Social Media Strategy Right
Initially, we provide consultancy work for your business to understand and analyze; next, we carry out social media market research where competition is most.
Hotels, Leisure Sector, Travel and Tourism Digital Marketing and Online Booking Management company in Sri Lanka
PIXEL CLEAR
Before 2010, tourists came to Sri Lanka and Maldives referring to books and maps. For example, “Lonely Planet” was the main guide for almost all tourists visiting Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Another source was travel agents in foreign countries. With the penetration of the internet, all the information was available on websites and tourists tended to search the internet for hotels, travel destinations, and so on.
Later the smartphone era arrives. Google Maps and other Maps applications help tourists to empower them. The Traveler decides where to go. They knew the distance and time to go. Digital Empowerment was also supported by social media such as Facebook and communication tools such as WhatsApp, Viber, IMO, etc.
The game completely changes with the introduction of OTAs (Online Travel Agents) such as Agoda, Expedia, Airbnb, Tripadvisor, Booking.com, and other booking websites. Also from the hotel website itself, there is the possibility to integrate a booking engine. Also, there are payment gateways available, and cash on arrivals available from pre-booking and online payments.
In addition, Social Media, Blogs, YouTube channels, and other digital sources have penetrated the market. In the future, it is highly unlikely that a tourist will visit your hotel by reading a book, or Three Wheel driver recommendation, or by your board’s injunctions or leaflet distribution.
11 HOTEL AND TRAVEL DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE BOOKING AFTER COVID LOCKDOWNS
After all, Sri Lankan tourists (Europeans, Arabs, Chinese, Indians) have been locked down for 2 years, and now they are hungry for travel. For example, do you remember after lockdown finished how we celebrated New Year in April? We all are humans. We can not live with our travelling. But tourists’ lifestyles have changed a lot. During lockdowns, they stay with the internet. YouTube, Mobile phones, and other online materials teach them a lot. Especially online payments. So buying patterns have changed. Rich or Poor, Old or Young, does not matter… They are online now.
1# GOOGLE BUSINESS LISTING FOR HOTELS IN SRI LANKA
For hotel or Tourism companies this is important when it comes to local SEO. Let’s say you are a hotel located in a small village called “ABC”. So if tourists search for Hotels in ABC, or Hotels nearby (while he is in that village) or in Google Maps if they search hotels or accommodation it is a god gifted booking you on your lucky day.
2# MOBILE-FRIENDLY HOTEL AND TOURISM WEBSITE WITH GOOD CALL TO ACTION. BOOKING ENGINE AND PAYMENT GATEWAY FOR HOTELS IN SRI LANKA
People are on mobile phones these days. They search for travel destinations, and hotels via mobile phones while travelling. They do all payments via mobile phones. All the booking-related details can be entered via mobile phone. To start a conversation with a traveller or tourist the website needs to have proper landing pages and calls to action such as lead forms, WhatsApp Viber contacts, chats, etc.
3# SEO FOR HOTELS & TOURISM WEBSITES IN SRI LANKA
The VIPs are in the front seats. The hotels listed on Google’s first page are separated from other hotels. The tourist that does the Google search (maybe from Europe, the Middle East, USA) may search “luxury hotels in Kandy” and he has a great trust in SEO sites on the first page. 70% of conversions take place from that. Once you are on Google’s first page you can reduce a lot of your marketing costs in the future. Remember only the top 9 hotels can be on Google’s first page.
4# GOOGLE DISPLAY ADS, FACEBOOK ADS FOR HOTELS IN SRI LANKA
Do you know about the magical power of “remarketing”? In remarketing already engaged clients will follow up while you are sleeping. Very high conversions can be expected while we display your hotel and tourism company details again and again to those who already visited your website. Look A Like function can be also embedded so that we can reach similar clusters for existing customers.
5# SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT FOR HOTEL & TOURISM COMPANIES IN SRI LANKA
We are now in the social era. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and LinkedIn all are social media we are using. Your social network is your social net worth. Some hotels rely purely on social media. It is almost free. But you need to engage in a very professional manner. Also, we should not spam in social media unnecessarily. Because it takes only a few minutes to damage your reputation as well.
6# YOUTUBE STORY FOR HOTELS IN SRI LANKA
YouTube is a golden video-sharing platform to promote your hotel and tourism business virtually. In the travel business, it is all about what you feel and what you see. During COVID lockdown periods, travellers enjoyed scenery by watching YouTube. Travel videos create a curiosity among the tourists to visit the hotel or travel destination. In video marketing, if you can have happy guesses it is a good reference.
7# TARGETED EMAILS FOLLOWED BY AN SMS FOR HOTELS & TALENT COMPANIES IN SRI LANKA
A bulk email marketing campaign may not work today. But a target monthly newsletter will work for you. Mailchimp is our favourite. Because we can measure who is reading and sharing our newsletter which goes as an email with rich content such as images, videos, infographics, social media, etc. Rather than marketing material, I need to make it learning content.
8# BLOG AND CONTENT MARKETING FOR HOTELS & TALENT COMPANIES IN SRI LANKA
Decades back, travel books and magazines were popular because of their content (ex Lonely Planet). It was expensive to put an article in prestigious printed books. But today you can start a blog about your hotel or tourism company without much effort. Let’s write a hotel blog and write 5 to 10 nice articles about your hotel and sceneries that attract new customers.
9# CHAT – WEBSITE, FACEBOOK, AND WHATSAPP FOR HOTELS IN SRI LANKA
A quick conversion and converting him in a few seconds is critical in today’s Hotel marketing for Sri Lanka. The website incorporates a chat facility. And as much as possible communicate by a human chat in the back end. Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp Messenger are also very important in communication. Having a chatbot is good. But humans talking on the other side add a lot of value.
10# ONLINE REPUTATION MANAGEMENT FOR HOTELS IN SRI LANKA
Online people can say good things about you as well as bad things about you. Thanks for the good comment. Also, you have to respond to bad comments too. If there is any wrong you can accept that and inform me about the corrective actions. Before a guest makes a purchase they read comments and ratings. So let’s focus on your property’s online reputation.
11# PROPER OTA (ONLINE TRAVEL AGENCY) MANAGEMENT FOR HOTELS IN SRI LANKA
In future, your hotel bookings will come only from Online Travel Agents such as Agoda, Expedia, booking.com, Airbnb, and so on. So managing OTA is a critical task. Do you have a full-time employee for that or just outsource it for us? Need to chat with them, and confirm booking arrangements. Need to have English and communication skills in OTA management.
