CHANGING HOW HOSPITALITY DOES SOCIAL
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In social media’s ever-changing landscape of trends, features, and rollouts, businesses need every advantage they can get. But when you’re constantly bombarded with the latest and greatest, it’s hard to know what tools will be the most effective for your business.

Enter the Facebook pixel, a social media tracking tool and the hospitality industry’s digital best friend. Using a pixel allows you to retarget online audiences, track revenue, and garner invaluable insights into your target market’s planning and booking habits.

But before we get into all the benefits the Facebook pixel can provide, let’s take a look at what it is and how you can use it.

What is the Facebook pixel?

The pixel is a piece of code hooked up to Facebook Ads Manager that is placed on the backend of a website to track website visits, sales conversions, and other analytics based on your paid advertising efforts. When someone visits the website and takes an action—such as booking a room—that conversion triggers the pixel, which then reports that action in Ads Manager.

How it works

Upon a user’s arrival at your website, the pixel drops a cookie into the user’s browser that then tracks their internet behavior. This allows you to “follow them around” with custom advertising and remarketing.

Bonus: The more conversions that happen on your website, the better Facebook’s algorithm gets at delivering your ads to people who are more likely to take those desired actions.

How to use it

To implement the Facebook pixel, the BCV team first sets up the “base code”, the main piece of code that will be dropped into the entire website. After the base code is established, other snippets of code, called “event codes,” are implemented onto specific landing pages. Event codes track certain “events,” or actions, such as “Add to Cart” (when a user adds a hotel room to their cart) or “Purchase Event” (when a user completes an online booking). After the codes are packaged up, we send them off to the client or web team to be implemented.

Another important component is dynamic tracking, which is a feature that tracks how much is spent when booking. Adding dynamic tracking means that the BCV team will be able to pull in the website’s revenue through Facebook Business Manager. (For example, it could track 5 conversions at $10,000 in revenue.)

Once the pixel is launched, you’re set to go on tracking! The pixel will start pulling data right away. To gain concrete, actionable insights, we recommend using the pixel for a few months or over several campaigns.

Why it’s significant

Using Facebook pixels is the best way to track and attribute revenue to social advertising efforts. It’s how we can show the true value of social, as it can track 28 days post-view and post-click (most hotel click tags only track for an average 3-10 days).

The pixel also allows you to retarget a highly qualified and valuable audience who have already shown interest in your property by visiting the website. Users don’t have to necessarily click or engage with an ad, but instead just have to be logged into their Facebook account and navigate to the corresponding property website in order to be included in Facebook’s Remarketing Audiences feature.

The benefits of the pixel

  • Shows confirmed revenue: Adding dynamic tracking will allow you to track confirmed revenue.

  • Collects data and analytics: The pixel collects useful insight, such as room bookings details—how much revenue one particular booking generates, what room types or packages are generating the most revenue, what offers are being used, etc.
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  • Helps in remarketing: Because the pixel lets you track a user’s habits, you can follow them from website to website with targeted ads.

Area of concern: downsides?

There are no downsides to using the pixel: our team does not charge any incremental fee to place the pixel, it doesn’t slow your website down and, because it works separately from a property’s social pages, it won’t affect engagement or visibility on Facebook or Instagram.

The bottom line

Using a Facebook pixel will allow you to better track your audience, see where they’re coming from, and gain insights from their online habits. From there you can tailor ads to follow them around, customize future offers, and leverage your marketing strategy to increase revenue. With all the benefits and none of the disadvantages, there’s no reason not to incorporate the Facebook pixel into your social marketing strategy.

THREADS, TEXT-BASED POSTS AND THE EVOLUTION OF X

The one thing that is constant in the social media marketing world is that it is always changing–and at a rapid pace. In recent months we’ve seen the  launch of new platform Threads, a shift in  TikTok’s product update allowing for text-only content, and a rebrand of Twitter to X. These three emerging trends are intertwined and can be seen as new threats to X. Analysts believe the rebrand to X (and doing away with all words associated with the brand, such as “Tweet”) wiped out billions in global brand awareness value. Did it also leave X vulnerable?

TREND #1 | THE SURPRISING RISE OF TEXT-BASED POSTS

Threads and TikTok text might be a reflection of a consumer shift that is bigger than a single platform. Yes, they mimic the simplest of X posts. But another reason we’re seeing more of these simple posts is that people are consuming content at an accelerated pace. And brands can’t keep up. Businesses need to create more fresh content rapidly. Text-based posts are an answer. And the new Threads and TikTok shift are moving to fill that void too.

TREND #2 | VIDEO CONTENT THAT SECURES ENGAGEMENT

Even with the rise of text-based messages, video formats continue to rule. We’re well beyond YouTube, with Reels on IG, the incredible number of TikTok views, and the adoption of video across all platforms. Today, we live in a world where video consumption dominates the attention of consumers. The result has been the ongoing evolution of the types of videos and their formats.

The biggest change in the last few years has been the advent of short videos. Due to brief attention spans, the ideal video duration now falls within the range of 21 to 35 seconds–and getting shorter. By tailoring your videos to fit within this timeframe, you can boost completion rates, ensuring better absorption of your message and increased engagement.

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TREND #3 | ALL IN ON AI

AI is becoming integral to the functionality and growth of social media platforms. AI integrations are enabling platforms to deliver more personalized, engaging, and secure experiences to users, while also supporting their business models through more effective advertising and data-driven insights. Below are some ways that social platforms are leveraging AI to shift their products and user experience.

Meta | Content Recommendation and Personalization: Meta uses AI algorithms to analyze user behavior, preferences, and interactions with content.

Snapchat | Ad Targeting: Snapchat’s advertising platform uses AI algorithms to deliver ads to users who are most likely to engage with them based on their behavior and interests.

LinkedIn | Job Recommendations: AI algorithms on LinkedIn recommend job listings to users based on their skills, experience, and job preferences.

Universally, platforms are leveraging AI to enhance the business, creator, and consumer experiences. Smart Feed and Content Recommendations personalize feeds, helping users researching luxury properties find the next layer of content on their journey. Also important for hotels, messaging, and chatbots suggest responses to messages and connection requests, which save users time and make communication more efficient. With much of the luxury travel global, Language Translation helps users communicate with people who speak different languages. And that’s just the beginning. Expect to see more features introduced at a quick pace. But also expect the expertise of humans to step into all of the AI-generated products to keep the content and conversations authentic.

TREND #4 | SOCIAL HASHTAGS AS A SEARCH ENGINE

Move over, Google. In 2024, we anticipate a persistent trend where social media platforms solidify their position as the primary and preferred search engines. Instead of keywords, Hashtags drive discovery by categorizing and organizing content, making it easier for users to find posts related to specific topics or interests. Or trends. Because the #hashtag is also an indicator of velocity that is important to those who want to see what’s hot.

When users click on or search for a hashtag, they’re presented with a feed of posts that include the trending content associated with that hashtag. This allows them to explore and engage with content that aligns with their interests, even if they don’t follow the account that posted it.  Additionally, popular hashtags can increase the visibility of a post, as they may appear in trending or explore sections, reaching a wider audience and driving more discovery.

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EXCITING TIMES FOR EXPLORERS 

The constant evolution of social media trends and products, and improved intelligence, has elevated the luxury social media experience. Consumers are served ever-more accurate information. They are guided through the journey, picking up details at every stop. Creating content in the current formats and connecting it to the consumption habits of your audience will let their discovery process lead to your property. Try a text-based post. Then tell the story in a video.  And don’t be afraid to ‘hashtag hi-jack’ a trend that is relevant to your property or location!

A, B, C. Always Be Communicating

The media landscape is evolving faster than ever. Every few months (or weeks), a new wave of products, tools, and strategies rolls in, and the tide is always high. Hotels now have the opportunity to deploy a multi-tiered approach to their social strategy, allowing frequent communications across multiple channels.

Platform Update: Instagram and Facebook

You may have read that the amount of time spent on Instagram has decreased since 2020. However, large numbers of users continue to join the platform. Because time spent has decreased, it’s critical to be strategic when planning your content. Your content mix should include a healthy combination of video and static images. Defining your content pillars will help Meta find your business’s correct place within the algorithm. Since users are closing out of Instagram faster than they have in the past, boosting your posts to push them to the top of the feed is imperative.

Facebook continues to be a great place to market your hotel. The cost of advertising is the lowest among social platforms, and the targeting capabilities are the most extensive. While your target market may no longer be posting to their Facebook feed, that doesn’t mean they’re no longer using the platform. Facebook communities continue to grow YoY. Whether it’s a group for a popular podcast or a neighborhood community, users are visiting Facebook for these pages and increasing opportunities for advertising.

Next Level: TikTok Rising

While time being spent on Instagram has decreased, time being spent on TikTok is increasing. TikTok now leads all platforms in terms of time spent on it per day. Now is the time to define how your hotel fits into the TikTok world. Brands such as Hyatt and Auberge Resorts have recently joined TikTok, opening the door for properties to follow suit. TikTok prioritizes content that feels more authentic vs staged and polished. Successful hotel campaigns include short-form videos taken by associates giving tours of rooms. Partnering with influencers and/or creators is a great way to test the waters of TikTok.

The 3 must-haves to include in a social media scope of work:

  1. Constant Content. All successful social media campaigns begin with strong content. A healthy mix of video and static images will help find your hotel’s placement within the social algorithms. Well-produced assets can lead to successful advertising campaigns, increased engagement, and discovery. This content is effective when captured by your social team but more effective when it is produced by professionals who are immersed in social content. Partnering with influencers and creators provides interesting creative and the added bonus of tapping into their following for increased awareness.

  2. Cross-Channel Customer Service. As you prioritize customer service while guests are within the walls of your hotel, you also need to prioritize across social platforms. Every platform your hotel is present on should feel like an extension of the quality of service received on property. As you have associates available to guests 24×7, you also need monitoring of your social platforms 24×7. With that monitoring comes a game plan for how to address the results of monitoring with guests. That thread ending with a ‘Thank You’ goes a long way to increasing trust for your brand.

  3. Actionable Advertising. All of the most beautiful content in the world won’t achieve your marketing goals if it’s not being seen by anyone. It’s vital to dedicate advertising funds to your social strategy. As the purchase funnel tells us, awareness is the first step to conversion. It is also important to remember to keep paid campaigns changing–not stagnant. Paid media for hotel social media and social commerce is not a ‘set it and forget it’ situation. There are always opportunities to revise and increase returns and a good plan incorporates evolution.

2023 Planning Tips

With budget season upon us, what should hotels be considering for the coming year? As much as we’d love to see all partners try every aspect of social media, the biggest thing to consider going into 2023 planning is your larger marketing objectives. Everything being done on social should be an extension of the efforts being made internally. We recommend keeping Facebook and Instagram as your core platforms, with supplementary platforms added in as they fit. Setting aside funds for additional video production is key going into next year. Strong content is always the first step to achieving all your social media goals. Because the reason your customers go to social media daily is because they crave fresh content. Always Be Communicating, and your brand will always be compelling!

Setting a New Standard

The Holy Grail of social media advertising has always been to test, track, refine and target your ads with total precision. When the Facebook pixel was introduced in 2013, it started the data-gathering revolution and a profound shift in ad targeting. Designed to make the most of your ads across Facebook, and, later, Instagram, Meta pixel data makes sure your ads are seen by the people most likely to engage with your ad and buy your product. It’s powerful tech that allows you to improve your Facebook ad conversion rate and get a better ROI.

What is the Meta Pixel?

The Meta pixel is a lightweight snippet of javascript code that allows us to track website activity. It works by loading a small library of functions that you can use whenever a site visitor takes an action on a specific page (Event) that you want to track (Conversion).

Here are a few ways we’re deploying the newly named (but basically the same) Meta Pixel:

1. Cross-Device Conversion Tracking

The Meta pixel shows you how people interact with your website after seeing your Facebook ad. But, as you’ve no doubt experienced, it also tracks customers across devices. Here’s an example: I saw an ad for a resort in Cancun on my laptop, even though I searched for Cancun resorts on my phone and saved one to view later.

Here, the use case is robust and helps predict buyer behavior along the customer journey. If, for example, people tend first to see your ads on mobile and then switch to a desktop before buying, you have insights into how to build the conversion funnel. Or, if it’s the other way around, this insight can make a case for a refined ad strategy.

2. Meta Retargeting

Meta’s retargeting pixel data and dynamic ads are built to show targeted ads to potential customers who have already visited your site. This can get granular. For example, let’s say someone clicked on an ad, added it to a shopping cart and then abandoned the shopping cart. Or maybe they just added it to a wishlist on your website. Retargeting will show them the exact product they were looking at. As they say in Media 101, it’s all about the impressions. But in Meta Media 101, the impressions, the timing, and the content make the difference.

3. Create Lookalike Audiences

Meta amassed all of its data and came to an AI conclusion. It can use all the pixel targeting data ever assembled to help you create a lookalike audience based on people with similar likes, interests, and demographics as those already interacting with your website. Your potential customer base just blew up!

According to a recent Hootsuite article, “iOS 14.5 will affect the input data for lookalike audiences because the tracked audience the lookalike is based on will shrink. However, because iOS users are in the minority, the lookalike functions will still have plenty of information to work with. You won’t likely notice a major change to functionality here.”

How Other Social Networks Are Shaping Up

It is also important to note that while this article has focused on the Meta Pixel, each of the social networks has a pixel that can provide valuable information. Below are just some of the benefits of installing pixels (on Meta and other networks):

Show your Ads to the Right People: Find new customers or people who have visited a specific page or taken a desired action on your website via remarketing audiences.

Optimize Delivery: Ensure that your ads are shown to the people most likely to book a hotel room or experience.

Measure the Results of Your Ads: By measuring what happens when people see your ads, the Facebook pixel is the only way to measure true return on investment (ROI) and the effect social media advertising has on your business.

Create Custom Audiences: Dynamic ads help you automatically show site visitors the specific products (properties or rooms) they’ve viewed — or related ones— on your website.

Drive More Sales: Set up automatic bidding to reach those most likely to make a purchase or room booking.

Measure Cross-Device Conversions: Understand how your ads help influence conversions across mobile, tablet, and desktop.

Meta Pixel Standard Events

There are 17 most-used Meta pixel events — all set up so that you can copy and paste the event code:

  • Direct Sales

  • Generate Leads

  • Email Registration

  • Add payment info

  • Add to cart

  • Add to wishlist

  • Initiate checkout

  • Search

  • View content

  • Contact

  • Customize product

  • Donate

  • Find a location

  • Schedule an appointment

  • Start a trial

  • Submit an application

  • Subscribe to a paid product or service

Finally, Let’s Talk Pixel ROI

Conversion rates on all of the events listed above are fairly easy to measure. However, you can also add more details to the standard events by adding extra bits of code called parameters. These parameters let you customize events based on ROI factors like:

  • How much a conversion event is worth

  • Predicted long-term value

A future article will discuss that level of pixel tracking on Meta and how to leverage pixels across all of your social networks for ROI. For now, enjoy all of the ways the pixel can optimize your ad campaigns–and even better, prove that the ads are working!

It’s definitely different up here in the mountains. The air is clear. The snow is deep and the stars are bright. Who wouldn’t want to plan a retreat to a higher elevation? However, when it comes to marketing mountain resort travel, there are challenges that can be as steep as the terrain.

Marketing for a mountain resort can be much different than for any other vacation destination. The obstacles can be broken into two unique situations: Off-Season and In-Season.  In the off-season, it can be extremely difficult to attract patrons, especially if skiing is the resort’s primary attraction. Local shopping and restaurant venues may shut down for the season, which complicates the attractiveness of a resort that stays open. Travelers ask, “What are we going to do?”.  In-Season, when winter is in full swing, you’d think booking rooms would be a no-brainer. But the amount of snowfall, the frequency of it, road conditions, temperatures, and off-mountain factors like public health and air travel complicate bookings. In both situations, you’re going to need to deploy an entirely different approach to marketing, and a big part of winning involves how you deploy social.

Social Media Strategy for Mountain Resorts

One of the big reasons that social media is different for mountain resorts as opposed to say, beach resorts, is in the kind of content used to attract customers. Beach resorts repurpose evergreen content that relies on bikinis, sunbathing, and holding hands at sunset. Sure, we have hot tubs and sunsets, but mountain resorts are obliged to use a lot less evergreen content in favor of more in-the-moment content. For example, when that weather radar shows storm clouds approaching, conditions are developing for fresh powder. This information needs to be disseminated on social media immediately to get potential customers to react promptly and make plans for a stay. And because this really is a news flash, it needs to be an all-points social media blitz to get the word out. Luxury mountain resorts need to, well, shout it from the mountain top, but always with consideration for the appropriate high-end target audience.

Best Practices for Mountain Resorts

There is literally no better medium than social media for communicating fast-breaking developments to a large number of people. Here are some great content strategies that are proven winners.

  • Broaden the topics. Sharing updates on snow levels (both high and low levels)  are a huge opportunity to connect to your target. Resorts have felt this more acutely in recent years. But it’s not just ads that are ready to capitalize on large snowfalls. Skiers are information addicts and welcome reports on the terrain that is open, and snow-making technology advancements.

  • Expand the target. Although skiing can skew older, content should not just focus on older, more affluent individuals. It should also take into account families and non-skiers who are tired of being cooped up at home. These people are willing to spend major cash on a luxury booking.

Local shopping and restaurant venues may shut down for the season, which complicates the attractiveness of a resort that stays open. Travelers ask, “What are we going to do?”.  In-Season, when winter is in full swing, you’d think booking rooms would be a no-brainer. But the amount of snowfall, the frequency of it, road conditions, temperatures, and off-mountain factors like public health and air travel complicate bookings. In both situations, you’re going to need to deploy an entirely different approach to marketing, and a big part of winning involves how you deploy social.

Social Media Strategy for Mountain Resorts

One of the big reasons that social media is different for mountain resorts as opposed to say, beach resorts, is in the kind of content used to attract customers. Beach resorts repurpose evergreen content that relies on bikinis, sunbathing, and holding hands at sunset. Sure, we have hot tubs and sunsets, but mountain resorts are obliged to use a lot less evergreen content in favor of more in-the-moment content. For example, when that weather radar shows storm clouds approaching, conditions are developing for fresh powder. This information needs to be disseminated on social media immediately to get potential customers to react promptly and make plans for a stay. And because this really is a news flash, it needs to be an all-points social media blitz to get the word out. Luxury mountain resorts need to, well, shout it from the mountain top, but always with consideration for the appropriate high-end target audience.

Best Practices for Mountain Resorts

There is literally no better medium than social media for communicating fast-breaking developments to a large number of people. Here are some great content strategies that are proven winners.

  • Broaden the topics. Sharing updates on snow levels (both high and low levels)  are a huge opportunity to connect to your target. Resorts have felt this more acutely in recent years. But it’s not just ads that are ready to capitalize on large snowfalls. Skiers are information addicts and welcome reports on the terrain that is open, and snow-making technology advancements.

  • Expand the target. Although skiing can skew older, content should not just focus on older, more affluent individuals. It should also take into account families and non-skiers who are tired of being cooped up at home. These people are willing to spend major cash on a luxury booking.

  • Re-think the concept of snow as if it was a retail product. It’s urgent. It’s only available now. It’s snowing! Retailers already take advantage of text message marketing (SMS marketing) to drive sales. A recent study of 1,100 national retail campaigns found that SMS has 8x the response rate of email. Encouraging past and prospective customers to sign up for text alerts will keep them engaged. Include updates, on snow conditions, events on the ski grounds, promo codes, and special offers.

  • Get in with travel bloggers. It’s a good idea to share insider information about a resort with travel bloggers. They can become walking, talking, blogging evangelists for the resort. Some bloggers have wide audiences and others with smaller followings are known locally and trusted. Both have a place in your outreach.

  • Make more out of all-mountain magic–all year. Promoting all the other activities available at and around a venue is critical. Remember, many skiers also enjoy fishing, camping, hiking, shopping, and sightseeing. Telling them about all of these activities answers the question, “What will I do?”. Also, good to know is that this is largely evergreen content that is not as weather-centric, and can be efficiently used. Make off-season irresistible. Even mud-season could be shown as fun for off-road enthusiasts!

  • Be in the moment. Last-minute stays and staycation offers can be blitzed out when the weather looks ideal. This is true for in-season snow as well as off-season sunshine and is a tactic to deploy across the board. It builds on the importance of having content geared to be in the moment.

  • Set up special seasonal events–especially during the off-season. Events and especially promoting them are an excellent way to attract more visitors at a time when occupancy is typically low. It’s also a great way to increase awareness and showcase all the amazing things there are to do at the resort even off-peak.  Many more people will become aware of the advantages offered by the resort and by the area in general, and it could have a strong positive effect on future occupancy.

  • Don’t overlook Facebook. There are all kinds of special interest groups on Facebook, with some having to do with mountain resorts and mountain activities all year round. A good marketer should take advantage of this opportunity by monitoring and/or maintaining a presence in these groups. This is one more way that in-the-moment conditions can be disseminated, and it can also be a way to generate interest in a particular venue. When group users begin sharing photos and videos of the great time they had at a mountain resort, it can kick the advertising machine into high gear.

I hope you’ll find these ideas and insights useful. Reach out to share your experiences with social and mountains. And until then, please check out these case studies on successful programs for luxury mountain resort marketing:

GENERATING ROI THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

PAID ADVERTISING FOR HOTEL SOCIAL MEDIA

In our recent article sharing insights about crafting the right social mix for your hotel, we covered the approach of basing your hotel’s platform strategy on the Big Three – Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. It’s wise to utilize these three networks to form the backbone of a social media strategy in order to tap into their ability to target a large volume of users and drive reach across massive global audiences.

Yet, the opportunity to integrate supplemental platforms such as Pinterest, YouTube, and LinkedIn is often overlooked by travel marketers. These platforms offer the opportunity to drive deeper targeted messaging among niche audiences and the ability to tap into specific user behaviors. When combined with the ample reach opportunities of the Big Three, a carefully crafted multi-platform social mix can work hard to provide a return on investment by delivering omnichannel messaging throughout a consumer’s journey.

In this article we provide a more detailed look into these secondary platforms, including their key audiences, consumer usage, business capabilities, and available tools to leverage in order to expand your existing social strategy. As a topline visual guide to our strategic approach, BCV has created a Social Landscape Infographic designed specifically for travel marketers.

Pinterest: The Visual Inspiration Platform for Planning

Pinterest behaves differently than other social platforms; rather than being a channel for communication or quick-content sharing, Pinterest’s primary purpose is to aid and inspire Pinners to plan. Users come to the platform to curate Boards filled with ideas and imagery that they use to inform purchase consideration. Pinners typically seek content several months ahead of actual purchase or usage – creating ample opportunities for brands to spot trends as they are forming.

Pinterest’s niche audience sets and visual planning nature create a perfect fit for travel content. Travel is an especially popular category on Pinterest, as users search for destination inspiration, shop for lodging and restaurants, and curate their own boards for upcoming trips. These “future-tripping” Pinners pay close attention to travel influencers who are also active on the platform; many content creators come to the site to brainstorm as well, sharing ideas and concepts within their feeds. Since travel content is typically sought out several months in advance, Pinterest’s trending keywords can help to inform travel marketers of trends that will take shape in coming seasons, which can be used to inform content planning across other platforms and increase discoverability. By using these keywords to shape content strategy, you not only improve your Pinterest presence but leap ahead on other platforms too.

Travel brands can position themselves as inspiration go-tos for Pinterest’s visual discovery engine, and take advantage of Pinterest’s unique linking capabilities. Because the majority of users scroll Pinterest for purchase inspiration, an insight to how the platform is used by consumers, brands have a huge advantage on this platform over others because of its direct correlation with social commerce and shoppable posts.

Unique Selling Points

As an inspiration platform, Pinterest is primed for conversion, with many Pinners making purchases within the app or clicking links to complete purchases via websites. This creates an opportunity to attract travel audiences that are primed and ready to make purchases; travel marketers can intersect target audiences during the inspiration and planning stages, driving them deeper into the consideration funnel.

Brand Tools

Pinterest continues to debut notable tools for brands to leverage, the most valuable being its paid social commerce capabilities. These features allow brands to engage users right where they are seeking inspiration. Some of the current options include:

  • Shopping Ads. Single image ads that appear natively as a sponsored pin.

  • Personalized Collection Ads. A series of multiple photos that presents a range of different images to the user as a native ad.

  • Linked Pins. Brands can directly connect shoppers to their product page when they link their pin to their product.

Best Practices

Pinterest is a powerful tool to build awareness and drive traffic. Brands ready to integrate the platform can follow these tips:

  • Repurpose content. Content created for other marketing efforts can be utilized to build a presence on the platform. Often, content that is up to brand standard for Instagram is also well suited for Pinterest.

  • Post high production value content. Brands on Pinterest must have on-brand profiles that showcase their unique brand personality. Pinners don’t expect content to look “in the moment” or spontaneous. Content should be polished and pretty.

  • Build brand recognition. Ensure that the brand’s profile image/bio, choice of board topics/titles, and Pin content is relevant to current marketing messaging.

  • Optimize with keywords. Utilize trending keywords across the social landscape to inform and optimize your Pin and Board titles and descriptions, to increase searchability and discoverability.

  • Be visually alluring. Every post must have visual appeal. If it doesn’t catch a Pinner’s eye, it will be easy to overlook. Images should not only be high-quality, they should also be interesting and creative.

  • Link to product page. Many Pinners are shopping, so always link all Pins to either the brand website or a specific package or room booking page to drive action.

YouTube: The World’s Video Search Engine

As the world’s second-largest search engine, YouTube is as much about discovery as it is about video consumption. Brands that place their video content within the platform have a greater chance of discoverability based on the immersive, never-ending loop of content that consumers digest daily. By appearing in relevant search results here, travel marketers can boost their chances of engaging new audiences and potentially earning direct bookings.

During the pandemic YouTube usage skyrocketed, with a wide range of audiences (from Boomers to Gen-Z) turning to the platform for multiple reasons, including immersive experiences, escapism, and education. Many users who were dreaming of future travel possibilities took to the platform to consume travel content, creating a giant area of opportunity for travel brands to highlight their property and generate awareness for future purchase consideration.

Unique Selling Points

As the second-largest search engine in the world, YouTube is a unique way to filter the world through keyword-specific videos. By making your brand discoverable through video, YouTube offers a way for travel brands to showcase their destinations and expertise to provide value in an entirely new way. YouTube is also incredibly bingeable, as the algorithm works to consistently feed new video suggestions on a nonstop roll of content, therefore keeping viewers engaged and on the platform for longer.

Brand Tools

YouTube is a powerful platform for brand discoverability and consideration, providing brands opportunities to promote both with paid advertising. These options include:

  • Pre-roll. These ads show just before a video.

  • Mid-roll. These ads appear during longer form videos.

  • In-video. These small ads pop up during videos with relevant ads.

Best Practices

YouTube may feel like a high-investment platform, but there are many avenues to ramp up brand presence that require little production. Here are a few best practices to help shape your strategy:

  • Repurpose existing content. Consider creative ways to use pre-existing video on YouTube, including marketing and website content.

  • Showcase the destination. Publish content about your destination, using your local expertise to highlight places and experiences near the hotel to provide audiences with a well-rounded experience and drive further action.

  • Use popular keywords. To increase searchability and discoverability, use trending keywords across the social space to inform and optimize your video titles, descriptions, and playlist names.

  • Promote your property. Immersive, full-view looks at on-property offerings through social video content can help to attract potential guests and create awareness and consideration of your property. Travelers that are seeking to understand the entire experience before they come onsite – including the setting of a guestroom, pool area, or event venue – often use video content to inform their final booking decisions.

  • Show off your team. Consider creating content that involves brief interviews with people working within your property or brand. This can offer a taste of “behind the scenes,” a popular content genre, and may create a deeper connection with a brand by seeing real faces and passion.

  • Engage creators. YouTube has a diverse global content creator community, offering opportunities for travel influencer marketing. Partnering with an established content creator can hold incredible strategic value for brands on this platform.

LinkedIn: Building Brand Presence and Authority

As it’s audience base continues to climb, LinkedIn has become a valuable resource that expands upon networking and job searching. Users now turn to the platform for industry updates, learning opportunities, and news. This provides opportunities for brands to intersect key audiences and achieve deeper marketing goals, including connecting with qualified candidates, sharing thought leadership pieces, and to engage with their professional community to establish and build credibility in the industry.

Travel brands can especially benefit from the unique audience on LinkedIn by joining conversations surrounding relevant topics, such as the future of business travel or in-person meetings. Additionally, this is a key platform to build awareness and brand trust among key business decision makers and event planners, driving lead generation opportunities.

Unique Selling Points

LinkedIn is unique in that it’s a social networking platform wrapped around the broader business world. With the recent rollout of new creator tools, it champions thought leadership and professional development through multimedia content, live streaming, and enhanced user profiles. LinkedIn focuses less on visual aesthetics and more on practical, informational, and inspirational content that furthers careers.

Brand Tools

LinkedIn has a robust paid advertising platform that puts your brand in front of targeted audiences. Given the B2B focus, Linkedin isn’t as affordable as other platforms; there’s a premium for accessing these higher-value audiences. Options include:

  • Sponsored content. Single image, video, carousel, and event ads with direct placement in the LinkedIn Feed.

  • Sponsored messaging. Conversation and message ads that connect with an audience in a personal way through the LinkedIn messaging inbox.

  • Text and dynamic ads. Text, Spotlight, and Follower ads to drive consumers to your website through text, images, and video.

Best Practices

When integrating LinkedIn to your social media marketing strategy, consider the following best practices:

  • Prioritize quality. For brands new to the platform, remember that it is important to take things slow and prioritize quality over quantity. Professional audiences can sense low-quality content and will quickly tune out. This extends to your profile: be certain that the bio language is up to brand standards.

  • Post natively. Posting natively is the best way to reach LinkedIn users. However, for brands new to the platform, resharing other posts is also a good way to get started.

  • Tap into what is trending. Utilize hashtags, keywords, and applicable trends to your brand. This boosts impressions as well as improves brand recognition.

  • Go long. Studies show that long-form content performs better, as many users visit the platform to better understand the insights of their industry. This gives brands the opportunity to become leaders in their sector, offering industry leadership and authority

  • Use images. LinkedIn posts with images gain 2x more engagement on average.

Crafting your supplemental mix

Diversifying your platform mix beyond Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter through the addition of supplemental platforms – specifically LinkedIn, YouTube, and Pinterest – creates a more impactful social media presence. This multi-channel presence creates additional points of engagement along a guest’s purchase journey, targets specific audiences that are more apt to take purchase actions, and increases traffic to the hotel’s home page – ultimately placing more attention on your brand.

As social media usage continues to steadily grow and platforms continue to develop specific audiences and behaviors, we recommend extending resources to develop a presence on these platforms according to individual goals. These platforms are nearly always additive and used in conjunction with existing efforts on the Big Three platforms. BCV’s social media experts can help you define your strategy and choose the right supplemental platforms for your brand goals.

Ready to explore a more targeted social strategy? Contact a specialist and let’s craft a strategic platform plan that can produce greater ROI across your social marketing mix.

Check out our guide to navigating the top social media platforms used by hospitality. We’re here to help you explore the best ways to put high-impact social programs to work.

Social media is an essential element of any hotel marketer’s playbook, and creation of a strategic social plan has become more critical than ever in order to drive awareness and consideration and stay ahead of competition. Evolving consumer behaviors are showcasing a rise in social usage, including the evolution of ecommerce; social shopping has become prominent, and platforms have become the new go-to marketplace. This is an important note for travel brands, as many platforms have developed capabilities that allow consumers to book reservations directly through social apps – a trend that will continue to gain popularity.

As the travel industry continues to move into recovery, hotel marketers can optimize their social presence now in order to create more opportunity to capture future bookings. However, determining which social platforms are ideally suited to meet specific business goals can be a daunting task; determining a social media mix takes careful consideration and an understanding of each platform’s demographics, reach and functionality.

There are currently hundreds of social platforms available globally, with new and emerging features popping up to meet the growing demand of online audiences. So how do you strategize? Within this article we’ll provide a top-level view of best practices for building a social media platform strategy in order to maximize your marketing potential.

This takes a bit of planning, followed by strong execution. With the right social strategy, marketers can achieve effective content placement, ROI-rich advertising spend, and increased opportunities to drive demand. Here’s how to get started.

Defining your hotel’s platform strategy

Defining a clear platform strategy is often overlooked but is a critical component for success. A smart approach can ensure that marketing dollars are utilized effectively and provide a return on investment, especially when adding a new platform to your marketing plan. It is imperative to craft a strategy and test audience sentiment to inform future marketing spend.

A few key items to consider as you begin your planning:

1. Who is your ideal audience? Understanding the specific demographics you would like to reach in order to achieve your overarching marketing goals is important. Since social is largely pay-to-play, narrowing your target can assist with maximizing marketing dollars, by reaching the consumers that will be the most driven to book.

2. Where are target audiences spending their time online? Once you have determined your target consumers, understanding where they are spending their time online and how they are consuming social content is critical. As an example, if your key goal is to target business travelers, LinkedIn provides an incredible opportunity for awareness among Millennials and Gen Xers, who are the most inclined to return to business travel first following recovery.

3. How are audiences using each platform? Understanding the behaviors across social platforms is also important. LinkedIn has become the space to not only seek employment opportunities and grow professional connections, but to also read thought leadership articles from authorities within an industry – creating a fantastic ground for relaying company culture and attracting qualified talent. TikTok, along with being a platform for quick entertainment and fun, is now becoming an educational area for Gen Z’s to explore travel destinations virtually. Meanwhile Pinterest is the place for travelers to plan future trips and gain inspiration through imagery, creating a valuable data mine for brands to tap into for trendspotting.

4.Does the platform offer eCommerce opportunities? The ability to provide direct links or shoppable content on a platform can equate to a seamless booking opportunity for consumers, offering travel marketers increased benefit. Additionally, several platforms are now offering enhanced monetization structures for paid influencers – which can be a compelling reason to prioritize your brand’s presence.

5. Do the advertising options fit your budget? Most of the major social platforms are consistently evolving their advertising features in order to allow businesses both large and small an opportunity to play in the paid space. However, it’s important to understand the return on investment that specific ad formats can yield; the creation of a branded filter is a much larger investment than a simple post boost but can achieve much different results. Integrating a strategic paid strategy to complement your social presence is a valuable way to ensure your approach is the right one for your goals.

6. How large should social presence be?
Creating a comprehensive social strategy can help to reach consumers at more than one point along their online journey, which can produce heightened awareness and consideration. However, being present just to be present can create an unwanted effect; consumers expect to see authentic, consistent engagement from brands. If your budget does not allow for adequate content creation, advertising, and community management efforts, it may be best to stick with three primary platforms as opposed to presence across six.

Building a Backbone

At BCV, we consider three giants within the social space as forming the core of any strategic mix: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Together these platforms create the perfect synergy for a travel marketer, as they offer the largest global mindshare – meaning, your target guests are likely using one if not all of them every day. Let’s break them down a bit more.

  • Facebook and Instagram offer the highest potential to garner reach and engagement based on the sheer size of their global audience presence. Specifically for the travel industry, these two platforms support one another: Instagram provides visual inspiration that drives consideration for travelers, who then turn to Facebook as a home base for information. This often creates a traveler journey path of dreaming and discovery driven by Instagram leading to planning and purchase action driven by Facebook.

  • Twitter serves a different primary purpose, as it’s less about visual interest and more about real-time engagement. This platform is where social users often go to ask questions and share experiences through immediate conversation, which has become essential for building trust and advocacy among consumers.Twitter can also be a vital tool for mitigating negative sentiment. Many travelers turn to the platform to share complaints, offering hotels an incredible opportunity to turn bad experiences into positive ones through social interaction. Overlooking this platform could equate to these opportunities being missed or worse, becoming escalated by lack of response by the brand.

Once you have established presence on these priority platforms, additional social success can be achieved through the inclusion of supplemental platforms chosen for your specific goals.

Beyond the Big Three

Creating a comprehensive social strategy that goes beyond Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter can be key for driving impactful results and intersecting consumer consideration journeys to drive bookings.

Below is a high-level breakdown of six additional platforms that can work hard to support a larger social strategy. An important note: when stepping into platforms that are new to your brand, it can be imperative to test audience sentiment first before allocating resources to build an owned presence. This is especially true for emerging platforms that are rapidly evolving, such as TikTok; at BCV, we typically recommend creating paid partnership or advertising opportunities to test audience reactions towards brand messaging in order to ultimately determine future marketing spend.

  • LinkedIn is largely a networking and recruitment engine but is quickly becoming a source of news and education for many consumers. The platform currently boasts nearly 740 million users worldwide, creating an ample space to reach industry professionals who typically have higher disposal incomes than other platform audiences for larger purchases such as travel. Hotel marketers have the opportunity to build authority, brand reputation, and display thought leadership among a valuable demographic across the platform – many of whom travel for work.

  • YouTube is the world’s second most popular search engine after Google and has quickly skyrocketed into the most-used social platform globally, recently surpassing Facebook. It’s a valuable tool for brands to seed messaging across audiences as they immerse themselves in an ongoing feed of video content providing entertainment, education, inspiration, and news. As video consumption continues to rise in general, brands that create a presence on YouTube through strategic ad placements will be able to drive valuable reach across key audiences.

  • Pinterest is a platform for visual discovery, trendspotting, and planning – creating a perfect fit for travel and hospitality. The strong focus on visual content attracts consumers who are actively seeking inspiration for future travel. Because Pinners typically seek and save content three months ahead of an event, such as hosting a party or taking a trip, Pinterest is incredibly valuable for identifying trends to inform future marketing content planning. Bonus: Pinterest has continued to roll out sophisticated marketing features beneficial for travel brands, including their eCommerce capabilities, Creator Studio, Premiere video ad product, and Trends and Conversion Insights.

  • TikTok is all about fun, engaging, and immersive short-form video content; popular content themes include dance challenges, remixes, hashtag challenges, behind-the-scenes peeks, and humor/memes. However, there’s also a more serious side, with topics such as FinTok leveling up the conversations. The primary user age for this platform is the younger Generation Z, which can be a critical audience for brands as this audience holds influential power within their households for purchasing decisions, such as family vacation destinations.

  • Snapchat is the original platform for real-time, disappearing content. It’s designed for communicating as we would in person, without the focus on saved content or aesthetically arranged feeds. The platform has continued to evolve its capabilities for brand marketing and offers strategic placements according to user data; as an example, specific ads can be served to audiences who are within a few blocks from a specific location, like a restaurant recommendation received during a trip. Another area to watch: within countries that are currently banning TikTok, such as India, audiences are vastly turning to Snapchat – creating mega opportunity for reach.

  • Clubhouse is an audio-based platform that allows users to listen to and participate in conversations across various topics. Currently in beta mode and invitation only, Clubhouse features chats that are often moderated by celebrities and thought leaders, designed to educate and inform global audiences. As with any emerging platform, we are closely monitoring how travel brands could utilize this space, and what competitive platforms are developing in response to the growing popularity. Watch-out: with the current lack of advertising options, Clubhouse’s limited reach could be a major detractor for brand play.

Bringing it all together

Understanding how to navigate the social space can be challenging; if you’re wondering how to effectively choose your own strategic path, you’re not alone. Social media is a far-reaching landscape that is constantly evolving, and it’s not always obvious how to approach each platform and create a seamless, hard-working plan.

The most important actions are to dedicate the time necessary to build a social strategy, followed by consistent testing and optimization to find the perfect mix. Your brand’s social media mix should build awareness and directly impact your larger marketing funnel. From awareness to purchase, a multi-dimensional social presence will intersect consumer journeys multiple times to drive consideration and incite action, ultimately leading to increased revenue.

And as always, BCV is here to help! Our team of savvy social media experts can craft strategic support in order to ensure that your marketing budget is applied wisely. We love what we do and love to see increased revenue as a result of our work.

If you’d like to receive further information about BCV’s approach to social or to begin building a customized strategy to produce efficient ROI, BCV can help.

Over the years, social media has evolved and adapted to changing trends and technologies at a record pace. So, as we approach another new year, it is worthwhile to take a step back and layout the social media landscape as we see it today.

Currently, we are able to break up the social media platforms into five categories: Networks, Messengers, Moments, Reviews & Live. However, the major social platforms do not stack neatly into one category. Why? Because they have offerings that fall into multiple categories in order to maximize their reach and effectiveness. Let’s take a deeper look at each of these five categories and what they offer.

Networks

With nearly 1.8 billion daily active users on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest combined, we tend to think of the “Networks” as the core of social media and the building blocks of all social media strategies. These “Networks” are platforms that users can leverage to share various types of content with friends and followers. Each day, 300 million photos are uploaded to Facebook and roughly 95 million photos and videos are shared on Instagram. Making Facebook and Instagram the leading platforms for core marketing communications and visual storytelling. With photography as the cornerstone of hospitality marketing, these two social networks are the ideal social platform for hotels. Twitter is also important to the hospitality and serves primarily as a guest service platform, focusing on 1:1 conversations with current, past and future guests. With an estimated 500 million Tweets per day, this network is where users can reach out for real time responses, brand news, promotional information, and much more. Pinterest is an evolving platform that serves as a visual discovery network. With roughly 500 million photos upload daily, Pinner’s can leverage Pinterest when planning for future trips as a source of inspiration.

Messengers

Next up are the “Messengers,” which have seen tremendous growth in the last few years. The two leading Messengers, Facebook’s Messenger and Whatsapp, have an estimated 2.4 billion active users. Messengers are an extremely popular means of communication, in some instances even more than texting. But, beyond individual communications, Messengers have also proven to be an essential component to a hotel’s success for a very important reason – they transcend geographical borders and device restrictions. Hotels and resorts around the world have heard countless stories of international travelers trying to get a sim card to work, figure out how to make a phone call using the right country code, or simply being able to find the phone number for a specific hotel. Messengers have become the answer to how individuals communicate across borders and for guests, it has become the primary means of interaction with a hotel for general questions, complaints, and even staff compliments.

Moments

We classify “Moments” as content formats that are marked by their short-lived nature with defined times that posted content is available. Stories allow users to share moments of their day in a short-lived, slideshow format instead of living on the user’s profile. Moments are a posting format that was first popularized by Snapchat, but has expanded in popularity with the adaption of this content format by Instagram and Facebook. Snapchat used to stand alone in this category, but Facebook made it a priority to slow Snapchat’s growth and ensure the moment’s format could be utilized on their major platforms. Today, Instagram stories are the leader in all metrics over Snapchat with 250 million daily active users in comparison to Snapchat’s 185 million daily active users. Hospitality has recently started to leverage stories in their social media by showcasing and teasing special events in real-time.

Reviews

“Reviews” came into sharp focus with TripAdvisor’s hospitality popularity index. Over time, we have seen different versions of public reviews emerge from many different platforms, including the efforts of large hotel brands to own reviews and provide some form of stay verification. Today, TripAdvisor still is a large player in the space with roughly 300 million active users. However, their shift to a somewhat OTA model where the popularity index is less valuable than matching site visitors with the right hotel as quickly as possible has allowed both Facebook and Google to push further into the space. Facebook Reviews have been gaining steam over the last 12 months. With an estimated 86 million monthly active users, Facebook Reviews are one of the fastest rising review types that hotels have to respond to. Finally, Google Reviews have also seen a large uptick in volume. Due to Google simplifying the review process and baking them into their core products such as Maps and Search, Google Reviews has proven to be a popular review site with roughly 158 million monthly active users in the United States.

Live

The last category, “Live,” is one that has received a lot of recent hype. It exists primarily around the ability to quickly and easily broadcast live to anyone who wants to tune in. Live broadcasting is also one of the areas of the landscape where hotels ask the most questions. Live now exists on most platforms and was actually pioneered by two companies, Periscope (acquired by Twitter) and Meerkat (shut down). However, it was Facebook’s version of live broadcasting, with an estimated 32 billion video views per day, that really made it mainstream. The important thing to realize is that most stories that hotels want to tell are actually not good for a “live” format and would benefit from more pre- and post-production to ensure sound & video quality are reflective of the hotel brand. However, this format is still new, evolving and remains ripe for hotels to experiment with.

If it feels like the landscape has gotten more complex, it is because it has. Social Media as an industry has matured with typical users counts above 1 billion on the major networks outlined above. As social media continues to evolve, we can guess that new categories such as Augmented and Virtual Reality, Conversational Commerce, and even new types of original content creation are visible on the horizon. So, while It is not certain to predict exactly what the future holds, one thing for certain is that social media is an industry that continues to keep us on our toes.