Creative Social Media Hits the Jackpot

Are you a business struggling to find creative hotel social media content?  Do you find it difficult to talk about things other than your business online?  Milestone suggests directly speaking about your business 20% of the time on social channels and 80% of the time post about things that can tie into your business, i.e. local events and seasonal items. If you are a local business owner, you’ll be surprised by how much content you have available to you every day.  Let’s take a look to see what creative social media content can do for your business.

Recently Buzzfeed and ABC News picked up a story about Adare Manor Hotel in Ireland. Yes, two huge websites highlighted a hotel’s social media story to millions of people across the world for free.  Talk about great publicity!  So, what was the hotel story about? Did the hotel staff win the lottery, did someone save someone’s life, was the force with them? No. The social media sensation was based off of a lost and found item. A bunny was left behind at the hotel and the hotel staff decided to creatively find it’s owner via Facebook.  The hotel’s initial post received much higher shares than their usual content so they decided to document their mission of returning the bunny.

The bunny went on to enjoy a spa visit, afternoon tea, the concierge’s hospitality, and a luxurious bed before being reunited with it’s owner.  For two days the hotel was able to capture a heartfelt story while highlighting their amenities and their hospitality to the world.

The creativity and spontaneity from the staff regarding a lost and found item saw the hotel’s engagement skyrocket 4,000%. As the hotel is not a client of Milestone, we can not say if the posts were boosted with advertising dollars, but even if the posts had spend behind them it was incremental compared to the amount of exposure and engagement.  Not to mention, Jellycat was reunited with it’s three-year-old owner at the end of the day.

Key Social Takeaways:

1. No one knows what will become a social sensation, but if your business can highlight aspects of your company in a creative and genuine way you will go far in the social world
2. Stop thinking you need a front-page headline to create social content, posts that relate to your audience will capture their attention
3. Take advantage of Facebook advertising to share unique content
4. A mistake can be turned into something great!

Additional Creative Social Media Ideas:

1. You love the view from the roof, chronicle the changes of season from your favorite spot. Add seasonal drinks and food in the pictures to include the restaurant as well.
2. Pet friendly? Share images of your four-legged guests
3. Free breakfast? Sit down with a friendly guest and hear about their exciting day ahead to share highlights
4. Have staff visit local attractions to capture their favorite moments to share socially

Many could not resist this image, from Hotel Nikko San Francisco, a Milestone client.

Here are some other good articles related to social channels in which you would be interested:

Guide to Social Media Marketing in 2021
Social Media Starfish
3 Key Reasons to Add Social Media Links to Your Website
Top 10 Strategies to Promote Hotels on Social Media Channels in 2020 and 2021
Top Social Media Trends for 2020
Social Media Trends Impacting Your Hotel

Contributed by:
Dao Phung, Product Specialist
Sara Linton, Product Marketing Specialist