Used correctly, Facebook, with its half a billion or so users, can be an effective and low-cost part of your overall publicity strategy.

It works: Since 2011, Facebook has a higher percentage of referrals leading to actual bookings than TripAdvisor. But just having a Facebook page isn’t going to do you much good if you don’t know how to maximise it.

Go Custom

It’s best to get the custom business Facebook page. Facebook offers different page styles for businesses, celebrities, organisations and ordinary users, among others. If you get a business page you can customise it much more effectively. Many hotels have found it useful to integrate reservation widgets on their Facebook page, making it easier for guests to reserve rooms.

Event pages are a great way to publicise your business on your page, as are custom tabs to feature conferences you’re hosting, local attractions and sites of interest, or other things travellers to your area might be interested in.

Accommodation marketing pro Susan Gunelius underlines the importance of “relevant and meaningful content.” If you think that just being on Facebook will increase sales, “you’re very likely to fail,” she says, explaining that “Facebook is not a direct-marketing tool but rather an indirect-marketing tool. In other words, your top priority is to build relationships that ultimately lead to future bookings. This can be accomplished by publishing useful content that your target audience wants and needs.”

Therefore at least 80 percent of your content, she says, “is non-self-promotional… be real, honest, and personable. Your hotel brand should tell a story on Facebook, not bore people to death.”

Worth a Thousand Words

Share lots of pictures and tag them: “Ask your guests if you can take pictures with them, then tag them on Facebook,” suggests industry journal GuestCentric. “Your property will be seen by many of their friends.”

Network

It’s a good idea to link to as many local restaurants, attractions and any other related businesses in the area as possible. Follow and comment actively on their pages, every time you do your business name shows up.

Facebook offers an unparalleled publicity opportunity, and the fact that so much of it is free means if you spend some time and effort you can find dozens of ways to promote your business at great cost-effectiveness.