You already know why Social Media is valuable for your Hotel.
Today Hotel marketers had to learn some entirely new lessons; how to inspire trust and loyalty and how to engage customers instead of positioning their products and services. For Hoteliers, this is not just an entirely new world; it is an entirely new solar system.
It is not the fundamental role of marketing has changed, digital marketing goals are still to find the customer, get the customer and then keep the customer.
Digital Marketing is synonymous with two-way, or community influence and the control once enjoyed by Hotels is now in the hands of the consumers.
Here are the Top 10 Tips for Hotels that I use to manage Social Media.
1. Identify your Hotels Digital Marketing goals
Know what you want to achieve with the goals. Likes, Followers, and Connections are important KPIs but not they are not your business KPIs.
Your Hotel needs to have sustainable and realistic goals for growth. And these goals have to be aligned with your overall Hotel Marketing goals.
Digital Marketing will not replace existing Marketing tools. It is a supplemental Marketing tool that will help you add new values to your Hotel.
Today’s customers are mobile, their attention is fleeting and their demands for great experiences are high. Don’t lose sight of your overall goal: attracting, acquiring and retaining customers.
And remember that the customer journey doesn’t end with a transaction; it lasts a lifetime, from influence, through booking, all the way to loyalty — and even advocacy — for your Hotel and products.
2. Start develop an effective Strategy
Digital Marketing, when used correctly, will help your Hotel build strong connections with guests and customers.
You need to build a clear strategy that takes into account what you want to achieve, who your customers are and what your competition is doing.
Start to transform S.M.A.R.T goals into a Digital Marketing Strategy.
Specific – Are your goals well-defined? Does it align with overall Hotel objectives?
Measurable – Define success and failures of your goals. What are the tactics with your goals? At what point should you optimize or change your goals?
Attainable – Is the goals possible?
Realistic – Do the goals fit with your Hotels overall goals in a scalable and manageable way?
Time – What is the time frame for your goals?
A great mantra here is “Plan the work – work the Plan”.
3. Integrate Social Listening strategies
The information flow on Social Media can be overwhelming. It is crucial to integrate Social Listening strategies with your Social Media strategy.
Focused listening will give you valuable insight identifying which Social Network your customers are most active on, and sentiments about your Hotel, products, service, competitors, and Industry.
Tip: Create a Social Conversion Map that illustrates the Social landscape for your Hotel. Focus on the Social Network that you identified where your customers are most active. Track key sentiments and the most common topics that customers associate with your Hotel.
4. Learn all about Reputation Management
- guest / customer concerns
- happy guest
- reviews
- when accounts is compromised
One of the key challenges today is response time. Studies show that if a customer’s Tweet a demand in some form 53 percent expect a response in less than one hour. If the Tweet relates to concern then as much as 72 percent expect a response in less than one hour.
The good news is that brands that recognize and seize the opportunity to meet consumers’ rising expectations can achieve serious results. The study also revealed that when brands provide customers with timely responses:
- 34 percent are likely to buy more from that company
- 43 percent are likely to encourage friends and family to buy their products
- 38 percent are more receptive to their advertisements
- 42 percent are willing to praise or recommend the brand through Social Media
As part of your Reputation Management strategy, it is key to integrate a Crisis Management strategy. Be proactive and put in place proper strategies that protect your Social Media accounts.
Most Social Networks today provide a two-step login process. The first step requires email and password. Use strong passwords, and change it often. The second step requires a code verification that is sent to a dedicated mobile phone.
Hackers will try to compromise Social Network accounts. Don’t let that stop your Hotel from utilizing Social Media as an additional marketing tool. Learn how to maneuver when a crisis occurs.
5. Setting up your Content Marketing Calendar
Digital Marketing is a dynamic process. The key to success here is to create a Social Workflow where each step in the process is handled through designated roles and a dedicated strategy.
A Content Marketing Calendar will help you plan the quarter/month/week/day. Identify when to post and what to post at relevant Social Network.
Start track, measure, and test which combinations of posts that are in line with your goals.
Tip: Set calendar up to reflect the seasons, events, attractions, local specialties and occasions.
6. Learning more about your Community
Social Media is driven by influencers and communities. The community will pay attention to what the influencers do and take action accordantly.
In his book “The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference” Malcolm Gladwell describes three rules of an epidemic.
The first rule “The Law of the few” tells us the most about the people in this community.
- Connectors are the people in the community with a largely targeted follower base, and who has a habit of make introductions
- Mavens are the information specialists. They accumulate knowledge, and they know how to share it
- Salesmen are charismatic persuaders with powerful negotiation skills
Make sure to identify these people in your community, and learn more about them. Today all of us are like an open book ready to read if you are willing to take the time.
Tip: Just because people open their book don’t assume it is ok that your first interaction with them is to sell something. Take time to learn more about them. People love to share valuable information that tells more about their needs and wants. What if John Doe is traveling with his little daughter and he Tweets that he plans to stay at your Hotel. This is the first great response opportunity. John Doe is traveling with his little daughter, and when he arrives at the Hotel he discovers he forgot to pack his daughters Teddy bear she uses to go to sleep with. He Tweets out to his Social Network this incident. Here you have the second opportunity for a great response. Pay attention, my friends, it will pay off!
7. Pick the best Tools for the job
With Social Media Management tools you also have to answer why you want to use a Management and Monitoring platform. Also, focus on what you want to achieve with this platform.
There are platforms available that will handle every little task on Social Media. eClincher is a great tool to manage Hotel Social profiles. I use this tool myself.
I have 12 primary areas I look at for my information when I decide which tools I will use. And I use various tools within each area.
- Research
- Ideas
- Outline
- Headline
- Grammar
- Optimize Article
- Optimize Image
- Outpost
- Lead Generation
- Social Media Control Room
- Analytics
- Reports
This helps me answer why and what.
8. Automate portions of your Content
Automation is an art. You can’t automate all content. Customers want to see real people behind the Social Profiles.
Follow some simple strategies for automation.
- Generic content that adds value to customer (2-3 updates per hour)
- Strategic Content from Calendar (4-10 updates per day)
- Appreciation (Thanks for following)
Never automate response to customer concerns or questions.
9. Create a Storyboard
Great storytelling is the key to success today.
Every Hotel has a story. Your guest has a story, an experience, which they go through on the way to making a booking, after they made a booking, etc. And you can storyboard that story to find your content ideas and opportunities.
Storyboards is great for:
- Brainstorming
- Setting out visual cues for a written piece
- Boosting your content productivity
Start with the end in mind. Take a post-it and write down what you want visitors to your Social Profiles to do, ie: book a room, etc.
What happens right before that? If your story were a movie, would the scene right before that booking be? And how about the one before that? And the one before that?
What happens after? Start looking at what happens right after someone book a room. Where are they two minutes after? Sixty minutes after? Sixty days after? Take it out as far as you can. If you get repeat business, a storyboard that as well.
10. Be inclusive
Social Media has to primary component to it;
- Engagement
- Relationship
The engagement you have to take an active positive part in. A relationship is built through trust.
Today Hotels has a golden opportunity to include customers and employees in their processes.
Start with empowering your employees and include them in your daily Social Network engagements. Studies show that happy employees are more productive.
Don’t focus on Social Media just as a marketing tool, but also make it part of your eco-system. Still, we see too many businesses that want to exclude their employees. Brands that take the time to include employees will succeed and eventually take over market shares.
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As guest behavior and pattern continues to evolve, expectations will continue to rise. Navigating these changes can be challenging. Learn more about how we can help your Hotel.
About the author
Are Morch is the founder and owner of Are Morch – Hotel Marketing Coach. Get more from Are on Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Pinterest | Instagram| Podcast