Today, having a social media presence is a necessity for any consumer-facing business.
For tourism, the stakes are even higher as a social media presence creates a tremendous opportunity to connect and engage with prospective visitors in a personal way.
What is not so clear to most, is that having a strong, business aligned social media strategy is also a necessity to win at social media.
Back in 2015 at the Social Hotel Awards, the Best Facebook Page winners Fairmont Hotels & Resorts social media marketing strategy had three main objectives:
- Increase awareness within its fan base
- Drive engagement and convert to Fairmont President’s Club
- Create a source of travel inspiration to those less familiar with their brand
These three objectives, coupled with a strong understanding of their target market and strategic Facebook advertising tactics saw a significant increase in Facebook fan page numbers, page engagement and yes, you guessed it – Sales!
They reported more than US$3 million in incremental room-booking revenue generated from this social media marketing strategy.
The fact that they tracked, measured and reported their social media marketing efforts should not be a surprise. It is something we should all be doing to ensure R.O.I.
Have a Plan
And, you don’t have to be a luxury hotel chain to win with social media marketing either. You need however to understand:
- What you want to achieve
- Who is your target audience
- How to measure your success
- and What is your budget
Quiet simply – you need a plan. Oh and some smart on brand content!
FURTHER READING: How to Write a Tourism Marketing Plan in 10 Steps
And that leads to….
While the opportunities social media affords us are incredible, the vast majority of people managing their tourism social media marketing lack inspiration when it comes to a simple facebook post, let alone the myriad of other social media channels available.
It’s an all too common problem.
So, whether you’re stuck on what to post on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube or any other social media site, here is some social media marketing inspiration and content ideas to get your creative juices flowing.
No.1 Photos
It’s commonly agreed social media and digital technologies have disrupted the stages of travel.
Where once we’d start down the holiday path by talking with friends and then reading brochures and books, we now have available numerous devices, channels and platforms to research, buy and receive our holiday messages.
For the accommodation owner, this can be rather daunting.
How do you grab the attention of the consumer and start them down the path to purchase?
Quite simply – great imagery!
Most tourism and accommodation places are incredibly dynamic, so there’s always something to take a photo of!
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You don’t need to do all the hard work yourself – incorporate User Generated Content into your content marketing strategy and you’ll never be at a loss to post something.
Or maybe share the load among your staff. Create an in-house competition for the photo of the week.
Just remember to set some guidelines as you probably don’t want your team taking their smartphones with them and snapping everything in sight while working.
No.2 Questions
Ask questions, whether it’s a new menu item, what your prospective guests most love to see, their favourite place to visit in your region or a general thought-provoking question.
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A great photo captioned with a simple question still works wonders. It’s an awesome way to generate feedback and discussions or start someone on the journey to book a holiday.
No.3 Videos
Native video on Facebook and Instagram (video uploaded directly to the social platform as opposed to using a third- party host such as YouTube or Vimeo) and LIVE video is rocking the newsfeed.
Let me put it another way – Facebook’s algorithm favours native video. With a reported 8 billion average daily video views on Facebook, you can bet Facebook is going to ensure videos shown are less likely to be from competitor sites such as YouTube.
So native Facebook videos work best!
No. 4 Events
This is a no brainer. If you’ve got something coming up then let people know about it!
Don’t forget to post photos and/or videos once it has happened.
No.5 Competitions
Who doesn’t love a competition! While many can be scared off by rules and regulations, you needn’t be.
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Ensure you comply with the social media channels promotion guidelines and definitely include T&Cs.
No.6 Celebrate the Wins
Don’t be afraid to let everyone know about a recent win. Celebrating your success publicly, not only ignites interest, but also fuels motivation from your team.
No.7 Feast Your Eyes
Hotel restaurants provide plenty of Facebook fodder (pun intended). Whether it’s mouth-watering pics of your new seasonal menu, dish of the month, or food and wine pairings (promoting both menu and wine list), or getting a weekly or monthly insight from the head chef.
No.8 Meet the Team
Show the human side of your business by posting about any team building activities, workshops and featuring a member a month; introducing who they are and what they do. (Just make sure you ensure the safety of your team members).
And don’t be afraid to get a bit quirky or if you’re a more traditional brand – just saying Happy Christmas with team members conveys a strong message.
If you’ve got a resident pet that doubles as your mascot and is well known to your guests – write a few posts from their perspective!
No.9 Celebrate Mother Nature
Doesn’t matter where or when, She can put on a mighty display.
No.10 Behind the Scenes
People love to get the inside scoop.
For instance, if you’re building a new section of your establishment, take a photo a day of the build and post as a time lapse video once complete. While it’s happening, post once a week with a photo letting people know how the build is going and in turn create a Facebook album.
You can also do this with the Seasons – one photo every month of the same view.
No.11 Community Involvement
Whether you’re putting in place a new environmental initiative or are going to be involved with a local charity, people love to hear how you’re helping out your community.
No.12 What’s On in Your Region
It’s important not to be a stand-alone business.
You want to lend your support to other complementary businesses and nearby events. Because after all, increasing overall tourist awareness of your region can only benefit you.
No.13 Job Vacancies
If you’re looking for new team members, enlist your loyal fans to help you find them. It also gives you another great opportunity to spruik why your business is such a great place to work and visit.
No.14 Tell a Story
Have a bit of fun with social media.
Bunny goes global as his story to find his owner spreads across Irish websites and even around the world is a great example of having a bit of fun while showcasing to the world your beautiful establishment.
No.15 Keep Guests Updated
Sometimes things happen that are just out of your control and may impact bookings and guest relations.
Post timely, relevant updates. But remember don’t bombard the newsfeeds.
No. 16 Be Responsive and Transparent in a Crisis
Mother Nature can be a hard task master and even though the situation may not be affecting your tourism business directly, it may be a good idea to acknowledge the situation and offer support where ever possible.
No. 17 Specials and Packages
In amongst all of your other engaging posts, don’t forget to keep it on brand – using social media is really about creating brand awareness and promoting your business!
Get the word out about the great deals you’ve got going for accommodation and meals, just make sure you don’t flood your wall with it – a good rule of thumb is the 80/20 rule or 4 engaging posts to 1 sales post.
And of course, this list is just the beginning. Anything you think is engaging or will invoke an emotional response will make a good post.
Not that we’re saying to post just any old thing – it all needs to feed back into your overall social media strategy.
Just don’t forget to keep a track of what types of posts and what subjects get the best response, so you can tweak your content strategy in the future.
Don’t Forget to Keep It ‘On Brand’
Even though social media is all about being social, don’t forget this is also a solid marketing tool to promote your business. So keep this in mind with everything you post.
You are representing your business, whether that be a large hotel in Sydney, a boutique tourism operator in Byron Bay or a winery in the Barossa – keep to the topic at hand.
You don’t have to push, push and push your brand, but there is no point in posting cat memes or other strange social media phenomenon if it doesn’t sit well or promote your brand message.
Back to the 80/20 – Remember this is a good rule of thumb with social media 80% of the time you want to add value to your visitors with non-business content i.e. the behind the scenes fun stuff, and then promote your wares 20% of the time.
