Now that COVID restrictions are slowly being lifted it is time for the hospitality industry to start gearing up its digital marketing efforts. The hospitality industry is unique in many different ways to market its properties. From driving customers with content marketing to using social media, to search engine optimization (SEO) – there are many channels and tactics that can be utilized.
But how does one get started?
This post contains ten digital marketing tips that I hope will help you get your digital marketing efforts going. After reading this post, you’ll have a better understanding of the importance of online reviews and ratings for your business as well as when it’s appropriate to hire a dedicated marketing consultant or agency.
1. Get a Digital Marketing Strategy in Place
Before you can start marketing your business, it’s important to have a digital marketing strategy that has been thought out and has been approved by management. You’ll need this strategy in place before making any changes or any new strategies or tactics that you may want to implement. The benefits of having a digital marketing strategy are multi-faceted: it allows you to focus on what matters most and create a set of goals that you know you can achieve. It also shows the owner/manager that the business is being managed effectively and efficiently leading to better morale at the workplace.
2. Start by Digging into Your Website
Your website should be the cornerstone of your digital marketing efforts. Before you start digging into any other digital channel, it’s important to make sure that your website is optimized for search engines such as Google and Bing. If you’re not utilizing Google Analytics, then I strongly recommend that you put this item at the top of your list. Next, set up a Google My Business page and Facebook page for the business as well. Be sure to include your social media links on the “Contact Us” page of your website.
3. Start Building a Social Media Presence
Social media is probably the easiest and fastest way to get online reviews, ratings, and followers. It also allows for you as the marketing manager to directly interact with your customers and prospects. My first piece of advice is to make sure that you have a dedicated social media manager for each platform. You don’t want to have one person managing Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. You’ll need a different voice on each platform and this is best accomplished by having someone completely dedicated to each account. Be sure that you are utilizing your Google My Business page and Facebook page to their fullest extent by including local SEO friendly details in your posts such as geo-location tags (i.e. what city, state and country are you in). You should also post on an as-needed basis. Don’t keep publishing posts if nobody is reading them and don’t spam your followers.
4. Get Your Reviews and Online Ratings in Place
Online reviews and ratings are extremely important to have for all businesses especially if you’re a local business that is focused on a certain area. Surveys have shown that 93% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. There are many ways to get online reviews – the most popular being TripAdvisor, Google My Business, Facebook Reviews, Yelp, etc. Just make sure that you’re getting these online ratings so you can show off your credibility with potential customers.
5. Use an SEO Specialist
You need to have a professional on your team specializing in SEO that can help you optimize your website for search engines such as Google and Bing. Many companies specialize in this field and it’s important to find one that has experience with the industries you’re targeting. This will ensure that they can provide the best recommendations to get you the most exposure online.
6. Optimize Your Website for Social Sharing
Social media is all about sharing so your website must be designed in a way that makes sharing easy on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. There are tools and techniques that can help you achieve this such as having social media buttons at the top of your blog posts, using schema markup on your website, etc.
7. Use Geo-Targeting for Your Campaigns
One of the main reasons people use Facebook is because they can target their ads to a specific geographic area. This makes it easy to reach potential customers who are near your business. Getting geo-targeted customers for your business will allow you to get more ROI from advertising on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
8. Keep Your Website Fresh
Your website should be updated regularly. Make sure to update your “About Us” section with information and photos that are relevant to your business. You can also post pictures of your products or services as well as upcoming events. Make sure to include a sign-up form for your newsletter so people can subscribe and get the latest news from you right in their inbox.
9. Review Your Website Using Google My Business Dashboard
Google My Business is an extremely useful dashboard providing you with important information such as location, phone number, hours of operation, etc. From the Google My Business dashboard, you can also get access to your Google Analytics account which gives you an overview of all of your site traffic. You can use this information to determine which pages of your website are performing best. Also, with the date range set up, you can easily see the months that people came to your website and in which period of time.
10. Utilize Google’s Display Network Advertisements
In addition to using the sponsored ads that are in the Google Display Network, you can also use text and image ads. This way you can further target your potential customers and make sure that they see your ad when browsing the internet.
If you’re still having trouble figuring out how to market your company better, then contact The Ornate Group today! We’ve been in business since 2018 and we’ve helped many small businesses just like yours improve their online presence and generate more leads for their business.
