At no other juncture has social media held such capability as a tool for driving new business.
NB: This is a post from Screenpilot
The prospective reach of platforms such as TikTok, TripAdvisor, Pinterest, and the Meta platforms– Facebook and Instagram– is indisputable, providing the opportunity to get in touch with essentially every kind of modern-day traveler.
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One error that marketers typically make is posting on social networks without clear objectives. How lots of times have you heard ownership state that they wish to see “more” fans, with no specific thinking? Presuming that a passive follow relates to an engaged customer does the power of social media an injustice. Travel brand names are best served when they look beyond vanity metrics (follower count and post likes, for example) as they dont assist teams comprehend efficiency in a method that can notify future methods.
To completely understand the capacity of social media, you need to start with your objective( s) in mind, and from there match the wanted outcome with a platform that is more than likely to support it. Creating specific, quantifiable, attainable, sensible, and time-sensitive (SMART goals) will provide the finest opportunity to strike the mark on bigger service objectives.
Here are some quantifiable objectives to consider, together with their relevant KPIs:
1. Increase Brand Awareness
For both brand-new and established properties alike, a main social media objective may be to merely let travelers understand you exist. Social media is a powerful tool for getting your name out there, but you want to make sure youre not shouting into the space by publishing content that gets no engagement.
Facebook: 0.19% Instagram: 1.01% Twitter: 0.049%.
KPI: Organic Engagement Rate: While it may be appealing to concentrate on fan count, a more helpful statistic is a brand names content engagement rate. Watch on this stat to see if posts are discovered fascinating enough for a fan to like, discuss or share. Keeping track of your engagement rate is a finest practice for understanding how well your material is carrying out on social networks. To calculate your accounts typical engagement rate, take the total variety of interactions your posts receive divided by your overall variety of followers, multiplied by 100%. Display your engagement rate for each platform as it compares to these standards for hotels & & resorts:.
2. Improve Guest Relations.
The most effective social media programs make it simple for guests and prospects to interact with their home. Social platforms can be an excellent way to facilitate guest interactions, especially as concierge and front desk teams may be reduced due to workplace lacks.
According to a study by TripAdvisor, 77% of travelers stated they are most likely to book if the home leaves personalized actions to evaluations, so its worth putting in the time to straight and publicly link regarding what a guest liked (or didnt love) about your residential or commercial property. In general, tourists reported that the primary reason they inspect evaluations is to feel great that they are selecting the best hotel, so being responsive to reviews and messages is a chance to assure them that your residential or commercial property is the very best option.
Pro pointer: If your team does not have the capacity for 24/7 inbox tracking, consider setting up Instant Replies to let prospects know that youll get back to them quickly, heres how.
You can determine your existing response time based on an amount of all first action times divided by the number of dealt with messages. When you understand how long it takes to react to a visitor, set a specific goal to improve upon it.
3. Drive Website Traffic.
KPI: Look to Books: How numerous users from social media are making it to the scheduling engine? Make sure that your data team has set up a conversion goal that counts any click into the scheduling engine as a “Look to Book.” If your Look to Book statistics from social audiences are low, this might signal problems with user experience (for instance, users might not have the ability to discover the “Book Now” button on mobile), or possibly the offer youre promoting on social media is not as competitive within your market. If your Look to Book rate is positive however the reserving conversion rate is low, that is a sign that more digging is needed to figure out if its a goal tracking issue or something much deeper.
Reevaluate Which Platforms To Focus On.
Utilize this information to figure out if youre targeting the right audiences on social media and if the landing pages youre connecting to are engaging.
Your groups objective is to use your content to turn social media followers into guests. While presumably this is the underlying goal for all hospitality online marketers, setting particular conversion goals for social networks is a sophisticated technique that is finest suited for properties that currently have a developed social presence and an active, engaged following. One method to see how social networks effects site activity is to utilize Google Analytics to track social media recommendation traffic. Look at which social platforms users are originating from, how theyre engaging with your site, and what booking engine activity is occurring.
KPI: Sessions or New Users: In Google Analytics, navigate to Acquisition -> > All Traffic -> > Channels-> > Social column. From here, you can determine which social media platforms send out the most visitors to your website and which ones require more attention. You can also compare the ratio of new visitors to return visitors. If visitors from a given platform are not returning extremely often, you might want to modify your social media method to increase engagement and traffic from that platform.
After establishing the S.M.A.R.T goals for your hotels social media presence, the next action is to select which platforms to focus your efforts on. Its crucial to be deliberate and specific with your social media material to reach your perfect target market and avoid spreading your marketing resources too thin. While your gut instinct might be to continue publishing on the “standard” three platforms of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, a current decrease in the perceived effectiveness of those channels may make you reevaluate.
According to Hootsuites Social Trends 2022 report, online marketers found Facebook to be 25% less reliable (and Instagram 40% less) at reaching company goals compared to the previous year. While Facebook and Instagram are still ranked as the most effective platforms overall, an increasing variety of online marketers are finding success on other platforms like TikTok and Pinterest. Is it time for your hotel to develop an existence on these platforms? Examine our crucial takeaways for each channel as they use to hotel marketing and decide which fits with your larger social media strategy.
1. TikTok.
Prior to developing a profile for your hotel, however, consider what kind of material you will post. People gravitate to the platform for home entertainment and TikTok is a music app at its core, so appealing with other users by remixing their videos is part of the experience. You can try releasing your TikTok account in-house if you have the capacity for a tech-savvy team member to create on-trend videos showcasing your resorts features. For inspiration, have a look at The Ritz Carlton Montreals TikTok account.
If you require outside assistance, then think about partnering with a TikTok travel influencer to produce the material for you. Partnering with a travel influencer who compliments your brand name identity might make the difference in between success and failure on TikTok.
The year 2021 may as well be called the year of TikTok. If you had handled to avoid seeing a viral, choreographed dance video in years past, possibilities are that a TikTok lastly found its way into your feed in 2021.
2. Pinterest.
Organic social material (the images and information a brand name shares without the backing of paid promo) plays a crucial function throughout the entire spectrum of the digital brand name experience. From the early moments when a user is browsing for inspiration, through to pre-purchase vetting and evaluating, the visuals that customers see are the figuring out aspect as to whether somebody stops to engage with a post or scrolls right past it..
Bottled-up demand from vacations canceled due to the pandemic has actually resulted in all-time high engagement for travel brand names on Pinterest and a 40% increase in the travel audience size in general. If your hotel has actually never ever been active on Pinterest (or just focused on wedding event material formerly) then 2022 might be the year to unlock the power of the pin.
With the wide variety of photos, videos, and reviews about a hotel available online, your guests first impression is made prior to they even set foot on the home. Therefore, the images and supporting copy that you publish on social media (and the platforms you choose to post on) must be curated with intention and analyzed with an analytical state of mind to satisfy your larger marketing goals.
Introduced in 2010, Pinterest is not new to the social media landscape. What is new, however, is the increased importance for travel brands. Throughout verticals, the efficiency of the platform to fulfill company objectives increased 140% from 2020 to 2021, and when you pair that with the platforms 60% boost in YoY travel searches you have an environment ripe for more hospitality marketing.
Reinforce Your Content With Data.
1. Test Post Types.
The finest method to understand what type of social media posts work best for your brand name is to evaluate it. When designing visual assets, keep in mind how users will consume the content to make sure the visuals match the platform.
If your primary objective is to drive website traffic from social media, then you can test how you ask users to click through to the site. The testing options on social media are endless, so be sure to approach it with a clear plan and record the results.
2. Examine The Data.
Examine the post metrics at pre-determined periods to see what patterns emerge over time. Consider investing in more video material going forward. An effective social media strategy is never ever set in stone, its versatile and shaped over time by data-backed insights.
While presumably this is the underlying objective for all hospitality online marketers, setting particular conversion goals for social media is an innovative strategy that is finest fit for residential or commercial properties that already have an established social existence and an active, engaged following. One method to see how social media effects site activity is to use Google Analytics to track social media recommendation traffic. If visitors from a given platform are not returning very often, you might want to alter your social media strategy to increase engagement and traffic from that platform.
If your Look to Book stats from social audiences are low, this could signify concerns with user experience (for example, users might not be able to discover the “Book Now” button on mobile), or perhaps the deal youre promoting on social media is not as competitive within your market. After establishing the S.M.A.R.T objectives for your hotels social media presence, the next action is to select which platforms to focus your efforts on.
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