7 online marketing measures for hotels

Why do you need online marketing?

Online marketing has become an integral part of the tourism industry. The days when customers booked their vacation using catalogs from travel agencies are long gone. In 2018, 65% of all trips in Germany were booked online. And even if they do not book online, the majority of customers still obtain information beforehand via the Internet. That is why a hotel's presence on the Internet and on social media is very important.

Nevertheless, many underestimate the effectiveness of online marketing or do not know how to develop a suitable strategy. It often falls by the wayside because there is a lack of time and knowledge.

It is very important for your hotel that you engage in active online marketing in order to be able to increase your number of customers and retain existing customers. That is why we have put together 7 measures for you with which you can easily do good online marketing.

1. Design a website

The hotel's own website presents it on the Internet, so professional design is important. They enable you to control how your hotel is perceived by customers. But not all websites are the same. There are a few things you need to consider so that the website is well received.

On the one hand, it must be technically flawless. Too long loading times or error messages annoy the customer and cause them to leave the site again. You can improve loading times, for example, by resizing images. You should also keep in mind that many people are now also surfing with their smartphones. Accordingly, you must optimize the page for small screens.

The design of the page must of course also be appealing. Long blocks of text should be avoided. Instead, use enumerations and insert pictures. The images must always be of good and professional quality and match the subject matter of the content.

The functionality must also be fulfilled. The website should ultimately offer customers added value. Tools that every website should provide include, for example, a contact form and the option to book or reserve directly. This ensures that potential customers also take action when the website is convincing. You can find more tips for successful web design in our blog articles on top of that.

2. Search engine marketing

To ensure that your website is now also found, it is important that it is ranked among the best results in search engines. One way to do this is with Google Ads. These are paid ads that rank at the top of matching Google queries. This ensures that potential prospects are guaranteed to be made aware of your site. You should design the ad title and ad text in a way that sparks interest and people actually click on it.

If you want to save yourself the costs of Google Ads, etc., you can easily get further up by optimizing your website for search engine optimization. First, you should research and define relevant keywords. There are various tools for this, an example would be Ubersuggest. This tool provides a list of keywords and their search volume. The keywords that you finally decide on should appear on the website as often as possible. But it must under no circumstances appear artificial and the reading flow should not be disturbed as a result. Because even though the content should be optimal for Google, it is still people who read it.

Since Google prefers pages with a good structure, it is advisable to include internal links. These are links on your website that lead to another area of your site. This not only helps visitors find their way around your site, but Google also rates the page better.

3. Collect positive reviews

Reviews are an important online marketing tool for giving a better image on the Internet. Nowadays, customers usually trust statements from previous guests more than the information that you provide as an operator. Conversely, this means for you that it is important to get your satisfied guests to leave a positive review for you.

You can do this by letting your guests know that they'll rate you if they enjoyed it. You should also interact with your guests. As often as possible, thank customers who have given a positive review. And should negative feedback arise, it is all the more important to deal with it professionally. Respond to criticism by thanking you for suggestions and agreeing to follow up on them. Always be factual and apologize to the guest when appropriate.

With the WiFi marketing package from Socialwave You can automatically get positive reviews. Every guest who logs in is asked to leave a review. In doing so, the system filters out negative reviews and forwards them to you as unpublished feedback.

4. Use Google My Business (GMB)

Another important online marketing measure is Google My Business. GMB is a Google platform that makes it possible to link company information with various Google services, such as Google Maps and Google Search, and access it directly via a dashboard. The customer receives all important information about your hotel at a glance, sees your pictures and can view reviews on Google. The entry gives your hotel a public presence on Google and Google Maps and can therefore be found more quickly.

To get the most out of this feature, there are a few things to consider:

• Provide current and complete information
• Use selected keywords to connect search to your homepage
• Use the questions and answers feature
• Only upload high-quality images
• Use features such as the booking function

For more information on how to use GMB and what to look out for, visit our blog articles Read about Google My Business

5. Use platforms

Many Internet users are tired of spending a long time finding out about providers themselves on the web and comparing them. That is why a lot of use is made of online comparison platforms such as Booking.com or Trivago. These pages have seen a huge increase in popularity in recent years. Among other things, because they provide a good overview of existing hotels that match the customer's search queries. This makes the selection easier. Many platforms also offer the option of booking directly through them, which many customers also like to use. This provides them with maximum comfort and speed.

To ensure that customers also notice you here, a listing in these portals is essential. Because more and more customers book exclusively via these platforms, your presence is also very important here. The better your rating there is, the higher up you will be shown. Since customers often don't even bother to look at your website anymore, you should present your hotel on these platforms as you would on your website. In other words, all relevant information must be available. These must be complete and always up to date. Photos of your rooms and complex must also be available in good quality.

6. Social media content marketing

When it comes to online marketing, social media should of course also be included. For successful social media marketing, you and your hotel should be active on at least the most common platforms Instagram and Facebook. Depending on the target group, other platforms are also useful.

Content marketing means that content is provided with added value. Instead of simply advertising the product or service, you attract the attention of the target group through contributions that are interesting to them. Pure advertising posts are usually not very well received and rarely result in users subscribing to the channel. Only when users are interested in your posts will they follow your channel so they don't miss any more news.

There are a few things to consider when creating content. Your contributions should always be tailored to your target group and authentic. You should always address topics that might interest your customers. Photos must always be of professional quality and look attractive. It's best if all the photos on your channel fit together in a certain way. However, reality must not be distorted by too much editing. You should also post regularly. This is the only way they can have an effect.

It is best to think of a strategy in advance that will best reach your target group. You then use this strategy to generate regular content. Examples of interesting content include:

• Appealing photos of the rooms and the hotel complex
• Sights/attractions in the area
• Current catering offers
• Deals/ offers
• Glimpses behind the scenes

You should also always strive to reach more reach on your channel. Sweepstakes, for example, are an effective way to draw more people's attention to your channel. As a condition of participation, your followers must share your post, which also draws the attention of all their followers to your post. This makes it very easy to get more reach and new users who see your content.

7. Collaborations with influencers

Collaboration with influencers is a slightly more expensive but very effective way to also gain more reach. Nowadays, they are considered one of the most promising advertising methods. Influencers post content about their lives, the products they use and where they travel. In doing so, you always make your followers aware of how desirable the promoted content is and thus subconsciously influence it. This method has already created several tourism hotspots, which have become extremely well known as a result. Unknown places suddenly became destinations for thousands of people simply because influencers posted photos of them.

Of course, you can also make use of this with your hotel. When they work with influencers, you can drastically increase your exposure. By posting pictures of how good their stay at your hotel was, this is advertising for you. These are then seen by an extremely large number of people, usually from the right target group. Influencers are therefore an efficient way to gain more awareness, and thus more reach, and to find new customers.

It is very easy to enter into collaborations with influencers through specially designed agencies. You should consider in advance which target group you would like to address. Depending on this, you should then choose the appropriate partner. There are differences in the number of followers, the area of promoted content and the target group.

conclusion

As you have seen in this blog article, there are a variety of measures that help achieve effective online marketing. If you implement all measures together in a marketing strategy, you can achieve the best possible results. It doesn't always have to be paid advertising, but there are also a variety of options free of charge for you. Even though it always takes time, it will be worthwhile and you will see results after just a short time if you actively take care of your online presence.

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