How to promote a small hotel in India on social media?

Did you just start your hotel business? Are you looking to promote your hotel on social media platforms to gain more visibility? Do you want to know how to come up with a social media marketing strategy?

You have come to the right place. We have covered the A – Z of social media marketing. You will learn how to come up with a strategy to promote your hotel on different social platforms. We have included helpful links of some of the famous hotels to know how they are promoting their brand. In the end, you will also learn the best practices to follow on social media.

What is social media marketing?

Social media marketing is a strategy to create brand awareness, promote products and services, keep your followers engaged and gain more leads. It refers to both organic and paid promotions. Organic marketing (SEO) refers to achieving your social media goals without the support of advertisements and paid tools. Paid marketing refers to running advertisements based on user behaviour, interests, location etc. You can also boost well-performing posts to gain more views. Paid ads can be in the form of banners, texts, videos, pay-per-click campaigns etc.

When you are starting a new business, it is a good idea to begin with organic social media marketing to get an idea of the platform. Once you get a grip of it, you can move on to paid advertising.

It’s a good idea is to mix both organic and paid promotion to make the most out of social media marketing.

How to set achievable goals to promote your hotel on social media?

Coming up with a social media strategy becomes easier when you list down your goals. Ask yourself why you want to create an online presence.

1. Do you simply want to create brand awareness?
   Is your hotel new to the industry? If spreading the word about your new venture your primary goal, you should focus on brand awareness.
   Even if you own a well-known hotel you need to spread the word while launching a new package or service.
2. Are you going to use it for lead generation?
   You can use CTA (call-to-action) buttons, forms, links to external sites, direct messaging and landing pages to generate leads.
   That is, users can use the social media platform to book rooms, check availability of rooms, enroll in customer loyalty programmes etc.
3. Will you use the platform to engage with people?
   Do you chat with customers through DMs? Or will you use it to engage in the comments section?
4. Is the platform going to be used as a helpdesk or support forum?
   Social media is not just about sales promotions. You can also use it to resolve customer queries. You can use Meta Business Suite to chat with customers on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

You can set different goals for each platform. Based on your priorities, you can decide the platform that aligns with your goals.

Popular social media marketing platforms to promote your hotel

1. Facebook
2. Instagram
3. Twitter
4. WhatsApp
5. Pinterest
6. YouTube

How to promote your hotel on each social media account?

Even though the core of all social media platforms is to engage with people, they are not built the same. Each platform has its own pros and cons. What might work on Facebook, may not work on Twitter. So, you need to set specific goals for each platform.

If you are not familiar with social media platforms, you can take a couple of weeks to get the hang of it. Feel free to watch tutorials, learn from friends and get used to the platform. You don’t have to install all the applications at once. Find the platform that is the most relevant in your industry and start from there.

If that seems a lot of work to fit in to your schedule, you can hire a social media marketer to take care of everything.

Facebook

Facebook has billions of users worldwide. All you need to do is create a page for your hotel. You can add your business details, links to It is one of the best platforms to promote hotels on social media. It is used to create brand awareness, engage with customers, drive direct bookings to your hotel, display catalogues etc. You can also post content simultaneously on Facebook and Instagram.

Read this complete guide by Meta to know how to set up an ad for your hotel.

Twitter

Short and sweet – that summarises Twitter. It is the right platform to see what’s trending in your industry. Every day, you will find new topics in the global and regional hashtags. You can include these hashtags in byte-sized tweets that is relevant to your business.

Twitter might not be the first priority to promote your hotel

For inspiration, check out these hotels for content ideas.

Instagram

Instagram has evolved leaps and bounds in the past decade. What used to be a photos sharing app has now evolved to a full-blown business-friendly application. With the introduction of DMs, reels, stories, live video sharing, Instagram has become the easiest platform to promote your hotel. You will never run out of content ideas.

For inspiration, check out these hotels for content ideas.

WhatsApp

You can use third-party tools to send promotional messages, chat with customers, offer support, share links, integrate with your website and more.

YouTube

Use YouTube to post helpful content that will help travellers. It can be tips for a family-friendly trip, packing ideas to save space, legal formalities required in hotel bookings, sight-seeing spots around your hotel etc.

This will help you gain more views and subscribers. This will help your hotel gain more popularity.

Pinterest

You can use Pinterest to showcase your hotel’s ambience, lavish suites, cuisines, outdoor events etc. The best thing about Pinterest is that you can redirect the pins to your website. This ensures that when you post visually stunning images, people would be tempted to visit your site to know more about your hotel.

Check out Taj Hotels and Hilton for content ideas.

Things to remember while promoting your hotel on social media

1. Consistency
   Prepare a social media calendar to make sure that you are posting at regular intervals. If you do not have a team, it is a good idea to have a collection of content beforehand. You can use tools like Hootsuite to schedule your posts. So, you do not have to worry about running out of content ideas.
2. Don’t over post
   When you create an account, it is tempting to post all your content at once. If you do that, you will run out of content in a few weeks or months. So, follow your social media calendar and post at regular intervals.
3. Try influencer marketing
   Influencer marketing is a great way to gain more brand awareness. Let’s say an influencer has X number of followers. If they post or talk about your hotel, you will get a better reach. Find a person who is relevant to your industry. It can be an influential person who had stayed in your hotel, a brand that’s famous in your industry, . Beware of scammers. Most of the social media accounts of influencers are managed by digital marketing agencies. So, if they ask for an exorbitant amount of money beforehand, it is better to stay away from them.
4. Don’t concentrate on all the platforms at once
   You don’t have to focus on everything. If a particular platform is not relevant for your business, you do not need to spend your time there. For example, it is unlikely that a customer would approach you on LinkedIn or YouTube comment section to book rooms.