May/June 2021

GLAMPSITES
“ENSURE THAT YOU USE
HASHTAGS THAT PEOPLE IN
YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE ARE
LIKELY TO CHECK. IF THERE'S A
RELEVANT CONNECTION THEN
USERS ARE LIKELY TO FOLLOW
YOUR ACCOUNT”
content calendar (get
in touch and I will send
you mine if you need
inspiration!)
› Don't post infrequently
if you're trying to build a
following. People scroll
through 300 feet of
Facebook/Instagram posts
each day so you need to
stand out. Look at your
metrics and see when your
audience is online, and post
when they’re most likely to
be there
› Test different types of post
and see what works best for
you. When you know which
types generate good results,
you can do more of them.
Campfires always generate
a lot of engagement on one
of my client’s Instagram
account. Failing that, dogs
are always very popular if
your venue is dog friendly
› Use a scheduler, this way
you have planned and onbrand
content available, plus
it saves a lot of time. Use an
external one such as Later or
Planoly, or schedule within
Facebook's Business Suite
› Develop useful
collaborations on both a
local (eg. your local tourist
office) and national level
(eg. VisitBritain) and support
their own social media
efforts too
› Showcase your Instagram
everywhere and make sure
your social media buttons
are on your website and that
they work
› Communicate with your
followers via questions and
invite them to comment
below
› Resist being salesy. 80 per
cent of your posts should
be informative/funny or
relevant. That leaves 20 per
cent of your posts eligible
for sales messaging. People
switch off fast when they
are frequently sold to. Build
and develop your “know,
like, trust” factors with your
audience.
HASHTAG STRATEGY
As part of growing your
followers organically, it is
important to create a hashtag
strategy. Choose hashtags
to describe a post’s content
eg. #belltent, hashtags to
describe the industry eg.
#UKHospitality, and thirdly
hashtags for the community
you are aiming at eg.
#glamping.
Use a mixture of different
“sized” hashtags ranging from
500,000 to 10,000. By this I
mean, key your chosen word
into the search bar, click Tag
and view suggestions from
the dropdown. These rank
by the number of times they
have been used. Avoid using
hashtags with large numbers
next to them eg. #escape,
as your post will get lost its
popularity. Ensure that you
use hashtags that people in
your target audience are likely
to check. If there's a relevant
connection then users are
likely to follow your account.
It's a matter of preference
if you position your hashtags
at the very bottom of the
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lisa Bullen runs Social Media Sussex, a social
media consultancy providing social media
training and advice for the leisure industry.
Lisa's online social media course for
campsites/glampsites has featured on
Cool Camping and Host Unusual. She is also
co-founder of award-winning The Secret
Campsite in East Sussex. Contact Lisa at lisa@
socialmediasussex.com or visit her website
www.socialmediasussex.com
post or add them in as a first
comment. Try to avoid putting
many hashtags within the
caption as it looks spammy
and annoys people.
SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS
A social media influencer is
a user on social media who
has established credibility in
a specific industry, has access
to a large audience and can
persuade others by virtue of
their authenticity and reach.
Building relations with
relevant social media
influencers can be beneficial
for your business but choose
them carefully. If you enter
into a paid arrangement
then ensure it’s all written
down to avoid any later
misunderstandings.
Consider contacting other
brands or companies that the
influencer has worked with
to assess the value they gave
and get first hand feedback.
Don't be afraid to say no to
influencers who may contact
you and want to collaborate,
and if it's too good to be true
then it probably is!
WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM 45