Do you desire more direct bookings through your website? 

Is your hotel’s social media account not generating the same results as your competitors’? 

Don’t your online reviews reflect the positive experiences your guests have had?

Are you confused about how to market your hotel business digitally? 

Worry not! We are here with an excellent Digital Marketing checklist for hotels. Keep reading to learn about the strategies.

Do you know about 60% of the earth’s population, or 4.66 billion people, now have internet access? As the use of social media continues to explode, digital marketing is topping the list if you were to market your hotel. 

The potential is limitless, and hotels can use the power of digital marketing to create marketing miracles with proper strategies and tools and some creativity. Nearly 60% of all reservations are now done digitally, reaching 148.3 million online reservations, with the number continuing to increase every year. As a result, the more you boost your online presence, the more reservations you could expect.

We want to help you rapidly boost your hotel’s success by simplifying the best hotel digital marketing strategies. The following four tips are the most popular and easy-to-apply digital marketing checklist for hotels to help you keep up with the changing times. 

1. Is Your Hotel’s Website User-Friendly?

One of the most key factors to consider is whether your website is designed to provide the best possible user experience that is easy to access, simple, and provides users with the information they desire?

 Mobile bookings have skyrocketed, and visitors are now more likely to exit a website that isn’t mobile-friendly. Keep your website updated with fresh blog content, guest testimonials, and reviews. Travelers love reading content on hotels and the culture of the places they visit.

Ensure your website has photographs that are relatable to potential guests. When it comes to marketing your hotel, having high-quality photos is extremely important. You must include exterior shots, interior views, rooms, and other hotel attractions such as public areas and the entrance.

Most importantly, optimise your website for direct hotel bookings. Ensure your booking system is easy to navigate, offers different room options, and can be accessed from any page. We suggest that all hoteliers must add a booking engine to their website. 

It allows users to self-serve, such as checking room availability and rates and making safe payments directly on your website. There’s no better marketing strategy to boost consumer satisfaction than to provide a fantastic booking experience! Take a look to choose the best booking engine in the industry.

2. Is Your Search Engine Marketing (SEM) on Point?

Search engine marketing is one of the hotel internet marketing strategies to raise the visibility of your hotel’s website in search engine results pages (SERPs) to promote the hotel.

SEM combines both SEO (search engine optimisation), which guarantees that your website is optimised so that Google can find it quickly and PPC (pay-per-click), Google’s paid advertising strategy. Here’s how you can effectively use them in your digital marketing campaigns for hotels:

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

• Technical optimisation: Make sure your website doesn’t have any technical issues that could stop Google from searching it.
• Keyword research: Identify your target audience and the keywords they frequently use on Google.
• On-page optimisation: You must use proper keywords on multiple pages and in aspects like headers, alt tags, and photos.
• Off-page optimisation: Ensure that relevant websites and media, like famous travel bloggers in your location, connect with you.

Google Hotel Ads/PPC

Hoteliers may use Google Hotel Ads or PPC to promote their services on Google and Google Maps. It helps you promote your hotel on Google anytime anyone searches it. Your customers can access all hotel’s details, including rates, availability, services, reviews, and more, thanks to the power of Google Hotel listing. These hotel ads also offer a booking icon, allowing users to book a room directly from the Google results.

3. Are You Using the Ideal Social Media Platforms?

Many independent hotels are experimenting with social media, especially Facebook and Instagram. While it’s an excellent strategy to gain more visibility, it’ll only work if your target market uses those social media platforms. Understanding your following on social media, just like everything else in hotel digital marketing, is important if you want it to be effective.

The same rule applies to the words you use on social media. You can run the best hotel advertising campaigns on social media by attracting millennials using a friendly and humorous tone. Moreover, you must post content that is relatable and engaging to your audience.

Start with making content about local festivals, restaurants, and exciting things near your hotel. You can post images, carousels, and reels to showcase your beautiful property. Also, if your followers mention you or tag you in a post, ensure to communicate with them. Most travelers these days specify the location and place of stay when they share their holiday pictures on social media. That’s totally free promotion!

4. Are You Using Content Marketing Effectively to Drive More Bookings?

Are you creating useful and educational content to attract more tourists? By creating different types of content like blog articles, videos, and downloadable tips, you can increase the brand awareness for your hotel, develop a relationship with potential visitors, and drive direct bookings.

Publishing local content is a great strategy for independent hotels to stand out. You likely know your neighbourhood better than anyone else, so take advantage of that information and start writing about popular local attractions. It’s necessary to highlight locations your primary audience is inclined to explore.

Motivate customers to post testimonials after a pleasant experience. This will become more valuable than anything else in your content marketing strategy. We all read reviews before booking a hotel, don’t we? So you must keep that in mind.

Start investing in your content marketing by publishing informative blogs, e-books, videos, and webinars that answer detailed questions from visitors and provide something that isn’t available anywhere else. If travelers like the content, they might share it. Voila! Free marketing again for your hotel.

Ready to Skyrocket Your Hotel Business With Digital Marketing?

Hotel digital marketing strategy is a vast and often tricky topic and is overwhelming. It is, however, an industry with great potential in this digital era. After reading the above digital marketing checklist for hotels, we believe you will be confident and motivated to apply them to advertise your hotel digitally. You must develop a hotel digital marketing strategy with these four tips so that you can realise the benefits and possibilities in this online space.

This article was originally published on partner sites.