10 Tips to Better Manage Your Hotel's Facebook Page

1. Set up a clear objective

So why should your hotel have an Official Facebook Page?

The most common answer you will hear is "because everybody has one!" It takes a little more than that, however. Essentially, you should be very clear about the purpose of creating a Fan Page if you want to be able to do it well. The two main objectives for hotels are usually:

• To generate trust towards potential future guests, in an attempt to create reassurance and make them want to book your hotel.

• To keep in touch with past and regular guests, to remain in their minds for their future needs, and/or when someone asks them for a hotel recommendation in your destination.

Surprisingly, it's not all about receiving the most "likes". The main challenge is to get engagement.

2. Enhance your visibility on Google

If you do a good job at filling in all the description fields of your hotel's Facebook page, you might get a good ranking on Google's search results. Think about all the suitable and relevant keywords for your destination, and take the time to position them. Also, make sure to check the other category fields, such as email, website, address, etc.

3. Merge your 'Fan' Page with your 'Place' Page

"Place" pages are generated when people tag themselves, or check into new places that do not already appear on Facebook. If you haven't created a "place" page, it is very possible that a past guest has. When you log onto Facebook, search for your hotel name in the section marked "Places" and review the results. If there is indeed an existing "Place" page for your hotel, click on "I am the owner of this place" to request the merge with your official fan page (which appears on the right-hand side).

Please note that you must be logged in to Facebook with your personal profile (not your Fan Page)to request the merge.

4. Connect with your audience

Be engaging! Facebook is the main social media platform for connecting and sharing with people. Most people use it to relax and entertain themselves.

Therefore, do not be tempted to constantly promote yourself. Instead, share emotions, beautiful images and entertaining stories. If you publish dull or uninteresting posts, your followers might keep their "like" on your Fan Page, but hide your publications from their newsfeeds, which means you get zero engagement.

Engagement involves having people "like" your posts. Even better than just a "like" would be when they comment on and then share your posts, which is the highest level of engagement.

Each time you publish something, Facebook checks your posts to see how they perform. Posts that perform well are automatically shared more broadly. So, next time you post on your Facebook Fan Page, ask yourself, "Would I share this on my personal Facebook timeline if it were published by a company I'm already following?" If the answer is Yes, go ahead and publish your post.

5. Be aesthetic

Share only good-quality images. This doesn't necessarily mean high-resolution images, but rather those that look both professional and attractive (e.g., good lighting, vibrant colours, good framing, etc.). The idea is that publishing great content is more important than publishing constantly.

Publishing a text or link without an image attached makes engagement less likely, since most people prefer visual content. You can also add a short sentence to your image (and pair this with the easy-to-use PowerPoint software to help you make simple yet effective photo collages). Another advantage would be to upload an eye-catching main photo (your logo?) and cover photo.

6. Share video content

You can also publish links from YouTube videos or playlists. However, I strongly recommend that you also upload your videos directly to your hotel's Facebook Fan Page. This is another great way to ensure engagement. Do the test! If you need to add subtitles, you can easily create "srt" subtitle files with a tool like Kapwing and publish them on YouTube, then Facebook.

7. Publish regularly

Have you ever visited a Facebook Fan page and its last post was from three months ago? Which feeling did it give you? When it happens to me, my first reaction is to wonder, "Is this hotel still alive?" This might also be how your potential guests feel if you do not publish regularly, and it is not the way to build trust. Try to publish at least once a week and no more than twice a day.

8. Look out for better times to publish

Try publishing at different times of day and on different days of the week to see what performs better. Generally, it works well on weekdays, after lunch or after work hours.

9. Increase your posts' visibility

When publishing posts, you can tag other organisations' Facebook Fan Pages (using the "@"). They will then receive a notification that you mentioned or talked about them. If your tags are relevant and useful (don't spam!), they might be grateful and share the post on their own page, increasing your post's visibility.

You can also use "#" to indicate keywords. The tourism board of your destination might have an official "#", look for it! Some people follow specific "#" and share posts related to that subject.

You can also join Facebook groups and share your posts on them. Again, remain pertinent, don't spam.

10. Promote your Facebook posts to the targeted audience

Facebook remains one of the best cost-efficient online marketing tools. It allows you to target very specific audiences through different filters (age, location, gender, etc.) and is surprisingly cheap (from $1!). Feel free to try it, and let us know the results!

Keep Exploring and Implementing

We hope you found these 10 tips for managing your hotel's Facebook fan page useful.

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