Flip.to on the road: Worldhotels Annual Conference

I spent the last week in Hamburg with a wonderfully diverse group of hoteliers and industry folks from just about everywhere in the world. From a trendy, forward-thinking boutique in Sweden that will come and read you a bedtime story in Swedish to help you get settled in at night, to a designer, eco-conscious hotel on one of Berlin’s most traveled thoroughfares that prides itself on keeping walls to a minimum, there were definitely some standouts in the crowd.

What they had in common though, was that they all represented something bigger than the sum of their parts, which is exactly what brought them together in Hamburg for the Worldhotels Annual Conference.

Worldhotels Annual Conference wrapped up with an outstanding dinner

This year’s theme was focused on storytelling, and how hotels discover and share their “why” with prospective guests. There couldn’t have been a better group to undertake this exercise given the sheer diversity of the attendees, a credit to Worldhotels for assembling such a collection of properties.

Worldhotels’ CEO, Kris Intress, has done a superb job in making it the focus of the organization to tell the story of its partner hotels in a way that truly engages with their guests on an emotional level. Her opening presentation for the conference made it clear that it’s not just a corporate directive, it’s how she truly feels. With drive like that, it’s hard not to get behind the concept, and that goal was definitely met in Hamburg.

There were two things that I took away from the conference (not including this really cool virtual reality cardboard kit from Diginet Media; seriously it’s awesome).

“If you’re an independent hotel and you’re not playing the game by a different set of rules, you’re going to have a hard time.” – Richard Dunbar

The first is that if you’re an independent hotel and you’re not playing the game by a different set of rules, you’re going to have a hard time. I have a great deal of respect for hotel owners and operators because it’s a fierce space to play in. You have a huge job just in delivering on the experience the guest expects but there are also so many distractions, all vying for your attention.

The hardest part of all of this is that most of those distractions need your attention or they can become tomorrow’s problems. Worldhotels does a great job managing a lot of those distractions for hotels, (disclaimer: hoteliers’ words, not mine) but it’s incumbent upon hotels to have a firm grasp on why they do what they do. It’s one thing to point out what makes you unique, but how did you arrive there? What brought you to where you are today? That’s a much more challenging question to answer and it requires a different perspective to fully understand it.

“Let your guests help you discover your ‘why.'” – Richard Dunbar

The other big takeaway for me is that hotels are hungry for a better way to do social. Now I know, that may sound self-serving, but there were over a hundred hoteliers that attended our sessions on capturing guest stories and infusing those into the hotel’s brand identity. The message was a very simple one: let your guests help you discover your “why.”

We have this amazing vehicle for communication (social media) but it’s become congested with marketing pollution and a lot of noisy nonsense. The truth is that hotel guests have been telling their stories but hotels haven’t been listening. In all fairness, some do listen quite well and they’ve been extraordinarily successful because of it. But there are countless hotel websites out there showcasing empty rooms and public spaces, embracing this notion of the zombie apocalypse our esteemed president raised in his recent “state of the industry” address.

For the longest time social in this industry has been a one-sided conversation. Sure, guests are talking on TripAdvisor but that’s very formulaic and can hardly be considered a conversation. The stories are being told at home, to friends and to family. Those stories that make their way into the online social media space sit on the shelf of our limited attention spans and are soon forgotten. There’s no engagement and there’s no dialogue happening. When meaningful and inspirational adventures are happening everyday in and around hotels those events should be captured and sharing should be encouraged!

Attendees enjoyed an Octoberfest dinner on Friday

In the end, all of the ingredients were there, hotels just needed the recipe. Kris, Geoff, Tom, Alex, and all the others at Worldhotels have worked tirelessly to bring it all together and present it in such a way that hotels are well equipped to start their journey. I was proud to be welcomed into this group and to present our solution to this challenge. Because ultimately it’s about building a long-term, meaningful relationship with the guest. And if there’s one key ingredient to a healthy relationship, it’s listening.

State of the industry: hotel marketing

Hotel marketing has become a bit strange the past few years. Somehow, a very social and aspirational industry has become devoid of personality. In fact, when we look at most hotel marketing, it feels like the images chosen must have been taken moments after the zombie apocalypse—beautifully set up rooms and spaces missing one important thing: humans.

The result? Guests feel like they’re dealing with faceless, corporate behemoths instead of properties with true personality and an amazing staff that are passionate about hospitality. Here lies the exact reason that 3rd parties and companies like AirBnB have become so popular—they’ve made travel personal and aspirational again.

The good news is hotels have an answer to correct these issues and shift more towards aspirational marketing:

Storytelling.

Quote from Rudyard Kipling on stories — Rudyard Kipling, 1888

The power of storytelling is not a new idea by any means. In a world of 140 characters though, authentic stories are becoming more and more scarce. A favorite quote of mine from Rudyard Kipling says, “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” He wrote that in 1888.

Stories captivate an audience far better than facts or bullet points. But how does this apply to hotels?

Guest photo from The Shores Daytona — A guest story creates a more authentic experience for The Shores

Collectively, your guests capture the widest range of experiences and provide the most candid insights into your hotel. Every booking is the beginning of a new, compelling guest story to share. When hotels capture these moments, they unveil new brand stories that bring out the personality and genuine experiences at their property, and truly appeal to new guests.

This is where hotels have the edge. You actually own the experience, and are the hub of your guests’ journey. Make the stories of that journey part of your own, and use them to enrich all of your marketing efforts.

How to put storytelling to work for your hotel.

This is a topic that we live and breathe at Flip.to on a daily basis. We’ve built a platform that lets guests share their travel stories with friends & family along with your hotel. You’ll captivate & inspire an entire new audience of global travelers like never before. And we do this by tapping into a simple idea—that everyone trusts their friends more than ads, especially when it comes to travel.

When your guests return home and share their favorite moments, their stories reach a like-minded demographic with a personal introduction to your hotel. Can you imagine the impact of an ever-growing team of storytellers at your fingertips?

Being able to turn guests into advocates and then into co-creators leads to the highest brand affinity. And the impact of that doesn’t stop there.

Blend guest stories consistently throughout your marketing and communications. Use them to replace spam content that is irrelevant to your audience, hurts credibility, and can even erode your brand.

When crafting your digital experience, remember that not every visitor to your site is ready to book. Most hotels don’t really account for this at all and in fact, is where most hotels can win- at the inspiration phase of the traveler’s buying journey.

Inspire travelers to visit before they’ve even begun the planning process. You’re no longer competing with the noise (and ad spend) in the marketplace that are fighting for users ready to click ‘Book Now.’

So, what’s the way to inspire future travelers? Real, authentic guest stories.

Don’t just take our word for it.

Quote on making customers partners — What Apple, Lending Club, and AirBnB Know About Collaborating with Customers, Harvard Business Review

We’re not the only ones that see the real value in guest stories. We’ve previously touched on a great article from Harvard Business Review on ‘What Apple, Lending Club and AirBnb know about collaborating with customers,’ which clearly ties revenue and profit margin growth directly to tapping customers to become co-creators.

76% of travelers were willing to pay more for a hotel with higher review scores — Study Shows Travelers Willing to Pay More for Hotels With Better Travel Reviews, TrustYou

Another article a bit closer to home is this great study by Trust You showing that the majority of travelers are willing to pay more for a hotel with higher review scores. So what is a review anyways? Most of the ones I have seen are long form stories, in many cases too long.

And of course, TripAdvisor and a host of other review sites have all proven it.

Hotels of the world: it’s time to start to put storytelling into action.

What has your hotel’s approach been to use aspirational selling? Let me know! Your insights guide us to continue to create great content that makes a difference in your day-to-day. Reach out, or discover more.

Introducing: Photo Explorer (our first video!)

The need to make videos has become more apparent as our team and company continue to grow. Video will complement how we communicate our product, culture, and vision to the world. It’s a completely new arena for us, and I’m awfully excited that we’ve just jumped in.

We closely collaborated with our account team to better understand our customers’ needs, and narrowed in on what topics were right for us to get started. Of course, producing high-quality videos fast is crucial for a small startup team. After some help from The Startup Video Course, we were up and running in a couple of days.

In the end, here is what we made:

Be on the lookout for a ton more in this arena, from product updates, ideas and of course a bit of fun.

Also, word around the office is that a few other employees want to try their hand at voiceovers, so expect to see a few auditions, and possibly some bloopers along the way.

Take a tourorWatch next video

Advocacy behind the scenes: Nick Hotel

Advocacy has changed the game for how hotels develop and communicate their story to the world. But what does it look like to incorporate advocacy into your hotel’s day-to-day?

We connected with Deanna Padilla, Marketing Manager at Nickelodeon Suites Resort, to shed some light on this question—here’s what she had to say.

Nick Hotel on Branding

Michael Mathews: We can tell branding is important to your digital strategy. How important was it that Flip.to could be seamlessly incorporated into your current site?

nick-homepage — The Flip.to Homepage Component is designed to fit into Nick Hotel’s current branding

Deanna Padilla: Our brand is important to us and our consumers, so being able to easily incorporate Flip.to into our current site matching our brand standards is very important.

MM: Could you talk about some of the branding examples that were incorporated between your brand and Flip.to’s platform (Homepage Component, emails, and certificates)? What has the value of the branded Flip.to integrations meant for Nick Hotel and your guests?

DP: Flip.to incorporated our brand colors within the homepage component and our hotel logo in the emails and certificates. This is a valuable detail to be able to incorporate the Nickelodeon brand with all of these initiatives. Plus, this also builds brand loyalty and engagement with the consumer.

nick-certificate — Branding is consistent in guests’ certificates

MM: What advice would you give to other hotels when it comes to branding and messaging?

DP: Make sure your branding and messaging match, this makes your product more valuable, especially to your loyal customers. Branding truly builds advocates.

MM: How would you describe working with the Flip.to team to incorporate these changes?

DP: Flip.to has been a great partner to work with. The team was there step-by-step in getting photo advocacy up and running. It was a seamless process.

On the New Photo Explorer from Flip.to

MM: Nick Hotel recently launched one of the newest features of Filp.to, Photo Explorer. How would you describe using this piece of the platform (from set up and curation, to making changes)?

nick-curation-v2 — Flip.to photo curation makes it easy to rate and share submissions

DP: The setup piece was easy to complete. Flip.to provided the necessary instructions for me to provide to our partners to update on their end on our behalf. Curation of guest photos is a simple and fun step, especially being able to see the property through the guests’ eyes.

MM: How much time out of your day do you spend on the platform?

DP: I spend about 10–15 minutes each day on the platform curating and sharing great photos on social media.

MM: How user friendly is the platform? What’s been your favorite aspect so far?

DP: The platform is extremely user friendly. A few touches, and you can share on your individual social media platforms.

Being able to share these experiences from the guests’ own personal photos on social has been a favorite of mine.

MM: Has there been anything that surprised you that you learned from the platform?

DP: Just how easy it is to manage, and also share on the hotel’s social media platforms. It’s a quick and easy process making posting more of a fun item than another work task.

MM: How has Photo Explorer helped in your overall marketing strategy?

Nick Hotel shares a submission on Twitter.

DP: Photo explorer has increased our fan base on social media and will hopefully drive them to our website and lead to direct bookings.

On Advocacy

MM: How has Flip.to changed your day-to-day?

DP: Flip.to has added a nice addition to my day-to-day work tasks. I enjoy reading the guest comments and looking at the guest photos every day.

MM: What drove Nick Hotel to get started with Flip.to, and using advocacy as part of your marketing?

nick-photo-explorer — Photo Explorer displays guests’ stories and experiences

DP: The opportunity for social sharing among our guests and their friends and their friends’ friends was a huge factor in deciding to participate in photo advocacy.

MM: What have you found most beneficial when making advocacy a core component of your revenue and marketing strategy?

DP: Definitely the number of sign-ups we have received from photo advocacy alone is outstanding. This has increased engagement on our social sites.

MM: What advice would you give other hotels who want to get started with advocacy?

DP: If you are looking to increase your social awareness and reach new audiences while building your relationship with existing fans, then photo advocacy is a must for your property.

Incorporating advocacy into your hotel’s long-term strategy will set your hotel up for success.

For Nickelodeon Suites Resort, integration was a snap. New features like Photo Explorer engage users with personalized interactions that are built in, so they have the right conversation with every viewer. Plus, a streamlined process and a bit of fun have been carried over into Deanna’s day-to-day tasks, making curation and sharing a breeze.

We love hearing incredible stories from our clients, so get in touch and let’s collaborate to feature your hotel in our next behind the scenes post.

Advocates vs. avocados

Advocates vs. avocados: it’s more than a case of po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe. Hoteliers are seemingly becoming disillusioned by avocados after seeing the power of advocacy (you should see the emails we get.)

Our advocologists did minutes of research and surveyed nearly half a dozen people to figure out why this debate keeps popping up, and of course to declare the ultimate champion.

(No advocates were mashed in the making of this study.)

Avocados offer up a rich, buttery taste with a creamy texture that brings guac to life. The results came back inconclusive for the advocates. First matchup goes to the fruit (yup, avocados are actually in the berry family).

Now, our advocates are fresh—they travel in style. (Don’t believe us? See for yourself.) But a perfectly ripe avocado is tough to beat. This one was too close to call.

After documenting aging characteristics, advocates showed “low to no signs of aging.” Avocados, on the other hand, succumb to time and were transformed into unfortunate brown globs. The winner was conclusive.

With the list of health benefits from avocados, the final round was a tough match. However, nothing compares to the impact of advocates.

The results are in. Advocates were the clear winner of this competition!

We published our findings in the Journal of Research in Advocology. The critics quickly chimed in:

“Guacamole is delicious, but it does jack $&*! for your hotel.”
— Dr. Jack Travelfianakis

“Whatever.”
— Haas Avocado Commission

We see the impact advocates have on a hotel’s bottom line everyday. And even though avocados have a ridiculously narrow window of ripe goodness, we believe hoteliers should keep them around as well.

Stay tuned for more on the impact of advocacy, (plus a few ripe-innings of avocados here and there) as our team of advocologists work day and night to bring you the best advocology research in the industry.

Holiday science brought to you by the Department of Advocology

Flip.to welcomes very first Director of Breakfasts

The sounds of grumbling stomachs were heard far and wide, and the torment of a bagel-less, muffin-less, and cold-brew-less morning in the office had to stop. Plus, the line at the Starbucks machine was getting a bit lengthy thanks to the 32 ounce option. (I mean, really, Kevin? Who needs 32 ounces of coffee in the morning? All those dev hours, I guess…)

The decision was clear. We needed help:

Director of Breakfasts
Flip.to seeks first-meal-making wizard

Qualifications:

We are looking for a creative and gifted Director of Breakfast. You will be known as “the meal-making wizard” and maintain complete control of the kitchen and breakroom.

Experience:

Making breakfast taste good

Skills:

Cold brew making ability
Can incorporate tasty, vegan alternatives
Must hail from New York City

Sure, these were HUGE shoes to fill, and quite honestly we weren’t too sure they could.

To our surprise, the response was overwhelming. We had lines of people outside our office giving us tastings of their best breakfast dishes for days. In fact, we’re still getting the occasional chef trickle into our office. It’s a tear-jerker turning down so many crumble-top muffins in the past few days. Regardless, we had to stay strong and move on.

After countless hours of taste testing, résumé reviewing, and deliberation, a decision had been made! We couldn’t be more ecstatic to announce our new Director of Breakfasts, Traci Kent—sister of CEO and fearless Flip.to leader, Brian Kent.

The NY Style Bagels—you should’ve tasted them. And don’t get me started on the multitude of muffins. They’re so good that Traci was once asked to come to the White House for a Presidential Breakfast. She kindly turned it down. With gumption like that, we couldn’t be more proud to have her on the team. She captures the essence of Martha Stewart with the execution skills of highly trained Swat team. In other words, she’s the best.

UPDATE: Traci had to return to Brooklyn after the holidays. The team didn’t take the news very well, but we’re working out a plan to bake remote.

Flip.to on the road: Expedia Partner Conference

If you’ve been keeping up with our blog, you may have seen my recap from the Expedia Hackathon when I had the opportunity to be a guest judge before the Partner Conference kicked off the following day. Since then, I’ve had time to reflect with the team about the experience.

booth + Mask — Interested hoteliers stop by the Flip.to booth

Conference kickoff
It was great seeing familiar faces, and this was without a doubt the biggest and best Expedia Partner Conference I’ve ever attended. The atmosphere was buzzing with an incredible mix of hoteliers and vendors, and we definitely had our hands full with over 3,800 in attendance.

From the first day, I was graciously welcomed by Expedia executives and staff. You could feel throughout the entire conference that Expedia was seriously open on creating more successful hotels through strong partnerships and innovation. That focus permeated into everyone who was in attendance, which elevated the experience and conversations.

Our booth was jumping with activity from hoteliers that were receptive and deeply intrigued by the idea of advocacy. We explained that Flip.to starts the conversation between a hotel and a potential guest like never before–with authentic, personal experiences from previous guests’ stories. This idea of building an ever-growing team of advocates who have a massive impact on a hotel’s reach and bottomline truly resonated with everyone.

Omnia + Mask — Omnia Nightclub at Caesars Palace

We had one person stop by our booth and point out a photo of bikes on a beach during a live implementation of Adrift’s Photo Explorer. In the past, a hotel like Adrift would mention “free bikes” as an extra bonus or amenity. However, with Flip.to, Adrift is able to introduce a potential guest to the experience of a free bike–with multiple guest photo’s capturing the wanderlust that comes with it.

The conference wrapped up with a closing party at the Omnia Nightclub at Caesar’s Palace. From the morphing chandelier, panoramic views of the Las Vegas Strip, and the great company, it couldn’t have been a better way to end such a tremendous conference.

jackpot-brian + Mask — Brian hits the jackpot

Ricky-and-Gordon + Mask — Ricky snags a picture with Gordon Ramsay

Some other antics

It’s only natural to play a little when you’re in Vegas. A couple Flip.to folks had some luck on the slots, but the luckiest person of all was Ricky, our Director of Partnerships.

Being that Ricky is a rabid Gordon Ramsay rooter, he and Account Executive, Danielle, had lunch at the Gordon Ramsay Pub and Grill. It must have been the luck that was flowing through the team, but their waiter pointed out that Ramsay was in the restaurant that very day celebrating the 3rd anniversary of the restaurant. After hearing this news, he quickly snagged a photo with his favorite celebrity chef before he headed back into the kitchen. (Nobody can turn down Ricky.)

Again, our team and I are incredibly pleased with the experience at the Expedia Conference. The crowd was a great mix of old and new friends and great opportunity to share the power of advocacy to hoteliers worldwide.

A glimpse into 2016: what can your hotel expect?

2016 looks like it’s going to be an excellent year for hoteliers. Robert Rauch, President of RAR Hospitality and a leading hospitality management and consulting firm in San Diego, recently came out with his yearly trends report.

Rauch reveals some outstanding insights that will help your hotel maximize your efforts in 2016. Check out what we’ve taken away below, and be sure to read Rauch’s article for the full story.

Personalized experiences create value

Trends in the digital space are heavily influenced by the increasing interest of travelers to have personal experiences that create value. As more and more travelers are using the internet as their go-to source for travel considerations, this leaves hotels with the responsibility to communicate that they understand guests’ interests and needs online.

No matter the channel your hotel picks (social media, blogs, forums), potential guests are gauging your brand’s identity and making purchase decisions based on those perceptions.
As Rauch explains, that’s why it is so important to communicate your hotel’s unique story and make a great first impression when a potential guest engages with your brand.

At Flip.to, we couldn’t agree more. We help hoteliers make their guests’ stories an integral part of their hotel’s story. We see firsthand that our customers’ guests have incredible stories to tell and huge audience who are listening. When it all comes together, the stories that people tell each other are far more convincing, easier to relate to, personable and trustworthy than any story told through an advertisement.

Rauch reminds us that experience design extends beyond the digital world, and encourages hoteliers to think about how their hotel spaces are designed–combining work, play, food and drink into an experience that keeps the youthful customer in mind.

Digital, digital, digital, and when you’re done, more digital

Digital matters in 2016, which goes without surprise. Rauch states that digital marketing boils down to two things for 2016: mobile and video. Mobile is an increasingly popular trend. More and more potential guests are using mobile to research and book travel. That’s why responsive websites, mobile-friendly emails, and even dedicated mobile apps are advised.

Plus, hoteliers should take note of the growing trend in live-streaming on mobile. Apps like Periscope average 2 million daily active users (oh, and Periscope just launched on March of this year). This growing trend is beginning to replace traditional television for millennials, and hoteliers should keep track of this new channel to stay relevant to this growing market.

Hoteliers should also take note the disruption caused by companies like Airbnb and HomeAway that have paved the way in the Sharing Economy. Rauch explains, “Mobile and digital check-in, easily accessible and plentiful outlets in all areas, reliable and fast wifi are some of the amenities desired by those who utilize Airbnb and HomeAway.” Hotels should continue to innovate and offer alternatives to these types of amenities in order to capture the attention of the modern traveler.

Take revenue strategy by the horns

By investing in new revenue management technologies, hoteliers can better forecast demand for a clearer idea of their most profitable customers and rooms, all of which help to maximize profits in the long-run.

Revenue management technologies are just one part of a more important revenue strategy, though. At Flip.to, we’ve talked about how your guests, your team, and your hotel’s bottom line all win when you create a revenue culture, part of which includes prioritizing channels based on net revenue.

Rauch challenges hoteliers to balance their channels and evaluate where OTAs fit in. Focus on driving more eyeballs to your hotel’s website and maximizing profits.

Technology has changed the way hoteliers manage revenue and reach new guests. Going into 2016, hoteliers should continue to think about revenue management technologies and revenue culture, how to improve personalized guest experiences, and how to make an impact with mobile and video in the digital world. Here is the full article of Top 10 Trends for 2016 from Robert Rauch and our friends at RAR Hospitality.

The President’s seal of approval at the Expedia Hackathon

Judges panel via @Expedia — The judges panel via @Expedia

Expedia Hackathon took place this week in Las Vegas, and I was happy to be able to sit in on the judging panel. Joined by Toni Portmann (DHISCO), Simon Lenoir (Rezdy), and Sara Hill (The Mill), it was an incredible experience.

Techies from around the world presented projects that utilize Expedia’s APIs, which can be used to book hotels, flights, and cars as well as communicate travel trends and things to do in a specific area. In the end, judging was based on the following criteria:

Implementation completeness
Creativity (innovation/originality)
Useful application of the content (business value add)
Application to travel industry

I was blown away by the entries that we reviewed—many from the best-of-the-best in the hospitality tech industry. It was neck-and-neck, but the top two entries to prevail came out of SmartHOTEL and Sabre Hospitality.

1st Place–SmartHOTEL

The team from SmartHOTEL took first place with SmartTRIP, an application to help guests create a multi-step package—including hotels, flights, and activities—all through one portal that offers the user multiple packages to select.

SmartTRIP tapped into the creation of the ultimate guest experience—helping travelers create customized packages based completely on their preferences. It’s a great idea that lets the guest realize everything they want in a trip, up front.

At Flip.to, we see every day that experiences inspire travel for guests. They’re a huge component when it comes time to book, and this aspirational model is what continues to drive us to innovate for hotels.

2nd Place–Sabre Hospitality

The team from Sabre Hospitality took second with EVA (Expedia Voice Assistant). An application that runs on Amazon Echo, EVA offers hotel Managers a quick, unobtrusive way to get updates on the health, and promotions of their hotel by simply asking the question out loud. The team showed how revenue managers could get live updates on inventory, market share, fair share, and missed opportunities in an instant. Managers could even create simple promos based on the insight they gathered from a quick chat with EVA.

The judges loved the out-of-the-box thinking that the Sabre team brought with the Amazon Echo integration—it was really innovative and fun to see in action.

Look for a full wrap-up of the Expedia Partner Conference coming soon from the team as we return. In the meantime, follow us on Twitter for the latest updates coming out of Las Vegas!

Content with confidence–how hotels can work in harmony with Facebook

If you follow our blog, you may recall a piece I wrote a few months back where I dug into the numbers behind advocacy on social networks and what it means for hotels. Two of the primary takeaways from that analysis were that 1) Facebook is really important to your overall online marketing strategy and 2) that relevant content is crucial.

Taking this a step further, if we isolate Facebook, the role that relevant content plays cannot be understated. How and why Facebook presents content the way it does is something every hotel marketer should understand. With that knowledge, you can craft a highly effective content strategy for your property’s presence on the largest social network on the planet.

Why hotels need a new strategy for Facebook

2011 marked a major shift in how Facebook’s News Feed (official name) operated. The original algorithm was replaced with a more “intelligent” one that adapts based on your feedback to content you engaged with previously. For instance, if you showed more interest in posts with photos you would start to see more photo posts higher in your News Feed.

Fast-forward to 2015 and the algorithm has changed—a lot. While still adaptive, it now takes into account over 1,000 different variables when deciding the order of content.

Today’s version may even decide some content just simply isn’t worth your time and push it so far down into your News Feed that there’s little chance you ever see it. According to Facebook there are about 1,500 posts on average a user could see at any given moment, so the task of deciding what you see is big.

Ultimately, Facebook cares about keeping its platform engaging to its users. When it ceases to engage with users, it loses relevancy and people drift away (think MySpace). This means that Facebook has to filter some content from your News Feed so that you’re not inundated with stories and so that you don’t feel like you’re being spammed.

For this reason, organic reach has declined and is getting ever closer to zero. From early 2012 to 2014, organic reach dropped from 16% to just over 6%, and since then it’s diminished even more.

Another major contributing factor is called “Zuckerberg’s Law”: the amount of content you share a year from now will be twice the amount you shared this year. Now consider that Facebook has over 1 billion users and the content those users share doubles every year. Wow. Put in this context it’s easy to see why the News Feed algorithm filters content and why organic reach is declining.

Most recently in April of 2015, Facebook announced it would prioritize content created by close friends above all other content in the News Feed. This, combined with Zuckerberg’s Law, creates “like inflation.” In other words, every like is worth less and less as time goes on. It’s a clear signal that strategy needs to shift.

And so the question is this: as a business, how do I get my message in front of the most people possible on Facebook?

The new content strategy: tapping into the right audiences on Facebook

There are two audiences you can tap into on Facebook that will allow you to work within the boundaries of Facebook’s News Feed while also leveraging its rules to your benefit: your own and your guests’. We’ll start with your homegrown audience—those that have “liked” your Facebook brand Page.

Your Followers

5,000 likes does not mean you have 5,000 engaged audience members. As part of your digital strategy it’s important to take this into consideration.

When you share something to your existing followers, Facebook will select a very small subset of that audience and display that content to those people. It chooses based on the prior behavior of followers that are likely to engage with your content (like, comment, share). If the content performs well, it will do the same to another small subset, and this repeats a number of times before it eventually stops. The odds your post will be seen by your entire audience is slim (to not a chance at all.)

Other considerations (Facebook looks at over 1,000 variables) include some of the following:

Is the viewer interested in the content creator?
How has this post performed amongst other users?
How has this creator’s content performed in the past?
What types of posts does this viewer prefer? (e.g. image rich, posts with links, etc.)
How new is the post?

As a hotel, this means that you should always strive to have relevant, timely, and engaging content. No more Turbinado Tuesdays or Shar Pei Sundays. Stop doing that.

If TripAdvisor has taught us anything, it’s that people like to hear and see what other people’s experiences were like at your hotel. If you’re capturing guest feedback and pictures from their stay then that’s the sort of content that you should be sharing on Facebook. Let your audience see what other travelers just like them are doing at your property.

They’ll imagine themselves enjoying an amazing dinner on the waterfront, or a cocktail on the rooftop with an amazing view of the skyline. It’s one thing for you to say it’s great. It’s something entirely different for your guests to show others how great it was for them.

Relevant content amplifies your reach in two ways. First, more people will see your content if the people that first see it also interact with it. This means that every like on a guest photo you’ve shared boosts that post’s News Feed value.

Second is that with interaction comes sharing. Your reach grows tremendously when your audience shares that photo you’ve posted. When a photo is shared by one of your followers, it will rank more highly in the News Feed because it’s coming from a person and not a brand, as well as because it’s demonstrated that it has value. As you’ll soon see, quality content has a powerful ripple effect that works in harmony with News Feed’s algorithm. Spammy and unengaging content will do the opposite for your brand which is why I can’t stress enough the importance of distancing your hotel from those sort of posts.

Your Guests’ Network

Every person that comes across your brand has an audience of their own. Collectively these people represent a massive opportunity for exposure to your brand.

In my opinion, this is also the most underutilized aspect of social media, especially because companies have approached it very awkwardly. And Facebook agrees. In August 2014, Facebook enacted a policy change that ended the practice of incentivizing users for likes and fan-gated sweepstakes/contests. Facebook is keen on keeping its audience engaged, and they recognize that these sort of gimmicks only drive temporary interest and not long-term engagement.

For hotels, this underscores an opportunity to incorporate advocacy.

By encouraging your guests to share their experience with your brand over Facebook, you enhance your own reach in a way that leverages the News Feed algorithm. For one, we now know that brand content is deprioritized in the News Feed and content from close friends is pushed higher. In addition, based on what we’ve seen on the Flip.to platform, each guest represents about 225 social connections.

Now, take the number of people coming through your door to stay with you on a given day. Do the math. A 100 room hotel running at 80% occupancy has an opportunity to reach 18,000 people on a given day.

How does this compare to the number of likes you have on Facebook right now? Then consider that your own content is only reaching a small percentage of your own audience. It’s like swimming upstream.

Your guests > Advertising

Facebook currently has around 2 million advertisers spending money to ensure their message is seen by the right audience.

For a hotel, the right audience can truly mean like-minded individuals connected to the guests who’ve booked a room. With the competition for News Feed space increasing so rapidly, it’s crucial that hotels reach a wider audience who are more inclined to engage with their content.

Encouraging guests to share their stories not only gives hotels that reach, it makes a more trusted introduction to the brand. This is a far more harmonious interaction with the News Feed and a stronger long-term strategy for social marketing.

Over time, take note of which types of posts performed the best in terms of overall engagement. A digital strategy should and must evolve over time to adapt to a rapidly changing dynamic. Does your audience favor images over text? Do guest reviews tend to drive more comments? Do guest pictures of your swimming pool result in more shares and likes?

Don’t be afraid to experiment when it comes to user-generated content because on the whole your customers have more influence than you do which is exactly what the News Feed is looking for.