Social media best practices for small biz, specifically a hotel?

September 27, 2021 12:33 PM

I manage a small hotel that is trying to a) get more direct bookings and b) increase its positive reviews, and need to provide a report to the higher-ups on what we can/should do.

I've just spent the last week or so wading through the morass of SEO'd "10 things u should totally be doing in social media!" posts and getting nowhere, other than three things that always come up:
1) Just post more stuff!
2) Post items that are relatable/relevant
3) Spend $$$$$$ on IG/FB/Google Ads

I've started manually posting at least twice a week on social media, about upcoming events or things in our area, but few views/interactions. Though I did get a bot comment on a recent IG post asking for a sugardaddy. That means we're doing SOMETHING right, right...?

We have Google Analytics set up on our site, but that in itself isn't too insightful, beyond a mass of "you have 500 visitors on average per month".

Additional challenge:
Direct superior is a bit of a luddite and needs a neat'n'clear report on what to do, when to do it, and what results we can expect from those efforts. Yes, during an ongoing pandemic.

Long story short:
Does anyone have links to reports of "stuff that works for small businesses" that I could reference? There've been AskMeFi posts on this kind of topic before, but most are likely out-of-date by now.
I suppose this would also be where we get social media manager/consultant in, but there's no budget for that.

posted by slater to Work & Money (9 answers total)

You could offer a discount, rebate, or coupon if people post about the hotel on their Instagram. This kind of post is called User-Generated Content (UGC) if you want to search info about its effectiveness.

Make sure it's a public account, and ask to be tagged in both a permanent grid post and at least 3 consecutive story posts that only last for 24 hours but are seen by more people.
Maybe you could offer 5% or a $25 rebate or free breakfast or whatever doesn't cost you too much money.

You would just put a sign near the front desk like - Have a public Instagram? Talk to us about our influencer discount! and then a photocopied mini-contract to have them sign where they agree to leave the grid post up for at least 6 months or whatever.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 12:47 PM on September 27, 2021 [2 favorites]

I think the disconnect that exists for hotels is that they are largely a commodity. You aren't running the motel from Schitts Creek, you're running a hotel that could easily be replaced with the hotel across the street. They don't want to follow it for a lifestyle, and 99% of people booking a hotel will look for the cheapest one that fits their needs that looks fancy enough.

Things you NEED to have on your facebook page:

-Current deals / promotions (in posts, with dates clearly outlined)
-A concise list of amenities that matter (Pool, pets, food available) in the business page.
-Recent Business Photos of the front of hotel, Lobby, Pool, and room. (page photos.

What people DON'T want to see:
- updates about the hotel
- feel good stories
- Anything posted weekly/monthly
- anything local that's not about the hotel.
- instagram... anything. If they want a hotel they'll search for it on google.

Again, make sure your contact info is up to date, hours, etc on the business page on facebook.

I wouldn't spend any money on adwords for social media - I'd send people directly to the booking site. I'd focus on search terms like "hotel townname" and not "townname" or "dinner townname".

Last, I would reply to negative reviews, especially if they are helpful or "most helpful". Try to think about the broader audience - show you listened to their specific problem. Answer how you will address it. Ask them to contact you in private to help further resolve it for their future stay. Even if your ratings are low, the responsiveness is a great spot to show you care.

Bad Review Response:

"We've received your feedback and will mention it to the owners" - better to say nothing at all. The more human/real the comments are, the better.

Good Review Response:

"Jessica! I'm so sorry your stay was interrupted by people next to you. I hate it when that happens. We have a policy where you can call the front desk and we WILL resolve the situation. It sounds like our front desk people didn't make that clear - I've personally discussed this with them, and will build it into future training as well. Of course, this doesn't help your bad experience, please call us and ask for bob, and explain your username and situation. Let us try to make this right!"
posted by bbqturtle at 12:53 PM on September 27, 2021 [4 favorites]

Do you actually provide some sort of incentive for direct bookings, or are you offering the exact same rate somebody can get through Expedia (or their travel rewards credit card) and pocketing the extra fees? The hotels I've seen do this successfully all have some sort of extra thing or things they're advertising for direct bookings (a welcome gift, an upgrade, etc). They also make cancellation policies very clear so people are less afraid to enter their credit card numbers online.

One thing you can do with an increased social media presence is push seasonal perks for direct bookings, so it's not the same three things being tweeted or instagrammed with what looks like increasing desperation.

But yeah, the number one thing is to respond to your TripAdvisor reviews, both good and bad. Good ones get a "we're so glad we could provide a great experience and we hope you'll come back" and bad ones get the script above that shows you're paying attention and trying to resolve problems.
posted by fedward at 1:19 PM on September 27, 2021

Draw up a profile of your customers. I can guarantee you that some of your customers have a lot of commonalities. Where are they from? What is their occupation? What are they interested in? Why did they come to your area? In marketing, these are known as customer personas. So, looking back on your customer database, you could draw up a list of customer personas and categorise them. Or better still, ask your staff about how they would categorise the guests. These categories might be "Boston Intellectuals" or "Mid-West City Weekend Escapee" or "Silicon Valley Outdoor Geek". Once you've got this done, use Facebook to target them. FB is a powerful targeting tool. Get your staff to take emotionally charged photos of the area and post these up. For example, "Here is a photo of nearby Big Mountain at dawn..." Or, a photo of a fancy bottle of wine with two glasses or a meal which your chef has prepared. Between these posts, you put your current deals and promotions as suggested by @bbqturtle. Make these "promoted" or "boosted" posts and use your personas when FB asks you what kind of customers you want to target.

As for the reviews, you need to get your basic service offering right first. You or your staff also need to make an emotional connection with your guests. And never forget the power of reciprocity, a free dessert or free glass of wine might also help in persuading customers to write positive reviews.
posted by jacobean at 1:56 PM on September 27, 2021

Well, without more details I'm not sure who your competition is or what hotels you'd want to emulate, but my suggestion is to look at other hotels (especially hotels you consider peers and hotels you aspire to be more like) and see what they're doing that you could also do.

Here are some hotels/AirBnB's I follow on social media:
Hotel Joaquin
Camp Golddust
Sands Hotel & Spa
Hotel Figueroa
posted by shesbookish at 2:29 PM on September 27, 2021 [1 favorite]

If the hotel has a high percentage of negative reviews, hopefully they are taking steps to resolve those issues rather than just hoping to paint a rosy picture on the internet. Having an amazing social media presence won't do much to negate the impact of predominantly critical reviews.

I agree with those who have said that responding to at least the bad reviews is a good start, as long as you can honestly say you're working on those issues.

If I'm looking for hotels and wading through online reviews, I pay close attention to how recent those reviews are and if the hotel seems to be making any attempt at rectifying the problems. I don't care about what the hotel puts on its social media pages unless it's information about some sort of deal (and I tend to prefer finding that information directly on the hotel's website rather than Facebook or Instagram, but I don't know how common that is).

Also, make sure your website is as modern looking and functional as it needs to be.
posted by wondermouse at 2:49 PM on September 27, 2021

If someone googles something like "things to do in [your area]", or searches on facebook, what comes up? If the answer is "not much", consider filling that gap, e.g. with a page on your site that ties to social media accounts, together highlighting not only upcoming events but also general cool places/restaurants/shops/features in the area, fully hashtagged and @ed. If you've got the time and resources, you could post unique content like interviews with local businesses (who might be interested in returning the attention in some way), top 10 lists, guest-submitted photos/recommendations/stories, etc.

If area guides like the above already exist, try getting mentioned on them, or you might still want to make your own if you don't think it would get drowned out by the others. If there are area-guide social media accounts, @ them on your own accounts.

Topics for social media posts can also be focused on the hotel itself - things like "here's a picture of our amazing Fruit Loops", "we love these [pictured] soaps from [local business]", or even "here's the cute bird outside our lobby this morning, just enjoying the [local area] sun". This isn't to get people to follow you (as mentioned above) but more to create a slight social relationship with whoever is looking for information about how, say a little about the culture/atmosphere of the place, and make it seem like you take pride and are invested in it. If you do this, make sure the photographs are good, well lit, etc.

How are people finding your hotel now? Are they just searching for "hotels in [area]", using more specific searches, or going through other channels?

Do you get a lot of people looking at your website without booking? If people are actually arriving at the site but not going any further, consider ways to make it do a better job of selling the place - good photographs, clear information, interesting testimonials, lots of useful resources about the area (where to eat, how to get around), etc.

When you say you need to increase positive reviews, does that mean increasing reviews, or getting better reviews? Do you currently do things like personally asking customers to leave reviews when they check out ("every little bit helps during a pandemic"), including clear links to review sites in a "thank you for staying with us" email, etc.?

(About responding to negative reviews - if you do this, never do it in a way that contradicts or rebuts the reviewer!)

Do you currently ask guests to fill out any information about how they found your place, how their stay is going, if there's anything you could improve, what the best part of their stay was, if they would recommend the place to others?

Is there anything at all unique or memorable about your hotel, that might make people want to post about it?
posted by trig at 3:00 PM on September 27, 2021

You have two separate things going on here. You say, "I manage a small hotel that is trying to a) get more direct bookings and b) increase its positive reviews." But the rest of your question focuses on social media, which is not necessarily the best way to achieve that goal.

My first question is: how much staff do you have? Do you have a marketing department or are you it? Growing a social media following takes a lot of work – and again, it does not necessarily ladder up to the goal of getting more direct bookings or more positive reviews. Much of the advice about social media was written in the days when Facebook actually showed page content to people. They don't anymore unless you pay them. If you don't already have a following, this will be a very heavy lift - either in dollars or in time spent.

If you need more reviews, are you sending an email to every guest after they've checked out requesting a review on TripAdvisor and/or Google? Make it easy for them - provide a link to your page on each service. I don't know if you can provide an incentive or not. Hotels used to do this all the time, things like a 10% discount on your next stay. IHG enters all reviewers on their system into a drawing for free loyalty points. Definitely worth looking into.

I would strongly suggest focusing on your Google My Business page, because people will search on Google for hotels. I recommend this link for an overview. They need to be able to have a link on Google to book direct, which means you have to have your rates up on Google. If you don't appear in the booking links on Google you're out of luck. When yours comes up, you want your profile to be fabulous, with lots of fantastic photos of the rooms, the lobby, the grounds, nearby attractions, and so forth. If no one has asked a question about your hotel yet, you can come up with the top 10 questions that people might ask that would highlight why you are better than your competitors. ("We are the closest hotel to the Monterey Bay Aquarium!" "We have a tranquil setting backed by acres of woods." "Because we have private hot tubs in every room, people love to book us for anniversaries.") You can always post questions you've developed (as a user) and have other employees post them too, so you can answer them.

After that, I would make sure your TripAdvisor is up to date and that you have responded to any reviews.

If you have email addresses for people staying with you, send them an email with a bounceback offer if they book direct. This is another way to get them to book direct.

I helped develop a program to help hotels get more direct bookings, which has much more information than I've put here. I am no longer in that industry but I would be happy to share more information via PM if you would like.
posted by rednikki at 3:08 PM on September 27, 2021 [2 favorites]

Piggybacking off of the persona comments, once you know what people are coming to your hotel for (weddings, conventions, ski season, etc.) making special hotel packages for those types of occasions that are only available through direct booking and then share that info through relevant social media and on your website. Could be a good way to boost your SEO and increase direct bookings. (Side note: fully agree that Google My Business, while a little frustrating, is worth the time to figure it out. The occasional boosted post on Facebook to a very specific audience can also be a good use of time and money.)

If you have the bandwidth to forge community partnerships, even better. "Ski season special: discount of X% for Y nights" could become "Ski season special: discount of X% for Y nights, discounted admission coupon to Important Local Ski Location and gourmet hot chocolate from Local Cocoa Company". I feel like smaller hotels can sometimes manage this a little easier than larger chain locations.
posted by helloimjennsco at 6:56 AM on September 28, 2021