This blog on Marketing with Social Channels is the second post in our Hotel Marketing 101 series. In the next post, we'll tell you how to use advertising campaign tools to promote your business.
Hotel Marketing 101: Marketing with Social Channels
In the increasingly-competitive world of travel marketing, hotels have to be creative in promoting their properties. Property owners should be careful to use appropriate social channels to help grow their business. Deciding where to begin can be a daunting task if you're doing it on your own, and an expensive undertaking if you hire someone else to do it for you.
For starters, you need to know your typical guests and where they are looking when researching travel. Know what brings visitors to your area and be part of the conversation that is happening around your destination. Maybe your destination is known for specific landmarks, maybe it’s the location of an annual convention, maybe it’s a popular place for weddings. Knowing why people visit allows you to fully engage with them. Highlight the unique aspects of your area and your property with image and video galleries, and give site users the ability to share across social channels. Invite visitors to share their travel experiences, leave reviews for your property and easily interact with your website.
Don't have a website? You can easily create a simple, yet effective, website using sites like Wordpress.com.
Next, choose the appropriate channels for promoting your property. First and foremost, your own website should be the number one source of information about your property. A blog is a great way to engage potential guests while also providing fresh content on your site (think organic SEO). Always include social media sharing icons and subscriber options on each blog post as well.
Quick tip: E-newsletters are a great way to stay relevant and visible to potential visitors. If you want to do it yourself, try an email provider like MailChimp which is free-of-charge and has pre-designed templates for ease-of-use.
Facebook is an excellent channel for engaging a diverse audience. Post links to your blogs on your hotel Facebook page to generate and maintain reciprocal traction. Invite local residents to contribute their own stories and images. Most importantly, monitor your page for undesirable content and be sure to respond to user posts in a timely fashion.
Twitter can be an excellent tool for allowing you to build report with local tourism partners by announcing last minute travel deals, hotel promos, activities and upcoming events.
Develop your social media goals around these three criteria: visibility, relevance, and simplicity. Spreading your efforts across all channels may increase your visibility but greatly reduce your relevance and simplicity of access to qualified viewers. Set realistic goals for the social channels you have chosen and give it time to develop.