UGC, or user-generated content, may be a useful resource for the hospitality industry. Any postings, images, blogs, reviews, etc., that a visitor makes about your hotel and shares online is considered User-Generated Content. Nothing beats first-hand accounts from satisfied guests, regardless of how excellent the information is on your website or how well-developed your social media strategy is. That’s why it pays to have guests spread the word about their stay on their social media accounts. Here are a few suggestions for hotels to use social media to promote UGC.

The hotel needs a hashtag, so make one.

Users of social media platforms frequently make use of hashtags (#) to label and search for specific types of content. In the absence of a “official” hashtag, guests will create their own while sharing images on social media. Include the hotel’s recommended hashtag in your social media descriptions to direct users there. You may keep tabs on the images your visitors are taking at your hotel and interact with them online by encouraging them to use the designated hashtags when posting them. Potential visitors can also browse around the property via a photo gallery.

‍Contests

Social media contests are a fun way to get people talking about your hotel and increase exposure for your brand. Make the contest more interesting than just asking participants to “like” the hotel’s page or the contest post. Encourage visitors to submit visual documentation of their stay. Make careful to specify that all entries become the hotel’s property and can be used in any way they see fit in the official contest regulations. This will provide you with excellent material for use on your site and many social media platforms.

Possibilities for hotel-based photography

Visitors to your hotel are likely to be caught on camera more than once. There is no hope for this to alter. Use mirror stickers, placards, and other decorations to encourage attendees to take photographs and share them on social media. Guests can be encouraged to use the hotel’s “official” hashtag and to tag the hotel in their social media posts. These photographs will serve as recommendations to their friends, followers, and anybody else who sees them on social media.

Comments on Social Media

Social media postings may be made that encourage people to provide UGC in addition to contests. You may ask people what they like best about your property by making a Facebook post, for instance. Make this the very first thing people who visit your Facebook page see by pinning it to the top. Posts may be made encouraging guests to rate their stay, submit images from their stay, and tag the hotel in social media posts.

Reviews

It’s common knowledge that guest opinions have a significant impact on which hotels people choose to book. Hotels are starting to see reviews posted on social media platforms in addition to traditional review sites like Tripadvisor and Yelp. The star rating displayed next to a hotel’s name in a Google hotel search comes from Google+ reviews, not review sites like Tripadvisor or Yelp. On Facebook, guests may read testimonials about a specific hotel on the page’s left side. Below the cover image, there is a pull-down menu where customers may read testimonials. Current guests should be encouraged customers evaluations on various platforms so that new visitors may easily find them.