One of the best “free” advertising outlets you have is social media. The beauty of social media is that, unlike some other advertising outlets, this can be run completely in-house with your existing staff as long as you stay consistent. Here are some tips to give your socials a boost:
Know your Audience
Rule #1: Know who you are targeting. You can post 20 times a day, but if the content is not relevant to your specific audience, nobody is going to engage. In hospitality, Twitter isn’t as useful as Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok. Start looking into some of your followers to see what pages they are following and how they are interacting.
It also helps to look at your competition’s audience and figure out who they are following/engaging with. Even if someone only has brand loyalty to a specific franchise, this is a good way to discover new leads.
Interact
One of the most common ways you will have to stay active on the page is to interact with guest feedback and concerns. When someone leaves a review, thank them if it is a good review and offer to talk to them in person if it is a bad one so readers can see you are responding. When someone leaves a comment about a post, interact with them and try to get a conversation going. It is important to do this in a timely fashion, since responding a month after a comment is made is almost as bad as completely ignoring it.
Livestream
Videos are absolute gold. Visuals are great for interaction and live videos are about as good as it gets. For instance, if you have a big charity event at your property, give your followers a tour of the room before the function goes live. When things get rolling, do an Instagram story or Facebook Live post to show them what is going on at the hotel. This is great because fans will get an instant alert that you have taken the page live, so your reach should increase as long as the content is relevant and entertaining.
Don’t just keep the videos to the hotel, though. For instance, if your F&B Director has a major wine tasting, have him or her take videos throughout the day. Most restaurants or banquet departments will do “tasting” shows, so for those that can’t attend, take live videos to show them what they are missing.
Share Guests Posts
In today’s world, there is nothing more prestigious for a follower than the page sharing a picture or post one of the fans made. For instance, if you see a post from someone that just had a wedding, share it on the page. If a customer leaves a positive comment, screenshot it and repost thanking them (and be sure to tag them as well).
Take Polls
If you want people to engage, one of the best ways to do so is by asking a question or taking a poll. However, your page should already be somewhat active before going this route. Otherwise, you risk posting a poll that nobody answers. You can also offer a random prize for anyone offering an answer to help boost engagement.
Are you happy with the online presence of your hotel? Do you think you can do better? If the local talent pool is not answering the bell, then it is time to call JDI. Joseph David International is regularly ranked at the top of all hotel recruiting companies because we don’t just find a candidate, we find the ideal candidate for your specific needs. For more information about our hospitality recruiting services, please click here.