A hotel's online presence and engagement is an extension of the service that guests receive onsite and imperative for creating a fully rounded experience. Social media provides a direct outlet for interacting with past, current, and future guests, and provides the opportunity to build consumer advocacy. The ongoing value of maintaining an active social media presence is high. It is the primary way that guests get their first impression of a hotel. By being plugged into social channels 24/7, guests receive a more comprehensive experience, which now extends well before arrival and long after departure. In fact, a hotel's digital presence drives consideration and purchase, and could equate to a booking.

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Posting on emerging social platforms can be a fantastic way to reach audiences and engage with social users. Be sure to evaluate the platform’s active audience relative to your specific property and target. For example, several of the trending platforms feature short-form video content that appeals to a younger demographic. But if your target audience tends to skew older, this type of content might not appeal to this target.

Working with influencers can drive increased reach and exposure for your property within your targeted audience. More importantly, they also help create a customized approach within each platform. Users expect different types of content across various platforms. Influencers can help by creating authentic content for niche audiences and niche platforms.

The right paid media strategy will depend on the goals that you want to achieve. This can get complex quickly, but here are a couple of general guidelines.

If the goal is REACH and AWARENESS, the paid media strategy must include Boosted Post Campaigns. The effort is focused on reaching users who are most likely to engage with the posts and comment, like, or share.

If the goal is a specific buying action from the consumer, you’ll need performance prospecting tactics with the objective of Website Traffic and/or Landing Page Conversions.

Another strategy to consider involves retargeting those audiences who already interacted with the property with a more personalized social message.

But there’s no perfect answer until we understand more about your unique hotel. Your paid strategy will ultimately be determined by your business goals and we're here to help strategically advise you on getting the most return for your budget.

Social strategy development begins with insights gleaned during our kickoff call. Next, we conduct a social audit, during which your dedicated BCV team will perform a sweep of your existing property presence in order to propose strategic recommendations according to current best practices. With that information, we will craft a strategy for your scoped social platforms that is customized to your specific content priorities and objectives. For example, we will determine whether the addition of specific social platforms, paid media (programmatic, influencer partnerships, etc.), and specific organic content types will help to drive ROI.

It all comes together in a detailed content calendar. Utilizing a mix of existing assets, new assets created from an on-site photo/video shoot, and user-generated content, this calendar becomes the blueprint for a successful social program.

At BCV we work carefully to match clients with the perfect account team. Your team is built based upon a number of factors, including experience with like-minded brands, property types, business objectives, and market/destination knowledge. Your dedicated team builds tailored strategies based on an extensive knowledge pool of subject matter experts in creative, media, and monitoring.

The onboarding period is a 90-day process, during which the BCV team gathers a full understanding of the highlights of the property, as well as the team’s business objectives and their goals for social media.

Our partnership begins with a Kickoff Call, during which you will be introduced to your dedicated BCV team, review your scope of work and onboarding timeline, and discuss your key content priorities and social objectives. From there, your BCV team will spend approximately three weeks preparing your first calendar of content, your customized social media strategy, and more. Following your approval of those materials, BCV will launch content publication, monitoring, and advertising.

It’s best to consider the first three months of our partnership as an ongoing learning period, in which adjustments are made based on feedback from the client team. Our Creative Team is comprised of talented social media professionals with extensive brand expertise, and they have a great foundation of knowledge for working with your hotel. However, it’s perfectly normal to take a few rounds of content development, feedback, and refinement to establish the optimal tone of voice. Once this is established, the collective team operates efficiently and is able to execute on all fronts.