In the past year or so, Facebook has been very busy revamping established features and rolling out some pretty exciting new ones. Have you been keeping up?
Whether you have or you haven’t, you’re probably wondering how you can adapt your hotel’s social campaigns to these changes and use them to your marketing advantage.
In today’s blog, we take a look at some of the latest updates your hotel should be aware of, and how you can use them to better reach your audience on the platform.
1. Video gets a makeover.
Earlier in the year, Facebook made some changes to give its video watching experience a mini makeover. These include the following updates:
- Videos now play with sound by default.
- Vertical videos are now larger and look better on mobile devices.
- It’s now possible for users to minimise videos so they can watch and scroll simultaneously.
What does this mean for your hotel? Well, if you haven’t already got serious about creating and sharing videos with your Facebook audience, it’s time to do so.
Done well, video is a hugely powerful way to expand your reach, climb social news feeds and encourage engagement and click-throughs.
If you’ve already incorporated video into your campaigns, compelling imagery is still your number one focus, but voiceover and music need to be carefully considered following the introduction of the new sound feature. Moving forward, more of your guests are going to be both hearing and seeing your video content, so it makes sense to make every element count.
2. Facebook explores Virtual Reality
In March, Facebook launched the Facebook 360 app for Samsung Gear VR, powered by Oculus. The new app offers an immersive experience for users, who can dive into a world of 360 photos and videos saved by friends, family and brands they follow.
Of course, only a minority of Facebook users own a Samsung Gear VR, but the launch of the app is a good indication that the social giant will be incorporating more virtual reality into the platform in the near future.
Use this time to start experimenting with 360 photos. At this point you don’t need to invest in extra equipment or photo editing software – all you need is a steady hand, compelling subject matter and a Smartphone camera in a panoramic setting.
Once you’re generating good engagement rates with 360 photos, you can consider taking it to the next level by investing in a 360 camera to shoot videos.
3. Facebook Offers is a new way to showcase your hotel’s promotions
Launched quietly last summer, Facebook Offers allows brands to share their online discounts and specials in two ways:
- By creating an Offers ad – these appear in users’ News Feed both in mobile and desktop. They can be optimised to reach the right audience, and analysed via the ads reporting feature.
- By posting Offers directly to their Page – businesses can use the Offer Page Composer to create Offers which will be shown to anyone visiting the Page. Users are also able to click the new Offers tab to take a look at all Offers posted by a brand.
While you should mainly use social media as an engagement and awareness tool, your guests do want to hear about your special deals from time to time. Facebook Offers is yet another useful way to promote your best deals and offers, in conjunction with your website marketing and email campaigns.
Are you making the most of Facebook’s latest features? Let us know in the comments below!
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