Your online presence is something that takes time to build – Rome wasn’t built in a day and all that! Think about when you meet someone in the flesh for the first time – you get a feel for who they are, what they stand for, whether or not you’ll mix well with them based on their personality & demeanour – your potential guests form their first opinions on your hotel based on what they see online. Part of this opinion formation will be influenced by your social media presence. We’ve talked about how to tell your brand story on social media before, but when we get busy, we can tend to neglect the types of content that might not seem important at the time if they’re not ticking a corporate box. More often than not these are the types of content that help to establish somewhat more of a personal connection between a potential customer and a brand. Take a look at some of these below!
These days, no matter what kind of business you’re in (unless you’re Lush!) having a social media presence is non-negotiable. You, as a hotelier, know this already. Even so, you have a million things to do! So taking precious time out of your day that could be spent selling a room or devising the strategy for next quarter seems dumb, right? Well, try to reconsider. Having a consistent, ever-present voice on your social platforms will help remind potential guests of your hotel, and sometimes it’s the little things throughout your day to day that can be used to attract attention – your posts don’t always have to be groundbreaking news! Was it a member of staff’s birthday? Post a pic on Instagram! Was the breakfast looking particularly delicious this morning? Don’t let the evidence go to waste. These smaller, day to day things can actually help piece the bigger picture of who your hotel in a delightfully human way.
Speaking of delightfully human, you know what else is just that? Humans! Sometimes we can also fall into a trap of ‘marketing’ on our social media channels. For example, you start the week thinking: OK, what is necessary for me to post on social this week. Firstly, we have that event coming up, we need to post about that. Oh, then, we have that promotion we need to push again – all of this is great and totally necessary, but remember who’s looking at your content! People. And people need to feel like they can relate to something. They want to see the human side of your brand, they want to get a feel for your property’s personality. The way to carve this into your strategy is create a focus on your staff. Maybe hone in on a new person every week or second week. What do they do at your hotel? What’s their secret talent? What’s so special about them? Inject a bit of fun into it.
The goal of all of this is to build your story. This is what will connect with a potential customer. Your property’s history is a big part of that! Tell it in sequences, spread it out, pick a different part to elaborate on every week or two weeks. Chances are, the grounds your property is on has an element of richness to its history. Not the case? That’s OK too – even if you’re running a smaller property based in the city centre, what can you say about the building’s past? What about the surrounding area, what’s its history and how does that tie back to your hotel? There are endless ways of weaving history into the tapestry of your property’s longer story and it’s worth bringing this enticing type of content into the mix.
It doesn’t just brighten up your content, posting about the town your property resides in is also of benefit to your potential guests. They’re not just buying into the room they’re staying in – they’re buying into the area too. Whether it’s beautiful, quaint, scenic, bustling, vibrant, buzzy – start posting about what your guests can do! Where’s the best pint? Where can they find the most stunning walking route? Where’s the local bookshop? What kind of hidden gems do they need to know about that only the locals have knowledge of? Bite-sized social posts are the perfect way to communicate this!
Could you do with some tips on how to maximise your revenue this summertime? Read this.
