Armin Gögele, last updated on August 16, 2023
Social Media Marketing (SMM) for hotels offers the opportunity to interact directly with (potential) guests and to communicate information and impressions of the hotel on various social media channels. A social media channel allows guests to share their experiences and memories on the platforms and to link the hotel. This increases the hotel's reach and promotes emotional guest loyalty.
Types of social media marketing for hotels
Social media marketing for hotels includes both paid advertising and organic posting of content on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest or TikTok.
Organic Social Media Marketing Hotel
This refers to the regular posting of textual and visual (i.e. photographic and especially video) content on the hotel's own social media channels.
Paid Social Media Marketing Hotel Social media advertising is the placement of targeted advertisements on social media platforms. These can have different objectives, such as booking a hotel room, subscribing to or following the social media account, or generating guest data (lead generation).
Extend your reach with hotel social media marketing
Hotel marketing on social media is ideal for reaching new audiences. The fact that popular content sometimes goes viral (see viral marketing) - i.e. is often shared - significantly increases the reach. In this way, the hotel receives more attention, which also generates more inquiries for reservations.
The most important questions about hotel social media marketing
Which platforms can be used for hotel social media marketing?
All channels where the hotel's target audience is most likely to be active are suitable for social media marketing. These include
Instagram and
Facebook, but
TikTok is also interesting for the hotel industry. If you mainly have room reservations from business clients or are looking for hotel staff for specific positions, LinkedIn is also a good platform for social media marketing (see
Social media recruitment campaign).
What are the goals of social media marketing for a hotel?
The overall goal of all marketing efforts is to maximize profits and increase revenue through increased bookings. To achieve this goal, social media marketing for hotels specifically serves to increase reach, brand awareness and
lead generation. In addition, social media marketing can create positive
guest loyalty through interaction with the target audience.
What is Social Media Marketing for Hotels?
Social media marketing for hotels refers to the interaction with potential guests on social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok and Pinterest. This form of
online marketing can be used with both organic content and paid advertising in the hotel industry. With targeted, audience-based posts, you can reach potential guests who are interested in your hotel and its offerings without paid advertising. The focus is on increasing reach and awareness of the hotel, as well as building a community.
What is social media marketing for hotels?
Social media marketing for hotels primarily consists of posting content that is relevant to the target audience, evokes emotions and informs about possible offers. It also focuses on direct
interaction with the target audience and potential guests. Depending on the social media platform and algorithm, there are certain specifications regarding the frequency and type of posts that organically increase the reach of hotels through these channels.
How can social networks be used correctly in hotel marketing?
The most popular social media channels allow the creation of groups or channels on the platform. This allows hotels not only to communicate very directly with their own community, but also to reach potential prospects and guests with targeted posts. Through interaction on social media, guests often post pictures of their holiday and link back to the hotel and its social media page. This increases the hotel's reach, especially through positive guest experiences and reviews.
How important is social media marketing for hotels?
With social media now covering all age groups and platforms, it is imperative that hoteliers take advantage of social media for their own hotel marketing. Increasing reach and awareness is not only comparatively easy with today's social media, but also incredibly effective.
What is Online Marketing and Social Media Marketing?
The term online marketing covers all types of marketing that can be used online. Social media marketing is a sub-category of organic and paid advertising. Marketing methods such as
SEO or
email marketing also fall into the organic marketing category, as no active advertising money is involved. PPC marketing refers to the paid advertising that can be done through social media as well as search engines such as
Google or YouTube.
