Social media is one of the most effective and important marketing tools for hotels to utilise in order to increase direct bookings. Platforms such as Instagram and TikTok provide hotels with a powerful way to reach – and engage with – potential guests, showcase the unique features and experiences on offer and drive bookings directly through their website.
Looking to better utilise social media to drive results? Below, we have put together the ultimate guide to increasing direct bookings from social media for hotels…
GET CLEAR ON WHO YOU ARE TALKING TOO
The first step in leveraging social media to increase direct bookings is to develop a comprehensive social media strategy – because if you don’t know who you’re talking to, how do you expect to get results? This strategy should include a clear understanding of your target audience(s), the social media platforms that they use and the type of content that they are likely to engage with.
When we begin working with a client, we take the first two weeks to develop a tailored social media strategy. This includes analysing where they’re currently at, developing a selection of personalised guest personas which reflect the brand’s key target markets, a competitor analysis as well as a variety of different content ideas and tactics under each content pillar we create. We also include a selection of marketing objectives that are aligned with the brand’s overall business objectives to ensure we always remain on track to achieve our client’s goals.
It is only once you have a clear understanding of who you are and who you want to reach that you can develop a content plan that is genuinely tailored to your audience and therefore designed to drive engagement and direct bookings.
QUIT TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF CONSTANTLY
When it comes to social media marketing, many hotels make the mistake of focusing too much on themselves – don’t be that business. While it’s important to showcase your brand and what makes it unique to potential guests, it’s equally important to engage with your audience and provide them with valuable content that is relevant to their interests and needs. In fact, hotels that only talk about themselves on social media are likely to turn off potential guests, therefore limiting the likelihood for users to take action in the form of engaging, following and visiting the website.
Why is it a turn off you ask? Today’s online audiences don’t want to see brands talking endlessly about themselves – instead, they are seeking out brands with real personalities that share dynamic, entertaining and hyper-personalised content. People use social media to connect with others, discover new things and be entertained and so if your brand is only focused on promoting itself, it’s unlikely to resonate with your audience and create a true sense of community. It can also come across as a tad spammy and ultimately, be a bit boring too.
Focussing on providing genuinely interesting and inspiring content can also help build trust and credibility with your potential guests. Sharing valuable content such as ‘5 hidden gems in your destination for foodies’’ or hopping on a viral trend to share a funny meme increases the likelihood of your target market engaging with the content and resharing with their friends/followers (which therefore builds overall awareness of your brand). This makes it more likely for your audience growth rate to increase among your key target guest segments and in turn will drive web traffic, enquiries and direct bookings.
IMPLEMENT VIDEO-FIRST STRATEGY
With 40% of Gen-Z reverting to TikTok over Google when searching for something and social platforms now prioritising video content, implementing a video-first strategy on social media is absolutely key to driving bookings.
One key benefit of a video-first strategy is that it allows you to showcase your property in a dynamic and engaging way. For example, by providing a walk through of common areas and amenities, you can give potential guests a more immersive and realistic view of what it’s like to stay at your property.
Video content can also help to build a sense of community and loyalty among followers. By creating engaging videos that showcase your hotel’s personality, values and unique features, you can build a relationship with your audience and therefore increase the likelihood they will take action and book directly. This is particularly effective for targeting Gen-Z audiences who are more likely to engage with video content versus any other content and obviously use social media as a primary source for travel inspiration.
UTILISE USER-GENERATED CONTENT
User-generated content (UGC) – that is, photos and videos shared by your guests – must be a crucial part of any hospitality brand’s social media strategy.
Why? Well, UGC is particularly powerful in building trust with your audience. By resharing content of guest experiences on social, it will help to make your hotel become more authentic in the eyes of potential guests and allow them people to better envisage themselves there. Plus, it also takes some of the pressure off your team creating new content!
INVEST IN COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT
Engaging with other users through meaningful comments and replies on both Instagram and TikTok is a hugely important element of your social media strategy – especially when targeting Gen-Z.
It’s simply not enough to just post content and log off – the modern consumer wants a personal touch from brands on social media and they are far more likely to trust those that interact with them in a genuine way online.
We recommend finding and tapping into existing subcultures on social media that are relevant to your hotel brand. You have communities out there built around budget travel, luxury travel, adventure travel… the list is endless. Not to mention other community niches that might be relevant to your guest segments, like remote working or backpacking.
Once you have found these communities, set aside time each week (or each day, if your team has the capacity) to engage with user accounts and be part of the conversation. And don’t forget to monitor your own comments, DMs and any tagged user-generated content so you can respond promptly.
By interacting in an authentic way with your audience, you will become a natural part of their community while growing your own brand community on the platform. This makes it more likely for users to become brand ambassadors who reshare your content to their audience and recommend your brand to their peers. With Forbes reporting that 81% of consumers’ purchasing choices are influenced by their friends’ posts on social media, this tactic has a direct impact on increasing bookings from social platforms.
Did you know: At Stay the Night, we also have a dedicated Community Manager who oversees and encourages these two-way dialogues between our client’s social accounts and their audiences.
HARNESS THE POWER OF INFLUENCER MARKETING
Another way to grow brand awareness, reach new audiences and drive direct bookings from your social media platforms is to collaborate with relevant and aligned influencers.
Influencers can bring a lot of brand recognition, loyalty and revenue a hotel’s way – plus a huge 61% of consumers trust influencer recommendations compared to 38% who trust brand-produced content. Influencers spend a lot of time building engaged, loyal communities within their chosen niches and working with them allows you to tap into these audiences and showcase the experiences you can offer via their content. That’s why the key to success for working with influencers is ensuring you work with those whose followers match your hotel’s target market.
Be sure to ask for past results in the form of a media kit – complete with case studies from past collaborations – and always send over a contract to be signed so that both parties are clear on the deliverables and timeline of when the work is expected
Tip: Influencer partnerships are an ideal way of getting authentic, high-quality content to repurpose for your own brand marketing channels so ensure you have included a clause in your agreement that states you are allowed to utilise the content beyond the initial partnership time.
COLLABORATE WITH BRAND PARTNERS TO LAUNCH COMPETITION
Launching a competition on social allows you to grow your following, increase brand exposure and promote your offering to a wider audience – all while staying within a reasonable budget.
Collaborating with an aligned brand or partner can also boost the success of this competition tactic as it makes the prize more enticing (therefore increasing the number of entrants) and allows you to tap into their following too.
When carried out effectively, the ROI on a competition can be huge – and deciding on the objective and prize is a relatively simple step. Your aim is to get the word out to potential guests and build a following so that you can interact with them more in the coming weeks and persuade them to book a stay with you.
Tip: Terms of entry that will assist you in achieving this could include ‘Follow us, reshare this post on your story and tag two friends to be in with a chance of winning.’
JUMP ON VIRAL TRENDS
Jumping on viral trends on social media can be a highly effective way for hotels to increase visibility, engage with new audiences and ultimately drive more direct bookings. By leveraging the latest memes, challenges and trends, you can create relatable content that resonates with followers enough for them to engage, reshare to their account and follow – this will ultimately lead to driving bookings in the long term.
This is showcased by our client Generator on TikTok – by utilising a trending meme that was circulating, this post went viral and is at over 850k views with 8k+ engagements.
CREATE TAILORED LANDING PAGES
Landing pages – which are standalone pages designed to drive a specific action – are a powerful tool for hotels looking to increase direct bookings from social media. By creating dedicated landing pages for your upcoming social media campaigns, you will be able to provide a more personalised user experience and increase conversions.
One of the key benefits of using landing pages is that they provide a clear and focused call-to-action. When a potential guest clicks on a link from social media, they are often looking for specific information or looking to complete a specific action, such as booking a room or an F&B reservation. By directing them to a landing page that is designed to meet their specific needs, it increases the likelihood that users will take the desired action and convert.
Another benefit of using landing pages is that they allow you to track performance closely and identify areas for improvement. This can include optimising the content, adjusting the call-to-action or even experimenting with communicating to a different audience.
Tip: Simplicity is key – don’t clutter a landing page with lots of information that will distract potential guests from the desired action you want them to take.
ENSURE YOU ARE MAXIMISING PLATFORM FEATURES TO DRIVE TRAFFIC
While creating tailored, authentic content is key, there are a number of different tools that should be effectively utilised in order to ensure your social platforms are fully optimised to drive web traffic and bookings.
These include:
- Using the linkinbio feature to drive traffic to specific web pages depending on the contents of individual posts. By providing specific links, it makes it more likely for the user to find the information they are looking for quicker and therefore convert.
- Utilising location and hashtag features to increase the visibility of content and reach a wider audience. By tagging the location and using relevant hashtags, you can reach potential guests who are interested and looking for inspiration in your specific area.
- Showcasing amenities and experiences via Highlights on Instagram – ensure that the very best of what you have to offer is easily findable when potential guests land on your Instagram profile. As this content is uploaded via Stories, it is also possible to add website URLs to drive traffic. Highlights should be updated regularly and old information/content should be removed – too many Highlights can get messy and it’s unlikely a user will click through them all which decreases the likelihood of converting.
INTEGRATE PAID SOCIAL ADVERTISING WITH ORGANIC STRATEGY
In order to drive fantastic results for our clients, we always recommend integrating paid social advertising with their organic social media management strategy in order to build awareness, increase audience growth rate among key target markets and in turn, drive both web traffic and bookings.
Boosting high-quality yet authentic posts are fantastic for audience growth in particular and we have seen great success – for example with one client, we have seen a 28% growth rate over the past year compared to a 16% rate for the previous year when it was organic only. This led to a 40% increase in web traffic referrals from Instagram and a 10% increase in booking conversions.
ANALYSE THE DATA REGULARLY AND REVIEW YOUR WEBSITE’S USER-JOURNEY
Social media analytics should be monitored on a regular basis in order to stay informed on how content is performing and which posts are resonating to drive web traffic and bookings..
This includes keeping track of metrics such as follower growth rate, video views, engagement rate, reach, and even when the best time of day to post is. You can also see which content has performed best and – just as importantly – which content has not performed very well. This information should then be utilised to inform the future content you create.
In addition to this, it’s also really important to utilise Google Analytics to review metrics such as source channel, bounce rate and direct booking conversion rate. The customer journey from social media channels to the website through to making a reservation should also be reviewed on a quarterly basis (at least) in order to identify any significant drop-off trends prior to the user converting. This is because with the best social media and content strategy in the world, if your website is not well optimised and the user-journey isn’t smooth, potential guests simply will not book a stay directly with you.
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