Social media for the hospitality industry
Social media marketing is becoming more important for businesses in the hospitality industry. The different channels can be very strong contact points with your (potential) customers. It shows what customers can expect when they are in your restaurant or hotel. Think of attractive photos of the kitchen, rooms, smiling guests, events and meals.
Develop a social media strategy to consistently grow your following. For example, you can plan posts in the creator studio of Facbook and Instagram. Try to connect with your followers by posting interesting content and react quickly on their questions. How fast you communicate online is a good indicator of how you handle customers. You can also implement Facebook events in your strategies.
- Also read: Best time to post on Facebook
- Also read: Best time to post on Instagram
Social media for restaurants
Even though Facebook has been popular among restaurants for a long time, Instagram is growing in popularity because it it can be used as an interactive showcase. If a dish is ‘instagrammable’ is very important for young Instagrammers. They find notieceable drinks, food with bright colors and a cool selfie spot with the restaurant logo very important. Jut make sure when you do this, you do not lose the authenticity of your restaurant. Focus on the correct target group, rather than completely changing the restaurant.
By interacting with your ‘fans’, they help you to promote your content and attract new visitors via social media. This will also have a positive influence on your SEO activities. Another important tip: post your menu online and give your target group the opportunity to reserve a table online, this is likely to increase your reservations.
Social media for hotels
As a hotel manager, you can use social media channels to highlight the location of your hotel, the atmosphere, facilities and activities in the neighborhood. Arouse interest from potential customers by posting photos and videos of your hotel, events and activities.
Compete with Booking.com and Airbnb
Booking.com and Airbnb can be a blessing as well as a curse. On one hand, it results in a lot of exposure and expands your potential customer group. On the other hand, a big percentage of the margin needs to be given to a another platform. As a result, we often get the question: how can I make Airbnb and Booking.com visitors book on my own site?
First things first: make sure you have mobile-friendly website that loads quickly. Visitors need to be able to book a room with ease. The booking system can be integrated on Facebook to increase the ease of use for your customers. You can show a price overview with other suppliers to show the added value of your site. Finally, you can add a chat to your site, where customers can directly communicate with you.
Show guests that you create a unique vacation where Booking and Airbnb cannot compete with. Use your employees (and their individual personalities) and add them to your social media team. This will make your content more diverse. Focus on what differentiates your hotel from other hotels in the neighborhood. The excellent security of you hotel might be an important characteristic for potential customers.
As potential customers think more critically between the differences of hotels, airbnb and Booking, they often also think more about passing the night somewhere local. Show how your hotel actively supports local business and is a respected member of the local community.
Outsource social media for hospitality
Even though the aforementioned tips can help you out quite a bit, we often see that businesses in the hospitality industry are struggling with making a social media strategy of their own. Do you have difficulties to make a social media strategy? We have years of experience and understand that a social media strategy is not easy to make. We would gladly help you. Together we can look where the opportunities lie for your business. Do not hesitate to contact us.