Social media is vitally important for growing brand awareness for any business, and that includes holiday parks.
Whilst it is all well and good building up lots of followers, what we really want isto turn those ‘likes’ into bookings!
While you can go down the paid route of sponsored posts, there’s also a lot of totally free ways in which you can boost your engagement and ultimately, improve conversions.
Stick to a Schedule
It is vital to be consistent with your social media output, so create a posting schedule that works for your park and one that you know you will be able to stick to.
Whilst is is important to post regularly, you want to be careful not to spam people. Make sure that whatever you’re posting is actually relevant and of interest to your audience.
Once you get into the rhythm of doing this, people will come to know when to expect you to post and actually look forward to it.
There’s also plenty of tools you can use to schedule posts for you so that you don’t need to spend time doing it yourself every day.
They include Hootsuite, Buffer, TweetDeck, Later, Schedugram and Tailwind (some of which are free).
Think Visual
Think about the sort of stuff that you actually stop to look at on your news feed. More often than not, the’re visual things such as graphics, memes and videos, not text or links to articles.
This is very much a recent trend, but it’s definitely something to take note of. Make sure to post plenty of images on your social media channels and things such as quotes and facts, all branded with your park’s logo and colours.
This type of content is much easier to share and retweet l, so it’s definitely time to start thinking visual!
Use Hashtags
You’ve probably seen people hashtagging all kinds of stuff in their posts, and while a lot of it is fairly pointless, there is a real value in correctly hashtagging your posts.
Hashtags are a way to let people follow a certain topic or trend, allowing your users to search the hashtag and see every post out there that contains it.
Great examples of when they can be used include when you’re running a competition or a new campaign or sale.
While they were initially only used on Twitter, you can now use hashtags across Facebook and Instagram too, so be sure to make use of them across all of your platforms.
However, be careful not to just use them willy-nilly. You need to have some kind of a plan in mind. Make sure your hashtags are short and to the point and something that people will actually be searching for.
For example, for a holiday park, you might use hashtags such as #UKHoliday, #DaysOut, #Staycation, or just the area that your park is in.
Have a look on Twitter and see what other parks are doing to look for some inspiration.
Follow Others
It’s important to make connections with other notable profiles in your business. Obviously, you’re not going to go following your competitors but think about other relevant people, and perhaps some other local businesses.
Forming connections with other local businesses is a great idea because it can help bring more business to both of you and you could look into opportunities such as offering your guests discount at a local restaurant for booking with you.
In any case, it’s good to be visible on social media, not just posting on your own page, but getting involved on other people’s too.
If there’s a local hashtag, follow it and join in the conversation, sharing your thoughts and making yourself visible to potential customers.
Consider Advertising
Especially when you’re just starting out and need to build up a community, it’s not a bad idea to look into social advertising.
Each platform has their own options available, such as Facebook sponsored posts and promoted Tweets on Twitter and while they will cost money, what’s great about them is that you can carefully target the people who are actually going to be interested in your park and likely to want to like the page and eventually, hopefully come and stay.
Social media is a valuable tool in your marketing arsenal and it’s something that you need to be taking advantage of.
Make sure to keep a close eye on the analytics of your site to see just what a difference social media can make to your bookings and you’ll soon understand why it’s so important.
If you’re interested in how Elite Dynamics can help bring your park into the 21st century, be sure to request a free demo.