A few days ago, a street food vendor requested me to like his page and asked to give ratings to the dish I ate. It was amazing to see how social media has influenced businesses of all kinds. Social media is no longer a luxury, but necessity. Today, more than 2.5 billion people are living their life on social media. At a time when a vendor has realized the power of social media, there are some hoteliers who still feel a hotel’s social media presence doesn’t impact its business.
It’s the Internet which brings hotels of all types on one platform where they get equal chances to promote their services and generate more revenues. It’s the social media’s influence that many independent hotels are performing better than chains and big brands. By using right social media strategies, traffic can be diverted to a hotel’s website and people can be turned into guests by encouraging them to make bookings.
Being a digital marketing professional, I have conducted surveys on social media strategies of several hotels and observed that many brands’ strategies fail. A major reason behind this fall is more focus on number of strategies and less on their effectiveness. Rather than applying the right strategy, these hotels prefer many social media strategies. I believe that a hotel’s social media’s strategy that attracts 1,000 online users is far better than five strategies that grab attention of 100 users each. Hoteliers should research well and use only those strategies that could increase engagement on its social media pages. In hospitality industry, interacting with followers is the best way to turn them into potential guests. There are many other strategies to garner attention of many online users, and here I have compiled some of them:
Reach Out, Pay Attention To Fans/Followers
For a business of any kind, nothing works better than listening to their social media audience. A hotel must listen to what people think and say about it or its services. This works as feedback for the hotel. Listening to people not just helps a brand understand what guests want during their stay at the hotel, but also develops a relationship between them and the hotel. This strategy can also be used to create content to highlight unique services of the hotel. For example, if a former guest talks about restaurant or gym services of the hotel, create a post about the two categories. It will tell people more about these services and encourage them to use them whenever they visit the hotel.
Use Latest Social Media Tools To Get Personal With Fans
Various social media websites have advanced tools to get personal with others. For example, Facebook Live or Twitter’s Vsnap can be utilized to create videos. An online postcard, image or video can be sent to hotel’s fans online to make them feel special. If the user is former guest of your hotel, record a message for them and thank them for using your services. This method of social media engagement can also be used on fans or followers who have been sharing your posts with their friends or followers.
Remedy Guests’ Concern ASAP
Social media engagement can be improved by showing users that they are being valued. Posts on social media sites should be created in a manner that each post is giving value to all followers. The posts should be focused on upcoming events, festivals or offers in the hotel. In case any user is having any query, it should be resolved as soon as possible. If former guests complain about any service of the hotel, attend it politely and try remedying it in any possible way.
Social media is an effective tool to create brand awareness and figure out what modern-day guests are looking for in their hotels. Engagement on social media is an opportunity for a hotel to connect with potential guests who are with thousands of questions regarding their past or upcoming stay. By connecting with them, a hotel can increase the chances of bookings. So don’t hesitate to make the most of social media to promote your hotel and its services.