NEWS

The World's First Instagram Hotel is Located in Sydney

Re-launched in 2013 as a boutique hotel, does 1888 Hotel sound familiar to you? If not, then you should familiarise yourself with this brand as they have done something very unique at their hotel by utilising social media to its maximum potential.

Social media is indeed one of the very hot topics within the marketing industry in the past decade or so. It allows marketers to gain insights on their customers, know who they should be targeting and ensure that they are pushing their marketing content to the right people by examining data from their advertising impressions. However, 1888 Hotel has a smarter way to use social media and this could hopefully be an inspiration for small business marketing in Sydney.

1888 Hotel essentially avoids the use of social media as an advertising billboard, meanwhile they use it as its original purpose which is a social platform. What do we mean by this?

On their website it is fairly well laid out on how they utilise Instagram for their promotions. Any Instagram users that have more than 30,000 followers are entitled to a free night at 1888 Hotel, claimable by emailing them directly. Meanwhile, those that do not have such powerful following on Instagram can still win a free night by posting a picture of their stay and hashtagging their post with #1888Hotel.

Furthermore, Hotel 1888 have also installed what they call a ‘Selfie Space’ in their lobby area which features a picture frame where people can take pictures at. When these pictures are posted on Instagram with #1888Hotel, they will go straight onto the Instagram feed screens located near the reception.

Since the launch of this Instagram promotional programme, they have been known as ‘The World’s First Instagram Hotel’, and was featured in many publications worldwide, receiving thousands of great reviews. The best part about this strategy is that, 1888 Hotel is letting their customers create content for them. This is what you would call ‘earned media’, as publicity is gained through promotional campaigns that do not involve any monetary transaction. Additionally, customers who are also Instagram users help the promotion of 1888 Hotel by posting pictures about them for other users to see.

What 1888 Hotel is doing is unique and a very little number of businesses out there are comfortable doing this. There is that risk of course that negativity might surface which does no good towards the reputation of the business. However if feedback is positive, there is little to no wrong doing such promotions. 1888 Hotel’s Instagram promotion could very well be a good inspiration for small business marketing in Sydney, and it may give you some brand new ideas for your social media marketing.

To establish a good branding strategy and stay in your consumers’ minds, do not hesitate to contact Little Marketing – your small business marketing consultant based in Sydney and Melbourne, for help soon!

 

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