10 Steps to Increase Social Media Marketing for Resorts and Hotels

Social Media can be a great marketing tool to inspire travelers and engage a larger audience. When used to its fullest potential it provides a unique edge that keeps your resort and hotel on the top-of-the-mind radar for future travelers, which in return generates very effective marketing opportunities. Most of these steps will also benefit any other business.

What Sets You Apart?

 Social media content must be engaging, unique and generate destination specific content which followers really want to see. Create unique images and text which create an emotional response. Turn your media into a lifestyle experience your followers want to be living and exploring. Design unique photo opportunities for your hotel or resort which guests will want to share as selfie interactive moments.

What Type of Social Media Should You Use?

Create a mix of short text and appealing high quality photos and videos. Keep all media short to catch viewer’s attention in the first few seconds. Videos with people will appeal to your viewer’s emotions on a deeper emotional level, while they in return move your website to the top of search engines. People love to see images of resorts at any time and your content will set you apart, especially when they are researching future vacation destinations.

Use Blogs to Create In-depth Insights and Content

Blogs will create a stronger bond with your audience if they show your uniqueness and create value. Use a mix of narratives, depth and complexity and create content that answers specific niche content or features special events.

Tweak Your Social Media Content

Project different views and perspectives on different social media. Instagram requires high visual appeal artistic images, whereas Facebook content can be more casual: resist the temptation to share the same post. Pinterest works best with vertical images. Give your followers a reason to follow you on multiple channels. Twitter messages are brief and more to the point, but can be repeated multiple times daily as they have a short life span. Mix lifestyle images with branded content which highlights your resort features and any upcoming events. Make your followers feel inspired and motivated.

Get to Know Your Audience

Listen to them and communicate with them. Think about who is on each media and what they expect from you. What are your target groups? Appeal to them.

Who Do You Want to Compare Your Brand With?

How can you make your content even better? Check out the best of your industry and your competitor’s social media sites. What are they doing to engage an audience? Test new content to see how your followers respond. Experiment. See what is working, create more in that direction and move away from what is not receiving feedback.

Use Hashtags as The Key to Being Discovered on Social Media

Hashtags can both boost your circles of viewers and engagement. Use a mixture of popular hashtags and very specific niche oriented hashtags to communicate special events or specific features. As a rule of thumb you can use between five-ten hashtags on Instagram, while you should limit it to one or two at Facebook or Twitter in order to keep your post more conversational.

What is The Best Time to Post?

The travel industry appeals to a global market with different time zones, but as a rule of thumb Instagram users are more active in the evening and weekends. Twitter and Facebook users are active all day. Post on a regular schedule as your audiences are hungry for beautiful images. How much content do you have to share / how much can you create? Spread your posts out, or you will lose followers if you do not continue to create new content. Share the content of other’s if it fits with your brand image, while giving due credit, or highlight visitor content. Re-post if a guest or visitor shares a great image they took of your resort and comment on visitors’ shared content.

How Do You Get More Followers?

Post high-quality content. Provide something of value, which makes people want to follow you, eager to see more. You can also tap into influencer networks in any community, no matter the size.  Engage in conversations, ask questions, and create interactive content.  The key is amplification, interaction and acknowledgement.

New Trends to Rank High on Google Searches

Google has just announced new SEO (Search Engine Optimization) trends. As people are increasingly using Mobile Web for quick search results, your website must load quickly, look appealing and be easy to navigate on mobile devices. Incorporating the following points will make you rank higher and bring increased traffic:

·       Feature snippets (small pieces of information or answers) like a summary of an answer to a query. Try to think about what questions your customers are asking and write text to directly answer common questions on your website. Use leading questions such as: How to…? What is…?

·       Searchers are getting experienced and are using longer queries with more specific content. Target a sequence of keywords, at least 3-4 words long, such as: Where to find the best……in….

·       In 2017 49% of all search results are going to Google Owned properties, such as You-Tube and Google My Business, which makes it imperative that you create a You-Tube channel to post related videos wherever you can.

·       Cross Channel Marketing: attract new customers through social media, via an active blog or with paid traffic campaigns (PPC). If you promote your website on Google or Facebook you can improve your engagement statistics.

Stay in touch.

References: Union Metrics and WIX.

“Social Media can be a great marketing tool to inspire travelers and engage a larger audience”