Time to update your hotel social media marketing strategies! Social media marketing for hotels has moved into high gear, with everyone from the largest resort chains to the most exclusive boutique hotel jewels turning to social media to connect with prospective guests. To help you create a winning social strategy, we’ll take a close look the latest social media marketing trends for hotels in 2016, and pass on some tips on how you can leverage these trends to capture the imagination (and business) of today’s digitally savvy guests. Whether your hotel has a long-established presence on social media or if you’re just venturing into social media waters for the first time, incorporating these trends into your hotel’s internet marketing strategies will help you forge a stronger connection with current and prospective guests alike.
Use video to dominate hotel social media
Video marketing is poised to be the biggest trend in social marketing in 2016. YouTube remains a strong way to market your hotel this year, giving you the chance to sweep prospective guests into the sights and sounds they will enjoy with a stay at your establishment. Use short videos in your Twitter and Facebook posts to show dramatic, enticing glimpses of scenery and activities from your hotel experience.
The new incorporation of streaming video into social media will give you the chance to be on the leading edge of this breaking social media marketing trend later this year. Facebook has rolled out streaming social media to certain entities; judging by their past rollouts of new capabilities, you can expect social streaming to expand platform-wide later this year. Experiment now with video streaming of various sites, areas, and events around your hotel so you can be ready to make the most of this capability when materializes. Be careful to balance your guests’ desire to share events with a respect for their privacy.
Promote your reward program through social media
Over the past year, reward programs have emerged as the best way for hotels to begin regaining control of their bookings. Incorporate pictures and enticing captions about the rewards your program members are enjoying into your social media feeds, along with a link to a customized landing page for your reward program. Don’t overload your social media channels with rewards postings, though; just one rewards benefit posting to every 3 or 4 other posts is a good balance.
Invest in paid social media marketing
Facebook has made certain changes to the way it promotes posts that make it even more difficult to get your hotel’s organic posts viewed and noticed by your target audience, and other social platforms are planning to do the same later this year. That means that paid social advertising is rapidly becoming a necessity for any hotel seeking to connect with current and prospective guests through social sites.
If you’re going to be investing a larger portion of your online marketing budget into sponsored stories and Twitter ads to reach prospective guests, you need to make those posts count! Sit down with a social media marketer (or a socially inclined member of your marketing team) and devise a multi-pronged approach to paid social media marketing, with posts scheduled at the optimum times to reach your target audience.
For more tips on hotel social media marketing strategies, along with complete support for your hotel internet marketing efforts, turn to Travel Tech Strategies. Our dedicated staff can set you up with everything your hotel needs to reach a broader audience with your online marketing strategies, from a responsive hotel web design to comprehensive monthly social marketing packages for hotels that include daily posts to your Facebook and Twitter accounts, video social marketing, and more.
Contact us at Travel Tech Strategies today at 954-779-2801 for help incorporating the latest hotel social media marketing strategies to ensure your hotel achieves greater online success in 2016!