At the start of the year, Facebook switched up its news feed algorithm to give priority to content from users’ friends and family over posts from brands and businesses. Frustratingly for marketers, this made it more difficult than ever to maximise organic reach on the platform.
NB: This is an article from eTourism
However, all is not lost. As the company puts it: “posts that inspire back-and-forth discussion in the comments and posts that you might want to share and react to” can still achieve high visibility in the news feed.
What does this mean for your hotel’s Facebook marketing campaigns? To even have a chance of getting noticed in your guests’ newsfeeds, you’ve got to publish posts that generate comments, sharing and discussion.
So how do you do it?
In today’s post, we’ll look at 5 ways to inspire meaningful interactions with your audience and improve your organic reach in the newsfeed.
1: Create An Enticing Offer To Generate Messenger Connections
Messenger bots are on the rise across the major social platforms, and across digital marketing in general.
Many of the bot solutions out there allow you to set up automated responses whenever a comment is added to a post. You can encourage guests to comment on your post to receive a special discount or freebie via Messenger. This is a great way to share a voucher or build a contact list in Messenger while simultaneously generating plenty of engagement on your post and signalling to Facebook that your hotel is sharing quality content worth giving greater visibility to.
2: Share Content Created By Your Guests
Sharing photos, stories or reviews posted by fans will demonstrate to your community how much you appreciate them while providing some valuable social proof for your wider online audience. Just be sure to ask permission first.
3. Hold A Comment Contest
One of the quickest and most effective ways to boost engagement is to hold a contest on your hotel’s Facebook page which requires people to comment to enter.
If you ask entrants to share a photo with their comment, you’ll also generate a pile of fantastic user-generated content to share, but remember to state clearly that you intend to do this.
Even the simplest of questions can make for a fantastic giveaway – you might ask fans to share a photo which captures their favourite holiday memory, for example.
4. Ask Guests Their Opinion
We all like to feel included and that our opinions really matter. Whether it’s asking guests which new dishes they’d like to see added to your hotel’s restaurant menu or which renovation design they’d prefer for your guest rooms, asking your audience for feedback or help making choices with your business will make them feel appreciated while generating lots of engagement.
5. Get Topical
Creating posts which tap into something significant in the news or current cultural climate is a great way to generate responses. It allows you to join in with conversations that are already taking place, so you can position yourself more as a friend than a business that’s trying to promote room bookings.
As well as making the most of obvious celebrations such as Christmas, Easter and the World Cup, take a look at calendars of national and international days for less obvious occasions you may not have considered. You can also post about local events within your city or community that may interest your fans, as well as drawing on significant TV events such as the X Factor final. If you’re stuck for ideas, try monitoring the topics trending highly on Twitter for inspiration.
What are you doing to maximise engagement and boost visibility on the Facebook newsfeed?
