How to Use Social Media Channels to Boost Your Hotel Bookings?

In today’s tech-savvy society, social media plays a powerful role to boost almost all businesses like a pastry shop, ice-cream parlors, restaurants, hotel bookings, etc.

With the help of social media channels, you can reach a lot of people and spread your brand name within communities. It has changed the way we relate, learn, have fun, and even affects how people choose to travel.

Those who want to stay on top can use social networks like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc., as a powerful marketing tool, while those who don’t use social networks are getting left behind.

A lot of travelers spend a good amount of time on social media while planning for their trips. So hotels can use social media platforms to reach these travelers and get bookings.

The above stats is from Global Web Index’s most recent quarterly report (a survey of more than 40,000 Internet users). It clearly shows that YouTube and Facebook have more active users than the visitors. Thus, social media channels are the best place for marketing your hotel and getting more bookings.

Let us discuss some of the tips on how to use social media channels to boost your hotel bookings.

How to Promote Your Hotel Business on Social Media for Maximum Online Bookings

1. Create Social Page for Your Hotel

The first thing hotels must do is create their profile and pages on most famous social channels like Facebook, Twitter with a beautiful cover page.

Having an attractive page on social channels can definitely attract more people to your site and convert them into your customers and increase bookings.

From the above stats, we can come to know that social media channels make it extra easy to reach your target market. You can target huge groups of people with a single social channel.

Facebook has an option on their landing page to Create a Page for a celebrity, brand or business. You can click on it as shown in the below image and create your hotel’s page.

Have a look how Hotel Grand Velas Riviera Maya have created their page on Facebook. This will allow hotels to increase their awareness with customers interested in similar activities as those offered by the hotel.

You can notice that they have used attractive pictures, provided their contact address and number along with the location map. They have the main photograph saying “Find Your Summer Bliss”.

This title on their Facebook cover image is engaging and people will be keen to know more about what are you offering.

This is how you can create social media page for your hotel business.

2. Add Compelling Hotel Pictures

Uploading professional and visually compelling high-resolution photos of your hotel is one way you can market hotel on social media pages. Make online travelers feel the presence of your hotel and let them know what is exciting for them to come to your hotel.

To do this, you can showcase PowerPoint slides of your hotel interior, amenities, food images, well organized and cozy rooms, scenery visible from your hotel rooms, nearest tourist attractions etc.

You can see in the below stats that, how big visual content has become as it states that 63% of social media is made up of images.

You can also have a look at Hotels Signature Living and note how they showcase professional photography for different rooms on Instagram.

3. Share Videos

Sharing videos on social media channels is one of the fastest growing forms to boost your hotel bookings. The videos shared via social media channels cover a wide range of audience.

The above statistics says that 79% of internet traffic will be from videos content by 2018. So share videos on social channels to your audience so that when you tell your story, it is relevant to the people you want to reach. These videos help in promoting your brands and appeals the audience to book your hotel.

Sé parte del evento más grande de “Tacos & Tequila” en Los Cabos! Reserva: https://t.co/wsyjHMMMjc #VelasResorts #GrandVelas #SipAndSavorGV pic.twitter.com/r4DC3OZrAg

— Grand Velas Cabos (@LosCabosGV) April 14, 2017

Have a look at the above image and get an idea how Hotel Grand Velas upload their hotel’s video on Twitter.

Read Related: WooCommerce Hotel Bookings: How to Sell Accommodation Online

4. Promotional Offers to Attract More Travelers

There are many ways of promoting and engaging your customers. You can promote your hotel by posting about discounts, for e.g. if it is a special day of your customers like birthday or anniversary then they can get a discount of 10%.

Have a look at Hotel Signature Living providing attractive offers on Facebook where they are offering free breakfast and dinner along with overnight stay.

5. Use Hashtags

A hashtag is a type of label or metadata tag used on the social network which makes it easier for users to find messages with a specific theme or content.

Use appropriate hashtags to attract a specific audience. This way your hotel images and content will appear to travelers surfing the social channels.

Join the most lavish ‘Easter Brunch Buffet’ of the city!
Call: +91 22 3980 7444 #SundayBrunch #Easter #Brunch #Sunday #SaharaStar #Mumbai pic.twitter.com/4xYxI5Zil7

— Sahara Star (@sahara_star) April 15, 2017

You can have a look in the above image that Hotel Sahara Star has used hashtags on Twitter to showcase Easter celebration.

Such hashtags are used to draw attention, to organize, and also to promote your business.

6. Add Your Hotel Website URL On Social Pages

It is important to link social channels with your website, as linking increases rank in search engine. It also allows a large amount of traffic to move from social media channels to your website.

Suppose someone comes across your social page and is willing to visit your website for more details, then they can click on the URL of your hotel provided by you. This also increases chances for the visitor to like your pages and make a booking.

The above image shows how Hotel Grand Velas Riviera Maya add their hotel’s URL on the Twitter profile of the user.

7. Interaction With Audience

Interacting with the audience is also one of the vital steps to boost your hotel bookings. It connects potential customers to you directly.

Customers can use multiple platforms like Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, YouTube, etc., to give their comment or reviews for your hotel. Interaction can be done via social networks and also by emails and customer reviews.

For example, sometimes customer send comments/messages through their Facebook account and you can revert them via Facebook Messenger. Sometimes they also tweet on Twitter or they ask questions in comments on Videos. At that point, you can send them satisfied replies.

Social network like Facebook also has reporting options so that you can easily see the response rate along with time on your business page as shown below.

8. Create A Blog

A blog is a wonderful opportunity to communicate with customers via social media channels. It is a quick and easy way to keep the public informed about what’s going on at your hotel.

It also provides ideal content to be shared across your other social media channels and brings followers directly to your website.

Posting a Blog on social channels pings the search engines every time new content is posted. This results in getting high ranking on search engines like Google.

By creating a blog for your hotel and publishing it on social channels, you will be able to attract 55% more visitors looking for things to do in your destination.

9. Respond to Negatives

Social media has handed more power to the customers. A single tweet can reach thousands of people, which can convert potential negative feedback into a rather daunting prospect for the hotel owner.

Instead of running away from online criticism, yu need to engage with it. Do not simply apologize for a bad customer experience, but focus on what is being done to resolve the issue and highlight a proactive approach.

Your response should also be quick and appropriate. However choose carefully where and how you respond.

10. Use Humour

Adding humor to your social media channels can be a great way to get people’s attention. Social media should be interesting and entertaining.

Keeping your content fun, light-hearted and relevant for your target audience, will give your hotel an approachable and likable air.

Be creative with images and videos to ensure your posts are interesting and your reach will be boosted by shares and interaction. Whether it is a funny video, photo or story of a humorous event at your hotel or destination, laughter always draws people in.

Doing so will help your customers remember you, share your content and have a better understanding of what you stand for.

Above is the image of Hilton Hotels & Resorts. They decided to take a different approach by getting the audience attention with an element of surprise and so worked on this funny campaign. They arranged a vacation diagnostic test that determined how “Sick” visitors were and gave them custom prescriptions that involved stays.

If you are not “humorizing” your hotel business, then you might be missing out on a ton of unseen potential.

They also use innovative ways of marketing to boost their bookings as shown below. This strategy is also used by major hoteliers.

Have a look, how Hilton Hotels & Resorts use innovative ideas for marketing on social channels like Facebook. They engage their audiences by telling a story like when they invented the Pina Colada and also provide a recipe for the same.

This results in the audience getting engaged with your hotel and also make them interested to book with you.

11. Taking Reviews on Facebook And Google+

Lastly, it is an essential step to take reviews of your past customers on social channels like Facebook or Google+. Nowadays almost everyone has social media accounts. So you should encourage your customers to share their experience and also upload their photographs with your property.

This will spread to a lot of people via social channels like Facebook and Google+ and will result in boosting your hotel bookings as people research online travel before they make a booking.

People tend to check reviews more often on famous travel sites like Booking.com or TripAdvisor before booking any hotel or trip. So it is also equally important to gather reviews on such sites.

Conclusion:

More than 60% of internet users research online travel before they make a booking or purchase travel plans. Internet bookings are increasing at a rate of 50% every year, making it vital for hotels to include online marketing strategies.

The social media channels give you the chance to increase your hotel’s online reputation and build a trust in your brand. Social media had a major impact on almost every aspect of business.

By following the above mentioned 11 tips on how to use social media channels to boost your hotel bookings you can surely increase your hotel’s revenue.