Running a business nowadays necessarily leads to the need to be present on the internet, to make it easier for your guests to find you, to find out information about a hotel, apartment, villa, or other types of accommodation you offer. Being online does not only mean that you are active on OTA channels, such as Booking, Expedia, Airbnb, etc. but also that you are connected to your potential and old guests through social networks. In this article, we will introduce some of the basic account management tips on the Instagram social network.
LEARN WHO YOUR TARGET IS
Sometimes it is not enough to just know that you only want “guests”, but also that you are aware of what kind of guests you want in your accommodation. Where are the guests coming from? What are their interests? Are they business guests, families, or all groups bringing you equal value? If you run a hotel, do you want to attract high-budget / low-budget guests or are you prepared to receive groups at cheaper rates? These are just some of the issues you, as an owner/manager, need to think about and formulate your online strategy accordingly.
Once the strategy is formed, you clearly know what your target audience is, what they want, and what you offer. Accordingly, you can form ad promotions on Instagram and introduce yourself through advertisements to your potential guests. A well-formulated strategy ensures that the cost of promotion equals investment, as well-targeted advertising can attract a significant number of guests. While poorly worded, it only represents an additional cost and a waste of money.
USE HIGH QUALITY PHOTOS
In several previous articles, we explained that good photography is the best means of presenting yourself online. These photos should be without a lot of text, they need to be focused from a good angle, be clear, and show exactly what you want the guests to see. Of course, you should not exaggerate and falsely display the content you do not own, or use aggressive filters.
Your profile should be filled with photos that have certain shades harmoniously represented, that when the profile visitor collectively sees the photos, that the order is meaningful, that he does not get the opinion that the photos are tiled.
FILTERS, HASHTAG’s, TITLES…
These are items where you need to know the measure and not overdo it. Photographs can be processed or displayed through filters, but they need to be without vibrant colors, aggressive filters, or bulging shapes and figures. Moderate use is the key, and quality is the result when you devote yourself well to processing your photos.
HASHTAG – Your communication with potential visitors who use word and tag search. Moderate use is the key, 2-3 hashtags are optimum when advertising your accommodation. Some companies with a wide range of activities and leads may increase the number of these labels, but hotels and private accommodations should not. #location #location name #vacation/business/travel/activity/attractions are precise, if you have defined your potential guests then stick to the plan you want to attract them. And do your best to avoid tags like # follow4follow # like4like and the similar ones, personal opinion is that this degrades the profile.
Each photo deserves its own title or description, whether it will be in local or foreign language depends on you and which guests you want to attract. The title should be short, catchy, and hold the attention of the person who flips through the Instagram posts. If you can summarize the meaning of a photo with up to 5 words and get a person to visit your profile, then you are on the right path to new bookings and brand strengthening.
