CASE STUDIES
Social
Media
Peak Season for a Local Hotel with Facebook
Peak season can make or break a hotel. Even the best marketing strategies for off-peak seasons can’t compensate for a dismal peak season. After consecutive disappointing peak seasons, our client knew they needed to make drastic improvements to how they marketed their hotel for the incoming peak season.
the Numbers that speak
OUR CAMPAIGN
Increase Engagement - Increase Occupancy
Like many hotels, our client had a Facebook business page but they weren’t maximizing the potential. A Facebook Business Page can extend your local footprint, drive website traffic, increase engagement, and be a great place to show how many former customers enjoyed their experience. In effect, Facebook gives your business a way to engage with your potential customers in a way that helps to increase bookings.
Their Goal:
A Facebook Page Worthy of the Hotel
The hotel did everything else right – great customer service, a beautiful establishment with great amenities, and an ideal location. They just needed to tell everyone. Off-peak occupancy was steady and if it was accompanied by a stellar peak season, they knew the hotel could go from barely making it to profitable in just a year. The alternative was not something they were willing to consider.
Our Solution:
Targeted Posts and Online Engagement
First, we audited their existing Facebook Business Page. They hired a professional photographer to take photos of the hotel and it was updated with some regularity but there was not a clear strategy and at times, it was confusing.
We then helped them build a promo that was targeted, easy to understand, and created specifically for Facebook. We took into consideration the performance of their previous postings and promotional efforts to build a campaign we knew would work.
We started 2 months prior to peak season with weekly high-quality graphic posts that were both eye-catching and shareable. We also posted weekly content that was informative and equally shareable but still promoted the hotel.
The most effective part of our strategy was the engagement. Facebook makes engagement easy for businesses. When our posts were shared, we made sure we knew about it and engaged with comments about the hotel the promotion, and the surrounding area. If people were unhappy, we also engaged with them and worked with the hotel staff to find ways to right the wrongs.
If there was a comment or question relating to the hotel, we tried to respond in a helpful and professional way while still matching the hotel’s own unique personality. We managed to respond to 100% of all online inquiries which improved the perception which had suffered as a result of a somewhat neglected Facebook page.
Finally, we tracked the performance of everything and tweaked the campaign along the way.
A Winning Strategy
SUCCESSFUL RESULTS
The hotel’s Facebook Business Page emerged as its most successful marketing avenue and this peak season was their most successful seasonal promotion ever.
A Fully Occupied Hotel is a Happy Hotel
There was never any doubt in the mind of our client that their hotel deserved to be successful and could be 100% booked every peak season. The only thing missing was a social media strategy that could expand their footprint and drive visitors to their website. Once we accomplished that, their great staff did the rest.
