Resort marketing is different than almost any other type of marketing because the product is uniquely service based. Resort marketing relies both on the product (your location, resort, or restaurant), and the people who turn that product from a venue into a dream destination and experience. Social media marketing for hotels gives you a real look into your customers’ experiences that you can’t get from a resort site inspection or photo shoot. Using social media marketing for hotels can revolutionize your training, feature and product release cycle, and business model. Here are a few quick tips:

1. Use social media marketing for hotels to discover post-trip feedback:

Customers who have had an amazing trip and want to share their experiences with the world often flock to social media while on their trip or within the first week after they return to share photos and anecdotes. On the flip side, guests who have had a negative experience will similarly hit the Twitterverse and review sites to spread the word. In both cases, your social media agency will be able to share real-time feedback about what’s going on around your resort. Social media marketing allows you to aggregate the most important feedback and understand your guests’ most common sentiments, trends, and insights. You can use this information to respond directly to individual experiences or make broader changes at your resort by using this feedback to train your staff.

2. Use social media marketing for hotels to understand booking and reservation challenges:

Social media marketing is also important for resort marketing as a supplement to traditional web analytics. If you use a digital agency to oversee your web analytics, social media marketing is a natural complement. Web analytics shows you when people are entering and leaving your website, whether they are completing certain tasks, and how often people are returning. Social media marketing often reveals the “why” behind these behaviors. If you discover that you have a high booking abandonment rate, social media marketing may uncover that it’s due to a bad site experience or feeling like there’s some bait-and-switch at checkout, which you can then address. Because social media monitoring relies on user generated feedback, it helps you prioritize which tasks to address first based on how important it seems to your customers.

3. Use social media marketing for hotels to conduct market research:

Resort marketing relies on finding (and harnessing) the latest hospitality trends. Social media monitoring gives you inside information into what guests expect, what they’re seeing at other locations, and what they’d like to see in the future. Your marketing agency can help you interpret this data and pressure test new product ideas or concepts on social media – or simply listen in to keep a finger on the pulse of the industry. This information gives you a distinct advantage over your competition and leading insights to inform your business strategy for years to come.

4. Use social media marketing for hotels to find brand advocates:

Although most people rely on social media marketing for hotels to understand what customers are unhappy with, you can also use this information to find brand advocates and highlight what people really love. Don’t underestimate the power of positive affirmation. If you see that a lot of customers love a certain aspect of your property, feature it more prominently in your resort marketing campaigns. Similarly, if they say service is top notch, find ways to reward your staff and encourage this type of behavior to continue.

5. Use social media marketing for hotels to get a bird’s eye view of your brand:

Last, but certainly not least, social media marketing for hotels gives you a bird’s eye view of your brand. You’ll be able to see if sentiments are generally positive or negative, as well as gauge how connected your target audience is with your brand. For new or prospective customer acquisition this is particularly important information. Depending on your brand’s general reputation or degree of brand loyalty, you can tailor your resort marketing efforts to those unique needs. This information will help inform broader brand strategy and large-scale advertisements to position your resort within the marketplace or against your competitive set. Ultimately, social media marketing does so much more than track your Facebook feed – it reveals your customers’ needs.