Do hotels have funnel vision when it comes to social media?

Do hotels have funnel vision when it comes to social media? As marketers, we tend to be brought up on a number of tried and tested, not to say classic, marketing techniques. One of the most ubiquitous is the ‘AIDA’ approach – or, in other words, ‘Attention, Interest, Decision, Action’. These days, the modern marketing ‘funnel’ is perhaps less of a cone and a bit more rounded; however, whatever the shape, it still pays to channel your marketing efforts into that way of thinking, because the rewards can be very tangible indeed. Your customers are about to go on a journey

1. By providing inspiration through engaging storytelling content

2. By allowing you to be relevant, emotional and humanising your brand

3. By adding value throughout their research journeyStage 1: Raising awareness to attract new audiences The goal is to offer value and support, enough for the audience to remember your brand. Don’t treat this as a sales pitch – after all, you don’t want to bombard them or put them off by being too aggressive. What you do want them to do: seek out more information about your brand and your services. Today’s audience is overcome with choice paralysis, so it’s imperative to serve relevant content during the purchase journey, as well as beforehand while they’re still considering what to do. Think how you can help the user by providing or connecting them to inspiration and/or answering their questions (questions they might not even have yet!). The main thing: to get on their radar in the first place. How you do that: by reminding them that holidays still exist! Tell them about all the great places there are still to visit in the world (once the nightmare of COVID-19 is hopefully a dim and distant memory). Inspire their desire and you’ll have a potential customer who’s engaged and ready to take things further. Example: Shangri-La London Shangri-La Hotel in London created a short film from previous footage while detailing the news of their reopening from August 14. Be smart and think ahead. Consider everything your potential guests will be wanting to know – then create relevant content around it. Some truly relevant content opportunities for today are as follows…

4. Your reopening date

5. COVID-19 preparation and how restrictions have been implemented (without having a significant impact on their stay)

6. Your cancellation policy

7. Nearby tourism spots and how COVID-19 restrictions have been implemented locally

8. Audience specific content, i.e. luxury / facilities for children / sport facilities

1. Rooms (with prices)

2. The array of destinations on offer

3. Amenities around the hotel

4. And, of course, COVID-19 protection To stay connected and serve the right content at the right time, it’s a good idea to implement a Facebook pixel onto your website to retarget visitors by creating ‘Custom Audiences’ in your Facebook Business Manager. For more information on Facebook pixels: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/952192354843755?id=1205376682832142 Going back to the Shangri-La Hotel London, we can see that they’ve done a series of teasers – featuring everything from their Friday snacks through to fine dining, thus showcasing the diverse range of services they have to offer. This could be targeted through audience segmentation by filtering ages / income / location / search history / interests. The key: knowing who your audience are and serving them with the most effective, targeted content.
   

It is essential to make sure you can fulfil the action you are prompting your customer to undertake - it goes without saying that your website booking system should be working perfectly, and telephone calls/emails are answered promptly. However, one additional consideration, especially if you are fairly new to social content promotion, is to expect questions via post comments and messenger tools. Make sure you have employees looking out for these – research shows 40% of consumers expect a response within the first hour, and 79% within 24 hours4. Conclusion: maximise micro moments with a strong social media marketing funnel In 2020, potential leads can enter the marketing funnel at any stage. Although it’s no longer a linear journey on one platform, but rather an omnichannel through cross-channel pollination, it’s therefore still relevant to build affinity at every stage. Your social media content should reflect this. The AIDA approach enables you to serve the right content, to the right person at the right time of their purchase journey, with the assistance of paid media and clever targeting. Support your social media with SEO and content marketing to increase organic search, as well as blogs and videos showcasing your core business values. Connect with effective storytelling… from customer service through to customer experience. During these increasingly uncertain times for the hospitality and travel industries, there has never been a more pressing need to focus on funnel vision. LAW Creative are an agency that’s been involved in digital marketing for the last 20 years. We know all about smarter thinking when it comes to reaching a social media savvy audience. To talk to us about how we can enhance your social media presence, get in touch with brett.sammels@lawcreative.co.uk 1 Think with Google 2 HubSpot 3 TripAdvisor 4 Sprout Social

It is essential to make sure you can fulfil the action you are prompting your customer to undertake - it goes without saying that your website booking system should be working perfectly, and telephone calls/emails are answered promptly. However, one additional consideration, especially if you are fairly new to social content promotion, is to expect questions via post comments and messenger tools. Make sure you have employees looking out for these – research shows 40% of consumers expect a response within the first hour, and 79% within 24 hours4. Conclusion: maximise micro moments with a strong social media marketing funnel In 2020, potential leads can enter the marketing funnel at any stage. Although it’s no longer a linear journey on one platform, but rather an omnichannel through cross-channel pollination, it’s therefore still relevant to build affinity at every stage. Your social media content should reflect this. The AIDA approach enables you to serve the right content, to the right person at the right time of their purchase journey, with the assistance of paid media and clever targeting. Support your social media with SEO and content marketing to increase organic search, as well as blogs and videos showcasing your core business values. Connect with effective storytelling… from customer service through to customer experience. During these increasingly uncertain times for the hospitality and travel industries, there has never been a more pressing need to focus on funnel vision. LAW Creative are an agency that’s been involved in digital marketing for the last 20 years. We know all about smarter thinking when it comes to reaching a social media savvy audience. To talk to us about how we can enhance your social media presence, get in touch with brett.sammels@lawcreative.co.uk 1 Think with Google 2 HubSpot 3 TripAdvisor 4 Sprout Social