Social media is a fantastic way to interact with customers, and in turn build loyal online communities. It is one of the quickest and easiest ways to open lines of communication between your hotel and customers.
So, how can your hotel harness the power of social media? It all starts with a killer strategy; I'd consider the following top 5 tips when reviewing or starting out your approach:
1. Consistency is Key
This may seem like an obvious tip, but one which is often overlooked. If you want to build a loyal online community, a consistent content calendar is super important. Algorithms reward consistency on social media platforms. This, in turn, leads to improved post reach and engagement.
Don't scramble to put together content at the last minute, plan ahead. Are there any national days or events coming up that your hotel can jump on, such as national well-being week? These days always provide great hooks, so it's worthwhile integrating them into your content where appropriate.
In terms of quantity of posts, it's best practice to post at least 3 - 4 times a week. This helps to keep your channel active, and your followers engaged. If you have more to say, then feel free to work more posts into your calendar. However, don't post for the sake of posting – if it doesn't add value, it isn't worth posting!
Top Tip: Assign an in-house social person to every hotel location, who has the task of curating content. This can range from taking photos of hotel events and happenings to responding to messages from followers directly on your social channels. I would advise basic social media training before providing top-level channel access.
2. Interact With Your Online Audience
According to PR News Wire, 83% of people like it when brands respond to questions and messages online and therefore your hotel should look to acknowledge customers online. One of the biggest benefits of social media is the ability to create a loyal online community, and part of this is engaging in conversation.
If you want to build a loyal community, it's important to interact with users daily, from comments and direct messages to tagged mentions. Obviously, there is a limit to how much you can respond, especially if you get lots of activity on your channel but setting aside time every day to engage with your audience is pivotal.
Every brand should actively monitor channels for messages, as these can provide some great insights into what customers do and don't like. It might be that a customer wants to celebrate the amazing time they had with you or report a less than satisfactory stay – whether it's positive or negative you should always acknowledge your customer.
In doing this, you will learn valuable insights into brand sentiment; how people perceive your brand online. Overall, customers might love your hotel rooms but don't rate the food served in the front of house restaurant. You can use this feedback and work to improve your food offering to satisfy future customers.
3. Define Your Content Pillars
The famous phrase is that content is king, and it's a phrase to live by on social media. A company's profile really is only as strong as their content, so it should always be carefully planned out. A good place to start is by asking yourself, what do your followers want to see?
Before jumping into social content creation, take a step back and think about how you want your brand to be portrayed on social media. Think about what type of content will engage your target audience and current following. Once you've thought about this, you can begin to define your content pillars; the recurring themes that enable a diversified content strategy.
Between four or five content pillars should enable you to diversify your content so that it keeps your followers engaged and interested in your brand. It's important to keep in mind that each content pillar should provide something of value to your followers. Whether it's shining a light on hidden city attractions or hotel news, every post should have a clear purpose.
Look to include user-generated content as much as possible. Not only does resharing customer photos make for useful content, but it also helps you to interact with your customers. Keep a close eye on your tagged Instagram content to see if guests have shared any photos or videos from their hotel stay. Remember to always ask permission before you reshare any content and credit the original owner within your post – it's common courtesy.
Top Tip: Before defining your content pillars, look at what your close competitors are doing on social. This can be a fantastic way to gain insight into their social strategy (if they have one) and what you like and don't like. If you can, monitor these competitors on a monthly basis so you can identify any changes in their approach.
4. Incorporate Video Content
During the pandemic, we watched the rise of TikTok which predicated the evolution of all video content; and there are no signs of this slowing down any time soon. Soon after the platform launched, Instagram rolled out "reels" to enable content creators to produce more short-form video and there are even talks of "reels" coming to Facebook soon too.
Previously, brands have avoided video content as it is more time consuming to produce. In recent years, due to the rise of TikTok, algorithms have begun to favour video content. The engaging nature of videos encourage audiences to stop and watch, which often results in increased reach and engagement. And there is always the possibility that a video could go viral on platforms like TikTok, but of course, you can never predict this.
There is an opportunity for hotels, especially boutique hotels, to use video content to show off their unique rooms and facilities. Or you could look to get hotel staff involved in a fun TikTok trend and push live. M&S are a notable example of this, as they regularly get staff involved in trending dances – even Percy Pig joins the fun! The M&S Romford store have become local celebrities with the account gaining over 60 thousand followers and 1.5 million likes in just one year.
If you don't have the capabilities to do this in-house, it might be worth hiring a videographer to capture some social content. But remember that some videos do benefit from a lack of professionalism and polish. On platforms like TikTok, users value authenticity and humanity which can be achieved by recording and editing content on your phone.
5. Measure Social Performance
MDG released a shocking statistic that 44% of CMOs either don't or can't accurately track their social media ROI. Although social media ROI can be difficult to calculate, you can use social reporting tools to delve into the effectiveness of your approach. If you are unable to invest in a third-party tool, make use of the in-built analytics tools which can be seen and used by page admins.
From an organic social perspective, engagement is key (likes, comments and shares). A large following is great, but only if a high percentage of followers are engaging with your brand. Brand awareness is another vital metric, this measure mentions and shares; both of which help to increase post reach.
Although, link clicks are not the main aim of organic social, this data can still provide useful information. We would advise setting up a Google Analytics account which connects through to your website. This will enable you to see how many users come from organic social every month. You can even delve deeper into customer behaviour i.e., how long users stay on a specific page.
A monthly review will give good insights into top performing content, and more importantly, what customers don't respond well to. This information can be used to pivot your social strategy and in turn, help to deliver tangible results.
Conclusion
The most important things to remember when developing a social media strategy for your hotel are:
Consistency is key
Define content pillars before you start
Don't forget to listen to your online audience
Incorporate video content (where possible)
Measure your social performance
When you put these tips into practice, you will start to notice growth in your social media presence, which is invaluable to the success of any hotel. The idea of social media as one of the most important tools in your digital kit is not a new one, but the power of this marketing channel continues to be overlooked. If you're struggling to implement an effective social strategy, then try to implement these tips, don't let your social media be the first thing to slip.
Last year brought about momentous change in the world of social media and was definitely an interesting year for hotels and the travel industry. So far, 2022 is shaping up to be another exciting year – we can't wait to see what new features are rolled out and find exciting ways to implement them into our strategies.
IBIS World has reported that over the next five years it is expected that domestic guests will account for the majority of UK revenue. This means that the competition for your hotel will be tough in the next few years as demand increases so the best time to start building a community through your social media is today. Remember, keep on top of new features and updates to ensure your social strategy continues to thrive and you stay one step ahead of the competition.
