Many hoteliers decide to take a deep breath and a leap in the dark to conquer Facebook, Instagram and other social media. Why not? We can see a lot of Facebook tours de force about entrepreneurs who ‘dared to dream’ and had their – and their business ventures’- fabulous rags to riches stories. Even true hotshot hoteliers aren’t ashamed of taking the social media chance. Feeling inspired and motivated, you get started but after the first active weeks your hotel’s Facebook page gives you nothing but pain. Where is the result you hoped to achieve? Why is it that although you have a lot of fans on Facebook, you don’t have more visitors on your hotel’s website? Why don’t you have more bookers if your holiday packages or special offers are liked and shared all the time? Why are your Facebook ads unsuccessful? What goes wrong?
Melinda Klausz, social media specialist and the author of A közösségi média nagykönyve (The Big Book of Social Media) offered remarkable insights and useful solutions to the above mentioned and other worrying dilemmas on the topic at BookDirect MeetUp 2016, inspiring the participants who got tired of social media marketing and even those who felt a bit apprehensive about the whole social media ‘craze.’ Reading her eye-opening answers to the questions, we, hoteliers can learn how to explore and exploit the benefits of social media.
What to do with Facebook numbers?
It is so good to see the flattering number of total likes of your hotel’s Facebook page, still, it is important to examine if it is valuable as well. Lots of Likes, Follows, Shares may ensure the hotel’s presence on the news feeds for a while but can you convert them to hotel guests? Wouldn’t it be better to have a maybe smaller number of more and seriously interested, solid fan base; people – hotel guests who are really keen on your hotel and ready to book and book again, recommending it to others, building and spreading your excellent reputation? The key is the quality and NOT the number of the visitors and their choices behind the likes.
What and whom to post to?
Your Facebook page is your platform to advertise directly and indirectly and to strengthen and propagate your hotel’s brand and image. Although you can share a lot of information: lovely pictures of your hotel and its services, special offers and promotions, the perfect content may not be the one for everybody, if it is too general it may be too boring and clichéd. With targeted posts, you can improve your Facebook engagement that is you can actually get more engagement when you narrow down the people who can see your posts. Why? Because with enhanced page post targeting, you can send your messages to and attract those people whose needs and desires really match what you offer. You can target your posts by a lot of options: gender, age, relationship or educational status etc., or even by language or people celebrating special occasions. If you choose the segment of your audience wisely, you will get more interaction, will achieve your marketing goals and reach out to your potential bookers more easily and in a cost-effective way.
When to post?
Timing is an essential part of every marketing strategy, so of Facebook marketing as well. You may have a top-notch content if you are posting it when nobody or very few people are present, the message will weaken or fade away totally. If you want to find the best time to post – or optimize your Facebook page in general -, use Facebook Insights. Go to your Admin Panel, click on Insights, and in Posts tab you can see when your fans are online, which helps you to discover the optimal posting time. Discovering all the metrics and analytics e.g. reach and engagement of posts, you will quickly find that Facebook Insights is a valuable tool to improve your marketing efficiency.
Although Facebook and other social media platforms require more of your creativity and affect conversion rate indirectly rather than directly, they are definitely worth giving a chance. If you use them cleverly, they can become your profitable and must-have allies. The above-discussed questions are only warm-ups, but they are essential to be familiar with if you want to find your successful place in this algorithm-driven world where your Facebook page’s effectiveness depends on your eager fan base because they will make sure that your gripping and well-timed posts and therefore your hotel’s lasting fame will spread quickly.
Still have unanswered questions relating the topic? Part 2 will reveal more useful tricks on how to create unbeatable content and how to use social media for marketing reasons in a clever and economical way.
