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Using social media to drive hotel group sales

January 25, 2012 | Hotel Marketing

How can hotels navigate the complex world of tweets, posts, blogs, and more to position their properties for large group bookings? Here are some actionable ways that sales people can engage with strategic social media to learn more about potential customers and expand their social networks to drive sales.

The importance of networking has been a central focus of sales training since before the internet existed. However, it is important to encourage your sales people to work smarter rather than longer when networking online. Focusing their online activities on sites with the highest probability of gaining new qualified contacts can prevent them from falling down the social media rabbit hole to the detriment of traditional sales approaches. Here are a couple of great places to have your salespeople spend time online:

Local Tourist Board pages - Landing a big event like a regional conference or trade show often means knowing when a customer is looking for new venues in a specific region. Contacts within local tourist boards can be a great source of this information. Liking or following a tourist board such as Hawaii’s Convention and Visitors Bureau allows a salesperson to engage in a very subtle way with potential customers and the staff at the tourist board. A quick look at their Facebook or Twitter page daily can keep your salespeople informed about upcoming conferences, festivals/concerts, networking events, news stories, and more.

Vendor Pages - Planning events, such as weddings or conferences, often include choosing multiple vendors in addition to the venue. Liking or following top local photographers, event planners, wedding cake companies, florists etc., can lead to great word-of-mouth marketing. Posting sincere comments about a vendor’s work at your hotel or something they posted on their page if you haven’t worked with them before can further cement those relationships. This takes very little time, but can really help get your sales person’s name and your hotel’s name out there. This is especially effective in smaller markets.

Your hotel’s social media pages - Hotel pages that advance social media goals can be a great place to showcase your group sales team. For example, say that a past group customer posted a positive review on a 3rd party travel site, such as TripAdvisor or Yelp, or your Facebook page. Allowing a salesperson who managed that customer relationship to comment back shows continuity of customer care. This can also drive future customers to contact that sales manager because they are visible and approachable. Obviously, this should be used in moderation and your marketing staff may need to oversee the posts to maintain brand compliance, but it can be very effective.

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