Facebook

Social media has become the hottest method of marketing in today's world. Millions of people are using Facebook every day - that's a market that needs to be tapped. With the creation of the Facebook "news feed", getting information about you to other people has never been more simple.

As a hotel, you can certainly use Facebook as an effective method to bring in more guests. However, you need to be careful. Like any marketing method, if done incorrectly, it can become a tremendous waste of both time and money. Here are a few ways that you can market on Facebook without wasting your time or your money:

Create a profile so people can contact you. This is the most basic step, and also a very important one. Everything that you do on Facebook will lead back to this profile. Create one based on a character or mascot, perhaps. It could even be the profile of the owner or manager. In any case, pay close attention to how you set up your profile, as this will be where people will find out the most about your hotel.
Post an event. Throw a party or get-together and post it on Facebook. Invite everyone to attend - maybe offer some sort of discount code to people who sign up through Facebook. Either way, generate some attention and use it to bring in more guests.
Post some pictures or videos. If you have anybody that works in your hotel that may be camera-friendly, hire that person to film some funny or clever commercials. You won't have to buy any airtime; simply post them on Facebook and share them with everybody. Thousands of videos are posted online every day. The ones that are pushed through social media avenues are the ones that stick in people's minds. Take some funny pictures from an event and create a photo album for people to look through. They will, especially if they are from the event you posted. Tagging your Facebook friends in pictures is a great way to get people to look at them. Many Facebook users can't resist looking at pictures of their friends.
Share news articles. Have you gotten any good press lately? Any news mentions that would make your hotel look good? Post them on Facebook and share them with the world. Make the most of any press you get.
Create a Facebook group. By creating a group, you offer a central place for conversations to take place about your brand. If you offer enough value to your group, others can invite their friends with one simple click. This is how effective viral marketing campaigns start. In addition, your group name appears on each member's profile page. Your brand name can easily be seen by thousands, or even millions, if done correctly.
Create a Facebook page. A Facebook page is a feature that Facebook introduced late last year. It is sort of a blend of a profile page and a group page, designed specifically for businesses and brands. Facebook pages are more customizable, but "fans" of your page can not invite their friends to join. This is where the News Feed will help you get the word out.
Post a classified ad on Facebook Marketplace. Using Facebook Marketplace, you can communicate wanted ads and job openings to all of your networks for free. If you want to post to multiple networks, there is a small cost. If someone responds to your ad and you are not "friends" with them, you will be able to view their profile.
Purchase Social Ads. Facebook Social Ads are sponsored links that companies buy to advertise. They can offer very direct, targeted advertising for a marketer. They also can be placed in the Facebook News Feed, which means it will generally be clicked on more often.
Start a poll. Polls are easy ways for marketers to get real-time audience participation. Post a poll about your hotel after a big event, or about the big event itself. Polls can be targeted to specific demographics.
Sponsor a Facebook Application. Facebook Applications are often fun little games that are shared among Facebook friends and posted in their profiles. Many Facebook users enjoy this feature of Facebook and profiles can contain many different applications. Sponsoring one would involve contacting an application developer and discussing it directly with them.

As you can see, there are tremendous marketing opportunities for hotels to take advantage of in Facebook. FB has emerged as a unique community, offering authentic audiences and viral marketing opportunities for those willing to put in the work. It needs to be done intelligently, but when you combine several methods of advertising together into one big campaign, its effectiveness can increase tenfold.

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After you've mastered the basics of Facebook and set up a Facebook fan page for your hotel, it's time to promote your fan page and identify ways to be found in real time search results.

Is customer loyalty important to you? Have you ever wondered about which sources provide loyal visitors who will repeatedly return to your site?

Chitika analyzed the browsing habits of 33 million unique visitors during September of 2009. They found that Facebook provides the most loyal visitors, with 20 percent of those who originate from the social network in turn visiting the site they landed on four or more times in a week. Other notable social media sites include Digg at 16 percent and Twitter at 11 percent.

This should help you feel better about the time you invest marketing on Facebook. Now let's look at some ways to promote your Facebook fan page.

How to Promote your Facebook Page

A promotion is a good way to reach out to your customers and make them aware of your new Facebook page. Offer a discount or prize drawing for customers who become fans.

Let your fans know that you would like them to share their feedback on your products or services. Be prepared to receive this feedback, good or bad. This should be a given with any type of social media marketing strategy.

When your customers (or fans) interact with you on Facebook, their friends will see those comments on their news feed. This is one way to leverage the power of Facebook as a viral marketing tool. This should attract more fans and prospective customers.

Engagement and Conversation

Many people are fixated on the goal of acquiring new fans. You can't ignore this metric because the more fans you have, the more successful your campaign is, right? Well, not exactly.

The real goal is to engage your fans in conversation. If you don't communicate and converse with your fans, then your fan page will become dormant and fans will disperse to other interesting sites.

You must commit to spending time doing this. Set aside the time to read through comments and other posts from your fan base. Many businesses create a fan page with the mentality that "if you build it, they will come" and don't invest the time to interact with their fans, a lost opportunity.

Facebook provides some great tools to help you engage with your fans. You have the ability to send videos, photos, messages, or links to each fan.

Each time you send out one of these communications, you show up on their personal newsfeed. This helps to keep you and your products or services top of mind with your fan base. Be careful not to "spam" them. Spread out your communication pushes and make them meaningful and relevant.

A cool feature of Facebook is that it also gives you the ability to segment your audience by region, age, and gender. This helps you send the right messages to the right demographic group. Learn who your audience is and plan your messaging strategy around those groups.

Facebook also provides a helpful reporting tool called Insights. This tool helps you understand the various types of content your fans enjoy interacting with.

Also, because you're encouraging open and honest conversations, you might find that you occasionally get some objectionable posts. Facebook provides tools to help moderate and even block users. But you should plan on how to handle this ahead of time and communicate to your fans up front so they understand the policy.

Regardless, use these tools sparingly. If fans feel their comments are being edited or you're watering down the Kool-Aid, then it's less likely they will engage in future conversations.

Being Found in Real Time Search

One advantage to search marketers is that search engines are working with Facebook and Twitter to integrate updates into their search results. Getting found in real-time searches is another strategy for promoting your fan page. Let's look at some useful tips that should help you show up in these real-time searches.

Keywords: This is always the place to start. If you're doing SEO or PPC, then you probably already have a good handle on your targeted keywords. If not, start with keyword research. Include your targeted keywords in your content, updates, and especially your titles. Make sure everyone who updates your Facebook page has a keyword list handy so they can use these keywords as much as possible.

Research and converse about relevant and interesting content: Take time to "listen" to what people are talking about on your fan page and other sites. Then you can post content that will interest your fan base. Ask a question to spark a relevant and timely conversation. Discuss current events and news if these are relevant to you and your targeted keyword set.

Many followers: More followers means it's more likely your content will spread virally and be shared. This also helps generate more impressions of your content.

Call to action: You might be surprised sometimes by the power of a simple invitation. Invite people to "act." Ask people to share the content with others. Include buttons like "retweet" or "digg" that help them do this easily. Doing this gets you one click away from showing up on another site and being promoted for more viewers to see.

Facebook Marketing Tips: Make the Most of Your Fan Page.

Facebook can be used to communicate with previous guests, potential guests and build your web presence; however, it is extremely time consuming. If you have the time, by all means put up a page: it can’t hurt. Just be realistic in regards to the benefits you will receive, and don’t rely on it for increasing your bookings.

If your property is targeting the under-30 crowd, then social marketing is made for you. When it comes to marketing, you need to know who your target audience is, and then build a presence on those networks. Facebook has grown from the days when you needed an academic email address to join, but it remains a younger network. Quantcast shows 78% of the sites’ users are under 34 years old.

Copyright © 2010 Robert J. Thompson. All rights reserved.