The hotel and hospitality industry evolves quickly to keep up with shifting consumer preferences and technological advances. In this constantly shifting landscape, social media can be a powerful tool that helps you showcase your offering, build a relationship with your customers, improve customer service, and enhance your brand.
NB: This is an article from EHL Insights
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However, if you want your hotel’s social media marketing to gain traction, you must keep up with the pace of change in the industry and stay ahead of the curve. With that in mind, we’re exploring the current social media trends for hoteliers in 2024 – from short-form videos to branded DMs – that can give you a competitive edge.
Short-form video will reign supreme
Short-form videos, those lasting between 3 and 60 seconds, will be one of the most powerful forms of hotel social media marketing in 2024. Previously, you showcased this type of content on micro-video sharing services like TikTok. However, Instagram Reels is proving to be the real deal.
Unlike Instagram Stories, Reels don’t disappear after 24 hours and are available on Instagram until you delete them. They’re also favored by the Instagram algorithm. That means they’re more likely to be recommended to people who don’t already follow you, which can give your marketing a wider reach.
Consumers spent an average of 17 hours a week watching online video content in 2023, with Reels receiving more than 200 billion plays a day across Facebook and Instagram. That represents a 40% increase on 2022.
An efficient way to boost your hotel’s social media strategy is to shoot lots of footage of your unique amenities and experiences in one go. You can then edit the footage and release numerous short videos over time. You should focus on videos that give consumers an unfiltered view and celebrate what makes you unique. You can also boost your traffic by paying for short-form video ads on search engines like Google.
Choose trendsetters rather than social media influencers
Extending invitations to trendsetters rather than social media influencers can be another effective way to get your name out there in 2024. Trendsetters are people or brands with enough clout in a particular niche to set new trends. They tend to be more relatable than influencers, are authorities in their specific field, and post about products and services that are genuinely useful.
Digital trendsetters include celebrities, but they can also be any person or company with an established reputation in their niche. By identifying the social media trendsetters in the areas your hotel champions, such as sustainability or specific dietary requirements, you can create a partnership that reaches a new audience for your hotel. Sustainability is a hot topic in 2024, with Booking.com’s Sustainable Travel Report finding that 76% of travellers want to adopt more sustainable travel practices over the next 12 months.
