What if? Five things to keep in mind…
1. Backup. Regularly!: You probably have thousands of images and videos on your Facebook pages, on Instagram, and on other platforms. Your own images are joined by content uploaded by your guests and visitors. You should regularly backup your images and store them on a local drive or offline. It’s easy to download images from a Facebook page or from Twitter. For other platforms like Instagram or YouTube, there are apps available that will help you.
2. Don’t fall into the ‘booking’ trap: We all know places that get 80% or more of their bookings from the same OTA. It usually doesn’t end well. The same is true for your marketing activities, whether online or offline. Even if you get good results, do not focus solely on unrealistic expectations of what you can achieve on one or two platforms alone.
3. Prepare for the future: There’s little doubt that organic reach and even paid reach using simple advertising tools such as boosted posts on Facebook will decline further in the future. New advertising products and services will appear, but many of them are fairly evolved (think programmatic advertising, for example). You may not have the resources or skills to utilise these in-house, but you need to know what’s out there and how things work, so you can find and manage third-party providers efficiently.
4. Own your data: It’s easy to say: “Let’s just sign up to TripAdvisor Review Express” or similar ‘free’ services offered by third parties, which can help you reach more people or otherwise benefit your operations. The trouble is, you’re letting go of your data. Data is where the money is. Be selective with who you give access to your wallet!
5. Adjust your expectations: Ever met someone who told you that doing X or Y on Facebook or Instagram is going to solve all your problems. Chances are, it won’t. Successful marketing is a mix of techniques and channels.
About the Author: Martin Kubler is the founder of Iconsulthotels and the CEO of sps:affinity. Iconsulthotels is now sps:hotels — a leading hotel management consultancy that provides its clients forward-looking business strategies, keeping them ahead of the market. Email: hello@spsaffinity.com.
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