Wishing you happy returns and even happier online returns with these internet marketing resolutions for 2012.
As your hotel internet marketing team looks ahead to 2012 it’s time to not only reflect on past successes and past failures but to also start planning for next year – there is always room for improvement. With the New Year approaching, you are also probably deciding where you will allocate your marketing budget, time and resources. Here are a few suggestions to enhance five key elements of your online marketing campaigns.
Hotel website design
Is 2012 the year you consider a new hotel website design? Hotel websites typically should be redesigned every four to five years to keep up with current market trends. The HeBS Digital 5th Annual Benchmark Survey on Hotel Digital Marketing Budget Planning and Best Practices reveals that hoteliers responded that 25.6% of business is generated from their hotel website. Here are just some of the website design strategies you an focus on:
- Redesign your website to improve conversion rates.
- Make your website design look more trustworthy.
- Design your website with mobiles and other portable devices in mind.
- Test your landing pages and redesign if necessary.
- Evaluate your site’s page speed.
- Add an online booking system (if it is not already incorporated into your design).
Hotel SEO
Search Engine Optimisation is always a priority for hotels but in 2012 this might be the time to put a renewed focus in your hotel SEO efforts. In the survey*, hoteliers believe that website optimisation produces the highest return on investment (ROI) with social media following closely behind. Following are some elements of your online marketing campaigns that you can focus on:
- Ensure your site is following SEO best practices.
- Concentrate on your link building campaigns.
- Proactively look for opportunities to build citations.
- Create keyword-rich content on your website.
- Put an emphasis firmly on mobile SEO and video SEO (see below).
- Optimise your Google Places Page.
Social media marketing
2012 is the year that you could put a strategic spin on your social media marketing campaigns rather than updating your accounts in an ad hoc manner. Even though hoteliers believed that search engine optimisation produced the highest ROI, social media introduced as its own category this year, was not far behind at 43%*. Strategies you can address in your internet marketing planning are the following:
- Create a social media strategy.
- Put together a social media policy.
- Define social media goals.
- Devise an online reputation management strategy.
- Start a hotel blog.
- Put together a calendar of content.
Hotel video content
Hotels can drive targeted and quality traffic to their websites and increase bookings through creating interesting and engaging hotel video content . 37.5% of hoteliers surveyed said that they have gone social and would create and post videos on YouTube as part of their online marketing strategy in 2011, interestingly down from 46.5% in 2010*. Here are ways you can enhance your VSEO efforts:
- Creating a content calendar of rich video content.
- Optimise videos – part of hotel VSEO.
- Promote hotel videos through traditional and non-traditional marketing channels.
- Analyse your video statistics.
- Showcase events.
Integrated internet marketing campaigns
2012 will see multi-channel marketing become the norm and the foundation for clever direct online channel planning. With an integrated marketing strategy all your online tools work together to create a synergy and cumulative effect. Branding your hotel website is essential to build credibility and trust and people want to book hotels they trust. Here are strategies to develop a cohesive online marketing campaign:
- Create clear branding goals and a consistent brand message.
- Develop uniform visual branding.
- Build a distinctive brand personality and identity.
- Integrate social media into your website design.
- Analyse your Google Analytics to tweak your internet marketing campaigns .
The survey revealed hoteliers increased their website re-design/design (20.2%) and website optimisation (13.7%) budgets this year and showed a shift from offline marketing to online marketing*. If you are starting to plan for 2012 and would like more information about website design, hotel SEO, social media marketing or any other internet marketing strategies, please contact the team at Hotel Website Designers.
* 5th Annual Benchmark Survey on Hotel Digital Marketing Budget Planning and Best Practices
