By Natasha Cameron
The Stirling Highland Hotel is at the top of the social media marketing game.
Although it is ranked sixth out of the top 10 hotels for the area, it has the second highest post engagement, on social media among their competitors.
The only reason they find themselves in the bottom five is because rather than engagement, which shows how many people have reacted to or seen the post, success is measured on page likes.
Alba Boudet, the Stirling Highland Hotel’s Social Media Manager, prides herself on her ability to be able to engage their followers in the posts she creates, and since assuming the role has successfully attracted over 1,000-page followers over the last year.
Part of Alba’s role is updating their pages regularly with posts which include an array of photographs of events happening in the hotel.
An example of Alba’s posts; a scenic view of the hotel over the holiday season. – Source: Stirling Highland Hotel Facebook
She believes that because of her age and experience on social media, it helps her understand how to connect with the target audience of women between the ages of 30-40 which is a key target market for her employers.
“Facebook is our main one (social media platform). It’s where our main demographic is. So, its female’s aged 35-44 that’s organising the holidays and are booking things.”
In a tourist city like Stirling it is crucial for businesses, especially those that are not a chain to be able to market themselves effectively and show tourists and locals alike their unique selling point.
This is something that has changed drastically over the last 15 years as an increase in mobile phones and social media usage has become a key role in how businesses promote themselves.
Alba is aware of the changes this has brought to the way that businesses market, and has made sure that her posts reflect the urgency that customers demand effectively.
“I think now more than any other time people will go and check a business’s Facebook and Instagram as opposed to their website.
Phone’s is the new way to reach people. Being able to just message instead of email – that’s more reachable for most people”.
The Highland Hotel is one of the many hotel’s based in Stirling, and the unique way in which they can present themselves from the public helps to separate them from their competition.
One way they have been able to do this has been through post engagement, a method which Alba aims to measure the success of her work.
“There’s just different ways of deciding, is your page successful? How many likes does your page have? But I don’t think it’s really about the likes, it’s about the engagement. Are people actually liking your posts and are your posts really reaching anything?”
Despite sitting sixth out of the 10 hotels rated in the city centre, this may not form a true depiction of their social media popularity, as they have one of the highest post engagements among their social media platforms.
What the hotel has done to make themselves stand out is post unique content such as events they are hosting and, the fact they allow pets which has allowed them to give their own stamp to customers through social media.