Hotel marketing is key to increasing visibility, driving direct bookings and improving brand awareness. With more and more guests interacting with social media on a regular basis and getting inspired for their next trip, it has become an integral part of any marketing strategy.
By posting regularly on your channels, potential and regular customers have the opportunity to interact with your brand, and you have the opportunity to remind them that your brand is worthwhile. It also allows the possibility to connect with these users on a deeper level. Through consistency and an optimal strategy you can help drive more bookings.
In this post, we will discuss the best social media marketing strategies for hotels, including how to create general strategies and how to create specific strategies for each specific social network.
Marketing strategies for hotels
As you will see in subsequent publications there are many marketing actions that we can apply in the tourism sector and more specifically in hotels, but let’s start with the basics.
Creating social media marketing strategies can be done on a global level or it can be done specifically for each of the different channels. It is important to have a dedicated social media marketing team that is connected to your brand, knows the ins and outs and is able to convey this dedication when designing the strategy.
Social media for hotels
1. Plan for seasonality
When you start planning your strategy, be sure to plan for seasonality. Seasonality can refer to what to post based on different holidays, and it can also refer to a strategy based on low, mid and high seasons. Your content will change based on the time of year and what you are trying to achieve.
In low season, you’ll want to drive bookings by sharing special promotions or themed packages based on the time of year. On the other hand, during high season you can use your social channels as a way to promote your hotel as the “place to be” so that people are more likely to book early so they don’t miss out on next year’s high season.
You can use the tools provided by your property management system to understand when revenues are low and make sure to maximize your profits through paid ads on social media.
2. Use the learnings from reputation management to constantly improve.
TripAdvisor and Google are not only powerful tools for driving bookings, they are also key to uncovering important learnings about where your hotel is lacking or where it excels. Use what you learn on your social networks to improve the hotel experience. Be sure to respond to all reviews, both positive and negative, so that users get the sense that the hotel cares about what its followers are saying. Most importantly, if you get an awesome review on TripAdvisor, share it with your followers, because there is no better social media marketing content for hotels than positive reviews.
3. Create a human connection
Use your channels to put a face to your hotel. That is, create a human connection so potential guests know who is behind your team. Feature a staff member once a week on your different channels. Interact with guests by creating sweepstakes, contests, running polls and asking for feedback.
Do they want to see more photos of your hotel rooms, destinations they can visit from your hotel or restaurant tips? Engaging your followers in your posts makes them more interested in continuing their relationship with your hotel. Tag your guests in the photos you post so they feel inspired to follow you and repost.
4. Do not underestimate the power of influencers.
Influencers are real and they are here to stay. Identify who the influencers are in your area, or the ones who can get your target audience moving, and reach out to them. Before you invite them to stay at your property, make sure you have a plan in mind.
First, consider your budget, which will help you decide what type of influencer you can afford.Micro-influencers may be willing to trade services, while macro-influencers will want the big bucks. Once you’ve narrowed down your budget, decide what you hope to achieve – what are the key performance indicators (KPIs) you want to achieve? This way, you can be sure to track your successes.
5. Video Marketing
The saying goes that “a picture is worth a thousand words,” but in today’s world where we are bombarded with images, a video is worth a million words. Videos inspire engagement, improve time on page and are more likely to be shared and go viral, so make sure high-quality video marketing is included in your budget.
Social networks for hotels
1. Facebook
Facebook, while it may have gone out of fashion for millennials, is still an important channel for social media marketing for hotels because there are no limits on words or video size. Plus, now that Instagram and Facebook have merged, you can create paid campaigns and promote between the two channels.
Use photos from inside and outside the hotel, post stories, live videos, special offers and promotions on Facebook. Encourage guests to post location tags or tag you in their photos and videos in exchange for a reward, so you can drive engagement. You can also run contests to keep guests interacting.
2. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a great channel for sharing professional and relevant content for the hospitality industry. Why should you use LinkedIn? Because it’s where the industry professionals are. You can use it as a tool to promote your space for special events and conferences. Plus, you can connect with companies to form partnerships.
3. TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor is a must-have element in your strategy. This website receives 463 million unique visitors every month and has a huge community of followers, making it a tremendous tool for your marketing efforts. The more bookings you have, the more reviews you get, so it’s a great way to spread word of mouth organically.
4. Instagram
Instagram is undoubtedly one of the most important channels today. Instagrammers are constantly engaged, so it’s a great tool to keep your users constantly engaged with your brand.
You can use it to answer questions, repost, give updates about your hotel and highlight some items you want to highlight, such as discounts, deals, surveys and other behind-the-scenes videos. You’ll want to create a unique hashtag for your hotel, as it’s an important tool during the pre-trip planning phase. Make sure you have a company account so you can reach a wider audience.
YouTube
YouTube has 2 billion monthly users and is the second largest search engine after Google. No social media marketing strategy is complete without designing a YouTube plan. You can use YouTube to drive traffic to direct channels and reach potential guests by posting tour videos, testimonials, time lapse videos or even a special music mix for the hotel. This is a key tool to give a better idea of the amenities and services offered and create a sense of excitement about the hotel experience.
Digital marketing agency in Alicante and Valencia
Social media marketing for hotels is one of the most powerful tools for driving traffic to your website, so be sure to use it to your advantage. Use it to create a human connection and interact regularly with your guests.
Whether you decide to opt for a global 360 strategy to use across all your channels or different messages designed for each specific channel, the most important thing to keep in mind is to use high-quality content to give your brand visibility, drive bookings and keep guests interacting with your brand throughout the customer journey.
Contact us and our Social Media team will be happy to answer your questions.
