What is TikTok hotel marketing? Social media strategies for the hospitality industry are continually evolving. Right now, TikTok is one of the biggest platforms around. While TikTok’s bite-sized videos might not seem like an obvious way to promote your hotel brand, many brands are enjoying significant success. In this article, you’ll learn about the tricks and strategies to get the most out of TikTok.

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What is Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing, such as TikTok marketing, uses social media as a way to connect with customers. Using social media you can build your brand, drive traffic to your website, and improve sales. As well as running paid social media advertisements, a comprehensive social media marketing strategy involves engaging with and listening to your followers, analyzing your results – and above all, offering great content across all your social media profiles. Being social and approachable is one of the advantages of social media platforms and it’s a great personalisation marketing example. Alongside other big names like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, TikTok has become a major platform and an increasingly important part of the social media landscape.

In the hospitality sector, it’s important to monitor the public perception of your brand and social media offers a useful window into what people are saying. With social media ads, it’s possible to reach narrowly targeted demographics. You can use social media analytics to gauge your reach and engagement across different platforms, and also to see how your social media marketing strategy is driving sales.

Video: Why Should Business Engage in Social Media Marketing

What is TikTok?

Previously known as Musical.ly, now TikTok, known within China as Douyin, allows users to upload short-form videos (between 15 seconds and three minutes long). Genres include stunts, pranks, singing, dancing, cosplay performances and comedy. TikTok offers filters and special effects, as well as songs and sound clips. Many users simply upload videos directly from their phones. Users can share reactions to videos or create duets, where they talk, sing or otherwise engage with an existing video.

TikTok differs from YouTube in the length of its videos, which are much shorter, and offers more scope for different forms of content. TikTok marketing has also become increasingly popular.

Understanding TikTok for Business

With a large and steadily expanding user base, TikTok marketing has an obvious attraction for businesses. While the exact mechanics of the algorithm aren’t clear, it’s apparently much easier for a video to achieve virality on TikTok than on other platforms. The lack of traditional display ads can initially make TikTok daunting from a marketing perspective. Many hotel brands, however, are leveraging TikTok’s exploding popularity to secure a powerful marketing channel. Strategies such as organizing TikTok challenges or holding competitions can bring in a lot of attention, while tried-and-true social media tactics like hashtag campaigns also work well on TikTok. High engagement makes TikTok highly attractive to hotels, with TikTok offering more engagement with each post than any other platform.

Why Market Your Hotel on TikTok?

There are many advantages to having a presence on TikTok for your business. Let’s take a look at some benefits that can convince you to invest time in TikTok hotel marketing.

Reach a Younger Audience

TikTok’s users skew young, with the largest demographic being between ages 16 and 24. Although it’s largely dominated by Generation Z, TikTok is more than a passing internet fad. Since 2018, it’s developed from a simple video sharing network to a social media powerhouse — and a boon for businesses. Young travellers are very reliant on social media to plan trips, and often can’t wait to share videos showcasing the highlights of their stay. Stumbling across your hotel on TikTok might give them the push they need to choose your hotel for that next jaunt.

Create New Types of Content

Coming up with unique content ideas can be a challenge. The beauty of TikTok is that you can simply find existing content and participate. TikTok often has fads and challenges that you can take part in, from hashtag challenges to songs, dance crazes and games. Examine successful trends and see if you can put your own unique stamp on them. TikTok content generally isn’t professional or polished. Teenagers perform songs and dances in their own bedrooms, while young professionals act out skits in their place of work. This informal atmosphere lends itself to spontaneity. To get a feel for TikTok’s general style, click or tap on the magnifying glass icon and watch a few trending videos before you start to plan your own TikTok marketing content.

4 Types of Content Hotels Can Create on TikTok

TikTok is a platform that offers its users many opportunities to express themselves in different types of content. It can be a great strategy for TikTok hotel marketing as well.

1. Highlight Your Hotel’s Facilities and Amenities

Because it’s video-based, TikTok is ideal for hotels. Short videos showcasing the highlights of your venue and the local area can really grab a user’s attention. You can offer the audience mini-tours of your facilities and nearby attractions. Give viewers a glimpse of the best views and amenities your property has. TikTok users have a huge appetite for these peeks into new places, especially those who are already planning to travel soon. Don’t forget to encourage user-generated content — use a hashtag challenge to get your guests to share their own videos in and around your hotel.

2. Participate in Trending TikTok Challenges

TikTok’s viral hashtag challenges are a big part of its fame. These challenges are stunts or activities that users perform in front of the camera and then share under a particular tag. You can easily find out what the trending challenges are via TikTok’s Discover page. Be selective and only pick trends that fit in with your overall social media marketing strategy. Once you’ve got an idea of the kinds of challenges TikTok loves, you can create your own challenges that reference your property and the local area.

3. Show Behind the Scenes of Operations

Taking your audience behind the scenes is a great way to add authenticity to your content. Who doesn’t love the feeling of being given a sneak peek into things they wouldn’t normally see? Take your audience down into the kitchen to show breakfast being prepared or into the spa so they can see how hard your staff work to make everything perfect. Focus on different roles within the hotel, showing how important each department is to make a stay special. Does your hotel host club nights or activities? Show viewers your busy staff as they prepare for an exciting event.

4. Use User-Generated Content

It’s the users that drive TikTok, after all, and encouraging guests to make videos of their stay is a great way to promote your hotel. User generated content (UGC) can be very powerful when it comes to getting the work out about your hotel. You can offer rewards if users share videos with your brand hashtag or participate in challenges. Guest videos make your content feel more authentic and relatable, as well as provide future guests with something to whet their appetites. Additionally, UGC provides more content without having to give more work to your team. Use your dedicated brand hashtag to curate user-generated content.

Other Advanced TikTok Hotel Marketing Strategies

These aren’t the only TikTok marketing strategies your hotel can employ. Here are a few more to add to your repertoire.

Paid Ads

TikTok recently introduced a new advertising platform under the name TikTok for Business. With this, brands can run ads on the platform, create branded hashtags, or even offer their own custom video effects. You can develop paid ads that will appear in users’ feeds or as top-view advertisements. Other ad options include inventive ideas like brand takeovers, branded hashtag competitions, or branded effects that users can add to their videos. It’s important that your ads should feel like organic TikTok content — ads that are too intrusive could have a negative effect. The right ad, though, will get you quick results and a huge reach.

Collaborations with Influencers

Collaborating with influencers is now an established social media marketing strategy. Collaborations with TikTok influencers work the same way as they do on any other platform: popular users create content for brands in exchange for various rewards, using TikTok’s short-form videos to promote their sponsors. TikTok has facilitated this by providing a Creator Marketplace where you can identify creators who’ll mesh well with your vision and invite them to participate in your TikTok hotel marketing campaign. Creator Marketplace also offers analytics so you can see how well your collaboration is working for you.

Make sure you choose creators whose followers are in your target demographic and be prepared to offer attractive rewards for top influencers. It’s a good idea to have a social media marketing budget you can use to reward your creators.

Hospitality Industry: Learn About Different Tech Trends

You’ve discovered TikTok marketing for hotels and you’re probably curious about other technology that’s relevant to your business. Learn about interactive apps for hotels, automating check-ins and services, and how your hotel can facilitate travel and exploration in the local area.

In “The Latest Technology Trends in the Hospitality Industry” you’ll learn how technology can make your guest’s stay more enjoyable and encourage positive feedback.

Social Media Marketing and Your Hotel

TikTok marketing for hotels is just part of the social media marketing story. To get the most out of other platforms, you’ll need some inside knowledge. Every platform requires a specific approach if you’re going to leverage it effectively. You’ll need to understand how different types of content will perform, how to generate the most engagement from your audience, and which demographics are most likely to use a specific social network.

With some key social media marketing tips, hotels can really drive up brand awareness and sales. In “7 Social Media Marketing Tips to Promote Your Hotel” you’ll discover the best strategies for making social media work for you.

Leverage Facebook Marketing for Hotels

As a dominant network in the social media space, Facebook is an indispensable marketing tool. Getting the most out of the platform requires an understanding not just of the demographic but of the site’s mechanics and the ways in which content is promoted or downplayed.

In “Facebook Marketing for Hotels: How Facebook Can More Drive Sales” you’ll learn how to appeal to a Facebook audience, what is and isn’t acceptable on the platform, how Facebook ads can work for you, and what content will get you the best return on your investment.

The social media marketing landscape is constantly changing but TikTok is set to play a major role for the foreseeable future. By leveraging its enormous reach through engaging short-form video content, your hotel can really benefit in terms of brand awareness and increased sales.

More Tips to Grow Your Business

Revfine.com is a knowledge platform for the hospitality & travel industry. Professionals use our insights, strategies and actionable tips to get inspired, optimise revenue, innovate processes and improve customer experience. You can find all hotel & hospitality tips in the categories Revenue Management, Marketing & Distribution, Hotel Operations, Staffing & Career, Technology and Software.

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