Facebook is the perfect place for Hotels to connect with real people and build connections through photos, videos, and ads.
Successful Hotels has leveraged the relationship they built on Facebook to drive real business results.
Some Facebook stats
- Over 2.01 billion monthly active users
- 1.32 billion daily active users
- 1.15 billion mobile daily active users
- Like and Share buttons are viewed on over 10 million websites daily
- 300 million photos uploaded daily
- The average time spent per Facebook visit is 20 minutes
Facebook Live
Facebook rolled out Facebook Live to all users in April 2016. In 2017, they added new formats like Live 360 and Live Audio.
And now, about one in every five Facebook videos is Live, and over the past year, daily watch time for Facebook Live has grown more than 4x.
All these stats represent some staggering numbers. With this kind of numbers, the good news is that the pie is more than big enough for your Hotel to start leverage Facebook.
Connect, discover and share
Facebook’s primary mission is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.
For your Hotel, this is a new unique opportunity to celebrate existing market segments and embrace new and renewing market segments.
Just a little side note here to illustrate the importance of the tips I will share here. “Airbnb partnered with media agency Amobee and creative agency TBWA/Chiat to develop video ads, which were designed specifically for the Facebook feed environment.”
It’s time for your Hotel to start feature unique local experiences for travelers that encourage them to experience your city.
1. Invest in Promoted Content and Ads to Reach a Wider Audience
Today most of us treat our Facebook Page as an extended Business funnel.
With Facebook, there are two primary forms of reach that we have some control over, organic and paid.
Organic reach: The total number of people who saw your Facebook post without you having to pay for it.
Paid to reach: The total number of people who saw your Facebook post because of you investing in promoted content and ads.
2. Use Facebook’s Demographic Data in Targeted Campaigns
One challenge that brands have seen because of Facebook’s growth is a decline in organic reach.
For some Hotels, this has turned into a roadblock, and they tune out claiming Facebook is not working for them.
Over the years with collaboration and testing various Facebook techniques myself I discovered that the Hotel Funnel starts with paid to reach.
At first, it appeared to be a bit counterintuitive for me. But then I understood Facebook mechanism rewards a foundation that is built upon paid reach.
I now build my core audience from Facebook data for;
- Demographics
- Location targeting
- Interest
- Behaviors
- Targeted connection
3. Consider Combining the Power of Facebook data with the Visual Appeal of Instagram
Images have always been the currency for communication on Instagram. For Hotel brands, a strong visual voice is a key to driving real business results on this platform.
Use your Hotels creative work on Facebook and repurpose this on Instagram.
By bringing Facebook and Instagram together, they are making it easier for Hotels to get the most out of both platforms.
- Unified management: Manage campaigns efficiently and at scale. Buying, managing, and reporting are all streamlined and consistent.
- Expanded inventory: With the addition of Instagram to Facebook’s interfaces, Hotels now have more opportunities to reach their target audience efficiently.
- Creative portability: Get more out of your marketing assets with the flexibility to run shared ad creative across both Facebook and Instagram.
4. Enrich Guest Customer Service using Facebook Messenger for Business
Facebook Messenger has quickly become a Customer Service portal that today’s modern traveler prefers.
And regardless of age, people prefer messaging over calling or emailing because it has made communication simpler, more ongoing, more frequent, and more thoughtful. A recent survey by Nielsen showed that 53% of people say they’re more likely to shop with a business they can message directly.
5. Create Engagement Opportunities Using Facebook Live video or 360
Facebook Live is a way for people to broadcast to the world in real time, either from their mobile devices or desktop.
Marriott broadcasted a live panel discussion on women entrepreneurs and travel and asked users to comment questions for future panelists to answer.
With Facebook 360, Hotels can showcase their most compelling stories by bringing the viewer inside the story to experience the sights and sounds of the scene.
6. Encourage Facebook Check-ins and Reviews
If someone uses the Check-In function on Facebook when they visit your Hotel, they are telling their friends on Social Media that they are currently at and enjoying your services or products.
This results in free advertising increased brand awareness and is essentially an endorsement from that user.
Facebook Pages with reviews show up much more prominently on mobile devices which is when people are near your location. Allowing people to leave a review for your location on Facebook is a good idea and gives social proof to potential customers.
7. Hos Like and Comment Competitions
Before jump into pulling a contest or competition on Facebook, familiarize yourself with Facebook Guidelines.
Facebook will not permit contests that require users to:
- Like a page to enter
- Share a page to enter
- Tag yourself in a photo to enter
- Share a page on a friends Timeline to enter
- Like multiple pages to enter
Type of Facebook contests that are permitted include:
- Like a post to enter
- Post on a Page to enter
- Like as a voting mechanism
- Comment on a post to enter
Optimize your Facebook Fans Experience
Utilize these tips and techniques to continue optimizing your Facebook Page and the experience for your Hotel’s fans.
Start collaborating with your Facebook Fans and ask them for help with these tips.
And implement high-value #hashtags to take the experience to another level.
Facebook Marketing for Hotels [Infographic]
Thanks to Mary Smith, Digital Marketing representative with The Europe Hotel and Resorts for this high-value Infographic.
Credit: The Europe Hotel and Resorts
The Hotel Content Funnel – a dynamic process
I work on content strategies that support The Hotel Content Funnel. This is an ongoing dynamic process where data, information, and innovation will reach the relevant consumers for a given Hotel.
FACEBOOK ADVERTISING FOR HOTELS
Facebook Advertising for hotels will help you redefine the customer experience. Take advantage of new innovative strategies that will improve your Hotels ROI.
FREE access to our Hotel Social Media Community – Get more insights and training about Facebook Native Ads for Hotels!
Our Social Media Management team has refined these processes to help Hotels. Contact us today to learn more.
Join our Free Hotel Social Media Community on Facebook for more in-depth insight.
We are in this together!
I need to let you all know that we are in on this together. If you need to vent, talk, cry, or just have some to talk with then I am here listening. Since I am working part-time at the local Kroger, I will to the best of my ability to work it out around my schedule.
But you can reach me here:
Email: hotelblogger@aremorch.com
Also, join us at our Facebook Group – Hotel Social Media Community
We will get through this unprecedented event together! #hotelstrong #hospitalitystrong
For any specific information on COVID-19, I recommend go to CDC, WHO, AHLA, AAHOA, and HSMAI. Also, follow information from your local authorities.
NOTE
We are starting to reopen some hotels again (Yay!!!). Make sure you follow their guidelines and say THANK YOU to those that now show a unique spirit to serve, and helps us all get through this!! #hotelstrong #hospitalitystrong
About Are Morch
Hi, I am Are Morch. Your Digital Marketing Coach and Customer Experience Expert specializes in creating effective digital customer experience offer for hotels while growing and scale customer acquisition and revenue.
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