CASE STUDY: THE LUDLOW HOTEL

The Ludlow Hotel tasked myself and Brandon Brown (Business Partner) at Media Whisper, a boutique social media agency based in Nashville (my current employer), to focus on building an online presence of the big three social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) for their hotel.  The Ludlow Hotel has an eclectic personality and rough edges of downtown NYC while delivering the luxuries of a world-class hotel. Media Whisper has channelled the uniqueness of the hotel by delivering a high quality standard to their social media channels.

 

CHALLENGES.

As the Ludlow had no social media presence prior to our involvement, the key challenges we faced were as follows:

  • To build an awareness that the social media channels exist for the hotel.
  • To organically grow the audience starting from 0 followers.
  • To maintain a high quality standard to their social media presence by closely following the hotel’s brand, style and history.
  • To regularly engage with followers on the social media channels to build a loyalty towards the hotel.
  • To consistently deliver engaging content to ensure our followers continue interacting with our channels.

 

STRATEGY.

Our first approach was to understand the history of the hotel and the area of the Lower East Side of NYC. We also wanted to determine the type of people who visit that part of town and the kind of work they do. 

We determined that the Lower East Side is highly creative and passionate about up and coming trends in art from fashion to music and also respected new small businesses that challenge the status quo.

We found that the types of people in the area are young and ambitious who were keen to explore and discover the next new thing. We aimed to pair the grittiness and the energy of the area with the creativity and passion to showcase the hotel in the best way possible.

We also became aware that there were limited photos of the hotel, which were quite outdated. We saw this as an opportunity to employ a professional photographer to scour the hotel and its surroundings to ultimately get the artful feel and personal quirks that the hotel offers. These photos capture the best representation of the hotel by showing its quality and style.

 

ACTION.

Once we gathered the photos of the hotel and its surroundings, we then planned an editorial calendar to map out a consistent schedule of posting to The Ludlow Hotel’s social media channels. We tackled each social media channel differently by identifying each channel’s strong point to maximize our engagement and growth. Instagram is a photo and video-sharing channel, so we knew it would be a strong for the hotel. It is also widely used by the audience we aimed to target. Below is a breakdown of how each social media channel was used for our benefit:

FACEBOOK

  • We utilized Facebook’s robust Ad Network to target appropriate audiences and potential hotel guests with offers from the hotel.
  • We also added a Facebook Pixel on the website which we can use to retarget ads to those showed an interest in The Ludlow but never booked a room.
  • We posted positive and reputable sourced articles reviewing The Ludlow Hotel.
  • We posted places to eat or drink to assist any new or potential guests exploring the area.
  • We developed photo albums on Facebook to showcase the different rooms in the hotel to highlight the hotel interior.
  • We built a Messenger Chat Bot for those who messaged the page for questions they had about the hotel. (e.g. “Can we bring pets?” or “Can I see photos of the rooms?”)
  • We acted as the voice for the hotel and interacted with those who engaged with the page in the comments.

FB Link:  The Ludlow Hotel

 

TWITTER

  • We used Twitter for more of a conversational tool by giving quick replies to any questions about the hotel.
  • We highlighted influencers on the page by Re-Tweeting their comments about the Lower East Side or The Ludlow Hotel.
  • We ensured to cover upcoming events, using the right hashtags and to be a part of the conversation (e.g. #fashionweek #nyfw).

TW Link:  The Ludlow Hotel

 

INSTAGRAM

  • We maximized the visual element of Instagram and focused on making it the strongest channel for the hotel.
  • We sourced photos from influencers taking inside The Ludlow.
  • We used Instagram’s photo carousel feature to help show the uniqueness of each room and the view from the balconies of the rooms.

IG Link:  The Ludlow Hotel