A hostel is a place where most bachelors stay together. These individuals need affordable accommodation and convenience. It is mostly located near the university or educational institutions. PGs are available in commercial areas also as well as near the college areas. The hostel business is different from the hotel business and the target market for a hostel or PG is different from a hotel. Earlier hostel or PG owners used to get customers through word-of-mouth. But now, it is the time of the internet and social media. Most people investigate online before purchasing a product or service. So, it has become crucial to ensure a strong online presence.
Digital marketing for hostels has become important to spread awareness about the hostel so that more bachelors can come to accommodate it.
Digital marketing is the use of digital tools and channels to promote a product or service. In this blog, we will guide you on how you can use digital marketing strategies to promote your hostel or PG.
1. Get Registered as an Online Travel Agent (OTA)
The first thing you can do is to get enlisted on relevant online travel agents. You need to find some online travel agents (OTAs) that cater to hostel booking. A strong presence on these booking sites can build trust for your hostel and bring more bookings to you. You can consider sites like Bedbooker, Hostelbookers.com, Hostelworld, etc. These sites are very popular in the hostel industry and have outreach to millions of target customers.
2. Create a Professional Hostel Website with SEO
Creating a website is a crucial step in digital marketing. It is the platform where people can know about you, your hostel, and its services. So, make sure to create a professional and engaging website and include the option of online booking in it. You can include attractive images and videos of your hostel to attract customers. You can take help from a professional website developer to create a website for you.
After creating a website, it is very important to optimize it with SEO techniques, Some SEO techniques may include using appropriate keywords in your website content, making your website mobile-friendly, making the website easy to navigate and user-friendly, and optimizing images, and including alt text in it.
SEO techniques can help your website rank higher in search engine results so that your website can be visible to more and more target audiences which can boost your hostel bookings.
3. Local SEO
Local SEO also plays an important role in boosting your hostel bookings. To do this, get enlisted in Google My Business (GMB). It will make your hostel visible when people search for a hostel in your area. Make sure you include all the appropriate information and contact details in (GMB) so that it can rank high.
4. Google and Facebook Ads
If you have a budget for marketing and promotional activities, you can run Google and Facebook ads which is the most effective way to promote your hostel. Before running your ad, make sure you have a professional website as when people click on your ad, they will land on your website. Google offers search ads and display ads services that you can use. But Google also offers Google Hotel Ads which is a part of Google business listing and helps searchers book with you directly.
To run a Facebook ad, you should have a Facebook business page. Apart from this, you also have the option to run remarketing ads in which ads are displayed to those people who have already shown interest in booking with your hostel.
5. Social Media
The importance of social media cannot be ignored, especially while marketing or promoting a service or a product. Social media for hosted marketing can be the most powerful tool to engage the maximum population.
You can create accounts on popular social media channels such as Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook. Then, identify your target audience and reach them to build trust for your brand and tell your story. You can strengthen connections with your target audience by regularly interacting with new and existing guests. You can post attractive pictures and videos of your hostel and also share relevant information about it.
6. Online Reviews
Online reviews work as word-of-mouth. It creates a positive impression about your hostel in the minds of the target audience. Ask your existing guests to post reviews about your services online. You can display these reviews as testimonials on your website and also feature them on your social media pages. It can attract more guests and boost your online bookings.
Watch Video – Digital Marketing for Hotels/PG
Here are some of the latest digital marketing strategies for hotel/PG Youtube videos that help you to gain maximum booking of your hotels or PG.