If you’re curious about how social media management for hotels could shave hours off your work week and help fill your rooms on auto-pilot then this post will be of tremendous value to you.
Social media for hotels can be a highly profitable machine. And there are a few reasons for this that you may not have considered.
Why Social Media Is Good For Hospitality Industry Success
a) Everyone and their dog and their mother and their mother is on social media. That hasn’t changed for a long time, and it won’t. There are a gazillion stats with big numbers about all this, but it’s like Neil DeGrasse Tyson explaining how many planets there are in the universe — it’s a lot. Next!
b) Unlike many businesses that need to disrupt an audience engulfed in entertainment binges to instead think about life problems (tough job), hotels play nicely into the state of mind users are already likely to be: good ol’ escapism. So hotels and social media share a natural bond. And that’s a big leg-up in this playing field.
c) Social media is like a big public square where people document and showcase themselves living their best lives (yaaass queen!). So you can start building out your story, too. More importantly — your story and their story will meet in the middle and naturally segue into one another e.g. a stay at your hotel becomes another little part of their life journey.
You see a lot of big brands that struggle with social media because it’s a social network — and they have the personality of a plank of wood. People don’t care. But if you run a successful hotel, chances are your place isn’t a soulless construction of bricks and bedding. No — you’re naturally bubbling with personality and story that users can bond with. Hell, there’s even a whole film named ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’.
But you don’t need Wes Anderson to turn yours into a blockbuster — just a few weeks with us will do the trick 😊
So now you know why social media presence is important for hotels, let’s put it into context.
Image by julie aagaard on Pexels.com.
How Social Media Helps Hotel Industry Pros Get More Guests For Less Work And Money
There’s a fatal flaw that cripples a lot of brands in the social media and hospitality industry arena. In fact, most strategies are DOA because they can be described in one word: woolly.
In other words, they just dive in and think getting busy = getting results. Hello, burnout and wasted budgets!
It’s no mystery that The Powers That Be at Facebook and Instagram are not in the business of helping you make money. They like people posting on their platform for free to make them money. And how do they thank you? By throttling your organic reach so you pay for more ads! How lovely of them.
That’s why brands without a clear idea of what they’re here to do end up putting loads of hours into posting content and get frustrated when their pretty posts pull in a few likes and fewer guests.
However, when done correctly, here are the main fruits of your labour that will start to emerge. You will:
- Get your gorgeous hotel in front of people who are already open to the idea of staying there.
- Get your brand and its story washing about in people’s minds so when it’s time to take a little trip, you’re right there in their consciousness.
- Start to… *sigh* ‘build a relationship’… with guests before they enter the door. We all know the ‘dating/marketing’ analogy. It holds true and social media is a breeding ground for budding -ahem- transactions.
- Drum up excitement for special promotions when you want an uptick in bookings.
- Create an online community of brand advocates and leverage relationships with influencers. This ties back to The Powers That Be and how to beat them at their own game – by having word-of-mouth campaigns and partnerships spread the gospel without emptying your purse.
- Get bookings! Because what the hell is this all for if not to tuck in some delighted guests to your beds?!
Sold on social media? Awesome. Want to know how it’s done? Read on…
How To Start Doing This Stuff In The Most Efficient Way Possible
Just to manage your expectations a little here: there’s no secret sauce. No magic wand anyone can wave to turn your brand into the fifth (?) Kardashian next week. But knowing the fundamentals of how to approach social media marketing will save you ungodly amounts of resources.
Balance Short-Term & Long-Term Goals
You want to build out your brand, but also keep more quick-fire returns in mind. Map out the emotions and thoughts that you want the viewer to have when they see your post, so your content does its job in your marketing funnel.
This means balancing direct response offers with wider, brand-building posts. However…
The Absolute Last Thing You Want To Seem Like Is ‘A Hotel’
We’re not telling you to turn your lobby into a laundromat. But being ‘just another one’ in your market is rat poison on social media.
There are just too many shiny objects floating about for you to don the uniform of average and expect to stand out. Find the quirky qualities that make you different. Or the way you do things that fill a gap no one else is. And so…
Always Keep Ya Market In Mind
All your ideas come from your market! Find out what makes ’em tick, their problems, what they hate about hotels (if you can joke about it), what they can’t wait to get away from, their favourite food and decor — all that stuff.
Cater to that! That’s the starting point for all your content. Then, you simply plug your post ideas into those interests — in a style that embodies your brand.
Your hotel social media content could be post travel tips, local guides, behind-the-scenes stuff, sustainability, origin stories, and guest experiences. It can take the shape of videos and text posts. They’ll often point to a landing page or a blog post.
The best social media platforms for hotels are the ones where your highest paying, most frequent guests are most likely to engage with your content. It’s probably Instagram, but it could also be YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, or whatever the kids are using these days… like the Wild West of TikTok.
Although this is a blog about social media, think outside the four walls and consider what other places your ideal guest is paying attention to.
And remember: all roads lead back to your website. So don’t sh*t the bed with bad hotel copywriting!
Image by Armin Rimoldi on Pexels.com.
If You’re Stretched…
You can stick to working one platform at a time, or repurpose content to span a handful of them. Schedule your posts. See if you can work with influencers and brands in affinity markets whose audiences align with yours. That’s where your community and advocates start to solidify.
It’s also the cheapest way to get the ball rolling quickly. You just need to ensure that there’s enough in it for the dude or dudette with the leverage (their audience).
Again, keep your market in mind to find the best ones and double down when something starts to work.
We All Know That Video Does ‘Better’ But…
You’re not beholden to trends! Don’t be afraid to do your own thing and experiment, so long as it works for your audience.
How can you find out what works? Don’t post stuff you think would be cool; post stuff they would. Study the things they already consume. Where do they spend their time and money? What are successful competitors doing? Hint: if an ad, content style, or popular post is sticking around or doing numbers, it’s working! Don’t steal, but translate the concepts into your own media.
Bonus Tip: Don’t forget to gather data. Especially email addresses. You don’t want your audience controlled by The Powers That Be. Get them on an email list where you can effectively sell them (that’s the real goal of your social media).
If You’d Like To Crack Social Media Content For Hotels With A Team Who Knows What They’re Doing…
Then email us today, and we’ll see if we’re the right fit for you. We’re no strangers when it comes to moving brands through the fog of digital marketing.
We also love spitballing ideas with both ambitious newbies and those ready to take their marketing to the next level.
Here’s the form. You know what to do!
