User-generated content is more important than ever for hotels. With travellers relying on online reviews, your hotel must have a good selection of user-generated content to show off its best side. In this blog post, we’ll talk about why user-generated content is so important for marketing hospitality, and give you some tips on how to encourage guests to share their experiences with your hotel.
What is user-generated content (UGC)?
User-generated content (UGC) is any type of content, including but not limited to text, videos, and photos, that is created by users of a product or service. This can be anything from a review of a hotel on TripAdvisor to an Instagram post about an amazing stay.
UGC is important for hotels because it provides potential guests with an honest, unbiased look at what your property has to offer. With online reviews becoming more and more influential in the travel planning process, UGC can be a make-or-break for securing bookings.
Why is user-generated content so important for hotels?
There are a few key reasons why UGC is so important for hotels. First, as we mentioned before, UGC provides potential guests with an honest look at what your property has to offer. This is especially important because people often trust reviews from regular consumers more than they do marketing materials from the hotel itself.
In addition, UGC can help hotels to save money on marketing costs. Instead of spending money on advertising and marketing campaigns, hotels can encourage guests to create content that will do the job for them. This is a great way to get organic promotion and reach a wider audience without spending your valuable marketing budget.
Finally, UGC can be a great way to get feedback from guests about their stay. By monitoring UGC platforms, hotels can quickly and easily see what guests are saying about their stay, both good and bad. This feedback is invaluable for making improvements to the guest experience.
How to encourage guests to create and share content of your hotel?
Now that we’ve talked about why UGC is so important for hotels, let’s talk about how you can encourage guests to create and share their content.
One of the best ways to encourage UGC is to offer guests an incentive for sharing their content. This could be anything from a discount on their next stay to a free breakfast during their current one. Whatever you choose, make sure it’s something that will entice guests to take the time to share their experiences.
You can also encourage guests to create UGC by making it easy for guests to share their content. This could be as simple as providing Wi-Fi in all guest rooms or having devices available for guests to use to post on social media.
Another way to get guests excited about posting content about your hotel is to create photo opportunities on your property. This can be anything from a beautifully decorated area to take photos in front of such as a flower wall, to a mirror placed strategically opposite a picturesque view. Get creative and have fun with it. This is a great idea as once it’s set up, you can walk away and watch the photos roll in.
Hosting a competition for a free return stay at your hotel is also a good way to encourage guests to share their experiences and get excited about shooting your hotel. Make sure to clearly outline the hashtags and handles that they need to include so that you can monitor all their entries, and watch the UGC roll in.
You can also make it easy for guests to leave reviews on popular platforms like TripAdvisor, Google, and Yelp. A great way to do this is to include links to your profiles on your website and in post-stay emails. The fewer steps to get to the platforms, the better, so pick where you’d like guests to leave reviews and include them everywhere you see fit.
In conclusion, user-generated content is a powerful marketing tool that can be used to promote your hotel and improve your online presence. While it’s important to encourage guests to create and share their content, it’s also important to make sure that you’re using UGC in an effective way. By following the tips outlined above, you can use UGC to reach a wider audience, save on marketing costs, and get valuable feedback from guests.
