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Are you looking for ways to increase your resort’s visibility in the social media sphere? With more people using their phones, tablets, and computers every day to stay connected, having a strong presence on social media platforms can be an effective way to reach out to potential customers. Establishing yourself as a destination of choice among travelers is made easier when you have the right strategy in place.
In this blog post, we’ll discuss eight proven strategies that will help resorts create and execute a successful social media marketing plan. Through optimizing content, utilizing influencers, engaging with followers, and more–learn how these tactics make it easier than ever before for resorts to build brand awareness and grow their businesses.
What Is Social Media Marketing For Resorts And Hotels?
Social media usage is widespread globally across all demographics, and the hospitality industry has been gradually making its presence known across various social media channels. This phenomenon of giving people access to what your resort or hotel offers digitally to tactically instill the desire to visit is social media marketing.
Resort owners or their marketing teams create high-quality content to promote their resort, giving glimpses of what people can enjoy, sharing discount offers, and even running giveaways to increase followers and brand awareness.
Successful social media strategies not only boost visibility but also increases interaction with your hotel and resort brand, which compels users to add your property to their next travel itinerary. Having a well-planned social media strategy for marketing is vital to becoming successful, especially in the fiercely competitive digital age.
The Importance Of A Solid Social Media Marketing Strategy For Resorts
Social media networks when used correctly for marketing purposes have endless potential to transform your resort and hotel brand. The first benefit that your social media posts can bring you is brand awareness which is making your brand visible to more people.
The higher quality of your content is and the more it resonates with your audience, they start engaging and interacting with your content which ultimately makes the resort memorable. Strategically positioning your brand a reputation on the social media platform also leaves a positive impression on your audience, which develops a positive brand image.
Together, this boosts reservations and with more people visiting your resort, there is more profitability, and more opportunities to refine your social media strategy, and yet again enter a cycle of improved visibility to better conversion rates helping the resort grow as a business.
None of this can be achieved by simply opening social media accounts on all platforms and posting pictures of accommodation options and food whenever you feel like it. Instead, if you want social media engagement that connects with your audience and helps build a brand that experiences the success mentioned above, a strategy is what you need. Below are 9 effective strategies that help you make the most of your social media marketing efforts.
9 Effective Social Media Marketing Strategies For Resorts
Here are 9 tips that can transform your resort or hotel’s social media marketing results. Read on and adopt these strategies to make your resort a pioneer in its industry.
Know Your Target Audience
This is the first and foremost step in building a social media strategy that works. There are various types of resorts from luxurious high-end resorts to affordable yet beautiful resorts. Some are more family-friendly while some resorts cater to adventurous youngsters with their love for nightlife, clubbing, and whatnot. Knowing your audience is key to creating content that reaches them. This applies to any business with active social media channels. You need to understand who your target audience is.
The second part of knowing your audience is also understanding what type of content appeals to them and which platforms they use. For example, if your aim is to cater to business travelers, then LinkedIn might be your most useful platform with others like Instagram and Facebook following closely.
Establish A Human Connection Throughout
Give your resort a face. People love connecting with other people and showcasing people in your resort whether it is employees or customers can help your audience connect with the resort. Using humans gives your resort a personal touch that is much more appealing than simply listing out services or sharing offers. Showing a masseuse in action or a chef directly talking to the camera can relate to people more while also helping them visualize their stay.
To make your social media campaigns attract potential guests, get personal to get bookings.
Leverage All Relevant Social Media Platforms
There are many different social media platforms and it is essential to use at least two of them to successfully reach potential guests spread across the digital landscape. Not every guest is on Facebook, so it’s important to use all these platforms.
It is also important to custom-create and optimizes content according to the platform that simply shares the same post across all the social media pages. It’s also important to interlink the social media pages and cross-post them to have an organized posting style. Below are a few tips to make the most of your marketing on social media according to the platform.
Facebook’s most attractive feature is that it has no word or video limit which allows you to share as much as you want. Although not used much by the younger generations, it can still reach a humungous crowd of adults and businesses.
Having a Facebook page set up for your resort is the first step after which you can alternate between posting images and videos of the scenery around, adventurous activities, wellness offerings, and whatnot. Live videos are also a highly engaging feature on Facebook.
With the right balance of millennials and everyone older, Instagram is a pioneering social media channel that boasts high numbers of engagement. The Instagram reel has transformed engagement rates and creating reels for your resort is the perfect way to attract, engage and compel your audience within just a few seconds. Instagram is ideal to create and share short videos and also running giveaway campaigns.
It’s also important to have a professional account on Instagram because it gives you the option to share target content while also tracking metrics ranging from demographics to engagement. Another great tip is to connect your Facebook account with Instagram and keep all that great resort content easily accessible to your audience across both platforms. Use your Instagram reach to get those customers flocking in.
TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor is an essential component of a successful strategic approach. The website receives 463 million different visitors per month and has a large crowd of followers, making it an excellent marketing tool. The more hotel reservations you have, the more testimonials you’ll get, so it’s a great way to naturally spread word of mouth.
Use your other social media platforms to share your TripAdvisor ratings and let them know your resort is reputed and loved by many, so they should come and be part of the great experience too. Whether you want to be known for “exceptional customer service” or “great food” here’s where your customers that feel the same can share their thoughts which you can share with prospective guests.
When you think of hotel social media marketing, Twitter doesn’t sound very promising. Yet, it is a great way to stay up to date on what people are discussing given the huge amount of millennials on the platform because of its short, easy-to-read content approach with its small character limit. It’s a great platform to share quick updates, while also responding to positive and negative feedback in a timely manner. Also, use branded hashtags relevant to your audience like #honeymoondestinantion, etc if your resort is built around catering to couples enjoying their time together.
TikTok
This short-video sharing platform is popular among Gen-Z and a good platform to share all the video content about your resort. You can hop onto trends that use popular music and fun templates to showcase your resort’s facilities and amenities. People will follow your resort’s TikTok account for two reasons, one being they are interested in the property and the second being to enjoy your content.
LinkedIn is an excellent platform for distributing proficient and industry-related material. What are the benefits of using LinkedIn? Because that is where the industry professionals gather. It can be used to advertise your venue for special conferences and meetings. You can also link with companies to work collaboratively.
YouTube
YouTube has 2 billion monthly users and is only behind Google in its reach. No social media strategy is thorough without a YouTube strategy. By posting video tours, testimonials, timelapse videos, surrounding scenery videos, and even videos of concerts or events at resorts, you can use YouTube to generate visitors to your website and attract prospective visitors. It’s an effective method to provide an immersive peak into the facilities and amenities available as well as establish interest in the hotel experience.
Plan, Plan, And Plan
Take any digital marketing effort, and no planning is definitely a plan to fail. Marketing on social channels is no different. Below are three tips that can give your marketing plan for social media a direction.
Create Content According To Brand Objectives
The main goal is to ensure that your social media strategy is on par with the objectives you have for your resort and hotel business. If completely shifting to online reservations is your final goal for the entire resort, you need to plan your content in such a way that it establishes that online reservations are more convenient for the guest which makes them choose it and time and again.
This could be done by running contests specifically for online bookings, call-to-actions that urge customers to head to your website, or how-to-visit videos that showcase the online booking process. This way while promoting your business and attracting more customers, you also achieve the final goal of your marketing efforts, which is a complete shift to bookings online as opposed to calling for inquiries.
Here you also need to make sure that all the information a customer could possibly want is available on both social media and the site they are urged to visit in order to give customers the confidence that they don’t make the traditional call they also make!
Plan Around Seasonality
If you paid attention to the first social media strategy which is being aware of your customers and their preferences, then you also know when they like to travel the most. This is information that your competitors also have so you need to up your game during the seasons when customers travel more frequently.
For example, if you know your resort is mostly packed for the Christmas holidays then you need a plan for social media posts that build up from the time guests will start looking for their hotels, anywhere from late September to November, and even last-minute bookers. You need to curate content that addresses customers at different parts of their journey and get them to visit your resort to enjoy their time off.
Be Consistent
The last but most important part of your plan is to have content pumping out consistently across your social media channels. Many a time resort and hotel brands appear around the holiday seasons and disappear for the rest of the year losing out on many customers that are hooked to their phones and envisioning their trips even as they work.
Include Short-Form Videos
Videos are pivotal tools that have flooded social media. However, with little attention span, short videos are the best to give customers a peek into what your resort offers and become memorable. Create short videos based on the scenic views from the resort, wellness activities, amenities, fun experiences, great food, customer testimonials, employee videos, and more.
Overall, use a mix of content-rich videos that are concise and connect the audience in the areas they are possibly looking for. With video tailored to capturing different aspects of the resort, you are to slowly tick off all their expectations and make it to the top of their travel bucket list.
Utilize A Mix Of Organic And Paid Advertising
Organic reach is great but why not make the most of paid advertising when you can easily? Most platforms especially Facebook and Instagram have affordable paid advertising options with great targeting capabilities.
So while you invest time in whipping up wondering social media posts of your resort for organic results, invest some money into paid social media ads which will take your content to the desired audience even more easily.
Encourage User-Generated Content
Sharing content of customers that have visited you or customers that want to visit you and have tagged your social media accounts is a great way to reach more customers while also showing others that people want to visit the resort. This makes people curious about what your resort offers motivating them to look for more information.
People also love sharing pictures especially when they know a brand reshares it. This urges more people to share reviews on social media, and tag your account on their stories which you can share. This establishes a connection with your customers which improves customer loyalty and promotes a positive brand image.
Include Influencer Marketing
Influencers are all the rage on social media. With over 60% of online users agreeing that they believe influencer-recommended products and services over brand-generated content, it is only smart to invest in influencers in the travel and hospitality industry. The more the user’s favorite influencers share snippets of their time at your resort, the more likely they are to inquire about details and make a reservation if it fits their preferences.
If you own a luxury resort, consider giving the influencers a stay or a space to host their event in addition to paying them for their influencer campaign. You can also check out this article on the best ideas for luxury resort marketing strategies for more strategies to promote your luxury resorts.
Respond, And Respond On Time
Responding to any interaction from your customers is key. Whether it’s a simple comment of a heart under your post or you have an inquiry or a positive or negative review, timely responses make a world of difference.
Customers appreciate when you go the extra mile, and this establishes a good relationship with the brand and also gives the brand a positive image. The resort takes on a role of a personal brand that customers can easily connect with although it is a business account. This is key to better social media engagement and ultimately customer loyalty and retention.
Successfully Promote Resorts And Hotels With Efficient Social Media Marketing Strategies
So what does it take to create an effective social media marketing strategy for resorts? A lot of hard work, planning, and consistency. But by knowing your target audience, establishing a human connection with guests, leveraging all relevant platforms, creating content according to brand objectives, and being consistent in your messaging, you can give your resort the boost it needs to succeed online. Are you ready to get started?
Reach out to us if you want to kickstart your resort’s social media and promote direct bookings.
FAQs
Videos are an exceptional way to promote luxury resorts, capturing the spotless and fine facilities and amenities offered to guests. Giveaways on social media, mobile-friendly websites, and other influencer marketing campaigns are other great ways to increase your inquiries and reservations.
Marketing your hotel on social media increase brand awareness and recognition giving prospective customers a sneak peek into your brand. It also helps customers visualize their experience and be up to date with your brand’s offers. It is also a great way to build trust and a reputed brand image.