Search engines are now including social media activity when ranking sites on their SERPs. Such activities includes the number of new likes, the numbers of shares, the level of interactions between the hotelier and the fan/follower, etc. The purpose is to reward higher organic ranking to websites whose hoteliers are engaged with their market. The impact of social media participation on organic ranking has also been verified by Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam team [to learn more, go to: https://blog.milestoneinternet.com/web-2/social-media-impact-on-search-engine-rankings/]
Here are some tips on how hoteliers can increase their likes, fans, and followers:
- Create a Facebook poll. When a poll is created, an email invitation is sent to fans. When fans respond, their responses are posted on their wall and on their friends’ feed page. That poll then has the possibility of going viral.
- Have a comprehensive bio. People are drawn to, especially on Twitter, profiles that clearly explains who the profile owner is. It could even be as simple as having a profile image.
(Source: http://danzarrella.com/infographic-5-scientifically-proven-ways-to-get-more-followers.html)
- Use multimedia. Users are attracted to images and videos. Even if the hotelier doesn’t ask for their participation, users are naturally invited to look and comment.
- Have a call to action on your website. Do more than just display a Facebook or Twitter button. To some users, it’s not intuitive to know what clicking on that button does. Be clear and tell the user what to do.
- Create a Facebook fangate. When users visits the hotel’s Facebook page, having a fangate can increase page ‘likes’ by offering a fans-only promotion. And in order for the user to get more details, he/she needs to ‘like’ the page. Once that ’like’ button is clicked, the user then gets the promised fan special.
There are tons of easy and creative ways for hoteliers to increase its fan-base. With the increase in social media participation and customer engagement, the hotel can gain organic relevancy and improve its search engine ranking.
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Contributed by: Nelson Toriano, Sr. e-Strategist, Milestone Internet Marketing
