QUO believes social media content should be more ‘social’ than ‘media’ to win against ever-changing algorithms. By QUO Brand Strategist Rica Facundo.
Many hospitality marketers panicked about the recent change to Facebook’s algorithm, which now decisively favours user content and meaningful engagement over promotional posts from businesses. While brands ultimately need to adjust their approach to media planning, data crunching does not address the crux of the problem. Neither do content strategies with no real-world implications.
QUO believes that the answer to social media content strategies is simple yet easily overlooked: create meaningful experiences in real life that guests will naturally want to share with their communities online.
That is why the Facebook algorithm change actually works in favour of hospitality brands.
Share-worthy experiences have always been at the heart of the industry. People seek out novel adventures for their next online #humblebrag. They document, then relive fond travel memories through throwbacks. They cultivate their communities through photo tagging and inside jokes left on comments.
A shift to more meaningful interactions is also an emerging theme evident in the hospitality industry, with travellers seeking more wellness and purpose-driven experiences. Now more than ever guests will advocate and recommend hotel experiences that align with their personal beliefs, instead of those that just pay lip service to them.
This strategy defined the new social media campaign and long-term social media approach that QUO created for Wink Hotels, a new hospitality brand aimed at tech-savvy ‘Indochine 2.0’ travellers.
After the Wink Hotels brand launched in October 2017, the first posts on its Facebook page were standard press releases that pushed the product without giving compelling examples why the brand was relevant to the lifestyle or mindset of an Indochine 2.0. traveller. This is a stark contrast to the ‘Indochine 2.0’ campaign that is currently underway. Even though Wink Hotels is still being built, the brand aims to create content that demonstrates its ethos in order to resonate with a new generation of travellers in a meaningful way.
While the initial headlines after Facebook’s recent change were screaming every variation of ‘RIP Facebook for Marketers’ in the long-term the change will become a return to the essence of social media – that it’s a behaviour, not a channel.
A social-savvy hotel brand needs to understand the nuances of human behaviour, particularly when it comes to what their guests desire and believe, to create travel experiences able to spark this kind of ‘shareability’ online. If brands focused more on the ‘social’ than ‘media’ in their content strategies, this will ultimately give guests a more compelling reason to share the brands they love with their social networks.
Follow Wink Hotels on IG @winkhotels and FB @winkhotels
Follow QUO on FB @QUOGlobal and LinkedIn
