5 Tips for Driving Engagement to your Website
In recent years, hotel social media marketing has become the most popular tool for driving engagement within the content marketing spectrum. From the Facebook ‘Like’ to the ‘Retweet’ on Twitter, as social users we are engaging day in, day out without even realising we’re doing it. But how do we control our levels of engagement on social media and essentially increase it positively? From planning content to evaluating its success, we have produced five ways to boost engagement through your social channels.
Planning
Macro-planning
Hotel Social Media Content Calendar
- In a spreadsheet build an annual calendar containing all 365 days (366 this year)
- Next identify key dates as well as up and coming trends which you think will be useful to know about over the coming year and add them to your calendar
- Collate images, write relevant content and organise yourself to cease the opportunity. For example, National Burger Day is on 27th August, therefore ensure you have some ideas and images up your sleeve
Micro-planning
Content Matrix
- Produce a grid-style table with Monday to Sunday across the top and two or three rows below each day
- Create a handful of unique hashtags and themes based around iconic/distinguishing brand factors which you feel represent your hotel and would like ownership of
- For example, if you serve a speciality Costwold afternoon tea, you could create a hash tag such as #CotswoldAfternoonTea
- Under each day, add in two or three of these themes – you should aim for between five and ten trying not to repeat them more than twice per week. It can often help to look at similar posts you have done in the past have done well and utilising these opportunities for engagement
- Through doing this your fans and followers become more familiar with these campaigns and increases your chances of creating brand advocates and of course custom.
- You can also piggyback on other already popular themes and hashtags such as #ThrowbackThursday, #ThirstyThursday, #SweetSunday, #FridayFeeling, #TravelTuesday, #WellnessWednesday, etc.
Implementation
Good Content
- All of your social media efforts are pointless without appealing content. And by content we mean pictures, videos, blog posts, campaigns, offers, reviews, etc.
- Every social media post or tweet must be reinforcing something which adds something to the overall image and brand of your hotel
- Remember that any two days are never the same. For example, the special cocktail in the bar changes, new dishes on the restaurant menu, a delivery of fresh flowers for reception, maybe a new employee has started, etc. use this to your advantage
Evaluate
Refer to the Statistics
- You should always be looking over you engagement statistics on all platforms to see which posts have gone down well with your fans and what not so well
- Remember, you’re never going to get record breaking engagement every time you post something, especially if there is little correlation between the content you are sharing
- After a few months, you will begin to notice the things which do well and things which don’t. For example, a good competition tends to attract high levels of engagement
- Running Facebook ads (add in link to Facebook ads tips) can also help get your posts out there
Re-assess your Strategy
- If you’re not already familiar with your hotel social media channels, it may take a few months of careful assertion before you can get your audience down to a tee
- Never be afraid to change content areas and timings week-on-week to get the strategy right for your fans
Hotel Social Tip of 2016:
Many hoteliers are often hesitant to allocate a brand enrichment budget for social media, yet many are happy to spend thousands of pounds on print based advertising and annual directory subscriptions. The great thing about using online marketing is that everything is measurable and trackable which means you can see what is working and what is not.
For more information on hotel social media marketing and engagement, drop us an email we would love to have a chat.
