The common content style most hoteliers adopt is the display of the facilities and rooms in their hotel. While this is, no doubt, essential, it is not a strong emotional trigger. What you need is something that strikes viewers’ emotions. Something that makes them desire a first-hand experience of your hotel.
Do you know how people search for hotels nowadays?
They visit hotel search/booking platforms to find hotels in their destination. Once they find some names, they head to Instagram to check the hotels out.
Why Instagram? Because they know that's where they can find pictures and video-proofs of the quality of the hotel they're taking.
What does this mean for hoteliers? It means Instagram can be used to attract guests to your hotel, provided you know what to post to impress searchers.
How to use Instagram to woo hotel searchers
1. Showcase what it feels like to be in your hotel
The common content style most hoteliers adopt is the display of the facilities and rooms in their hotel. While this is, no doubt, essential, it is not a strong emotional trigger.
What you need is something that strikes viewers’ emotions. Something that makes them desire a first-hand experience of your hotel.
What are some examples of this?
Instead of posting just your bedrooms, showcase the uncommon experience someone is having in it. Instead of showing just your gym, showcase how your instructors are helping people freely. In your yoga or spa rooms, let viewers see the extra efforts you put into creating awesome experiences.
2. Once in a while, tell a story
Every post doesn’t have to follow the same theme. You can take a new direction by trying story-theme posts.
Thankfully, Instagram has reels and stories. Now and then, you can create carousel-style stories that feature a story of a day in the life of a guest in your hotel – moving from bed to the bathroom, down to the pool, back to the room, then to the tennis court, spa room, etc.
This kind of story-type post will always spark a desire in the minds of viewers.
3. Get lots of engagement on your posts
When it comes to hotel pages on IG, people don’t just check posts and head out. They stay to read the comments and interactions. They want to see whether someone has been in that hotel before. And if so, what was their experience? How legit are the posts on the page; are the proclaimed guests actual guests or some staff pretending to be guests?
In short, hotel searchers seek social proof. So, you have to give it to them.
How do you provide this? You start by buying lots of Instagram followers. When you buy Instagram followers, it sets the tone for more organic followers to follow. When they do, your overall follower count grows, giving rise to more interactions on your posts.
Remember, if you have 10k followers, the chances of getting likes and comments on your posts are higher than if you have just 1k followers.
4. Post testimonials from guests
As we said in the previous section, social proof is critical on Instagram. And another way to get it is via customer feedback and testimonials.
So, ensure you train your staff on how to strike compelling conversations with guests to get testimonials. You can then post these testimonials on your IG page.
You can also convince a guest (with an incentive, of course) to make a post on IG about their experience, tagging your hotel in the process. You will then screenshot this post from the guest's page and repost it on your page. That's another way to get social proof.
5. Tell the story behind your business
Every business has a story behind it. Unfortunately, we ignore these stories in our content marketing strategy. You’ll be surprised at how intrigued prospective guests can be by your hotel’s story.
Whether that is a story about the building architecture, history of the town/city, source of a particular facility, rationale behind some the installation or removal of a facility, the friendly people who work in your hotel, the special experiences only your property provides.
Just think of any intriguing story and tell it.
6. Promote local attractions
Hoteliers sometimes forget that most guests visiting their establishments aren’t just coming to sleep and explore their facilities. Some of them would like to explore the local community, too.
But that's only if they know there's something catchy or attention-grabbing in the community. This is why it's essential to promote fascinating spots or destinations in your immediate community.
7. Never forget to showcase the latest stuff
Did you just update your swimming pool? Added a new lounge area? Renovated your conference room to feature the latest designs and amenities? Did your hotel just land an award? If so, feel free to share the milestone with your IG followers.
This kind of stuff can make your establishment attractive and appealing to someone exploring your page for the first time.
