By Maiya Wall / Pipeline Social Media
We have been devouring all of the New Year’s themed blogs that predict what trends and practices will be the new to-do in the world of social media. We’ve been taking it all in and deciding what new practices and perspectives will help us serve our clients best.
If we can throw our ring into the hat, we have one suggestion for something hotels can do to boost engagement—post more. It doesn’t sound revolutionary, but let us explain. We have onboarded hundreds of clients and the one thing that they have in common 99% of the time is this—they were not posting enough. Our critiques are often not so much about the quality of the posts but the quantity. The advice we have to share today is for anyone who has ever had their finger on the publish button but decided not to publish in the end because—
“No one will care about this.” or “This could look better.” or “I don’t have time to make this look better.” If none of those excuses ring a bell, here are a few more reasons that hold people back from posting.
- You don’t see the value in social media
- You don’t have time to create quality posts
- You tried it in the past and did not see the results you were hoping for
- You struggle to post consistently
- You don’t know what to post about
- You don’t feel like keeping up with all of the new trends
- You want all of your content to be perfect before publishing
All of these reasons are valid and do need to be solved to build a social media strategy. But, none of them should stop you from posting to your hotel’s social channels more in 2020.
Why post more?
A content calendar is a marketer’s bread & butter. When we are planning a posting schedule, we don’t just choose what we will post about but when we will post about it. So when we say “post more,” we don’t mean post whenever inspiration strikes with no thought behind it. Timing is a huge factor in your social media strategy. You can create the perfect post, but if your fans aren’t around to see it when the post is active, your message might go unnoticed.
What we do want to encourage you to do in 2020 is to not be paralyzed by all of the reasons that have been holding you back from committing to creating a social media marketing strategy. If you get bogged down trying to perfect your content to death, worrying about the following the latest trends, or fixating on what didn’t work for you in the past, you’ll likely end up not sharing at all or sharing later than you should. A solution to this? Just post. It’s far easier to shift focus than start from scratch after going on a 3-month post-hiatus.
Posting consistently is really the only way to find out what works for you. And when we say “consistently,” we mean posting a set number of times every week. Reading articles about what will bring you the most engagement and trying new tools is great for adding to your knowledge, but don’t let the huge amount of information that is out there trick you into thinking that you don’t already have what you need to begin working on your social presence.
How to post more, not less.
We know that just “posting more” is easier said than done. But, remember, you should aim for improvement not for perfection. Here are a few tips that will help you post with confidence and build a healthy social media presence at the same time.
- Be crystal clear on your brand standards – Decide what kind of photos, tone, and design themes represent your brand best. When you know what everything should look like, it cuts down on having to make too many decisions every time you want to post.
- Decide what you will post about/not post about – Pick the most important topics based on your goals and evaluate later. For example, your hotel could commit to these post topics: user-generated photos, local events, great reviews, and booking specials.
- Know your fans – Creating a posting schedule is simple once you are in tune with what your fans are interested in. Pay attention to questions they ask, posts that get a lot of likes & comments, and posts that they don’t typically engage with. Once you notice a pattern, you’ll know what kind of content really works for you.
- Know when to post – Before posting or scheduling content, check the platform’s native insights to find out the best days and times for sharing. These insights can tell you when your fans are most engaged and likely to interact with your content.
- Pick and stick to your platforms – Are your fans primarily on Instagram & Facebook? Those platforms should get your primary attention. That doesn’t mean you need to drop Twitter if that platform still has value for you. Just resist the urge to try a new platform until you have a clear reason to.
- Collect and share evergreen content – Create and share content that you can repeat. Content that is “evergreen” includes topics that are not time-sensitive and don’t lose relevance over time. Examples for your hotel could be a year-round booking special or photos of a hotel feature that always gets high engagement.
- Work in batches – When you get the opportunity to plan posts, schedule out as many as you can in one sitting.
- Set a timer – In order to better stick to a posting schedule, give yourself a set amount of time to work on a post and then publish or schedule.
- Find inspiration – Stay up-to-date on what is happening in the hospitality industry so that knowledge can inform your social media strategy. What are others in your industry sharing on social media that is working for them? How can you do the same?
- Determine if your team needs additional training – A social media professional can help you tighten up your strategy, teach you how to manage social media ad spend, and market your hotel effectively.
Final Thoughts
We want your posts to have all of the ingredients for reaching your fans. But we also understand that to get to that skill level, you have to actually do the work and learn from mistakes. With that in mind, instead of giving in to post paralysis, give yourself the freedom to post the content and learn as you go. Are you trying new things this year to increase your social media presence? What are you doing to better connect with your fans? Check out 8 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Publishing to Social Media for more insight into social media marketing for hotels.
