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Social Media is one of the most important aspects of digital marketing in the hospitality industry. There are different kinds of social media platforms like Facebook, Google, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. This is because not only does it increase visibility, brand awareness and potential direct bookings from your customers, but it also gives your customers a way to interact directly with you and helps you form a loyal customer base. This is what makes social media unique from other forms of marketing. We have listed 6 reasons why your hotel business needs social media marketing.
1 – Creates Loyalty
Social media can help create brand loyalty because it allows you to connect with your customers and helps you build your relationship with them. There are different strategies that you can use to create loyal customers. This can be through private one on one conversations or through commenting and replying to your social media posts. The more interactive you are and the more open you are to showing them that you care about them, the more they are likely to book directly with you through your booking engine. You can also ask them for feedback or any further improvements. This will show that you are willing to change and accommodate your customers’ needs.
2 – Attract New Guests
Social media marketing is a fast, easy and efficient way to attract new guests and customers. Social media marketing, whether targeted to specific groups of people or not, can expose your hotel to new customers. Especially, when you have visually appealing banners, images or messages. It can greatly expand your clients, get more people to know about you and your hotel business.
3 – Drive Direct Bookings
Attracting new customers through efficient social media marketing also increases the chances of driving direct bookings to your website. This is because the more people know about you, the more likely it is that there is a chance that they will book with you. Social media also gives you the opportunity to personalize your relationship with your customers and interact with them. Similar to how it can help you create a loyal customer base, it can get people to book directly with you. They feel more connected to you through private conversations. It doesn’t make them feel so much like a customer, but more like a friend.
4 – Develop Hotel Brand
Before putting your brand on social media, you will need to develop your hotel identity. This has to be done carefully and is usually an ongoing process. You can never stop at one version of your brand but each time you change you are sure to improve your hotel image. This is what people see from your online presence. When done effectively, with good visuals and striking taglines, it can really help your customers remember you and give them a good impression of your hotel brand.
5 – Differentiate From Competitors
Developing your hotel brand helps you give a unique impression and appearance to your customers. This means that it can help your customers differentiate you from your competitors. This is helpful, especially with millions of other competing hotel brands. Having your own sets of social media can give you a specific image to your brand. With consistent themes of banners or social media marketing posts, your customers will slowly identify you and hopefully book through your booking engine.
6 – Promote Special Offers
Social media marketing is different in that it allows you to promote special offers and helps you bring in new customers. You can also do this on your website however, it will be harder for you to drive specific traffic when compared to social media. Social media marketing allows you to specify your target audience, making it much easier and more effective for your adverts. It’s also not as costly when compared to other forms of advertising.
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