In this guide, we'll discuss the various social platforms available to hoteliers and help you determine which social networks will be most effective in helping you create community, cultivate loyalty, and ultimately, increase revenue

1. 1
A Hotelier’s Guide to
Social Media
Finding the Right Channel for Your Hotel
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2. 2
About buuteeq
buuteeq is an innovator and award winning provider of mobile
first, user proven, Google optimized digital marketing Softwareas-a-Service for hotels worldwide so you can book more rooms
directly.
buuteeq powered digital marketing enables you to gain insights
into your guests, meet them on their smartphones, desktops,
and tablets, provide them with compelling marketing options,
and take reservations – all from a single command post.
With buuteeq’s digital marketing system, you get free, ongoing
updates and capabilities so that your online hotel presence
never falls behind technologically.
buuteeq offers tailored editions of our solution (features,
services, and pricing). For more information on products,
pricing, or partnerships, please visit us at www.buuteeq.com or
call +1 (800) 734-1769.
Visit the buuteeq BLOG and follow us on
Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
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A Hotelier’s Guide to
Social Media
Table of Contents
A publication of buuteeq
Thanks for Reading!
We understand that there are many social channels out there
that can be confusing and time consuming. With this eBook,
we hope to narrow your focus to help you achieve good ROI
with social media.
Brian Saab
Co-founder
Creative Marketing Officer
buuteeq, inc.
www.buuteeq.com
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Introduction
Some tips for this guide
Chapter 1 – Facebook
Chapter 2 – Twitter
Chapter 3 – Google+
Chapter 4 – Pinterest
Chapter 5 – Instagram
Summary
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4. A HOTELIER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA
Social Media and the Travel Industry
With 87% of online users reporting that social media
recommendations impact hotel choice, it is no secret that social
media influences the travel planning process.
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Treat social media as an
extension of your lobby
Social Media Today
While many hotels understand the benefits of social media engagement,
with limited time and resources it is best to have a focused approach to
your engagement choices. Trying to keep up with the latest social trends
alone is overwhelming. Try to participate in every social network, and
you'll stretch yourself too thin and never see results.
By the numbers, Facebook and Twitter are the obvious leaders in social
media participation, but there are some new surprises when you
consider which social channel deserves your time and attention.
In this guide, we'll discuss the various social platforms available to
hoteliers and help you determine which social networks will be most
effective in helping you create community, cultivate loyalty, and
ultimately, increase revenue.
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5. A HOTELIER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA
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Some tips for this guide
While reading through this guide and considering each channel, ask
yourself the following:
1) Who are the current users, and who’s likely to use it in the future?
Are these people potential customers, or do they have the ability to
influence my potential customers?
2) Does my property fit with the content being shared? Do I currently
have the content available, or will I need to create it?
3) How much time and resources are required to participate in this
social network? Every channel requires unique content and should
have its own voice & purpose.
4) Will this channel help you make money, save money, or make
people happy? If it doesn't do any of these, then it probably isn't
worth your time.
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Chapter 1
Facebook
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Facebook remains on top
Facebook remains the world’s largest social network, with over 1 billion monthly
active users, and shows no signs of slowing down.
Over the years, Facebook has become more than just a social network; it has
transformed into a platform for social communication and a central hub for
daily life. Facebook has also been quick to adapt as competition rises, acquiring
photo-sharing site Instagram, integrating with media platforms like Pinterest
and Spotify, and launching Facebook Places and Facebook Nearby. The
upcoming release of Facebook Graph Search, a feature that helps users discover
common interests with friends and discover places to visit, will become even
more significant to social media’s impact on travel research and discovery.
People share more personal details about their identity, activities, interests and
location on Facebook than anywhere else, which offers hoteliers and marketers
unique advantages. Brand pages have access to a depth of demographic
information about their fans and Facebook’s Insights and Advertising platforms
continue to become more and more sophisticated.
Bottom line: Facebook is where your customers are, therefore it is absolutely
essential to have a presence. Just posting 2-3 times each week is enough to
maintain a vibrant community and see results.
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Facebook by the numbers
Total number of Facebook users: 1.06 billion
Daily active Facebook users: 618 million
Total number of Facebook pages: 50 million
Number of Facebook likes each day: 2.7 billion
Number of photos uploaded to Facebook each day: 350 million
Total number of location-tagged Facebook posts: 17 billion
Total number of Open Graph actions shared: 400 billion
More than 1 million websites
have integrated with Facebook
in various ways.
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8. Tips for success
A HOTELIER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA
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Provide useful and meaningful
content
Make sure your Page is optimized
for Graph Search
Follow the “80-20 rule” - at least
80% of your content is non-selfpromotional, and just 20% is selfpromotional. No one wants to
engage with your brand if you
only talk about yourself or publish
content that reads like a
marketing brochure. Instead, be
real, honest, and personable. Your
hotel brand should tell a story on
Facebook, not blast them with
marketing messages.
Make sure your hotel Page has the
correct category (Hotel) and
location details, and if you haven't
already, merge your Fan Page
with your Facebook Places page.
It's also important to make sure
that your page name and About
section are optimized with
relevant keywords since this
content is actually pulled from
your Fan Page as SEO elements.
Learn more about Graph Search
here.
Share high quality, visual content
buuteeq’s free hotel Facebook
app
Photos on Facebook generate
53% more likes than text or links
alone, so collect high-resolution
images of your property,
amenities, attractions and location
and use your smartphone to
capture impromptu moments.
Facebook’s recent News Feed
upgrade has dedicated even more
real estate to photos, so think
about how you can convert textbased statuses and links into
visuals.
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Display your property’s rooms,
photos, location and contact
information on Facebook in an
attractive way with buuteeq’s free
Facebook app. An optimized
Facebook experience for your
guests is critical to turning page
visitors into customers.
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Chapter 2
Twitter
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Twitter = real-time sharing
Twitter, a microblogging site where posts are limited to 140 characters or less, is
used to engage in real-time sharing with friends, as well as people you don't
know personally. What differentiates Twitter from Facebook is its extreme
simplicity and single focus on the real-time exchange of ideas. Though simple,
Twitter provides it's users with many ways to segment content based on topic
through the use of hashtags, trending topics, saved searches, follower lists, and
more. With 400 million tweets sent each day and 60% of users accessing the
network from a mobile device, Twitter is a great place to connect with travelers
on the go.
Travelers use Twitter to research, discover and decide on their destination, to
discover specials and events during the time of their travel, and to stay
connected with and informed by the property long after the visit has ended.
More than any other social network,
Twitter users are more likely to interact
with brands, and make purchase
decisions based on that interaction.
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11. A HOTELIER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA
Twitter and Guest Happiness
Hotels with an active presence on Twitter are finding more opportunities to
engage with guests and respond to customer service issues quickly. eMarketer
reported 77% of hotel and airline Twitter accounts experience customer service
enquiries and complaints and a whopping 50% of consumers say they will stop
doing business with a brand if they are not responded to. Therefore it is critical
you be prepared for this when creating and implementing a Twitter strategy for
your hotel.
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Tips for success
1) Search for hashtags for upcoming events or conferences near your
hotel, or include them in your brand’s tweets when speaking about a
particular topic (#SuperBowl2013), neighborhood (#Seattle) or interest
(#pingpong).
2) Announce last-minute openings and deals on Twitter. Keep the posts
short and be sure to include your booking link or phone number.
Bottom line: Twitter has truly emerged as an integral marketing tool that can
extend both the reach of your brand's message and authenticity of your
reputation. However, real-time engagement can be consuming. If you aren't
prepared for this, Twitter may leave your potential guest with unanswered
questions.
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3) Use Twitter to connect with business travelers. Twitter reports that
business travelers actually use social media more than leisure travelers to
share travel experiences.
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Chapter 3
Google+
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13. A HOTELIER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA
Google+ = Tremendous SEO Value
Google+ started with a burst of interest, and then drifted off as people tried to
figure out how to use it. After working through some growing pains, Google’s
fledgling social network has flourished to become the second largest in the
world.
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The Google +1 button is used
5 billion times each day.
At this time, the value of Google+ is still severely underrated. Naturally, Google+
is integrated with Google Search, meaning posts from Google+ are being indexed
in search engine results and authors' Google+ profiles are showing up next to
those results. Even if you're not seeing a lot of engagement on Google+, you
might see a bump in your organic search rankings as a result of your activity
there.
The future is personalized
Google+ is also heavily integrated with Zagat reviews, Google Hotel Finder,
Google+ Local and Google Maps. With the massive amount of information
collected by these sites, combined with our own search behavior and social
interactions, we expect to see the more personalized recommendations from
Google+ in the near future.
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Bottom line: It’s safe to say that Google+ is now an important player in the
social media game. Maintaining an active presence on Google+ will at the
very least support, to some degree, your visibility in organic search.
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14. Tips for success
A HOTELIER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA
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Be sure to make a Google+
Business Page and use it to
engage with your guests
and share information.
We've written an
exhaustive guide on how to
get started on Google+
here.
Create unique content,
preferably that plays to the
service’s strengths. Try
participating in
Communities or hosting a
Hangout.
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Add a +1 button to your
website and encourage
guests to add your hotel to
their circles. Build a
community with your
neighbors and
neighborhood by linking to
them.
Use Google+ to share links,
post articles or write
opinionated pieces that
encourage interaction from
your followers. Ask
questions, share thoughts
and post photos.
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Chapter 4
Pinterest
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Pinterest users are looking to be inspired
Pinterest, the online pin-board, turned out to be one of the rising
stars of the 2012 social media landscape, with Pinterest now
driving more traffic than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn
combined!
The concept of Pinterest is quite simple - users organize things
they find on the web by creating pinboards, then “pinning” items
onto boards of each corresponding category. Hotels and travel
companies should be particularly interested in getting to know
Pinterest better as some of the website’s most popular categories
-- including food and drink, holidays, weddings, and travel -complement the hospitality industry nicely.
According to Google, the 5 stages of travel start with a dream.
Most of the users on Pinterest are sharing images of future plans,
or where they hope to visit. This is the perfect time for hotels to
inspire Pinterest users, interact with them and make it onto their
travel boards.
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17. A HOTELIER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA
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The key to Pinterest is large,
high-resolution, beautiful
photography
Bottom line: With a bit of planning and some time
spent browsing, your hotel can create quite the
presence on this popular social media site.
Although your hotel images on Pinterest could lead
to a boost in traffic to your website, the ultimate
benefit of Pinterest is engagement.
21% of people with a Pinterest
account have purchased an
item after seeing it on the
social network.
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Remember the 80/20 rule? It applies here too. 80%
of your pins should highlight your destination, local
attractions, and upcoming events. No more than 20%
of your pins should market your hotel and amenities
- trying to hard to sell your property can come off as
too commercial and isolating.
Pinterest thrives off pretty pictures with compelling
captions. It's okay to post content you find from
around the web, but absolutely give credit where
credit is due.
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18. Tips for success
Create a group board around a common interest or
theme with vendors or neighbors. A group board
allows multiple people to pin to the same board,
allowing for different perspectives on the same topic.
Involve restaurants, local businesses, and even your
tourism department!
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A HOTELIER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA
buuteeq – The Digital Marketing System for Hotels
Search for brand name or URL to discover what
others pinning about you. Be sure to comment or
repin what you find!
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Does your property host weddings? Great! Pinterest
is an easy way to increase weddings business. The
"Weddings" category is one of the most popular
categories on the site, and Pinterest is one of the first
places future brides turn when starting their planning.
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Chapter 5
Instagram
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20. A HOTELIER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA
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An easy way to showcase your brand
Instagram describes itself as “a fun and quirky way to share your
life with friends through a series of pictures.” The mobile-based
app has over 100 million users and recently passed Twitter in
daily active users on mobile for the first time. Instagram also
boasts seamless integration to multiple social platforms, so users
photo will automatically post to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and
more.
Hotels and other businesses in the hospitality industry are
uniquely positioned to use Instagram to market themselves
because of the visual and creative nature of the medium. By
creating photos of your hotel, events, local activities and more,
you have a unique opportunity to give customers an inside look
into your hotel, with hopes of inspiring future visits.
The average user spends
257 minutes on Instagram
each month.
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21. Tips for success
A HOTELIER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA
Harness user-generated
content with a hashtag. NH
Hotels encourages guests
to "capture a moment
when something is
beginning, a zero instant"
on Instagram and use the
hashtag #WakeUpPics (the
hotel's slogan is "Wake up
to a better world"). The
hotel reposts photos
tagged with the hashtag to
their website and Facebook
page.
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Give permissions to your
hotel’s respective social
media accounts (Facebook,
Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr and
Foursquare) to the
application to achieve the
maximum social reach of
your message.
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22. A HOTELIER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA
Have your employees take
photos! Thompson Hotels
says some of their best
photos are taken by their
valet and front desk staff.
Ask for submissions, follow
their pages and look for
others with similar quality
and images.
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When a user uploads a
photo, they have the
option of tagging that
image with a foursquare
location. Instagram then
saves it, along with all
other photos taken at the
same location. Use your
hotel's foursquare location
to find even more great
photos taken by Instagram
users.
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Chapter 6
Summary
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24. A HOTELIER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA
When considering managing multiple social
pages, think about the time and resources
currently available to you. Proactively cared for
accounts can return measurable benefits to your
hotel, but pages that are left without compelling
content on a consistent basis will have little or
even negative impact. With this in mind, we
advise beginning on one or two social networks
and evaluating each one's progress on a regular
basis.
While we think it’s imperative to keep an eye on
emerging social networks (and at the very least
listen to what is being said about your brand on
them), emerging platforms are solely about
engaging with your customers and do not convert
well into bookings. However, if you have the
resources available, these new platforms can
complement and integrate well with your current
social strategy.
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Our recommendations:
Facebook and Twitter have far greater usage and should serve as the cornerstone platforms to
your property’s social media plan.
You should create a Google+ Business Page and maintain an active presence on Google+. This
will at the very least support, to some degree, your visibility in organic search.
Curating a few pin-boards on Pinterest will bring a visual personality to your brand and can
increase traffic to your website, but it should be considered a secondary priority.
Sharing photos on Instagram will provide your hotel with unique, original photography that
you can repurpose and share in different ways across other social networks.
•
•
•
•
Keep in mind that every social network is different -- something that works well on one social network
might not necessarily do well on another.
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About the Author
Jen is the Community Engagement Manager at buuteeq, the
digital marketing system for hotels. She manages buuteeq’s
Thanks!
1 (800) 734-1769 / info@buuteeq.com
social media channels & community development, content
marketing, and occasionally writes for the company blog. You
can connect with her on Twitter @buuteeq.
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