Facebook marketing for hotels has grown to new heights in recent years as social media sites continue to showcase the ability to reach a massive, worldwide audience. Put simply: If your property isn’t taking advantage of Facebook marketing, you’re probably missing out on a ton of revenue opportunities. That's where this guide comes in.
In this post, we'll walk you through Facebook marketing for hotels. We take a deep dive into why advertising on social media matters, explore how to create successful marketing content, provide resources to help assist you along the way, and much more.
If you’re not personally a fan of social media, you may be asking yourself, “Do I really need a Facebook page for my hotel? Is it worth the time and effort?” Well, yes. It is. Still the most popular social media site in the world, an estimated 1.8 billion people are active on Facebook each day. The expansive audience size and potential revenue pool should put Facebook marketing near the top of your priority list when it comes to maximising your hotel's digital marketing efforts.
Key benefits of Facebook marketing for hotels
Through content management, demographic targeting, and customisable ad campaigns, hotels that utilise Facebook successfully are able to accomplish numerous goals at once. In fact, hotels that commit to Facebook marketing:
- Stay more connected to guests by encouraging and responding to feedback.
- Build brand awareness and promote company goals by sharing core values, tracking improvements, and providing brand content.
- Expand their audience reach and drive more business to their property through captivating CTAs.
- Promote packages, discounts, and exclusive rates that increase occupancy and boost revenue.
- Increase guest loyalty by providing value-based content for their online audience.
In the digital transformation era, where social media dominates our information stream, Facebook continues to prove that it's an invaluable resource for hotels.
Creating and maintaining a Facebook Business Page
To create a Facebook Business Page, you will need a personal page first. Once your profile is set up, simply choose “Create New Page” from the drop-down menu and get started. From there, you will choose a business category, enter your property information, and add photos and other content before sending out invites and building your online audience.
To build a Facebook Business Page that generates traffic and drives business to your hotel, follow these guidelines:
- Include current contact information.
- Include location to boost search results.
- Ensure property information is accurate and consistent across all platforms.
- Include professional-level photos.
- Add a “property tour” video, panoramas, or a 360 carousel view of the hotel.
- Use a professional, accessible voice in your posts.
- Link other online platforms and hotel listings to your page. Include TripAdvisor, your Instagram account, and your Cvent venue profile.
Create a tempting profile that captures attention and makes viewers want to see more.
5 of the most impactful Facebook marketing features
Facebook is an incredibly user-friendly platform that provides ample information and tutorials for every content feature they include. Creating a full, content-rich profile will give your property a professional appearance and encourage viewers to spend more time on your page as they explore.
- Posts. Regularly provide information about hotel improvements, policy changes, staff highlights, amenities, and so on. Share images of team celebrations, satisfied guests, and hotel sales efforts. For small sales teams, or marketing managers with packed calendars, scheduled posting will be a lifesaver. Schedule content to post ahead of time during busy seasons, vacations, or other times that regular updating may become difficult.
- Promos. Share content that promotes overnight packages, all-inclusive meeting options, or discount and promotional booking codes. Consider offering an exclusive discount code to help track the success of Facebook conversions. For example: “Use code FBK10 to receive an exclusive 10% discount for your 2-night stay this fall”
- Stories. On average, adults have an attention span that lasts between 8-12 seconds. As a result, Facebook stories have become an ideal online marketing tool that promotes and maintains customer engagement. Add and update Facebook stories to provide viewers with quick snippets of engaging content. In addition to capturing attention, short videos can help travellers get a sense of your property’s enthusiasm level and dedication to service.
- Events. Use Facebook to promote events taking place at your property or in the local community. Pay close attention to page updates from top accounts, local attractions, area demand drivers, and local tourism pages. Your area Chamber of Commerce likely shares relevant news and event information on their page regularly. RSVP to local networking events, fundraisers, and mixers. You can also view the guestlist for events ahead of time. By scanning the list of RSVPs beforehand, you’ll give yourself the opportunity to prepare targeted marketing materials.
- Reviews. Read and respond to hotel reviews consistently. While it’s not necessary to respond to every single review, hotels should strive to respond to at least 40% of guest feedback, and always respond to negative reviews. Address concerns and offer a constructive response in return. Be kind, courteous, and gracious in your response. Additionally, including a linked logo in hotel email signatures or other online listing sources will help drive guests to your Facebook profile. Share outstanding guest reviews and encourage your in-house guests to leave a review on Facebook as well.
Free Facebook advertising
Facebook offers a variety of paid advertising services, but there are simple, free ways to improve your online presence and audience reach. By incorporating a few simple strategies, you can greatly increase your online audience presence without spending precious marketing dollars.
- Post new content regularly. Keep your feed current, clean, and engaging. Posting regular status updates, sharing industry information, or promoting local events will ensure you stay relevant in user feeds.
- Tag people, businesses, and events in your area. By tagging appropriate company pages, individuals, and events, you’re increasing your page’s reach. Not only will status updates and shared content show up on the hotel’s main feed, it will also be shared on the feed of those tagged, depending on the user’s privacy settings.
- Research and include trending hashtags. Try to stay up-to-date on trending hashtags, especially related to the hospitality and tourism industry. When relevant and appropriate, include trending industry hashtags or popular local hashtags in your posts to extend its reach. Don’t spam your users with endless hashtags. Instead, continue to strive for valuable content production.
- Promote content sharing. Create on-site campaigns to help drive online marketing and guest engagement. Set up a chalkboard in the hotel lobby with the “hashtag of the week” to encourage guests to post on social media. Create a thematic photobooth for special event weekends or encourage guests to share any fitness goals they may hit during their stay.
- Advertise interactive giveaways and contests. Hold online contests and giveaways on your Facebook page. For entry, encourage guests to like your page, share your post, and include a titbit of information, like their favourite breakfast item, for a chance to win. Include prizes like a “free night’s stay in a suite.” Announce the winner on social media as well, creating a through line of engaging content.
As new hotels continue to be built, travel patterns evolve, and hotel marketing budgets change, revenue managers are finding themselves looking for any and all affordable marketing opportunities. By amping up your no-cost marketing efforts, your hotel will be able to allocate larger portions of your marketing budget to more expensive campaigns, yielding significant ROI.
Paid Facebook advertising
While free Facebook marketing options for hotels are highly beneficial, the paid options they offer are notably customisable and easy to use. By setting up paid advertising campaigns through Facebook Ads Manager, hotel managers are able to create, target, and track online campaigns all in one place.
Available on your desktop or through the Ads Manager mobile app, hotels can use this tool to:
- Create and customise engaging, targeted advertisements.
- Specify when and where ad campaigns run.
- Manage ad schedules.
- Edit ads at any time.
- Stay in control of ad budgets.
- Track campaign performance.
- Choose from extensive demographic targeting criteria.
- Boost ads to increase audience reach and post-performance.
- Run ad campaigns on Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and Audience Network.
Consider setting aside a portion of your marketing budget for paid Facebook advertisements. Research the most commonly used ad styles for your brand, note what ads your competition are running, and scan online ads for properties that offer similar amenities. Use Facebook Business Manager to run multiple ad campaigns, allow multi-user access, and secure your pages.
9 ways to optimise Facebook marketing for hotels
With a firm understanding of the benefits that Facebook marketing for hotels can provide, implement these best practices to hone your online marketing strategies.
- Pinpoint your ideal audience. Review revenue data and performance reporting to identify your most profitable market segments over different seasons. Analyse length of stay patterns, occupancy fluctuations, and need dates. Identify the ideal audiences for your property and create marketing campaigns designed to target them.
- Set goals and track campaign performance. Facebook records and tracks various performance metrics including post reach, overall engagement, clicks, comments, likes, shares, etc. Set overall marketing goals and goals for individual campaigns and regularly track performance to weed out unsuccessful strategies.
- Post content that aligns with brand identity and company goals. Share and post content that supports your brand ideals, the goals of your management company, and displays a welcoming environment.
- Include targeted SEO keywords to boost search engine results. Include high-volume, low competition keywords and phrases that will help your Facebook business page appear higher in search results. Cross promote your social media sites on listing sites like TripAdvisor, Yelp, or Hotels.com to help drive traffic to social platforms and business pages.
- Target event planners. Advertise group discounts, concessions, available event space, and amenities to appeal to planners. Spending a little more time on targeted event marketing can go a long way with decision makers.
- Utilise Facebook’s ad targeting options. Whether you’re advertising seasonal travel discounts for ski resort-goers or advertising to bridal parties, Facebook allows users to specify ad criteria to ensure campaigns are targeted at the ideal demographic Select your target audience based on age, occupancy, location, and many other menu items.
- Write quick, eye-catching headlines. Avoid writing long, essay-like posts or including unnecessary fluff in online content.
- Promote property-specific features, benefits, and amenities. No matter where we’re marketing, we’re always trying to outsell the competition. Include detailed information that sets you apart from other hotels in the area.
- Take advantage of custom tabs. Once your Facebook page reaches 2,000+ likes, you will be able to create custom page tabs allowing you to further customise your content.
Frequently asked questions about Facebook marketing for hotels
- What is a Facebook travel ad? Facebook travel ads, or DATs, allow hotels to create marketing campaigns that run across multiple platforms and devices. These ads employ intent signals shared by devices to automatically promote relevant content. They can be scared across Facebook, Instagram, and Audience Network.
- How much do Facebook ads cost? The cost of your ad campaign will be based on the budget you provide. For example, a £5 budget will run until the cost reaches £5.
- Should I promote my hotel on Facebook? Yes! As long as you have a hotel manager or staff member responsible for page maintenance, responses, and content updates, you should be running a page for your property.
- Can you book a hotel room on Facebook? Hotels can integrate a booking engine app into their Facebook Business Page. The integrated application makes it easy for travellers to book directly while perusing your profile. Hotels can add a “Reservations” tab or include a “Book Now” button.
Now you know all about Facebook marketing for hotels!
Up next, boost your digital marketing efforts even more by checking out our guides to hotel SEO and hotel content marketing.
