Effective FB posts without having to think

It doesn’t matter how many followers you have on Facebook.

I could also put it this way: what matters is not how many followers you have on Facebook, but rather who you reach when you communicate with the group of your Facebook followers.

In most cases, a hotel’s followers tend to be guests who already visited the hotel or people who found it while looking for accommodation and then clicked the like button. Some hotels advertise a prize game or other Facebook promotions to increase the number of their followers. So, if you communicate with your Facebook followers, your only information about these people is that they have previously shown interest in your hotel or at best they already visited your hotel. If you don’t spend to get your post boosted, then at best you will reach 5-10% of your followers; if you pay for boosting your post, you can reach everyone. In both cases, you need to invest a lot of time and money into improving your hotel’s Facebook presence just to get a few reservations. This is why Facebook experts who don’t specialise in hotels say, “on Facebook, you don’t have to try and sell, and that’s how it is meant to be. Just increase the number of your followers as much as you can, and then keep hoping that the many posts will help remind your followers of your hotel when they are looking for accommodation later (still, do sometimes post a one or two special offers too)”.

What if you could communicate with those who are currently looking for accommodation and have seen your website?

You’ve probably seen remarketing banners. Accommodation agencies like to use this method so that when you leave their site without booking, then you later get reminded of the hotels you previously looked at on their site. You can also easily use this method for advertising your Facebook posts by setting up the post to be visible only for those who have been to your website in the last 15 days. With this method you will reach specifically those people who are actively looking for a hotel and are ready to book. Clearly it has great advantages if you advertise to people who are actively interested and are looking for a hotel, compared to just a hope that the post will result in someone booking your hotel some time later.

So, don’t focus on the number of followers you have, but on the communication to those who are actively looking for a hotel.

Good idea, but what do I post about for them?

Most hotels have a serious headache with having to always come up with fresh and interesting content. This is why we only very rarely see hotels that are able to say something new every day. If you also have trouble with creating new content regularly, the “effect” of the method introduced below will be particularly appealing: you don’t have to always invent new content with this approach. This is because you don’t always talk to the same audience about new and interesting things to keep their attention, but instead always communicate with new guests. That is, those people who have recently visited your website. This way you can easily set up a system so that you can even create your posts in advance. It is important to present topics that are of interest to those looking for accommodation in the area. Feel free to reuse your previous posts because you are always communicating to the visitors of the last 15 days, so the content will be new to them.

The following are good examples of how to use Facebook to attract the attention of people actively searching for accommodation:

• Quoting the feedback from a guest: “Thank you for your feedback, Example Mariann, we are glad to hear you enjoyed your stay with us: “Quote the guest’s feedback about your hotel here“
• Points of interest for the area: collect some really interesting things, places or attractions that only locals know about.
• Best price guarantee, that is, why choose your hotel: explain, for example, how you are taking the best price guarantee seriously, and why you are better than the competition.
• “Win free accommodation!” promotion: you can also motivate the guest by selecting a guest in every month or at other intervals, who will get free accommodation at your hotel. It’s a good idea to also publish the names of the winners on Facebook.

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