Marketing is a way of showing people what you can offer and what they can experience if they stay in your Hotel. A good content marketing strategy is complex, detailed, and wisely fashioned. A great content marketing strategy goes beyond the typical and includes content generated in various ways. If you want to be on top of your game and produce appealing and engaging content, then you need to adopt innovative forms of marketing. User-generated (UG) content can be just the ingredient you’re missing.
User-generated content is any form of content, like photos, Social Media posts, and reviews, created by people without you having to pay them. So, how can you integrate this type of content into your hotel marketing and use it to promote your brand? Take a look at how UG content can make all the difference for your customers.
The Importance of UG Content
Let’s start by asking ourselves, why is UG content so effective and powerful?
The answer is simple: people trust the experience of real-life users rather than fancy ads and professional marketing videos and pictures.
Don’t get us wrong, you do need to produce professional content and keep up with all your competitors. However, UG content gives you something your regular marketing strategies can’t. It makes you seem authentic and closer to people.
Also, 69% of millennials who experience FOMO and UG content will hit that nerve.
Amanda Sparks, a digital marketer, and author of Top Down Writer blog says “UG content is efficient as a personal recommendation made by real people rather than a shiny ad created by the business owner, and that’s why it’s so powerful.”
So, how can you integrate it into your Hotel marketing? Let’s take a look.
1. Inspire People to Share
A great way to promote your hotel and have more and more people hear about it every day is to motivate your current customers to become your promoters.
Inspire them to share their travel pictures on their social media and share everything about their experience with their friends.
You can do this by:
- setting up picture areas where people can take gorgeous, worth-sharing images
- creating a unique hashtag for those posting about your hotel on Instagram
“Travelers enjoy sharing, but sometimes they need a bit of a push. Help them find inspiration and take stunning images which they’ll share on” says Sarah Allen, a marketing communication manager at GetGoodGrade.
2. Use UG Content in Your Content
When people create beautiful images of your Hotel and post it online, they are sending an obvious message: I stayed at this hotel and I loved it!
Your task is to find a way of reposting this message and using it for your hotel’s marketing.
So, how can you reuse UG images and make sure they reach potential customers worldwide?
- repost
A simple repost on your social media account is a great first step. The person who initially posted it will be more than happy to see their image on your official social media while others will get to hear about a wonderful experience.
- use it in the actual ad
Turning your customers’ images into official ad material is both authentic and personal. People will love the fact you’re keeping things real.
- portray it on the website
Use the best UG images and create a gallery on your official website. Let people know you’ve got nothing to hide.
- portray the reviews
Don’t hesitate in sharing positive reviews and comments people leave after spending time in your hotel. Repost them and make them visible for everyone.
3. Contests & Giveaways
You can set up a little competition for all your customers, to have them produce UG content you can use, in exchange for a little prize.
For example, set up a photo contest for your guests:
- have them take a picture at your hotel
- post it using a specific hashtag
- tag your Hotel
The person with the most likes wins a weekend for two, a spa, an exclusive dinner, or whatever comes to your mind as a suitable prize.
“Photo contests are a great way to have others promote your hotel and work for you without even being aware of it,” says Mariah Hill, a Social Media expert, and editor at Best Writers Canada.
Final Thoughts
User-generated content is perfect for convincing people to book your hotel and go for it. Seeing the beautiful images other people have taken and realizing how actual travelers spent their time at your Hotel will be encouraging and inspirational for others.
Therefore, make sure to follow through on all your customers and the images, post, and reviews they’ve got going on. Make the best use of them and bring your content marketing to the next level.
A shift towards Customer Experience is for Hotels one of the best things that could happen now as new disruptive markets keep developing.
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And it will help identify micro-moments and recognize pain points and values utilizing Hotel Experience Ambassadors that knows where to look for them.
I have loved with all of my heart and soul serving customers, guests, and Hoteliers. As a Hotel Experience Ambassador, I gained a new passion for being a representative and messenger delivering new profound and delightful experiences.
If your Hotel wants to implement new effective success factors then now is the time to be part of a new initiative.
When your Hotel serves your community they will reward you back with serving you.
From a Hotel and Social Media Consultant’s standpoint, the Social Media Community can offer Hotels a one-stop-shop for managing their Social Media marketing such as the community infrastructure, database, listening functionality, profile management, collaboration, content marketing and management, and of course, the analytics.
A Social Media Community will help your Hotel to grow smarter and faster when you focus on the value proposition and collaborate in effective ways.
If your Hotel needs help to put it all together then make sure to let us know.
With the right team behind your Social Media efforts, it can become cost-effective and generate a new revenue stream for your Hotel.
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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