute their social media marketing efforts, Karma Resorts retained water&stone and ClearWhiteSpace. It was water&stone and ClearWhiteSpace who launched Bali's first social media marketing services in May of this year. Clinton adds "The team at water&stone and ClearWhiteSpace have the technical expertise and the market experience to interpret and deliver our message in a fashion we trust. We also liked the idea that they are a local firm with whom we can work to tailor our social media marketing campaign and be proactive in reaching our target audience."

About Karma Resorts
The Karma Resorts Group owns and operates luxury resorts.

About water&stone (the publisher)
water&stone is a boutique web design and online marketing agency. The firm specializes in the implementation of open source technologies and search marketing.

About ClearWhiteSpace:
ClearWhiteSpace is a creative marketing agency based in Bali.

For More Information:

Karma Resorts: http://www.karmaresorts.com
For more information about Karma Resorts, including links to the various resorts operated worldwide.

water&stone: http://www.waterandstone.com
For more information about water&stone, including company profile, portfolio and client list.

ClearWhiteSpace: http://www.clearwhitespace.com
For more information about CWS, including company profile, portfolio and client list.