How to Create a Winning Social Media Marketing Strategy for Your Inn
According to Leading to Win, a winning strategy is “a set of choices that enables a company to deliver superior value to its customers on a reliable and sustainable basis.”
This is why social media is the perfect place to attract and retain customers. By providing consistent and relevant information to your customers, you’ll “win” them over to your inn.
So, let’s look at how to create a winning social media marketing strategy for your inn so you can win your customers and beat your competition every time.
Show Your Personal Side
When it comes to social media, the whole point is to engage people and build relationships. To do this, they want to see your face and the real faces of the people who work and stay at your inn. They don’t want to see stock images.
Create a strategy highlighting the faces of the people who use your inn. You’ll make a much more significant impact if you use real faces. In addition, by using real people, you build loyalty and trust.
Help your followers by giving them a human connection. Let them see your employees at work and even at play. You can even showcase different employees throughout your posts. For example, showcase each employee in a video where they show guests their favorite amenities, favorite parts of the hotel, favorite menu items, and even favorite places in the area to visit during their stay.
You can also ask guests if they would do the same while they are staying with you. Then, offer them something special for doing it. Video testimonials are also a great idea.
Give your hotel human faces and let guests know what to expect when they visit and who they might see when they arrive. Let them “meet” your staff members beforehand.
Partner with Influencers
Another social media strategy is partnering with social media influencers who have broad, large audiences.
This is an excellent approach for you because it widens your reach and helps you reach people you might not have reached before.
In addition, if you pick the right influencer, this person helps your brand just by being associated with you.
When choosing influencers to partner with, thoroughly vet them and make sure they can actually help your inn. You also want to make sure their audience is your target audience.
Here are some suggestions for partnerships:
- Provide a paid trip for your influencer to come and stay at your inn. Then, they can share all about their experience during their entire trip. You might be surprised how fast the reservations come rolling in.
- Offer to host an event at your inn for the influencer. This way, you can share content on both of your social media platforms.
- You can also hire an influencer to star in your next advertising campaign. This campaign might be social media only, or it could also reach television viewers as well.
- Work with the influencer to develop trade options that work for you both.
You are not limited when choosing influencers. Just make sure to pick someone with a large enough audience and who aligns with your vision and values. Then get creative together to come up with a plan.
Finally, set a budget before meeting with your influencer so you know what you’re willing to spend.
Use Paid Ads
Facebook and Instagram paid ads should also be part of your winning social media marketing strategy. These channels offer low-cost ways to get your ads in front of users who aren’t currently engaging with you.
With precise targeting, you can find users who are part of your target audience. You can use paid ads to grow your follower count, increase brand awareness, and even convert people to lodgers.
When creating ads, you want to style them for the particular platform you are using. Monitor and test your ads to see what’s working the best. You can really drill down and tweak the ads as needed to improve performance.
Offer Exclusive Content
Another winning strategy is to share social media only exclusive content with your followers. You can even offer something different on each platform you use.
This way, people are encouraged to visit and follow each platform to see what you might offer.
One of the best ways to offer this exclusive content is to run contests/giveaways. This is good for business. For example, if you give away one night, you are almost always guaranteed they’ll book at least one more.
Other exclusive content you might offer includes discounts, sneak peeks, premiere event access, remodel info, local info, and more.
Sharing exclusive content encourages brand loyalty and builds relationships with customers.
Final Thoughts on Social Media Marketing
When searching for information on your inn, many of your current and potential customers will head to your social media platforms first. Why?
They know they may find the most up-to-date information there. Once on a platform like Facebook or Instagram, they can see what you’ve been up to. They can also view photos and videos of current people, events, and activities at your hotel.
Customers also search social media platforms for reviews of your inn. They want to know what other people think before making a reservation.
Next, if they are interested enough, they’ll head on over to your website to check out pricing or book a room.
This is why creating a winning social media marketing strategy for your inn is so important. Hotel marketing must include your social media platforms.
Take the tips included in the article, and you are well on your way to putting your own plan into action!
We are your hotel’s digital advertising specialists and can help you position your hotel for success and attract guests to your inn. We can also create a winning social media marketing strategy that also ties into your website. As experts in website design and redesign, we can create a new or refreshed website accessible to all. And we can also help with search engine marketing, online booking, online listings, and social media marketing. We are here to help. Contact us today for your consultation!
Image: Sara Kurfeß and S O C I A L . C U T on Unsplash
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