I wanted to share the following post that first appeared on Little Hotelier. 

How you can use other people’s content to market your B&B

Being active on the web and developing a positive online presence can be very beneficial to your brand. It allows you to increase your reach, discover new traveler market segments and connect with people who may not have otherwise discovered your B&B.

One of the best ways to engage with your target audience is to discover and share content.

Here’s a few ways that you can use other people’s content to promote your B&B:

Comment on relevant blogs and posts in your industry

Writing your own blogs is great, but sometimes it’s a lot of work. Sometimes it might work to your advantage to find blogs that travellers might be reading and post helpful comments or replies to increase your visibility.

You never know who might be looking and it’s a quick and easy way to potentially grow your list of prospects.

On the flipside, if others comment on your content make sure you respond in a friendly, timely, and personal manner, even if there’s no chance of a sale.

Create content based on local and industry news

Perhaps there’s been a breaking news story in your region that your guests might be interested in, or maybe there’s been an industry-wide announcement that impacts those who stay at your property. You can use these news articles as the basis for your next blog post. Make sure that you don’t copy the work entirely, and always link to the original source.

If you are going to write blog content, it’s important to do it consistently. If you don’t have much time, settle for one each week, but keep it up.

Share other blogs on your social pages

Your social followers not only look to your page for information about your property, but also insight into happenings around your area. If the nearby tour guide has written a blog post about their offerings, share it on your page to add value and to increase engagement.

Sharing other people’s content might also convince them to return the favour or at least give you a shout out to their followers.

Send a newsletter with relevant information

Automatic emails are an ideal way to stay in contact with your past, present and future guests. In addition to providing information about your latest deals and promotions, you could also send a weekly or monthly newsletter with a compilation of blog posts, news articles and marketing materials that might interest your guests.

Use guest feedback to inform content

Asking guests a few short but pointed questions about their experience at your hotel or their holiday experience in general can reveal a lot of interesting insights you can then use to improve the way to create content and market your hotel.

Your guests know best so listening to them should be a winning approach.