Social media marketing for hotels – 7 TIPS for beginners

Why is social media marketing for hotels so important?

According to the infographic from wearesocial.com website, the number of users on social media is currently around 3,484 BILLION (nearly half of the world’s population). This number includes as many as 3,256 billion mobile users, whose number is constantly increasing by about 10% per year. But how to survive in the world of social media without spending hundreds of euros on advertising campaigns?

ADVICE #1 – Social media marketing for hotels requires regularity

Facebook is used by 1.59 billion users EVERY DAY. Creating a hotel account is extremely easy there, which is why so many companies decide to do so. The mere presence on Facebook, however, does not result in the marketing success of the company.

It is such a shame when someone visits an inactive or rarely updated company profile. REGULARITY is the basis of success here. So if you don’t plan to participate too often on your fan-page, you might as well give up on creating it.

ADVICE #2 – Start with filling in your company information

Social media marketing for hotels begins with ensuring an appealing description of the property. How you approach this issue depends on the audience you plan to reach. When completing your profile, don’t forget about:

– Profile photo (check sizes recommended by Facebook).
– Cover photo / video.
– Defined CTA button with refferal to your booking engine (guide below).
– Short user name (see how to create it).
– “History tab” – here I advise to tell your story, based on values you offer through your business
– “Information” tab.
– Enable possibility to recommend you in the “Recommendation tab”.

ADVICE #3 – Add a button to make a hotel reservation

As a hotelier, your main goal is to get visitors to book a stay. If you have a booking engine on your hotel’s website, you can transfer a user from Facebook directly to your online booking engine.

Connecting the booking engine to the “Book now” button is very simple. You can do this by going to your fanpage’s home page and clicking on the “Contact Us” button. It is usually located in the upper right corner of the page.

Now from the drop down menu select “Edit button”.

Select the “Book now” button and pick the option to attach a link to the website. Paste the link to your booking engine here and save the settings. Let users enjoy booking via Facebook. You can find out more about what the booking engine is here.

ADVICE #4 – Use Facebook Messenger for guest communication 

Social media marketing for hotels should be based on ensuring good contact with guests. This is particularly effective when using the Messenger application. It allows customers to ask questions directly via Facebook. In this case, customers should not wait too long for an answer.

What’s more, Facebook has created a special system to track the reply speed. Booking.com is an example of replies done right.

A high response rate indicates that you treat your social media account seriously and encourages users to use this form of contact.

You can find more information about the response speed indicator here.

ADVICE #5 – Automate your chat responses!

W regulacji wskaźnika szybkości odpowiedzi mogą pomóc chatboty, których wdrożenie sprzyja automatyzacji całego procesu komunikacji z gośćmi.

If you are looking for more ways to automate your communication, chatbots are the way to go
These systems can help you adjust the response time.

There are many companies on the market that deal with the creation and maintenance of tools that allow you to implement your own chatbot without any programming knowledge. You can find more detailed information on implementing this solution here. 

ADVICE #6 – Use statistics to better understand your target group

There is no specific method that would tell you when it is best to publish posts for your Facebook audience. It all depends on the target group you want publish your content for. You can obtain such knowledge by accessing the Facebook Insights section.

In the “Posts” tab you will find a full overview of data collected, based on the posts you publish.

When analyzing statistics, determine the days and hours when your users are most active. From this tab you will also learn what form of content suits them best. Now you can focus on directing messages tailored to their expectations.

ADVICE #7 – Social media marketing for hotels also requires active responding to comments 

Don’t ignore any comments that appear under your posts. Even in case of positive or neutral comments, we recommend responding to them. If possible, try to establish a short dialogue. Caring for recommendations on social media is an important element of fanpage management.

Negative comments especially should not be ignored. If a mistake has been made, it’s better to ask your user for a private message where you will clarify the situation.

Later you may tell other users how the problem was resolved. Approach each conflict professionally and try to reach ageement in every situation.

Do you want to learn 4 SPECIFIC ways to increase the visibility of your hotel website?
Read our previous article!