CASE OVERVIEW
Located oceanfront on St. Augustine Beach, Embassy St. Augustine Beach Oceanfront Resort is just 10 minutes from the historic downtown area and has become a well-loved, popular vacation spot for locals and visitors alike. The Pipeline team launched our social media services for this property in 2017, and it has been amazing to watch this property go from zero fans, as it was a brand new property, to numerous, highly engaged brand advocates. We have a blast marketing the beautiful property that has won several awards: 2020 Trip Advisor Travelers’ Choice Winner, AAA Four Diamond Award, and Community Partnership Award by the St. Augustine Police Department.
OUR APPROACH
When we launched Embassy St. Augustine’s social media channels in 2017, Hurricane Irma hit and delayed the opening of their property to the following year, so we used this time to build the social media fanbase, get future guests excited, and host fun giveaways to grow their email list. As the opening day got closer, we shifted our message to show sneak peeks of the property and invited fans to book their summer vacation in advance. After their exciting opening, our posting strategy focused on further promoting them as a family-friendly hotel that is just steps from the beach and offers outdoor games, heated pool, cabanas, outdoor seating with fire pits, complimentary breakfast and evening reception, on-site restaurants and bars, and even an on-site Starbucks for hotel guests and the general public. They have fantastic outdoor and indoor venues for events, making them the ideal choice for weddings, corporate meetings, and sales retreats. In our opinion, no other hotels in St. Augustine Beach hold a candle to what they can offer!
We use professional hotel photos, tons of user-generated content, and videos to promote the property on social media. We regularly discuss their social media strategy with Chris Pranis, the Director of Sales and Marketing, & Jason Kern, the General Manager, to learn about upcoming events at the hotel, specials, and amenities they want to highlight on social media.
We manage Facebook and Google My Business for the property and we use our Reputation Management service to respond to all reviews, good or bad, appropriately and promptly. Our team responds to most reviews independently using a review protocol that thanks guests for positive reviews, apologizes for negative experiences, and asks them to contact the property to talk further. Suppose we receive a review containing a detailed, negative guest experience or sensitive matter. In that case, we work with the client to determine what happened and what an ideal solution would be for all parties before responding professionally.
CHANNELS
Social Media
Facebook & Instagram Advertising
- Page Promotion Ads – Follow Ads
- Traffic Ads – Website Click Ads
- Page Engagement Ads – Boosted Posts
- Email Acquisition Ads – Lead Generation
RESULTS AT A GLANCE: 2020 Statistics
We created their social channels from scratch. Facebook has over 11k fans on the page & Instagram has 2,821 followers. We’ve responded to all 819 Google Reviews.
FACEBOOK:
- Total Reach – 19.9m
- Organic Reach – 19.5m
- Paid Reach – 332.4k
- Viral Reach – 19.3m
- Engaged – 654,178
- Total Impressions – 35.5m
- Organic Impressions – 35.1m
- Paid Impressions – 344.7k
- Viral Impressions – 34.7m
It’s important to note that these numbers are from 2020, during COVID-19. We were pleased to help our client find success on social media while they complied with CDC guidelines and dealt with unique challenges.
EXAMPLES OF OUR WORK
Here are some of Embassy St. Augustine’s top-performing posts in terms of social media reach, engagement, and clicks.
Pandemic Response Posts
The posts below are just a few examples showing how we helped our client stay active on social media during the pandemic.
User-Generated Posts
There is no shortage of photo opportunities for guests when they stay at our client’s resort. We share user-generated images weekly because this is the kind of content that fans love to interact with the most.
Hotel Features & Amenities Posts
We share weekly updates about Embassy St. Augustine’s hotel features and amenities so guests know what’s in store before they even step into the lobby. This content informs fans & gets them excited about booking a reservation.
Award Posts
It’s great to see a client’s property and outstanding staff receive recognition! We always share these awards with fans letting them know about our client’s success.
Wedding Posts
As you can imagine, Embassy St. Augustine is a picturesque choice for couples planning a local or destination wedding. Our posts help fans imagine what could be possible for their future big day!
Employee Posts
No social media strategy is complete without incorporating what makes every client unique—the staff!
Instagram Posts
Something we like to do for our clients is to give their Instagram its own unique branding and theme. Everything will always look cohesive and intentional. We also regularly update the Instagram Highlight Reel section, making sure they are stylish & full of information for fans.
FINAL NOTES:
We love working with businesses to help them show the world what is special about their property, product, or service! The Pipeline Social Media team can help you create engaging content, master responding to reviews, get more clicks to your website, and much more. Please contact us to learn more about how we can design a custom social media marketing plan for your business. To see more work from the Pipeline team, check out another case study: Pipeline Social Media Case Studies
Pipeline Social Media is a Digital Marketing Agency that offers three approaches to help you increase your social media presence: we can fully manage your social media accounts, we can teach your team how to do it in-house, or we can monitor/coach your team along the way and report back to you. Ask us about our Google AdWords management, web design, and SEO website packages. Contact: 678-814-4601 | 280 Country Club Drive, Suite 101, Stockbridge, GA 30281
