Social media is a popular way of promotion and advertisement in recent times. There are a lot of social media platforms in contemporary times and some of these social channels can loft you to immediate acclaim by increasing your brand awareness.

In this exclusive blog from our AP LBC social media and travel experts, we are here to give you an insight of the few big shot social media platforms that can greatly boost your hotel’s sales and marketing efforts.

Remember! These social media platforms can put you right in the view of your target audience. Let’s a detailed study of the various social media platforms that can make your brand a hit and a run-away success in the competitive market.

1. Facebook, reach the mass easily

Facebook has an active monthly user of over 2.1 billion, isn’t that a whopping number? So why not take advantage of it, your target audiences and customers are just among that mass. So, if your page hasn’t got a Facebook ramp up and create one.

Your hotel promotion ideas should include a Facebook page featuring alluring photos of the property inside and outside, as well as of real customers who love their experiences. Facebook is all about the social engagement that every hotel needs to thrive.

You’ll find a lot of potential communication tools that you can afford here on Facebook, which you’ll simply navigate through if you don’t know how to identify them and take advantage of them.

Above all, you already know that you need to connect with your audience constantly. This simply cannot be overstated; you need to connect with your prospective guests, your current guests and your past guests alike.

And as tough as this may look a bit, it’s great to interact with those who, for whatever reason, have left behind negative reviews of their stay. Paying attention to every single customer is going to pay off, and many guests love to be heard and will stay there again if the host tries to correct any issues. When people feel that they have heard, they think highly.

So when you’re searching your Facebook page for interaction, don’t just look for the positive; you have at your disposal a collection of valuable, informative and first-rate market analysis of all types — as well as a fantastic way to quickly spread the details about all the deals and promotions that your hotel has to offer. And what’s more, Facebook gives you to display offers and ads, which you can employ smartly.

Ask your audiences to tag you in their photos, and you do the same, creating an environment of sharing in which your love for your audience is apparent. Then update your fans daily on all of your exclusive deals and promotions, enabling lots of critical feedback to find out what everyone is talking about your ideas, your rooms, your brochure, your updates, your rewards, etc.

Encourage and welcome fans to tell you what they think about your hotel and your brand, and tell them not to hold back.

Facebook is the ideal place to talk about places in a fun, insightful and constructive way; the more you participate, the more fun you appear and the more potential guest inquiries you create.

Using your Facebook page well and regularly and you will also receive creative ideas to make your fantastic hotel even more excellent, so grasp the ideas of the respondents freely. Besides, excited visitors will also start chatting online about you — a free and invaluable tool for marketing.

Users with whom you communicate online will quickly become the mouthpiece of your hotel and brand, so use their resources wisely and respect each other. The greatest feature of all that contact is that if you integrate your booking system with your Facebook profile, you will even get direct bookings from Facebook.

And finally, a deep-dive into Facebook Paid Ads is also more than worthwhile; this is extremely comprehensive, enabling you to fine-tune your audience.

2. Instagram, for instant recognition

Instagram comes follows Facebook as the second most commonly used social media site. What you need are beautiful pictures and videos of your hotel, or activities in or sponsored by your hotel, to build up a professional Instagram hotel account.

Apart from that, toy around with interesting stories, ask questions, conduct polls, initiate a chat, or add Instagram music, and do whatever you can to keep the conversation constant, vibrant, and enjoyable. Much like Facebook marketing; don’t just stream out, but instead proactively promote and facilitate a lot of inward engagement from critics and be a hotel that loves to connect.

When you’re a venue for events, then you’re also in an advantageous position to have an infinite supply of images, which other sites may either have to work on or pay for. Which guests would not like to see their gorgeous event on the stunning website of the hotel? (Of course, always ask the people in the pictures or the event organizer’s permission in writing before showing images of any guests or events in public).

Events which had taken place at your hotel or those that you have arranged display the versatility and range of decoration and environments, encouraging visitors to dream and envision how their own beautiful event will be held there.

You may even use some good landscape images from the local surroundings of the hotel – or even extend the photographic network to present some of the world’s regions where your guests stay. Only ask guests to submit the photos that they require you to use in their own. When it comes to photography, the sky is the limit so be creative and don’t shy away.

Your Instagram page should always concentrate solely on the property and its grounds, but beyond that, Instagram opens the door to other fun-filled photo opportunities and it’s simply a great gateway to physical contact. If you give them a chance and an opportunity to visit, these real people who connect with you through Instagram would love to communicate with your hotel too.

3. YouTube Marketing, Go the Virtual Way!

You must-and should-set up your hotel’s YouTube channel. It’s easier to do than you would think and only a few hours inside can be up and running. How, then, would you do with it?

Okay, the obvious thing is that you should post your hotel video tours on your YouTube channel but also note that YouTube already hosts a lot of live streaming sessions. That makes it perfect for live tours, Discussion forums, and even live entertainment streams.

Weddings, as well as other private bookings, can be presented live to friends-and-family viewers across the globe, while at the same being, you can also restrict the streaming from the eyes of strangers by using the YouTube settings to allow only those with the connection to view.

You might also encourage to live-stream demonstrations or humorous talks by inviting famed celebrities or guest chefs. Why can’t a hotel be a cool, interactive YouTube channel? Still, how many are actually doing this? Just a handful of few.

4. A Twitter tool to enhance customer and client experience

Once a top- competitor with Facebook, Twitter, another social media giant is becoming a social platform where consumers can interact with brands in a way that no other network has. Clients go on Twitter to post a comment, voice their grievances, and communicate quickly with companies, even those they feel they can’t meet. The simplicity with which consumers can post to Twitter and receive a company response that is otherwise difficult to obtain makes it highly appealing and popular.

Companies can no longer hide in the shadows, leaving out important guests and clients unresponsive. Nonetheless, if put into proper use, Twitter helps both companies and their clients, and just like we stated earlier about Facebook and Instagram, you can use Twitter to reach out to consumers — not offering them some slight opportunity to suggest that you’re difficult to get in touch or connect with.

With Twitter, interacting with prospective bookers or potential guests can be an excellent and easy way for hotels.

Research suggests that when a client sends a tweet to business and receives a reply, they are willing to spend more on the average priced product of that business in the future. Moreover, if the response is courteous, accommodating, supportive, and being apologetic in case of anything going wrong, then you ‘re on a huge winner.

Here are a few reasons why you should use Twitter as an excellent customer tool.

• Make sure your profile specifies your times of assistance so that people know when they can hope to receive a response. Make absolutely sure your time zone is viewable as Twitter posts begin receiving worldwide comments.
• Enable direct messages and make it absolutely clear that they are welcome so that client data and complicated problems can be referenced directly with you, instead of via your Twitter feed.
• Enable support to ensure that customers and clients can see that your Twitter account is user friendly.
• Track references and keywords to find opportunities for customer assistance and support.
• Take Twitter seriously as a tool. While the style of short-burst tweets lends itself to hurried or flipped Tweets, Twitter posts are longer and heavier-hitting than you would assume.
• Used with care, consideration, precision and accuracy, Twitter can spread messages to your hotel in record time, reaching out audiences who were previously unimaginable. Just ensure all your messages are positive and engaging.

5. Orchestrate a contest on these social media sites

Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are all great platforms that can be used to communicate with your customers and clients regularly, but to spice things up, why not activate some loving contests?

One of the greatest ideas is to devise a branded hashtag and create a selfie station in one of the nicest areas of your hotel. Then ask people to post – on any social network – a picture of themselves they captured at the selfie station. The more fun, the better for enhanced interaction.

All those of who remember to use the hashtag of the brand will win the prize and rewarded handsomely. This amazing marketing technique will improve your brand awareness, and you’ll be the first one to come to their mind when the need arises.

So, these are the excellent ways from AP LBC social media experts to boost your sales and marketing efforts through the different social media platforms.

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