As social media continues to grow and evolve, more and more businesses are increasing their social media marketing efforts, and this trend shows no signs of slowing down.
By 2017, social network ad spending will reach $35.98 billion, representing 16% of all digital ad spending globally (eMarketer).
Social media has already become the #1 customer engagement and reputation management channel. In the same time, it is among the top 3 hotel booking decision influencers and is firmly among the top 10 hotel direct booking channels.
What does this mean for hoteliers?
In order to remain competitive in the digital space, hoteliers need to take advantage of the customer engagement and revenue opportunities this channel has to offer.
Here is a checklist to help you jumpstart your hotel’s direct bookings through social media.
#1: Ensure that your social media pages are optimized and branded
Today, social media users have come to expect business pages to not only be claimed but also fully-optimized and branded.
A hotel’s social media page should be a reflection of the brand itself and provide the most up to date information for visitors.
Hotels can further engage audiences and set themselves apart from competitors by branding their pages through creative page elements such as the profile picture, cover photo, posts, and custom tabs on Facebook.
In addition to building brand awareness, a well-optimized page will encourage users to follow the hotel, engage, and eventually book a stay. For example, on Twitter, hoteliers can design a branded header image promoting a seasonal campaign and pin a tweet to the top of the page that provides more information and a link to the campaign landing page.
Some platforms may offer more branding opportunities than others. However, hotels should optimize their social media presences as much as possible and get creative in order to drive bookings.
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