The widespread adoption of social media presents hoteliers with an unprecedented opportunity to market their lodgings to prospective guests. Unlike traditional methods of marketing which are one-way forms of communication, hotel social media marketing strategies provide an interactive experience where customers are as engaged in the process as the hotel is. This interplay means that by using social media marketing strategies, you can engage travelers with your hotel brand in a much more personal and immediate fashion than ever before possible. Learning how to use social media for marketing your hotel is not difficult; try the following tips for leveraging the most popular social media platforms and you’ll be marketing like a pro in no time!
Hotel Social Media Marketing: Facebook
With 1.49 billion active monthly users (as of June 2015), Facebook has a marketing reach that can’t be beat. You can easily connect with guests to build your hotel’s brand and boost engagement with this social marketing platform when you use the following strategies:
- Incorporate photos and videos
Add videos and photos to all of your Facebook posts to share the beauty of your hotel with prospective guests. Mix photos of your hotel with shots of the luscious local scenery, pictures of your amenities (delectable desserts from your restaurant, libations from your bar), and candid shots of guests enjoying your facility.
- Offer discounts to your amenities
Facebook is the perfect place to market the amenities you offer in addition to your lodgings. Send out posts with discounts and special offers to entice visitors to sample your restaurant, salon, or spa services. This generates business for your amenities and also serves as a way to bring guests onto the premises so you can introduce them to your lodgings.
- Feature contests, photos and interactive quizzes
Make the most of Facebook’s interactive nature by running contests and promotions that require guest input. Have guests post their favorite vacation pictures from your hotel, and ask fans to vote for their favorites.
Hotel Social Media Marketing: Twitter
Twitter’s 140-character format provides you with an easy, fast way to market your hotel. You can introduce prospective guests to all your hotel has to offer in short, easily digested snapshots of information, while your guests can send out quickly send out tweets to share their experience with friends and build referrals. The following tips will help ensure that your hotel’s Twitter campaigns achieve the widest marketing reach:
- Promote local events
Send out Tweets to get guests excited about events happening in your hotel and your city. Add a glowing photo to capture interest, and include links to event tickets as well as your booking engine.
- Use trending #hashtags to focus interest
Hashtags have evolved as a key marketing tool on Twitter. Choose no more than one hashtag per Tweet to focus interest and associate your tweet with a particular event, local attraction, or trend.
- Time your Tweets
Twitter is a fast-moving medium – Tweets show up instantly and are quickly superseded in your followers’ feeds, so it is important to schedule your posts when your followers are online. Mealtimes are a good bet, as many people use these breaks to catch up on social media.
Hotel Social Marketing: YouTube
Video marketing on YouTube is rapidly becoming one of the most effective ways to use social media to promote your hotel. Video marketing has a documented power to boost hotel bookings – in fact, a recent article on Hotel News Resource revealed that posting a video tour of your hotel can increase your hotel’s booking rate by as much as 67%! Harnessing the marketing might of YouTube for your hotel
is easy when you follow these simple marketing tips:
- Create a customized YouTube channel for your hotel
Create a dedicated YouTube channel that features your hotel’s logo and signature colors for a unified marketing message that really builds your brand.
- Feature guest testimonials
Guest referrals remain one of the most effective marketing tools that hotels can employ. Videos are an easy, fun way for guests to offer their insights – just offer an incentive (such as a complimentary breakfast), shoot the short testimonial of guests when they come to check-out, and upload to your YouTube channel. Fast, easy, and highly effective!
- Apply video SEO
To ensure your hotel’s marketing message has the widest reach, be sure to optimize your videos for search. Take advantage of all the opportunities YouTube provides for your SEO efforts by incorporating keywords in your hotel videos’ captions, subtitles, annotations, and descriptions.
Now that you have a better understanding of how to implement social media strategies for hotels, it’s time to put them to use building your brand! The dedicated marketers at Travel Tech Strategies can help you develop a complete internet hotel marketing plan that includes responsive hotel web design, social media marketing services, expert SEO services, hotel mobile app development, and much more.
Contact us at Travel Tech Strategies today at 954-779-2801 for help implementing hotel social media marketing strategies that will build your brand and help ensure your hotel’s ongoing success!