The big re-opening is on its way, and hopefully here for good. With overseas travel still covered in question marks and households up and down the country wired at prospect of a change of scenery, the opportunities for domestic hotels are ripe. Social media scroll time has rocketed since March 2020, and hotels should be focused on how the platforms are delivering for them. Social needs strategy, goals and investment. For those wanting to rediscover their organic social mojo, here are our 7  pointers to get you going again.

1.     Tailor your content to the platform

Lots of your content may work over more than one platform, but be aware of who you are talking to, and whose content you are sitting beside in the feed. Check out the demographics of your followers and how they respond to your content. Even if you aren’t writing a monthly report on your performance you still need to be in your data regularly to see what’s working and what’s not. Social media provides ample opportunity to understand your audience, ignore the data at your peril!

When reviewing your platforms don’t forget to look at Pinterest. It’s a great channel for getting in front of users who are in the planning stage. Recent demographics tell us that Pinterest users are largely female, mid to high earners and in their forties or a little below…. there are your holiday planners right there, credit card at the ready!

2.     Be visual

The quality of your visual content directly reflects on the quality of your brand, and whilst we’d never suggest everything has to be professionally shot, lazy, poorly focused imagery really drags the brand down. Hotels are places we love to escape to and feel a little indulged, and we like to think you’ll put the extra effort in to make our stay special. Put the same quality filter on your visual content that your guests would expect you to put on everything else. If you have some great images or video but they haven’t been brilliantly shot, use them on Stories.

Video is king on social, make sure it’s in your content plan. Check out St Michaels Resort in Falmouth for some video inspiration.

Small, independent brands, in particular, really benefit from a personal touch. Are any of your chefs or bar staff great on camera? Test some short videos which include real people from your business. Not everyone has access to James Martin, but for some inspiration see what Chewton Glen Hotel and Spa in the New Forest are doing.

Keep it eye catching. Remember, social media users are in an ocean of content, if you want to stop the scroll you need to stand out. People buy experiences more than fixtures and fittings. Check out Watergate Bay’s grid on Instagram, you can almost smell the sea air and feel yourself settling down to waffles.

3.     User Generated Content (UGC)

Nothing speaks more loudly than customer experiences, and there’s real value in drawing these into your content. Testimonials and Trust Pilot reviews are great, but nothing shouts, ‘genuinely brilliant’ like someone willing to endorse you on their own feed.

1.     Always keep an eye on what people are posting about you, and if someone tags you with something good to say about your hotel make sure you respond and thank them (good old-fashioned manners go a long way on social, it’s a window into how you treat your guests).

2.     Ask if it’s OK to share that content... then let all your followers know what a great experience you’re providing.

These opportunities can be hard to come by though, and not everyone will tag you. To tease these out you could run a giveaway whereby past guests share an experience on a certain platform (Instagram is a good place to start). They’ll need to use your chosen hashtag, tag you and allow you to share (you can just choose the best), and one wins a prize. Bingo! Each person who enters will have shared a positive memory from your hotel with all their followers and you’ve got yourself a heap of new UGC content. Now is an excellent time for this!

Top tip, don’t be mean with your prize, motivate those guests to share their content!

Check out Instagram’s guidelines on giveaways

4.     Engagement

Forever the golden rule of organic social media, be social! These platforms are designed for interaction and the more engagement your posts get the better reach you’ll achieve.

Firstly, always engage with comments on your posts. You don’t need to be on this around the clock, but just as though they were guests in your reception:

1.     If someone comments, acknowledge them

2.     If someone asks a specific question, answer it promptly

3.     If a guest posts about a negative experience, leap on it!

As I mentioned, social is a window into how you treat your customers as a whole. Show them what nice people you are.

Secondly, make sure you’re also following people or pages who you can support (and vice versa). These might be local attractions, eateries, recommended vendors, tourist boards etc. Where it’s appropriate you can @mention them in your posts and where you can add value to their posts, chip in. Remember, it’s social media.

5.     Covid confident

At the moment guests are looking for reassurance:

1.     Clear information on details surrounding reopening

2.     Details on cancellation policy

3.     Reassurance that your property is ‘Covid safe’ (if things are going to look different when you re-open, use up to date photography/video)

Social platforms are great places for people to access this sort of information, and it’s really important to include it, but avoid drowning your customers in Covid detail. Make sure there’s a balance of content to also inspire them and allow them to daydream from their sofa.

For an example of clear Covid related information, have a look at The Coniston Hotel in Skipton.

6.     Do not touch the Boost button!

When your organic content performs well you may well get presented with the option to ‘Boost’ your post to reach more users. This is not a wise way to spend any spare budget! If you want to put some clout behind your social presence a considered campaign with clear objectives will get far better results for your £.

 Check out our article, Step Away from the Facebook Boost Button

7.     Hashtags

They’re more critical on some platforms than others, but be strategic in your use of hashtags. Do not have a fixed list of hashtags you paste into every post, and do not mindlessly add a couple on at the end of a post without researching them. Investing time in researching a range of hashtags is really important – have you actually visited that tag to see what shows up and how often it’s used? You need a mixture of well used and less so, local and further afield, specialist and broad. Always make sure your hashtags are relevant to the post. When you’re planning your content you need to be picking hashtags out of your research lists which you think will work on that particular post. 

A hashtag list is an ever-evolving beast, keep it up to date (now more than ever). Regularly visit them and check your content still chimes with the other posts using that tag. Watch what your competitors and other relevant businesses are using.

Follow your most used hashtags to see similar content which will help you engage with relevant posts.

Summary

As the industry opens up and hotel life finds a new rhythm, keep the momentum going on your channels. Tell your story and be consistent in your tone and style.

An active organic presence on social media is a solid grounding to your digital marketing, but to supercharge its potential takes advertising. We’re always happy to talk ads potential and advise on a route to optimise your online returns.

Good luck, and wishing all hotels a 2021 which keeps getting better!