The world is on the web today. Our generation is the
privileged one!
Number of people with internet access continues to rise, so
does the time spent online. As per statistics, India is now spending more than
25% of its online time on Social Media.
Social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr and many others provide an opportunity to connect
with your friends, family, relatives and customers. Also, it provides an
excellent opportunity to meet new people and make new friends.
Even from Business point of view, Social Media boasts of
many advantages. For one, you can respond instantly to your customers’ queries
and provide solutions. Also, spreading out the word in social media with
relevant and compelling content is easier and cheaper than traditional
advertising. There are many more such advantages Social media offers to
Business houses.
In such a scenario, being an hotelier we should not
undermine the power of Social Media. Let’s have a deeper look at how social
media can impact business & what strategies can be useful for the hoteliers
to adopt for its success:
Information Dissemination
Hotels should own a Social media page to explain the luxury
and comfort they are providing to their guests. Hoteliers can easily share new
offers, new products or services, season specials, client testimonials and
significantly more about their hotels with customers. Hotels can also have
their own dynamic blog to speak with clients and overhaul them with the fresh
business updates.
Social Media Store
Hotel Online booking system can be promoted through Social
Media Store. It will help in keeping hotels full and lively with guests
coming-in all the time!
Also, many hotels these days have malls or shopping plazas
inside their premises. Such sales can be done on social media as well,
primarily as a branding exercise than a revenue generation activity.
Just-In Time Marketing
Hoteliers can offer customized deals and offers to customers
in real-time based on customer’s search data.
One example can be,
Hotels can collect personal data like Anniversary/Birthday of loyal customers
and wish them through their Social media portal.
Social Media Marketing
It varies depending on Social media channel chosen, for
example, marketing on Twitter is completely different from marketing on
LinkedIn. So, before starting social media marketing for your hotel, you should
list the relevant social media websites and get content accordingly. To give an
overview:
- In Facebook, you can promote your hotel using videos, images, text – quotes, articles etc. Through Facebook you can reach out to more and more potential customers and boast of your Hotel. Also, you can keep track of your customers, solve their queries and turn them into loyal patrons.
- To promote in Twitter, ask your marketing team to create a hashtag related to the hotel and request your guests to promote the hashtag. Try and take the hashtag to the Trend section of Twitter for more visibility.
- Instagram can help you in promoting exquisite pictures of your hotel rooms, lobby, restaurants etc. You can also promote an event through Instagram by showcasing images of the decoration, guests, food etc.
- LinkedIn can help you reach potential competent employees for your Hotels. Starting from senior management levels to all the way junior levels, almost every professional keeps his/her LinkedIn profile up-to-date. Thus you can know all about a person, professionally, through LinkedIn. Also, as we all know, most of the business for a 5 star comes through business conferences or business meets. LinkedIn can prove to be a powerful tool if you wish to reach out to such high profile individuals or organizations.
- YouTube is a social media website, through which you can promote videos related to promotional campaigns, customers testimonials etc.
- Hotels can
also use Tumblr to publish online, hyperlink blogs and interlink with other
social media websites.
On-Going Customer Engagement
It’s advisable to interact with your guests through Social
Media, to give them a personal touch. By interaction I mean, try and reply to
their queries/complaints as soon as possible, create online events, quiz &
contests and request them to participate etc.
Service Recovery
Hotels can also use Social media websites for improvisation.
For this, hotels can ask their customers to participate in feedback sessions,
surveys, polls, testimonials, reviews & ratings etc. Do ensure that unfavorable opinions expressed on social media website are addressed in a
transparent and timely manner.
By creative planning and relevant content, Hotels can easily
impress their existing guests and attract new guests. Hotels must have the
ability to market their luxuries over the social media to seize user attention.
Friend this is from our side. Feel free to contact us in
case of any queries.
Wishing you all Good
Luck in using Social Media!
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