The Found Gen

Marketing That Works.

Hotels

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5 Instagram Story Tips for Hotels

Have you ever read a story so good that you wanted to jump right into its pages? Just turn up unannounced in Chapter Three, your bags swept off to your suite without hesitation, and everyone thrilled to see you?

“They know my name,” you smile, taking a sip of the margarita that suddenly appeared in hand.

It sounds nice, doesn’t it? If you’re a hotelier today, that’s the experience you want every guest to feel when they drop into your story…err…property. But if they’re not booked yet, let them visit via Instagram Stories.

We manage several hotel social media strategies, and we’ve come up with a few best practices when story-ing your property.

  1. Make it personal. Instagram Stories are fleeting moments that last 24-hours, so they convey a more intimate, light-hearted style of content.
  2. Create a content calendar and goals. Organize the areas you want to share – beautiful meals, stunning events, friendly staff, guest activities – into a scheduled series that will entertain your followers while communicating your property’s vibe. Constantly ask yourself if your strategy is a success in relation to your key performance indicators. If not, try something new.
  3. Post regularly. We always remind our clients that out of sight means out of mind. If they’re not entertained and inspired by your stories, they’ll be invested in someone else’s. (At The Found Gen, we hate when that happens, so we make sure that never happens.)
  4. Use the Boomerang app. This burst is played forward and backward, and is perfect for capturing champagne bubbles, a poolside splash, or the waving of a guest card to open up their room.
  5. Post live videos. Using your analytics, determine when your followers are interested in a live stream of hotel life, and then show them what’s happening. Sneak a peek at a new dish your chef is cooking up, share some live music, or offer a follower-only free drink or room upgrade.

A few more, since we just can’t help ourselves from sharing our expertise: First, don’t forget to activate the messaging feature so potential guests and influencers can send questions about a possible booking. And also, convert your best stories into permanent posts, increasing their visibility and branding spread.

At The Found Gen, we know competition between hotels is fierce. There are a lot of you, and it seems like a new one is popping up every other day. But we can help you distance your property from all the rest.

You may not be the only hotel in town, but you can be the only one where your guests want to become a part of your story. Ask our team at The Found Gen how we can best get your story told. We’ll see you on Instagram.

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Social Media is Transforming the Hotel Industry: Is Yours Fully Booked?

“Yes, we’re on social media. We monitor our Yelp reviews…”

There’s more to social media than customer reviews, especially when it comes to increasing customer engagement. Our hotel clients understand that their best strategy inspires and moves their base to book. Their goal? No reservations. In more ways than one.

If you’re a hotelier wondering how to craft the most intriguing, effective social channel presence, we’ve got a few ideas:

  • Bring your hotel to life. By focusing on events happening in real time, followers are always aware of what’s going on. Not only does this tactic inspire interest and excitement from future guests, it also helps create a visual and interactive cache of accessible and influential content.
  • Start a conversation. Rather than broadcasting your hotel’s content, why not chat with your customer base in an any-place, any-time manner, from pre-booking to post-checkout? Are you there to answer the questions that make customers comfortable enough to book with you? You should be.
  • Embrace video. Your hotel should cultivate an interesting short-lived presence on Instagram Stories and Snapchat. So engaging, in fact, that your followers will experience a heavy case of FOMO.
  • Appreciate user-generated content. Never underestimate the power of location check-ins, selfie photos, and status updates from your client base. Work with those who complement your brand, and encourage them to use an addictive hashtag to highlight your hotel’s brand, and reward its use with reposting.
  • Take good care of your customer service requests and issues. Complaints can go viral in an instant, but maintaining a helpful, there-for-you vibe goes a long way in erasing a misstep or two.
  • Retain your customers’ loyalty. As stiff competition for price-conscious customers increases, customer loyalty becomes more of a challenge. Award bonus points to those follows referring your hotel to their family and friends, while you collect valuable insights from your most engaged users.
  • Don’t just sell your hotel rooms; sell your lifestyle. Partner with your nearby-network of restaurants, local artists, and other like-minded brands, building your own horizontal reach.

Social media trends are moving faster than ever, and users quickly become exhausted by the same-old methods of managing a social media campaign. If you’re ready to reignite your followers and turn them into guests, give us a call. We can promise you’ll have no reservations after hearing our plans for your property.