The outbreak of COVID-19 took a devastating blow to the global economy. However, it’s hard to find the sectors that suffered as much as the hospitality industry. At its height, the total number of international tourists dropped by a staggering 78% leaving the entire hospitality field in shambles.
But, things are slowly but steadily getting back on track while hotels, lodging services, and similar hospitality companies try their best to lure in as many of these globetrotters as possible.
And much like in the pre-pandemic times, the most efficient way for reaching all those scattered people will lie in the world of online marketing. Let us take a look then at some of the most promising digital advertising strategies that should help your company get the competitive edge in 2022 and put it right at the head of the pack.
Video content is taking over social media
This is not so much an emerging trend as the continuation of what we’ve seen in recent years – social media is one of the most important hospitality industry marketing channels and video content is taking over this platform.
According to a recent survey, people watch an average amount of 16 hours of online video content per week and absorb 95% of the marketing messages displayed in this material. All these things make video content 1200% more efficient than any other type of marketing content. So, if you want to capture the attention of the post-pandemic audience this is the most efficient way to do it.
For this, you need to create good quality video content, which should be engaging enough to connect with the audience. For this, you can use online video editing software which will help you to create professional quality videos which come with inbuilt features and pre-made templates that make video making and editing an easy task.
Leverage the growing interest in TikTok
Although they still make the majority of the hospitality industry guests, the Millennials are slowly giving way to Generation Z and even Generation Alpha (children born from 2006 until today) which are becoming increasingly important contributors to this business sector.
Well, if we, for instance, take Australia as an example of a developed country we can see that the rising star of the social media world – TikTok – is ruled by these two generations that comprise as much as 70% of its total number of users. So, try giving this social media platform more attention since its number of users is only going to grow.
Renewed interest in SEO
Being so heavily reliant on keywords, location searches, and Google reviews, the hospitality industry always had a close relationship with the process of SEO. Although this relationship never waned, we can’t deny the fact that the rise in the number of global searches caused by COVID-19 once again sparked interest in this lucrative marketing channel.
If we once again go Down Under, for example, we will see the professional link-building services in Australia tackling a growing number of hospitality gigs compared to the previous years. The situation is very similar in other tourist destinations as well.
Rise of virtual tours
Yet again, augmented reality is hardly a breakthrough technology but up until recently, you couldn’t see hotels and overnight stays implementing virtual tours and other AR tricks to a greater extent. But, the times are changing and more and more hospitality companies, even the ones belonging to the SMB sector are finding a way to use this neat tool to present their services to potential guests.
The VR industry is also projected to experience considerable growth from $5 billion in 2020 to more than $12 billion in 2024. These two factors will inevitably collide and make 2022 the year of hospitality VR.
Changing tides in the world of influencers
The hospitality industry always heavily relied on the word of social media influencers so they made a critical part of every digital marketing strategy. Things won’t be so different during 2022 aside from the fact that the world of influencers is undergoing an internal overhaul. Namely, the macro-influencers or the profiles with hundreds of thousands of followers are losing importance since they are diluted and produce unengaged communities.
Instead, the tides are shifting to so-called micro-influencers that build smaller but also more engaged pools of followers. Such profiles are also much more open to ongoing paid relationships.
Guest-centered website design
This is, by far, one of the easiest ways to help your company survive in the competitive industry. Up until recently, hospitality companies often utilized a very business-centric approach to website design trying to cram in as much info about their services without paying too much attention to how visitors behave and how they feel interacting with the website.
These days, things are finally changing and hospitality websites are becoming much leaner, they utilize simple design with a lot of negative space, implement gender-neutral design language and lingo, and put a stronger emphasis on diversity.
So, there you have it – the six most important digital marketing trends that will rock the hospitality industry in 2022. Of course, these few mentions are only the tip of the iceberg and to safely navigate the next year you will need to take a look under the surface as well.
However they do provide a general idea about the direction in which the entire industry is moving. Now, when the hospitality industry is getting back on its feet and the competition is fiercer than ever every insight is worth a fortune.
Over to you
The hotel industry is always changing, especially during a time of crisis. Make sure to future-proof your business and continue attracting new guests by investing in these solutions.
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