If you work in the hospitality industry, you’ve probably heard that it’s important to embrace social media marketing. That doesn’t necessarily mean you’re convinced. After all, investing in a social media strategy does cost some money. How can you be sure the investment will deliver a substantial return?
This is an understandable attitude to have. However, it will prevent you from growing. That’s why it’s important to review certain key hotel social media statistics. They’ll help you better understand why you can’t ignore this crucial marketing channel.
Hotel Social Media Statistics You Need to Know
Travelers Look for Tips
There are many different ways to promote your hotels or resorts via social media. One is to offer travel tips to potential guests. This provides them with genuine value, value they will ideally associate with your brand.
This is a particularly smart idea when you consider the fact that Nielsen research indicates more than 50% of travelers check social media for travel tips during the planning stage. If you don’t post such tips consistently on social media, you’re missing out on an opportunity to reach many potential guests.
Instagram Uploads are on the Rise
Did you know that, as of now, greater than 100 million images are uploaded to Instagram every single day? That number only appears to be rising.
Thus, you want to encourage your guests to post photos of your properties. While they may do so on their own, with a social media strategy, you can develop hashtags to ensure brand awareness, hold contests in which users share photos of your properties on Instagram (with the user who posts the best photo winning a prize), and generally participate in an active platform. After all, Instagram gives you the chance to show off how beautiful your properties are on a consistent basis. You shouldn’t overlook its value.
Others Have Already Leveraged Social Media Effectively
It helps to learn about other hospitality brands that have used social media to their benefit. This can help you better appreciate the value social media represents for your brand.
For instance, in 2015, Starwood’s W Hotel brand introduced a set of Snapchat geofilters to test their impact on user engagement. By the time the campaign had ended, the filters yielded twice as many views as the team behind the campaign expected. Additionally, they yielded substantially more conversions than other paid filters. That means social media clearly delivered a strong return-on-investment for this brand. It can absolutely do the same for yours.
In fact, this isn’t the only example of a hospitality group using social media effectively. Hilton also attracted more social media engagement (and thus, brand engagement) by launching a campaign in which a randomly-selected Facebook follower would receive Hilton Honors points. At the Boulder Marriott, a social media campaign promoting a Thanksgiving buffet resulted in 65 people attending. This was far more than the planners expected, given that Thanksgiving is often a time when people gather in their homes. Thirty of the attendees confirmed learning about the buffet via Facebook.
These are merely a few hotel social media statistics worth keeping in mind. The main point to remember is that you can’t neglect this channel. By developing and implementing strong social media campaigns, you’ll boost your overall marketing ROI.
