Marriott International appealed to job seekers on Instagram this week by promoting career site LinkedIn?s nationwide tour on the social network as well as a mobile-optimized site.

Marriott is hoping to add a sense of corporate social responsibility into its Instagram posts by spreading the word about LinkedIn?s #PictureOpportunity tour. A Marriott property in New York hosted one of the first events, which consumers could find out more about by clicking the link in the hotel chain?s Instagram account.

?Instagram is just one arrow in your marketing quiver that is a definite must when reaching potential users for an event like Marriott promoting LinkedIn's road show,? said Marci Troutman, CEO of Siteminis, Atlanta. ?As stated before, Instagram has hundreds of millions of users monthly; it is certain that a high percentage of LinkedIn users also use Instagram, especially in a younger demographic.

?Most certainly LinkedIn is working to establish lifetime relationships with its users over the duration of their business careers.?

Promoting partnerships
Social media is an ideal channel for dispersing relevant information about brand partnerships to a wide audience of consumers in a short amount of time. Marriott took advantage of this tactic by taking to Instagram earlier this week to post several notices about its recent team-up with LinkedIn.

The first post informed followers of the new partnership, and asked job seekers to join the companies at the Marriott East Side hotel in New York City for a big event. The hotel chain claimed that users could receive free professional headshots to upload onto their personal career sites, networking opportunities and other tools for succeeding in the business world.

Followers were also directed to a mobile-optimized site via a link on Marriott?s main Instagram account page. The link brought consumers to a LinkedIn-branded page that featured the stops of the #PictureOpportunity tour, video tips on taking a great LinkedIn profile photo and invitations to participate in a weekly challenge.

The first week challenge asked users to upload a photo of what dressing for success looks like to them via the #PictureOpportunity hashtag. LinkedIn will then curate top picks and showcase them on its site.

As the event in New York unfolded in real-time, Marriott posted reminders on Instagram, as well as a behind-the-scenes image of the makeshift professional photo booth on premises.

Marriott?s mobile mindset
This is not the first time Marriott has taken to social media to appeal to individuals hunting for new employment.

Last October, the hotel chain enticed and engaged job seekers with its #PictureYourselfHere social campaign, designed to offer insights into current associates' experiences working at Marriott locations around the world (see story).

The desire to help job seekers, especially in a difficult economy, will not go unnoticed by many consumers, and may even prompt them to keep Marriott?s name in the back of their mind when booking an upcoming trip.

The hospitality marketer has long been leveraging social media to creatively connect with guests.

In December, Marriott introduced a branded Snapchat programming campaign in conjunction with popular content creators to augment awareness, making it the first hospitality brand to use the social media application as the center of an advertising campaign (see story).

?Any opportunity to gain new customers or increase the frequency of use from your customers for your brand is good business,? Ms. Troutman said. ?Adding in incentives to promote an event would help in overall attendance and participation.

?Co-branding with LinkedIn might afford Marriott opportunities to give added incentives that are 'outside the box.??

Final Take
Alex Samuely, editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York