The 5 Groups To Target In Social Media Marketing

The type of social media you use will most likely depend on the type of person you’re trying to reach.  In the hospitality and travel industry, there are five basic types of people using social media.

The Travel Planners

Travel planners use social media to help them plan the best possible trip for their time and budget.  Since they’re online, they’re primarily looking for two things: (1) the opinion of other travelers and (2) “undiscovered” destinations and travel ideas.

Reach travel planners by increasing your visibility in social media, providing lots of information, and making it easy for them to contact you. Focus on your ranking and reputation in sites such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, and VirtualTourist.  Make sure you appear in WikiTravel.

The Media Creators

Photographers and videographers love creating rich media to share on the internet.  Facilitate this by providing reasonable access on your property, and then showcasing their work.  Make a Flickr group.  Share the photos on your website.  Thank them for taking the time to show off your hotel.

The Bloggers

Travel writers often use a blog to record adventures on their trip.  If they have a good (or bad!) experience at your hotel, it’s likely they will blog about it.  Make it easy for bloggers to write about their stay by providing links to rich media and information about your hotel.  Be sure to monitor the blogosphere to make sure you know what is being written about you.

The Social Media Power Users

Power users are very tech savvy, and are often influential in the social media communities they belong to.  You can take advantage of their connectedness by making it easy for them to share information about your hotel.  Link to social bookmarking sites.  Encourage sharing.

The Journalists

Travel journalists often use social media to discover new hotels to cover.  Make sure you’ve built an extensive web presence to increase the likelihood of them finding you.  Enabling self-discovery is perhaps one of the most overlooked area of public relations.

Of course, building a dominant presence in all social media outlets is the best solution.  But if you’re just starting out or have a limited budget, it’s better to dominate one type of social media that reaches your target audience best.