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Some of the most fun clients to work with in social media are hotels and resorts. By having guests check in and out every day, hotels can be content generating machines. This is especially true if they have restaurants, lounges or awesome pools. The strange thing is, many hotels and resorts don’t realize just how amazing they are and overlook many content opportunities. So what works best on Facebook for hotels and resorts? InsideFacebook.com recently conducted a great study and teased out some very valuable insights for the hospitality industry as a whole. In this study, they analyzed 114,634 posts from 2,121 hotels and resorts across Facebook. Here is what they found!

Use Great Images

• 86% of top hotels and resorts mainly used photo posts. A few used links and videos, however a vast majority relied on images.
• Photos of scenery worked particularly well as they generated 5x more engagements than link posts.
• The study also found that Facebook users are hungry for photos of food as they are more likely to comment or share food photos.
• Photos of room amenities are important, however they are underwhelming when it comes to interactions. Less than 50% of all engagement is with content about rooms and facilities.

Frequency is Everything

• Top hotels in this study were posting an average of 50 posts per month or roughly 2x per day. This frequency of posting produced solid engagement.
• On the other end of the spectrum, hotels that compulsively posting (some up to 30x per day) showed to have 1/6^th the engagement of their competitors.
• Overall, posting 3-7x per day is ideal for hotel and resort brands.

Content Type Matters Too!

• Promotional posts and contests generated the least amount of engagements. This doesn’t mean hotels shouldn’t do them, they just shouldn’t make them a centerpiece of their social strategy.
• Local and on-site activities surprisingly performed poorly in the engagement department. I personally think incorporating these into content is important, however based on this study they didn’t generate heavy engagement.

Super-Awesome Key Takeaways

• Use photos! Especially photos of food, scenery or anything else that can trigger an emotional response. Emotional responses equal engagement.
• Have a set posting frequency. Find that sweet spot between 3 and 7 posts per day.
• Leverage contests and promotions, however don’t rely on them to drive engagement.

Overall, I really enjoyed the study and learned some new things about marketing hotels and resorts on Facebook. How about you? Leave your thoughts in the comment section!