Building a Strong User Generated Content in Hospitality Strategy
“People may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou
The hospitality industry is all about comfort and the experiences delivered to guests. With Millennials and upcoming generations of customers looking to explore the world, the travel and tourism sector must offer modern ideas and state-of-the-art amenities to serve the consumers. But are the traditional marketing strategies doing well for them?
Here, we take a quick look over the possibilities of better marketing with User Generated Content (UGC) and its impact on the hospitality business.
User Generated Content in Hospitality Marketing
Whether it’s a neighbourhood Bed & Breakfast or a lavish resort on a beachside, what these brands hold precious and in common are their guests. Performance in hospitality establishes a benchmark for their guests. The amenities, comforts, and experiences they enjoy there satisfy them.
“Courteous treatment will make a customer a walking advertisement.” – James Cash Penney
With rising numbers of OTAs and review sites, customers’ feedback is valued much more than before, alongside the rising use of social media. When people are talking about your brand online, it’s essential that you’ve given your guests good reasons to want to speak positively about you. This is where user-generated content is very important in building a brand’s reputation.
What is User Generated Content?
UGC can be any form of content created and shared by users on digital platforms. These pieces of content are genuine as they derive from your customers’ ideas, experiences, and thoughts. There are several aspects of UGC which are beneficial for hospitality businesses
- It lets your consumer be a promoter on social media
- The content is unique and authentic and comes for free
- It helps enhance the SEO of your website
- It gains the trust of customers and engages them
- It improves the social media reputation of your brand
- It helps drive conversions and revenue for the business
Why Implement User-Generated Content in Hospitality Marketing?
Modern marketing makes use of digital formats, including social media. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are major sources of UGC. Here is why you should use user-submitted photos, videos, and blog posts for marketing purposes.
UGC Lets Your Customers Do the Storytelling
As your customers share their stories and experiences of their stay and travel on their social media profiles, reach out to ask their permission then share the content on your brand’s official platform. Not only will your existing customer be happy that you’re taking the time to acknowledge your appreciation of their stay, but prospective customers will see objective content that highlights your marketing promises and increases their trust in your brand.
UGC Develops Trust and Reliability for Your Brand
Brand-generated campaigns are not as effective in case of building trust and reliability. 76% of consumers are likelier to trust content shared by their peers rather than that shared by brands. As users create their content regarding the quality of the hospitality services, it helps people realize that the customers had a good time enjoying your services, and they voluntarily share their stories. The authenticity of such a user-centric campaign is different. Being in the hospitality industry helps you build strong social proof, influencing people’s buying behaviour. Using UGC in your marketing campaigns can help you attract new audiences by exhibiting the reasons for your customers’ trust and satisfaction.
UGC Builds Reputation and Loyalty
In the hospitality industry, reputation is what gets you revenue. People prefer to walk into the best restaurant, hotel, or resort, which is famous for its services, to get value for money.
86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer service.
Source: SuperOffice, 2020
UGC, including reviews, photos, and videos, influence the decisions of your potential customers. UGC is essential for successfully managing your brand’s reputation and building up a community of loyal customers.
UGC Lets Your Customers Become Brand Advocates
There are certain social benefits for hospitality brands to enjoy with social media and user-generated content available on it.
Get your brand a unique, custom brand hashtag and deliver it to your customers with the best services. The customers will let you know how your hospitality was with the hashtag on social media, and later, you can take that content conveniently forward for your marketing purposes. The hashtags make tracking and sharing content relevant to your brand easier.
UGC Gets Positive Results with Authentic Content
The main purpose of a marketing strategy is to achieve the business’s goals, of which getting more conversions is also a major one. In such a case, where we mainly focus on profitability, having UGC in your marketing kit is beneficial.
UGC will give you major exposure as the people who are travelling post about their journey, destination, and stay, and other people in their circles get influenced by the experience. More people knowing about your brand and checking your website boosts traffic and engagement and leads to conversions.
Take-Aways
Hospitality is a very competitive industry where the one who delivers the best customer experiences for the paid value will lead and survive. With UGC, you cannot just promote your services – you need to highlight the emotions of your customers enjoying the services. It lets you share the user experiences with their own words and pictures. It enables you to reach more customers by showcasing your brand values with proof, enabling you to engage more and get maximum conversions.
