8 Vital Facebook Marketing Tips for Resorts and Destinations

Here’s our post as seen on Business2Community.com that was shared last week.  It’s a simple, but helpful Facebook marketing guide!

Facebook offers unprecedented opportunities for the savvy marketer!  Make sure you are maximizing the tools and potential to grow your business by taking advantage of the options available to you.

Not yet convinced Facebook is of immense value to your business marketing plans?

Consider the Facebook facts:

• Facebook has 850 Million global users. Only Asia has more Internet users than the entire user-base of Facebook
• There are 60 Billion Likes and Comments Monthly on Facebook
• 50% of Facebook users log on DAILY (425 million people!)
• The average monthly minutes spent per user on Facebook in the US is over 415.  The next nearest is Google Sites (which includes google.com, youtube.com, gmail, google maps, etc combined) at approximately 240 minutes per month

sources: M. Lazerow, Buddy Media & Comscore 2011

No other platform enables brands to empower their users to be brand evangelists like Facebook!

8 Vital Facebook Marketing Tips for Resorts and Destinations:

1. Monitor and Respond!

A study by Socialbakers recently outlined an utterly amazing statistic.  They found that a whopping 95% of Wall Posts go unanswered by Brands.  You must, I repeat, MUST, monitor and respond to posts.  I would venture that the stat should be just about flipped, you should be responding to 90-95% of all posts on your wall (we’ll let you off the hook for those ‘hidden’ area you might miss!).  It’s critical to respond.  This is like marketing to drive people into your restaurant and then ignoring them when they come in the door and never getting them to a table and offering them a menu!

Need assistance with monitoring?  Use a service like Sendible or HyperAlerts to help you monitor chatter.

 

2. Fill out the Info Tab meticulously! 

While this is a simple tip, it is important and must not be overlooked.  Your Facebook Page Info tab offers SEO value.  It is indexed by Search Engines so make sure you complete this in detail with a focus on including your most important keywords for your products and services. 

As destinations, make sure you complete your address to enable the Bing map on the page which also enables visitors to Check-in at your locale.  Check-ins are free viral sharing, so encourage this!

3. Add Custom Tabs! 

You work hard to set your brand apart on your website, in your literature, and in other key marketing areas so why wouldn’t you go beyond the basics offered by Facebook for all Pages and make your Page stand apart?  At a minimum, add a custom default landing tab so that the first time visitors come to your fan page on Facebook you give them a branded experience and not just drop them off at the wall. 

Custom tabs can be easily created using third-party platforms like TabSite.  These services enable you to quickly and easily add your logo, other images, and content to a landing tab on your Facebook Page.  Keep the landing tab focused and concise.  You have about 3-4 seconds to give that first impression.  Use additional tabs for things like a Product showcase,  Specials, or to bring your YouTube Channel to your fan page. 

 

4. Engage!

This is critical to your success on Facebook.  Having a fan page is not enough, you must be active in posting and your posts need to be strategic to draw in people to comment and Like the post.  You will also want to ask opened questions, meaning ones that invite a person to comment. (Example: “What are your thoughts on our new feature, xyz?”.  Ask for the “Like” (Example: Give us a “Like” if you think our new feature is cool!).  Softer sell words have better engagment rates than pushy sales pitches as well.

5. Like-Gate (fan-gating) 

This is a important tool to help boost your Facebook Page “Like” count.  Getting the “Like” is important, but more than that, this allows you to continue to communicate to the user because your Wall feed posts have opportunity to be in their Ticker and Newsfeed on their Facebook profile! 

Use a third-party tool with Like-Gate or fan-gating capabilities like TabSite so you can show non-fans a specific message to help encourage them to “Like” the page.  Keep it simple, keep it clear.  Remember, the “Like” is the gateway to start your relationship engagement, not the finish line!

 

6. Pictures and Videos are worth more than a 1000 words!

Images and videos drive engagement up!  Research shows that “Posts including a photo album, a picture or a video generate about 180%, 120%, and 100% more engagement than the average post, respectively“. (Data from this post was sourced from the Facebook Marketing Bootcamp).
So, make sure you are using images and also short video clips if you have them.  Users can now watch videos right from their Facebook Ticker, and Facebook has also recently increased the size of the images in the Newsfeed when they are uploaded to your Page Albums.  See the size!

 

7. Know when to hold’em, know when to post’em

Ideal posting times vary by industry, and you need to understand that often the ideal times can be outside of the 9 to 5 work zone!  Studies have shown that the best engagement rates during the 24 hour period are between 7-8 a.m., after 4 p.m. and between 10-11 at night.

For Travel and Hospitality industries, highest engagement rates often occur on Thursday and Friday, so these are important times to plan to post.  As well, understand that too much posting can turn fans off.  5-8 posts a week, or about 1 a day can be adequate.  Use Facebook Insights to review your stats on impressions (times shown) and engagement to get a better feel of what drives the most value for your organization.

8. Capitalize on the Moment!

Particularly for destinations and resorts, when the people are there, they are happy, so get them to post!!!  This is a great marketing weapon and an asset at your doorstep, literally!  Hotels, resorts and destination locations need to key in on Facebook mobile users and offer “social photo-ops” and reminders to “check-in” and share with friends.  Locations can even consider using signs with QR codes that lead to your fan page on Facebook, making it easy for users to scan and post a picture in the moment.

 

So, think strategically about your opportunities to turn your Facebook fans into evangelists, and ways to turn guests into ambassadors!

What has been your experience with Facebook marketing?

What has improved your Facebook Page engagement?