Increasing hotel guests using social media requires a strategic approach that leverages the power of these platforms to attract and engage potential guests. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do it. This article is focused specifically around small to medium-sized hotel owners

If the steps described below sound similar to the other articles on this site, that’s because these steps are effective for promoting nearly any type of business.  As with anything in social media promotion, consistency is key.  Having said that, there are a few areas where hotel promotions stand out from the rest, and these will be highlighted below.

Basics of Online Hotel Marketing

First, without the basics in place, an advanced campaign targeted at high-value customers would not succeed. 

1. State the Objective:  While the end-goal is most likely profitability and a higher income, identifying an intermediate objective can help to refine and enhance the marketing strategy.  For example, are you looking to increase bookings, raise brand awareness, or promote special offers? Your intermediate objectives will shape your social media strategy.
2. Define Your Audience:  Understand your target audience’s demographics, interests, and behaviors.  This information will help align your content to your marketing strategy.
3. Create Compelling Content:  Share high-quality photos and videos of your hotel’s rooms, facilities, and amenities.  Showcase what makes your property unique and appealing. Use professional photography if possible.  Having more photos gives your audience a sense of familiarity.  Familiarity develops comfort, and comfort enables openness to the offer, which leads to sales.  Otherwise, what type of content can be posted? Share Local Attractions:  Highlight nearby attractions, restaurants, and activities. This can make your hotel more appealing to travelers who want to explore the area. Make it Personal:  Share stories of local people who are successful, or who benefit from the tourism that has grown in their community, or who have special tours/experiences to offer your guest. Special Offers and Promotions:  Promote special offers and packages exclusively on social media. Limited-time deals can create a sense of urgency and drive bookings.
4. Run Contests and Giveaways:  Host social media contests or giveaways to encourage engagement and attract new followers. Offer prizes like a free stay or a discount.
5. Post Consistently:  Develop a content calendar to plan and schedule posts in advance. Consistency is key in maintaining an active social media presence.  Be active on platforms that are most relevant to your target audience.  For hotels, platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest are highly effective due to their visual orientation of content.
6. Engage with Your Audience:  Unless you are marketing for a global hotel chain, your time spent with individual customers can effectively move the needle in your favor – especially if you are aiming to scrape market share away from the major players.  This is an area where small or medium-sized hotels and resorts can win out over the highest-value global brands, ie., adding the personal touch.  An effective audience engagement approach requires consistent attention and responsiveness over the long run.  While few hotel owners have the personal bandwidth and energy to carry out this strategy, the point remains that those who do can earn a high investment on the time they spend, picking up one customer or one booking at a time, sometimes for as little as a few minutes of chat.  At the minimum, appointing a marketing person to respond to comments, messages, and reviews promptly and professionally will be necessary as a means of engaging with your audience, to build trust and loyalty.
7. Use Hashtags Strategically:  Research and use relevant hashtags to increase the visibility of your posts.  Create a branded hashtag for your hotel to encourage user-generated content.
8. Promote User-Generated Content:  Encourage guests to share their experiences on social media and tag your hotel.  Share their posts with proper credit.  Focus on providing a good customer experience to ensure that reviews are positive.  Subtly encourage guests to post reviews – a personal approach is best, as people generally find it difficult to say no.  Furthermore, if a guest has a complaint, hearing their complaint first-hand – before they post it on social media – reduces the chance that they will post a negative review, because they feel that their complaint was addressed and heard already.
9. Plan a Budget:  Using paid advertising on social media platforms is expensive, but it allows you to target specific demographics and reach a larger audience.  Another variation on budgeted promotions is collaboration with Influencers.  Partner with social media influencers in the travel and hospitality niche, or with a local presence in a specific market you are targeting.  Promote special offers and packages exclusively on social media, and use limited-time deals to create a sense of urgency and drive bookings.

Throughout these steps, the most important point is to continue learning and improving. Regularly analyze your social media analytics to understand what’s working and what’s not.  Continuously assess the return on investment (ROI) of your promotional strategy, including tracking of direct bookings from social media links or monitoring followers and engagement.

Building a strong social media presence takes time and effort.  Consistency, creativity, and genuine engagement are essential for success.

Marketing Opportunities Unique to Hotel Businesses

Hotel marketing should include focus areas that are unique to the business. 

• Visual Appeal: Hotels are inherently visual businesses. They can showcase stunning visuals of their rooms, facilities, pool areas, dining options, and surrounding landscapes. This visual appeal makes it easier to create engaging content that can captivate potential guests.
• Emotion and Experience: Staying in a hotel often involves emotions and experiences that are different from buying a product or service. Travelers seek to create memories, relaxation, and adventure, making it important for hotels to tap into these emotions through their storytelling.
• Seasonality and Events: Hotels often have seasonal promotions and special events (e.g., weddings, conferences, holidays). Social media allows hotels to promote these time-bound offers effectively and reach the right audience at the right time.
• User-Generated Content: Hotels can benefit greatly from user-generated content (guests sharing their experiences). Guests often post pictures and reviews on social media, providing authentic endorsements that can influence others to book. This opportunity is often overlooked by hotel owners and marketers who seek full editorial control over content. 
• Influencer Collaborations: Hotels can collaborate with travel influencers and bloggers who can share their experiences with a wide audience. This can be more impactful than traditional influencer marketing for other businesses.
• Local Attractions: Many hotel guests are interested in exploring the local area. Hotels can use social media to promote nearby attractions, restaurants, and activities.
• Booking and Reservations: Hotels can directly benefit from social media bookings and reservations. Travelers can click through from a social media post to the hotel’s booking page and make reservations, which is more direct and immediate than many other businesses’ conversion processes.
• Trust and Reputation: Social media reviews and responses play a crucial role in managing and enhancing a hotel’s reputation.
• Customer Support and Engagement: Hotels often use social media for real-time customer support, answering queries, addressing concerns, and providing information about amenities and services.
• Local and International Audience: Hotels have the potential to attract both local and international guests, making their social media strategies more diverse and complex compared to businesses that primarily serve a local market.

In summary, promoting a hotel on social media is unique because it combines visual appeal, emotions, experiences, user-generated content, influencer collaborations, local attractions, and direct booking opportunities. Additionally, the hospitality industry places a strong emphasis on reputation management and customer engagement through social media. These factors make the social media strategy for hotels distinct from that of many other businesses, thereby posing both a unique challenge for marketers, as well as a broad spectrum of creative opportunities.