8 Hotel Social Media Marketing Strategies and Tips

 
When a traveler goes online to book a hotel, do they go to your website? Or do they visit sites like Booking.com or Airbnb? How do you position your hotel and website as desirable destinations? Well, the only way a guest visits your site directly is when they recognize your brand. And unless you’re the Marriott, the Hilton, or the Ritz, you’ve got work to do. The best way to make yourself known is to create an online presence. It’s about putting the right content in the right place through hotel social media strategies and content marketing. Still, it’s not enough to have beautiful Instagram or Facebook profiles. You need to make your hotel a desirable destination across all channels. That’s why this article will show you:
  • Which social media networks are the best for hotel social media strategies.
  • How to make the best content for hotel social media marketing strategies.
How to use social media management as a hotel to your advantage.

The Best Hotel Social Media Strategies Begin With the Right Networks

To start, it’s best to point out that every hotel is different and there is no one-size-fits-all hotel social media strategy. You may run a boutique hotel or a Bed and Breakfast in a trendy vacation spot. On the other hand, you may only cater to business clientele. Perhaps, you want to cater to a mix of guests year round. It’s important to remember that most travelers don’t start making travel preparations by booking a hotel. First, they imagine themselves in various destinations. Do I want to go to Brazil or Bora Bora for my honeymoon? Do I want to take the kids to the beach or to the mountains? Destination shopping starts with dreaming. Plus, there are three other travel industry micro-moments you need to understand as a hotel. There are the planning and booking stages, when travelers make their dreams reality. Finally, there’s the days of anticipation leading up to the trip. Now, while those moments don’t sound like they have anything to do with hotel social media strategy – they do. The majority of travelers expect hospitality providers to engage with them before and during their trip to enhance their experience. So, for any hotel that considers itself a vacation destination, it’s important to create content that reaches guests at every “micro-moment” of the journey. At the same time, you may want to reach those who know where they’re going and may not be thrilled about it. The “I have to go to London for business” crowd. And here is where things get tricky. To cater to both crowds using the right tone, you need to dominate several channels at once. Here are some things to ask yourself when creating your hotel social media strategy:
  • How many social media networks do I have the time and money to run?
  • Which social media networks do my customers use the most?
  • How often can I post on social media?
  • How can I integrate my social media strategy across channels?
  • How do I want to tackle social media advertising and what’s my budget?
  • How important is social media management for hotels and resorts?
Pro Tip: For smaller hotels that do not have a budget for several social media channels, it’s best to start by reaching out to the clientele you have. For example, if you’re that trendy boutique, you won’t want to miss out on Instagram. Which Social Media Platforms are the Best for Your Hotel or Resort? Here are the top five social media networks for hotels and resorts:
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • TripAdvisor
Now, while TripAdvisor is a review site and not a social media network, you will need to manage it on a regular basis. Responding to reviews is one of the best ways to show that your hotel listens to customers and pays attention to their needs.

1. Facebook Social Media Marketing for Hotels and Resorts

Facebook is the perfect general-use social network for hotels and resorts. That’s because the platform allows businesses to add all sorts of extra tabs, cross referencing all other social networks and websites. Plus, it’s a great place to add all your contact and amenity details. One other thing to keep in mind, is that Facebook will often assign pages to businesses. It’s best to claim your page so that you have control over the content and conversation. Here’s an example of a hotel that uses Facebook social media marketing well: As you can see in the cover image, 41 Hotel was voted the number one hotel in London by Travel + Leisure in 2017. Your cover image is a great place to point out why you’re the best. A lot of hotels also use the space to add videos. Consider the fact that video will account for 82% of all consumer Internet traffic worldwide by 2021. Plus, video brings travel locations alive. There are plenty of free tools to help you make videos, and you can share your videos on Instagram and YouTube as well. We’ll come back to the TripAdvisor Reviews tab in a moment. So, let’s start with the Instagram Feed tab. The tab merges your Facebook and Instagram accounts. Users can go directly to your Instagram feed by clicking the “View on Instagram” button within the page. One of the best hotel social media ideas is to think of Facebook as a hub for your social profiles and website content – a place on social media where everything comes together. You should try to integrate as many as your social profiles with Facebook as possible. Plus, all your content should cycle through Facebook – especially if you have a blog. The idea is to give users access to as much information about your hotel as possible in one location. Next, is the Offer tab. Clicking on the Offer tab allows users to view offers without having to see them in their feed or yours. They will see that you’ve posted an offer, but the content is categorized as such. That way you’re not feeding your followers spammy content, and can use your posts to promote more engaging content.For example, 41 Hotel hung stockings on their guests’ doors for Christmas. Not only is it a nice gesture, but it’s great content for a well-planned hotel social media strategy. Add a hashtag – #christmasstocking – and add some copy. The result – 84 reactions and several comments. We’ll jump to the #Hotel41 tab next. Clicking on the tab allows users to see a feed of all content from Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram with the hotel’s branded hashtag. The tab is another great way to integrate content across platforms. You’ll notice that a lot of the content is user-generated. The travel and hospitality industries are perfect for user-generated content. Think about it. When do people take pictures the most? When they’re on vacation. But why would you want to retweet or share so-and-so’s vacation pictures? Research shows that Millennials (aka most consumers) trust user-generated content above all other forms of marketing. Plus, 53% say user-generated content influences their purchasing decisions over traditional media or banner ads. So, put user-generated content to good use by retweeting, sharing, and liking your guests’ content. Consider creating a branded hashtag to make it easier to track the success of your hotel social media marketing campaigns (more on that later) and to engage with user-generated content. Finally, the “Book A Table” tab, “Book Now” button, and “Send Message” button all allow guests to make bookings and interact with the hotel directly from Facebook. It’s important for hotels to make it easy for guests to book. Adding Calls to Action (CTA) and click-to-book buttons on landing pages is one of the easiest solutions. Now, let’s go back to the TripAdvisor Review tab. If you could only choose one tab, consider integrating Facebook with TripAdvisor. It’s important to respond to TripAdvisor reviews and to make it easy for people to leave reviews. Many hotels have added the tab to their profiles. By adding the TripAdvisor tab, you’ll allow your users to write TripAdvisor reviews through Facebook. Both 41 Hotel and One & Only Palmilla have created TripAdvisor tabs to their pages. Clicking on the tab allows users to see images, reviews, and ratings without leaving Facebook.

2. Twitter Social Media Marketing for Hotels and Resorts

Social media marketing for hotels can begin and end with Twitter. For example, the Sol Wave House Mallorca Hotel calls itself the first “Tweet Experience Hotel” in the world. In 2012, the Spanish hotel created a Twitter-based community called #SocialWave only available through the hotel’s wifi. Hotel guests sign in with their Twitter accounts, gaining access to the community of guests staying at the hotel and a concierge service. While an extreme example of hotel social media strategy, Sol Wave House does illustrate how far hotels can integrate their services and identities with social media. On a less extreme level, most hotels will want to use Twitter to conduct customer service and to send guests time-sensitive updates about events happening at the hotel or in the area. One example of a hotel that does Twitter marketing well is The Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas. Twitter is best used to update guests about things that are happening right now. It’s the social media platform that you use to engage guest during their stay. At the same time, your guests need to be on Twitter in the first place. That’s why you need to build up a following before fully investing in a Twitter hotel social media strategy. Once you’ve built a following, then you can use Twitter to feed guests updates. Plus, Twitter is a great place for hotels to conduct customer service. According to a study by Twitter on UK users, 33% use Twitter for travel-related customer service issues. Responding to customer service queries on Twitter can result in an increase in guest spending, recommendations, and repeat guests. Twitter found that 96% of users who have a friendly experience buy from the brand again, while 83% recommend the brand to others.

3. Instagram Social Media Marketing for Hotels and Resorts

Visual content is important for travel and hotel social media marketing strategies. That’s why Instagram is one of the most important social networks for hotels. You want travelers to get excited when visualizing staying in your hotel and spending time at their destination. Instagram is the perfect platform for posting beautiful images of your hotel and desirable destinations in your area. The citizenM Instagram post does two things right. First, it shows a restaurant in London that has a button for champagne. It’s important to keep the tone of the social platform. Instagram leans toward the artistic and glamorous. Champagne buttons are pretty glamorous. Second, the post mentions that there are more London hotspots available in the hotel’s city guides. CitizenM has a dedicated blog that gives readers recommendations, information, and other interesting content.

4. Pinterest Social Media Marketing for Hotels and Resorts

Having both a Pinterest and an Instagram account is ideal for hotel social media strategies because the two platforms serve two different purposes. The difference between Pinterest and Instagram is aspiration. Many Pinterest users spend time pinning images of places and hotels they would like to visit sometime in the future. Instagram is for showing off that you made it there. Plus, Pinterest is different when it comes to demographics. The majority of Pinterest users are women in their 40’s who make $50K per year or more. These are women who have money and plan their family vacations using the social media platform. Plus, it’s interesting to note that Millennials use Pinterest as much as Instagram.

5. TripAdvisor Social Media Marketing for Hotels and Resorts

You need lots of quality, online reviews if you want your hotel to perform well. That’s because most customers rely on online reviews and sites like TripAdvisor to decide which hotels to book. The first thing you need to do on TripAdvisor is claim your listing. Once you do that, you can respond to reviews, update details about your hotel, and get analytics for your hotel on TripAdvisor. It’s of the highest importance that you update even small details about your hotel. You have to make sure that what people see online is what they’re going to get in reality. See, your guests are already building up expectations about your hotel in their heads. When reality doesn’t align, that can result in bad reviews for you.