Social Media in Hospitality: Why Your Hospitality Business Needs to Care
Social media dominates the lives of your main demographic - the millennials. Discover why using social media in hospitality is the key to future success.
Last week, we gave you all the details about the millennial generation, and why they’re such an important demographic to pay attention to. This week, we’re following on from this, by diving into their main stomping ground - social media.
Social media is an ever-increasing phenomenon, which is shaping the lives of almost everyone. In fact, in 2018, 78 percent of US adults said they used some form of social media, with YouTube and Facebook being the most popular platforms.
Falling within these stats are the millennials, who trump every other generation in their social media usage. Their lives are dominated by social media, showing that, ultimately, they are your main end users in any business.
This just goes to show the importance of social media for advertisement, especially within the holiday park and resort industry. Find out how you can use social media to attract your largest demographic, and get your FREE ticket to the show to start changing the face of your business!
Why Do Millennials Want Social Media Interaction?
As we discussed last week, millennials crave a strong link with hospitality brands. They want to be made to feel special, and will show no brand loyalty, unless they receive an out-of-this-world experience.
Building a personalised relationship with your millennial customers is simpler than it sounds. Social media is the answer you’ve been searching for, developing brand awareness, and an accessible interface.
Not only does social media help to build your brand image and create personal links, it also makes booking a lot simpler. People are lazy, and with their mobile phones constantly at hand, they can book their hotel with a click of a button. By providing apps, social media, and easy-to-use websites, you’ll reduce problems with web navigation.
Top Ways to Harness Social Media in Hospitality
Social media in hotels and other hospitality offerings is instrumental in drawing in millennials to keep up with the competition. Looking for some inspiration on how to enhance your online presence to engage this generation? Well, that’s what we’re here for! Take a look...
Use Other Companies For Marketing
Ever heard of TripAdvisor? This is one of a number of online communities that not only help customers make choices, but also help hotels, and the like, gain a positive online reputation.
It may come as no surprise to you that hotels are much more likely to develop trust with existing and new customers through this. In fact, customers are 270 percent more likely to buy a product with 5 or more reviews (read more stats here).
So, it’s clear that building a strong relationship with online review sites, and maintaining positive reviews throughout, will improve your online presence.
Restaurant and Room Reservations
Did you know that over 60 percent of people intensely fear talking over the phone? It doesn’t stop there, though, as social anxieties, like this, amongst millennials are actually on the (discover more about this by clicking here or here)! These huge statistics could be severely affecting over-the-phone bookings, for both restaurants and hotels.
So, in this day and age, the importance of providing booking alternatives has never been more important. This includes online payments, with a mobile-optimised interface, for ease-of booking. Through ensuring online bookings are made accessible, you could improve rates more than you may think!
Mobile Technology
One of our top tips for boosting your social presence is to ensure your mobile image is user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing. This can be done in a number of ways:
- Make sure your website is clickable, and looks nice in a mobile configuration.
- Become affiliated with all the usual social media sites, including Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
- Set up a user-friendly app for your customers to use on their visit. Take TUI, for example, who ensure their customers have access to all the necessary information, room service options, activity times, and so much more, right on their phones! You can even get direct feedback through these apps, saving time for both you and your customers.
- Provide mobile bookings.
Maintain a Social Presence
Millennials are the top users of social media, playing a huge part in their lives, and the way they view the world. This means that keeping on top of the latest hospitality trends is just one element of keeping them interested.
The main way is by ensuring your presence on all the important social media sites is curated. This can be done in a number of ways, but it’s all about knowing your audience.
Trial and error is often the key here; if you know that your customers love an edited landscape, post images like this, but if they prefer photos of luxurious rooms, go down this route more often.
Above all, though, it’s down to you, and responding is the best way to maintain your presence. Interact with your customers, and the latest trends and news, and you’ll become a hot topic.
Support Tech Needs During Customer Stays
It’s no secret that millennials are a tech savvy generation. Their mobile phones are almost attached to their hips! So, making sure they can access this technology on your premises is super important. Free WiFi here we come!
Linking Up With Your Customers Has Never Been Easier...
Inspired by what we have to say? We’d love to see you at our Holiday Park & Resort Innovation Show, on 6th-7th November 2019 at the NEC Birmingham.
Your FREE ticket to the show will get you access to even more inspiration for industry innovation. Find out more about the future trends in Digital Marketing for holiday parks from our fantastic speaker, David Lakins from Key Digital.
Want to get even more involved? Join our collection of fantastic exhibitors by contacting our Event Director, William Mansfield, at william.mansfield@prysmgroup.co.uk, or call +44 (0)7723 058 074. We’ll see you there!
