Use These 3 Core Social Media Approaches to Increase Bookings
1. Create Value
You want to be a useful resource for travelers. So make sure your posts present your hotel as being an expert on anything a guest needs to know about your property and the local area.
You can create an active social media account and also build brand awareness by posting hotel photos, giving recommendations for things to do nearby, and promoting current deals or onsite events that may attract potential guests. Whenever a guest comments on, likes, or shares your posts, those interactions are viewed by that individual’s network of friends and followers.
However, creating valuable content is only half of the importance of maintaining a successful social media presence. The other half is engaging with your followers and those who talk about you online! You need to interact with them and build a positive relationship in order to be effective.
2. Interact With Guests
There are plenty of simple ways to use your social media to interact with guests and significantly increase bookings.
Like and Comment
Just by liking a guest’s post that mentions the hotel or leaving a personalized comment using their name and thanking them for staying makes that individual feel heard. When conversations like this are seen by other social media users, they will know that your hotel makes an effort to reach out to guests and creates a positive view of the hotel brand. You can even use this as an opportunity to interact with guests by asking them to leave a review about their stay.
Positive Facebook reviews and posts about your hotel leave an implied recommendation for others in that guest’s social network – allowing the hotel to extend their reach beyond current guests and social media followers.
Engaging in a conversation with people who have reviewed you on social media helps build loyalty and generate repeat bookings.
Making sure to interact with both positive and negative posts about your hotel shows that you care and other people will be able to see how you treat your guests. This will also make those individuals feel valued because they know that you are actually listening to them and acknowledging what they have to say. Even just saying a simple thank you on guest’s posts about their stay goes a long way in creating a great customer experience.
Direct Message
When you come across a negative review it is important to politely acknowledge the individual and apologize for the experience. Then, it is often a good idea to bring the conversation offline and message that person directly in order to resolve the issue. This kind of interaction shows the guest that you value their experiences and want to make things right – which can lead to repeat bookings.
Also, make sure you answer any questions guests may ask you directly and to respond to any private messages you receive.
Share
Share some of the positive guest reviews and photos mentioning your hotel so that your followers can see what real guests are saying about you.
Research shows that most consumers trust user-generated content above all other forms of marketing.
So it is important to share this kind of content on your social media. The guest whose post you share with your network will definitely feel valued when they see that you have featured them on your page – it’s a win win and you didn’t even have to create any content yourself!
3. Call To Engage
To encourage more engagement, ask your followers to vote on certain questions you post about their favorite ways to vacation, most important item to bring while traveling, or even destination trivia. You can create a contest where they can win a prize by liking and sharing your post, tagging their friends, or submitting a photo that mentions the hotel. Any post that generates a call to action from your followers will help get them engaged with your social media and involved in a conversation with you.
When used effectively, social media is proven to increase visits to your hotel’s website.