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Statistics show that hotels, resorts, inns, and bed and breakfasts enjoy higher booking opportunities when using video marketing.
I am going to share with you the advantages of using YouTube and how you can benefit.
Welcome to another edition of hospitality property school.
I’m your instructor Gerry MacPherson.
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As an independent hospitality property owner, you should understand the importance of marketing and are constantly thinking of ways to get your properties name in front of as many people as possible.
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Using YouTube can be an economical way to grow if used frequently as part of your marketing strategy.
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Here are some reasons you need to consider YouTube.
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The platform has over 1.9bn logged in monthly users.
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6 out of 10 people prefer online video platforms to live TV.
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In an average month, 8 out of 10 18-49 year-olds watch YouTube
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In 2015, 18-49 year-olds spent 4% less time watching TV while time on YouTube went up 74%
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On mobile alone, YouTube reaches more 18-49 year-olds than any broadcast or cable TV network
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The platform has also launched in over 91 countries
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We watch over 1 billion hours of YouTube videos a day, more than Netflix and Facebook video combined
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On average, there are 1,000,000,000 mobile video views per day
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Those stats should make you raise an eyebrow.
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Using YouTube will help you get found on Google
Have you noticed that videos are appearing more often in Google’s search results? Google considers video to be as important as text-only pages, and YouTube is the third most visited site after Google and Facebook plus, Google owns YouTube.
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By incorporating YouTube as part of your marketing strategy for your property, you’re also increasing the influence of your website. The more influence your website has in Google’s eyes, the higher your pages ranking.
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More ways to benefit from YouTube
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- Upload regularly
Especially if you’ve developed a decent pool of subscribers, viewers will be counting on you to create, edit and upload new content. This adds relevancy to your property. This also applies to any other website where users can follow and engage with your content. It’s best to add content whenever possible, even if it isn’t as consistent as you’d like.
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2. Put thought into your titles, description and tags
Experiment with different titles and descriptions. As with other social networking sites, selecting relevant keywords to increase hits is a common SEO strategy for marketers. It helps audiences find content that interests them. A quick tip is to watch your videos from the beginning and then create a list of words and phrases.
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Your video descriptions should be short, informative, and multi-purpose. Describe your video in a sentence or two (using your top keywords), and include a link to your properties website or blog.
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- Create a YouTube channel with your brand
When you create a channel for your videos, you are telling YouTube that you are the official representation of your brand.
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This makes it easier to find you when someone is searching your property or related terms.
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- Share your videos
Get other website owners to embed your videos on their websites by cross-promoting with them.
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Every time someone embeds your video on their website, Google gives more credibility to your website.
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5. Consider collaborations
Collaborative videos are popular on YouTube. Viewers like them because they’re an opportunity to see YouTube favourites working with someone else, and creators like them because of the additional exposure. Look for popular YouTube channels with offering that complement (rather than compete with) your property, and try pitching the idea of a collaboration.
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- Share your videos on other platforms
Encourage others to share. Social media metrics are a factor taken into consideration by Google when ranking pages. If they are high-quality videos, others will share, and this will tell Google that you are producing content that is valuable to your current and potential customers.
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7. Don’t confine your videos to YouTube
Just because you create a YouTube channel, doesn’t mean people will go looking for it. As part of an effective YouTube strategy, make sure you spread the word.
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When you post a new video that you want people to see and share, you should embed it on your website, write a blog post about it, tweet the link, and post it on Facebook.
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- Give your viewers options
Include text, video illustrations and activate closed caption (once you learn how to do this, make sure you check the text to make sure it is accurate). This will increase the overall engagement.
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9. If you have a blog (and you should)
You can re-purpose your content for YouTube. You can take advantage of this by taking any of the high-quality articles you have written for your blog and creating a video for YouTube. It will be easier for searchers to find your property online and will build backlinks to your site.
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10. You can have a worldwide audience
By consistently creating video content, visitors are going to find you who would never found you any other way.
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11. Let your customers do the talking
Many hotels, resorts, inns and bed and breakfasts have had great results by posting videos of customer testimonials on YouTube. This is a highly effective way to build trust and credibility with potential guests who may need that extra “nudge” to book your property. Video testimonials are proven to have a much bigger impact than written ones.
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You can check out “How to Get Your Own Review Video” below
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12. Get interactive
As people view your videos, they will rate their quality and leave comments. To keep the momentum going, you should monitor and respond to all feedback as quickly as possible. If possible, personalize your responses to each visitor.
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13. Engage with similar content uploaded by other users
Like and comment on videos uploaded by other users. Not only might those users stumble upon your videos and channel, but anyone else who sees that comment or like might as well. Do this with videos that have a similar topic, interest or theme as yours to attract new viewers.
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Is this making sense? Let me know by leaving a short comment.
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.14. You can build your email list by encouraging your viewers to subscribe
Subscribing is the best way for your viewers to know whenever you’ve uploaded a video, created a new playlist and more. It also gives you an estimated figure as to who will eventually view your video.
If you provide valuable engaging content you have the ability to build an Email list you can use to stay in touch with current and potential customers.
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15. The audience will stay and promote you
Videos with a personal touch help to increase trust and in turn guests.
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If your YouTube viewers trust you they are more likely to stay with and promote you if the opportunity arises. .
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- Use clickable links to reference other content
At the end of videos, you’ll notice many videos reference previous, relevant or maybe even newer content with a clickable link inside the video. You can add these to cards and/or End Screen while editing your video in the site’s video manager. This feature can also link back to any web pages or sites your video covers.
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- Use YouTube stories
YouTube recently created YouTube stories, which are similar to Snapchat or Instagram stories. A story is a collection of short videos that can remain visible for a day or until they’re deleted. Google is now testing Al to swap backgrounds in stories, running a beta version of it with some content creators.
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- Run a contest
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Running or promoting a contest on YouTube is an easy way to get people to watch and engage with your content. However, before you post a contest, make sure to read YouTube’s rules and guidelines.
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Conclusion
If your goal is to increase bookings, you have to market your property and to market effectively so as not to break the bank.
Over the years YouTube has proven to be an effective method to share what your property has to offer and by using the 18 techniques I have listed you’ll be well on your way to increasing both bookings and your bottom line.
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⇒ TO READ OR LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE ON KEYSTONE ⇒ TO READ OR LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE ON KEYSTONE HOSPITALITY PROPERTY CONSULTING:
https://keystonehpd.com/KHDC132
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⇒ And don’t forget to join the “6 Day Challenge” here:
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RESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
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Check out “How to Get Your Own Review Video”
https://video.keystonehospitalitydevelopment.com/
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The Ways to Benefit from YouTube Checklist
https://keystonehpd.com/benefit-from-youtube
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The Keystone HDC Training Tutorials
https://courses.keystonehospitalitydevelopment.com/
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Join our community in “The Hospitality Property School Group” –Check it Out for One Full Week for Only $1
https://keystonehpd.com/membership-site
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Ways to Benefit from YouTube Checklist Video @KeystoneHDC
Ways to Benefit from YouTube Checklist Video
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Say hi on social:
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Linkedin: Keystone HDC – Linkedin
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Listen to The Hospitality Property School Podcast here:
Hospitality Property School Podcast
Hospitality Property School Podcast
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The Hospitality Property School is a division of Keystone Hospitality Development Consulting
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