Power On Series: Creative Social Media and Email Strategies to Stay in Front of Travelers

This excerpt is from our recently published guide, Power On – Marketing for What’s Next. The complete guide offers actionable digital marketing strategies to prepare you for what’s next for hotels, resorts, & vacation rentals. You can check in daily for the next section or you can download the full version here.

Social Media

This is a great time to get creative with your social presence and find new ways to bring the personality of your property(s) to your followers. Here are just a few ideas we’ve seen from our customers to spark your own creativity:

• Ask past guests to share photos of a past stay and trip to your destination by using a dedicated hashtag, so people can share their travel memories.
• Many people are cooking at home and there’s no better way to shake things up than by cooking a recipe from the chef at your property’s restaurant. Get creative and share a complimentary cocktail recipe or wine recommendation that is perfectly paired with the dish.
• Help people escape and indulge with at-home spa tips from your on-site spa.
• If your property offers group activities or fitness classes, share workout or instructional videos guests can use to stay active at home.
• If your property has a large family segment, create printable cards for iconic landmarks in your destination, which parents can print, cut out, and hide to create a scavenger hunt. You can post the printable cards in a scavenger hunt blog post and share on social media and email.
• Share a coloring page of the destination that people can print for their children to color. You can post the coloring pages in a blog post and share on social media and email.

As mentioned previously about image use right now, make sure you’re posting pictures of your property that reflect open spaces, tranquility, privacy and cleanliness. The crowded pool scene or large group events are going to turn guests off right now.

Email Marketing

You’ve launched search and remarketing ads, updated your website, have a creative approach to social media engagement, and have conversion optimization in place to build your email list. Now, bring it all together with an email engagement strategy.

Email is still near the top of all marketing and engagement strategies. Communicating via email with previous guests and those that have opted-in for updates will go a long way in staying top of mind with travelers when they’re ready to start booking.

If you were doing a monthly email newsletter, we’re recommending upping the frequency to bi-weekly or weekly right now. Here are some ideas of what to highlight in your newsletter

• New blog posts and “virtual” vacation Concreative you’ve put on the website
• Any creative social engagements you’re doing should be highlighted
• Videos and photography of your properties that bring the guest virtually back. A simple screenshot of a video in a newsletter is a great way to capture attention and get clicks back to your site to watch.
• Highlighting of local destinations and events
• Deals and promotions you’re planning for the upcoming season
• Status updates on your properties
• Updates on cleaning and sanitation throughout your property
• Get Creative!

Don’t forget to create a separate email marketing list for those guests that needed to cancel! Stay in contact with them and let them know about promotions and offers to rebook.