With new social media platforms being launched and more people joining them, and using them regularly, social media has become an inseparable part of our lives.
A Hotel Social presence not only helps you as a hotel owner to promote your property, but it also creates an effective online marketing tool.
With such amazing growth, every independent hotel today needs to leverage proper social media channels in the most effective way.
What is the best way to curate an independent hotel social presence?
Identify the type of your audience before implementing any of the social media channels for your hotel. To understand your demographic better, check past data and find out which type of guests visit your hotel and how often. Consider the services you are offering and your hotel location as well.
Also think about a
new target audience as well in order to grow your business – this could involve a refresh of your collateral and some new hotel promotion ideas too.
Once you have this information, you are ready to choose the right social media channels that can help you to promote your independent hotel’s social presence.
1. Facebook: create a profile and run ads
First things first, create your Facebook page and badge it with your hotel’s brand.
Add a great profile with stunning photos of your property. You can also use video of your hotel as a header image.
Complete your profile and add information like description, address, phone number, and opening hours for your restaurant, spa etc.
Messaging options allow you to connect directly and chat with guests.
What should you post on Facebook?
Facebook has no limitation for words, links or video size and this makes it the easiest channel to share your content.
You can post content like:
•Nearby attractions and eye-catching pictures and videos of your property (interior and exterior).
•Live videos
•Events
What are the benefits of Facebook ads?
The Facebook pixel allows you to identify users who have visited your website and retarget them – dramatically increasing conversion.
You can also use them to promote attractive offers and discounts by targeting a wide audience or narrowing down to a more specific demographic e.g. advertising a wedding fair in your county or region.
By ensuring you have good landing pages on your website – so that when a browser clicks on the ad they are brought to the appropriate offer page with a conversion link - Facebook ads help you to increase your direct bookings.
Ad activity is reported back to you so you have a clear idea of the return on your investment.
2. Instagram
Currently Instagram has 1 billion active users monthly and this is increasing as they bring new features such as reels, boomerang and shops online.
Create an Instagram profile for your hotel and complete all the required data in your profile. Connect your Instagram profile with your Facebook page and you can share posts across both platforms.
What posts work well on Instagram?
Instagram is primarily known for photo and video sharing. Therefore, the best content would be high-resolution pictures of your hotel’s amenities and services.
A key difference with Facebook is the use of hashtags. Users can subscribe to a hashtag e.g. #yourhotelsunset and they will see all posts with that hashtag.
So, as well as your team posting images you can encourage your guests to post too with the appropriate tags and this creates valuable user generated content.
You can curate posted images onto a feed on your website.
Educational content such as travels tips, local food tips, gardening tips, or a particular feature your hotel is famous for would be a great content in the format of short videos or a bunch of photos.
There is a huge opportunity for hotels to get in front of their target audience in order to expand your visibility because of ever-increasing opportunities on Instagram. The new reels feature is their way of attracting younger audiences by competing with Tik Tok. Instagram TV allows you to post longer form videos.
This is a superb opportunity to show off what you are offering in a captivating, visual manner.
You can build a significant and influential following and drive bookings from this platform.
The engagement rates of Instagram advertising are typically higher than other social platforms.
3. YouTube
Videos have higher engagement than any other type of content. It draws 2 billion monthly logged in users on its platform. Accordingly, publishing fresh, up-to-date videos on YouTube helps your hotel get significant traffic and potential guests.
Encourage viewers to subscribe so that they will be notified when you post new content. Aim to build a community around your channel.
What do you need to post on YouTube?
YouTube should be a repository for all your video content. You should certainly have a video tour of your interior hotel capturing the amenities and services.
And your property’s exterior to show where your hotel is located and place it in its context.
Video testimonials of your guests, or ‘a day in the life’ style videos of your staff are a great idea. Take advantage of any events or concerts happening at your hotel and post videos of them.
4. Influencers: enhance your hotel marketing by connecting with influencers
Word of mouth has always been one of the most effective ways of marketing and it is the idea behind influencer marketing.
Influencers have the power to affect people's booking decisions because of their authority, knowledge or relationship with their followers.
It is about the right message being delivered in an authentic way to targeted and relevant audiences. It also allows for the experience and stories of your hotel to be shared, not just its features.
How can you benefit from influencer marketing for your hotel?
Find an independent hotel industry influencer and try to connect with them so they can stay at your property and promote it.
Offer them a free stay and agree on a schedule of posts. Make sure you have checked their profile, followers and previous posts to confirm they are coherent with your hotel’s brand and demographic.
5. TripAdvisor: increase hotel reviews
TripAdvisor is the most popular travel website used in social media marketing for hotels.
Why?
TripAdvisor has 463 million unique visitors each month and they have left over 859 million reviews and opinions. Users can compare prices across 1 million hotels.
How do I market on TripAdvisor?
Firstly, make sure you have claimed your listing. If your hotel has ever been reviewed it will be listed so if you haven’t done so already, claim it!
The vast majority of hotels will already have done this. You can then write your own description, add amenities, opening times, prices and eye-catching pictures.
Most importantly you can monitor and respond to reviews. This is a key part of your
hotel’s reputation management which correlates directly with the number of direct bookings.
You should always be looking to increase the quantity and quality of your reviews on TripAdvisor.
Conclusion
We have introduced 5 social media platforms/channels which all feed into your lowest cost revenue generating channel, namely direct bookings through your website.
Being on of all top of these techniques will help you to drive successful social media marketing campaigns for your property.
Social media requires an intensity and a focus as it is a fast-paced area of marketing; the returns are potentially huge as you are able to communicate your hotel’s story directly to your target audience and simultaneously tempt them into making a direct booking.