No question the COVID-19 outbreak was a highly destructive blow across the worldwide financial system, However, it’s challenging to come across an industry that deteriorated as much as hospitality companies. At its peak, the overall number of global travellers dropped by a surprising 78 percent, leaving the hospitality sector in havoc.
Everything is step-by-step, but gradually we are getting back on track while hospitality companies (lodging services, hotels, and more) work diligently to attract as many visitors as possible.
And just like before the pandemic, the reliable and effective way to access these scattered guests/individuals relies mainly on social media marketing. Let’s go through some of the 2022 social media trends any hotelier can depend on to outshine their competitors.
1. TikTok taking over
1. TikTok taking overSocial media features all the possibilities to put communities in a single circle. As a result, it can direct the many individuals with sightseeing interest to the Tiktok travel content to note the places other tourists visit and what makes them visit those areas. This step helps them identify their following travel destinations on their real-world travel package lists.
If you plan to update your upcoming visitors with some charming posts under the #tiktoktravel hashtag on the TikTok network, that assuredly exposes you to over 26.1 billion TikTok users. Note that these 26.1 billion users are not only millennials. The majority of them can become your visitors or even referrals in the upcoming days if you consistently post relevant content.
You can use TikTok as a community building and organic engagement tool with posts that find themselves on the user’s ‘for you’ section. Also, you can encourage visitors familiar with TikTok to create posts relating to the destination and your property as a whole.
Based on how the stemming algorithm eventuates for the TikTok account owner (depending on the posts they’re after), you can open out your post’s access level and include your property’s departments for optimum exposure. For instance, the beverage/food department can go for #restock, and the housekeeping team members post content under the #cleantok section. This step can assist you a lot in accessing most travelers if you execute content development correctly.
Your posts can also appear in the layout of brand takeovers, paid campaigns, and in-feed advertisements that are optional if you prefer the tactical path. The first step obviously entails sitting back and observing the posts that perform well on TikTok, the challenges you can re-envision/join, and the individuals you can partner with if that’s possible. Hoteliers don’t always have to remain too tactical with the things they develop, mainly with various social media networks. At times, the process needs you to blend in before positioning where you can outshine the competitors.
2. Influencer marketing
Influencer marketing wins if you’re after a reliable social media strategy. Besides promoting products, influences also promote hotel establishments. Here are indispensable techniques in how to scout for reliable influencers and the steps to follow to provide them with a partnership:
- Register at influencer connecting agencies
Influencer networking agencies refer to sites that allow you to analyze influencers based on the category. For instance, you may find local influencers or travel influencers ready to work with you. Besides this, you can identify individuals who can offer promotion help via influencer marketing.
- Consider influencer algorithms
Next, you have to identify the influencers who can assist you in boosting your social media hotel awareness. Here, you can check the influencers’ engagement level, follower numbers, and the history of their preceding successful campaigns.
- Set the guidelines clearly.
Since the hotel sector may require a higher commitment level from influencers, you’re required to set your instructions in a particular manner. For instance, you have to update the contract with hashtags, content styling, deadline, and deliverables.
3. User-generated content
User-generated content is another remarkable social media trend every hotelier needs to know about. This content follows several ways, whereby you can display it as sponsored posts, reels/videos, or regular posts for paid-related promotions. Below are a few ways how you can update your marketing strategy with user-generated content:
- Promoting hashtag application
Consider yourself practical if you have a trademarked hashtag and inspire potential audiences to use a particular hashtag whenever they stop by your hotel. If they capture themselves residing in your hotel, you can retrieve that specific hashtag and check your clients’ posts. You can cheer this by developing posters/cards that build up hashtag applications.
- Email repeat clients for testimonials
Most satisfied clients will be ready to share testimonials about your hotel on your website or Facebook page. You can request those reviews to inspire potential visitors and boost credibility.
- Feature pages
Influencer marketing falls under the crucial techniques to develop user content. Besides this, you can request to be displayed in niche-related social media networks that feature travel locations, local sports, or restaurants.
- Inviting personalities
Although not precisely user-created, requesting personalities like famous figures or celebrities in your hotel can assist in building trustworthiness. The creation is not user-produced, but still, you have the chance to gather genuine content from famous figures or celebrities who’ll be stopping by. You can develop such elements in your social media pages by investing in pro video shooting.
User-created content focuses on confirming the brand’s social proof and authenticity. Note that allowing others to represent you falls under the robust techniques that enable you to stand out in your social media marketing.
4. Geo-picked out sponsored content
Geo-picked-out sponsored content is another valuable and worth-considering social media trend hoteliers need to know about. You can target several sponsored posts in specific areas using the users’ GPS.
For instance, this global positioning system information will be collected if the user is lately navigating in your local town. And your specific sponsored content will display as they flip through their respective social media networks. This top-notch attribute will make it easy for you to attract leads faster for those close to the place. It’s also pivotal to boost hotel awareness for those staying within your local community/city.
The secret to creating successful geo-picked-out sponsored content is developing a city setting that’s not too narrow or wide. Placing the particulars within approximately 25 miles of driving length or within the town can help reach the potential audience.
5. Short-form videos
Illustrating TikTok’s access and impact far away from its respective network, short-form videos have recorded a popularity increase – a feature that’s expected to keep following the same path this year. This boom has made other social media platforms implement new elements, including the hugely famous YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels. Most users indeed prefer these quick and short videos over the longer ones.
Most users prefer short-form videos, running at approximately 90 seconds or fewer seconds because they seem to match well with the fast-moving social media channels’ nature. These videos give each user a unique method to stay informed, consume information, and ensure they get charmed in their most preferred format. In fact, Hubspot brand marketing statistics show that around 72 percent of clients prefer videos over text.
When well-implemented, short-form videos provide hotels with a unique platform to displace their experiences, reach more potential clients using techniques that were impossible before and strengthen their social media community. Behind the curtain snippets, user-created posts, and detailed short-form video formats all work excellently.
Another excellent feature of short-form videos is that you don’t have to pay pro videographers to perform this task. Instead, you can allow onsite teams to handle the entire process. When gathering videos to be modified into these specific forms, the onsite teams can direct you on the specific clips to collect before editing and sharing them with your potential customers. This cross-sector approach is mainly reliable as it ensures you put out only authentic content that reflects your overall hotel experience.
6. Building a robust social media community
The social media network has emerged as a cliche in the hotel sector, mainly over the previous year. However, how many hotels will go beyond this slang and create online and onsite engaged communities? Only the companies that implement this will outshine their competitors this year and in the future.
Mostly, we see hotels that strive to prioritize their social media community but end up failing to create an engaged and loyal social media community via their marketing strategies. Customers see your social media networks as your real-world experience extension – platforms where two-way conversations and interactions can happen. Also, it’s pivotal that the social media marketing members implement a similar ethos.
It’s also pivotal to have a clear contrast between the community and
audience. Just because your trademark has a massive email list or several social media followers doesn’t show those individuals are immediately part of an active brand community.
If done correctly, social media community marketing stands out as a wholesome strategy for your potential audience and hotel business. This strategy adds to your hotel business goals – for instance, increasing earnings, growing your customer base, and enhancing brand awareness. It does this while enriching the user experience for anyone engaging with your trademark via your social media marketing networks.
Besides this, social media community marketing provides excellent customer insight and what these consumers are after from hotel businesses like yours.
Conclusion
The hotel sector took an adverse hit from the pandemic, however the future remains promising. From what people used to see as a minute digital marketing section that generates leads, social media marketing has grown to become a strategy that converts – even in hotels. Implementing these trends in the hotel sector will assist you in establishing your social media presence, growing your client base, and growing brand awareness.
About the author
Rithesh Raghavan is the Director at Acodez, a Digital Agency in India. Having a rich experience of 15+ years in Digital Marketing, Rithesh loves to write up his thoughts on the latest trends and developments in the world of IT and software development.
