You may just be preparing your property for ghosts, goblins, and ghouls but it’s not too early to start mapping out your social media strategy and tactics for the holiday season! Here are a few tips to jumpstart your creativity at getting your followers and property in the festive mood:
Halloween:
- Pumpkin carvings: Have your innkeepers, front desk staff, and housekeeping staff carve pumpkins and share those photos with your social networks. Not only does it help show that your property gets in on the festivities of fall, but it’s also a fun way to introduce your fans to the staff they’ll meet when they check-in.
- Share spooky stories: Make your social media posts a screaming hit with your followers by sharing ghost stories popular from your town or local haunts. Or, you can share the traditions of your town when it comes to trick-or-treating, such as the best neighborhoods to visit, if any businesses offer candy or treats, or how the traditions have evolved over the years.
Thanksgiving:
- Share family recipes: Do you serve breakfast or have dining at your property? Start sharing some of your favorite Thanksgiving-themed recipes on your social networks. “From our family to yours, here’s our favorite stuffing recipe from our head chef…” You can direct your fans to the recipe hosted on your blog or website to drive more site traffic. Check out the example from Whole Foods Market:
- Have a thankful thread: Social media users enjoy inspirational messages and a popular way to engage your fans is to ask them what they’re thankful for this season. You can start out with, “We’re thankful for the wonderful years we’ve had as innkeepers and the amazing guests we’ve got to meet along the way. Tell us what you’re thankful for!”
Christmas and Hanukkah:
- Do-It-Yourself Christmas decorations: We all enjoy counting down to the most wonderful time of the year and being creative when it comes to decorations and presents. Showcase your decorating talents by sharing photos of homemade decorations, tree ornaments, or stockings you have around your property. Complement the photos with directions on how to make those items so your followers can make them at home. For example, if you’re near wineries or known for your wine, show your followers how to make wine bottle lights.
- Light up your page: Share photos of your property decked out in its holiday lights and ask your followers to submit photos of their holiday lights or decorations.
- Elf on the Shelf photo contest: Have some festive fun with your fans and create a holiday-specific photo contest. For a week or two, you can use an Elf on the Shelf and photograph him in different rooms of your property. Post the photo and ask your followers to tell you which room he’s in! The first person to comment correctly can get a small gift, such as a discount on dining during their next stay, or even a box of chocolates in their room next time they’re with you. It’s fun, light-hearted, and not time-consuming.
- Gifts: Present your followers a gift in the form of a social media special. Create a unique code for your booking engine and share that code only on your social media networks. For example, “As our gift to you this holiday season, we want to offer you 10% off room rates for your next stay with us. Simply use the Facebook exclusive promo code “HOLIDAYS” when making your reservation. Happy holidays!”
New Years
- Resolve to travel more: Ask your fans to talk about their travel resolutions and how they’ll add more vacations to 2015, especially to you!
The holidays are a great time to get your fans to engage with your social media networks and allow you to show off your property’s unique offerings and personality. Don’t be afraid to try something new and just have fun with it!
