THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION IN THE INDIAN HOTEL INDUSTRY

Author: Shabnam Kausher, Advocate in Jabalpur High Court

Introduction

We live in the 21st century, the world of technology. In such a technological innovations era- Digital media or social media is the platform that connects the entire world. From starting a business to promoting an ad, social media has shown tremendous effects on reaching out to a larger target audience. On average, people spend more than 3.5 -4.5 hours a day using various social sites like - Facebook, Instagram and Twitter etc. Therefore, businesses use analogs and showcase their advertisements on various social networking sites to get maximum visibility from their target group(Yazdanifard et al., 2014). For Hospitality Industry Advertisements are the distinctive strategy to make them unique from their Competitors and bring more Customer attraction with their unique mode of communication. Today's marketing strategy is dominated by digital marketing. Social media can be helpful for doing campaigns, offers, discounts, and promotions. Social media helps the hotel industry in various ways, like doing promotions, campaigns, offers, and discounts.

Social Media Marketing

Social media's importance has grown over the years significantly. Nowadays, it's difficult to find anyone who does not have an account on at least one social media website. Furthermore, the majority of people's everyday lives include user interaction through social media feeds. Customers use social media before making a purchase decision to communicate with friends and family, learn more about business, and discover statistical data and hints. As a result, lodge social media promotion is more important than ever(Godey et al., 2016). Hotel social media promotion campaigns have the ability to make your lodge a suitable holiday spot for thousands of visitors and can provide a significant increase in your sales if done effectively. When making travel arrangements, consumers utilize social media to view comments and ask for hospitality recommendations, so hotels must pay attention to these platforms.

The hotel industry can use pictures of the hotel to forecast hotel pictures to clients. The hotel industry can use social media platforms to communicate, as most people use these platforms to book and communicate with hotels. Nowadays, there are apps like Oyo where we can see the pictures of hotel rooms and book it immediately as per our convenience. We compared it with other rooms available in that place. As people can book rooms through social media, they can also cancel their booking as per their convenience. Social media can also be helpful. The hotel is going live and showcasing the interior and exterior of the hotel to its clients. The hotel industry can create pages of their respective hotels on Facebook as well as on Instagram to give the highlights of their hotels. The hotel industry can use social media to engage customers and clients and recognize their needs. Through social media, the hotel industry can interact before, during, and after the vacation(Duffet, 2017). The hotel industry can use pictures of the hotel's interior and exterior, and post stories and live videos. Hotels can use celebrities as their brand ambassadors to promote their hotels. Through this, the celebrities get paid for using their game to promote hotels on social media. Social media can be used to give away free publicity, which is done by celebrities to promote their hotels.

Hotels can use celebrities as their brand ambassadors to promote their hotels. Through this, the celebrities get paid for using their game to promote hotels on social media. Social media can be used for giveaways which are done by celebrities to promote their hotels. Social media can be used in the hotel industry by helping customers by replying to their comments.

Nowadays, there are millions of Facebook users who share their travel stories. Personalization is a trend today(Godey et al., 2016). The hotel industry can add photos of managers, chefs, and employees on Instagram and Facebook. The clients of the hotels can use hashtags, which will promote the hotels.

Hashtags are important tools because they help users find topics in which they are interested. If the hoteliers post more frequently, they can become more popular, thus increasing their demand. Twitter can also be very beneficial as the clients tweet their experiences on Twitter with the tags.

Using social media can help to display the brand. The management of the hotel's marketing could possibly benefit from the use of social media. What hotel posts can reveal who they are to prospective consumers. Hotels can start creating and screening pictures, video content, and other brand-related content and post it to their official sites to update their guests and future customers. By becoming acquainted and connecting with your target audience, it will be easier to measure and improve sales (Yazdanifard et al., 2014). Hotels will make your target audience familiar with the hotel and connect with those hotels. People may feel more inclined to make reservations at your hotel if they perceive you to be similar to them.

Acquiring new clients, Surveys show that 82 percent of customers support organizations on social networking sites. Even though the social media platforms have a billion monthly active users, you're likely to come across individuals who correspond to your specific market. There are significant possible leads, and hotels can advertise that specifically target males and females, age groups, and areas to encourage new and potential consumers (Sahho et al., 2018). Approximately ten years ago, the general public trusted excursion companies to discover and book lodging. Today's tourists are extraordinarily self and well-informed in relation to choosing a motel. Possible destiny customers are more willing to make a reservation in case you talk with them. Hotels can make use of social media to update their fans with information about every deal and to inform them of the advantages of booking directly. Social media systems should be considered as customer service channels similarly to advertising and marketing and advertising resources to your resort (Yadav et al., 2018). It is feasible to perform that via responding to remarks in actual time. When a person mentions your emblem with a hashtag on social media, they anticipate a reaction. If there are any bad reviews or concerns, you may take some steps to avoid terrible communique. Furthermore, inns and resorts have to emphasize wonderful studies and visitor recollections due to the fact they are capable of, in the long run, help force sales.

Conclusion

Luxury hotels should hook up with and engage with their visitors on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.. Hotels would have to provide what their target market desires and also use social media to provide the information that conveys a narrative and can entice wealthy guests to reserve a reservation at their hotel. Hotels should post content so that it will allow destiny visitors to find out the beauty of your logo. Hotels can pique their interest with interesting information, beautiful imagery, and educational motion pictures(Duffet, 2017). It is essential to select stunning photographs due to the fact that hotels need to post experiences rather than just pictures. Social media advertising in inns is a brilliant way to hook up with modern-day and potential customers, and it is a need to-have in case they want to continue to exist and thrive within the enterprise. Boutique lodges, luxurious hotels, large chain accommodations, and price range inns ought to all use social media to generate targeted traffic and brand awareness.

Reference

Yazdanifard, R. and Yee, L.T., 2014. Impact of social networking sites on the hospitality and tourism industries. Global Journal of Human-Social Science: Economics, 14(8), pp.1-5.

Godey, B., Manthiou, A., Pederzoli, D., Rokka, J., Aiello, G., Donvito, R., & Singh, R. 2016. Social media marketing efforts of luxury brands: Influence on brand equity and consumer behavior. Journal of business research, 69(12), 5833-5841.

Duffett, R.G., 2017. Influence of social media marketing communications on young consumers’ attitudes. Young Consumers, 18(1), pp.19-39.

Yadav, M. and Rahman, Z., 2018. The influence of social media marketing activities on customer loyalty: A study of the e-commerce industry. Benchmarking: An International Journal.

Sahoo, K.C., 2018. The influence of social media marketing on customer satisfaction in the hospitality industry. Journal of Tourism Challenges and Trends, 11(1), pp.31-48.