Social media management in Alanya changes with the season for hotels and restaurants: in March–April you prepare the profile and Google Business Profile, in May–September you post frequent Reels with location tags and captions in Turkish, English and Russian, and in October–February you run a lighter plan for resident foreigners and locals. Success is measured in bookings, not likes.
This guide gives hotel, apart-hotel, restaurant, café and beach club operators a plan they can follow season by season: what to post in each period, which content works for each type of business, how to structure captions in three languages, how to connect Instagram, Google Business Profile and the website, and how to measure bookings. We describe our service scope and way of working on the Alanya social media management page; here we focus on the practical side. If you want the general steps of running social media first, our article on how to manage social media is a good starting point.
Why a hotel or restaurant account in Alanya is run differently
In Alanya, the social media of a tourism business serves two very different decision moments.
- The hotel decision is made at home. Weeks before the holiday, guests compare hotels in their own country and in their own language. Your Instagram profile works as a shop window: do the rooms really look like the photos, how close is the sea, what is breakfast like, in how many languages are messages answered?
- The restaurant decision is made on the street. Once the same guest is in Alanya, dinner, breakfast or a beach club is usually chosen the same day, on the phone, close to where they are standing. What decides it are fresh Stories, location tags and your photos on Google Maps.
Add the season to these two moments. A hotel busy with early bookings in March, a restaurant filling tables every evening in August and a café serving only locals and resident foreigners in January cannot be run with the same content plan. That is why the plan below splits the year into three periods.
Pre-season (March–April): preparing the profile, the map and the archive
Pre-season is when you build the groundwork for the rest of the year. Work done in these months is work you will not have to redo every day in summer.
1. Prepare the profile for three languages. The bio should be short and tell Turkish, English and Russian-speaking guests at a glance what you are, where you are (for example "a short walk from Cleopatra Beach") and how to book. Update your Highlights (Rooms, Menu, Location, Transfer, Reviews and so on) and remove last year's campaign if it is still there.
2. Get Google Business Profile ready for the season. For businesses closed in winter, add the opening date, season hours, current menu link and new photos. If Instagram shows the new terrace while the map still shows old photos and winter hours, guests lose trust.
3. Produce early-booking content. Room types, pool, breakfast and location for hotels and apart hotels; the new menu and opening date for restaurants.
4. Shoot an archive while the venue is empty. Once the season starts, filming rooms, the pool or the terrace without guests becomes hard. March–April is the easiest time for room tours, food shots and venue videos. If you need aerial footage to show the distance to the sea, the view of Alanya Castle or your location near Damlataş, drone and video shooting can be planned for the same day; our team includes a licensed drone pilot, and flight permissions and area restrictions are checked before the shoot.
5. Build a content bank for the busy weeks. In July and August nobody has time to think up new content. Posts prepared in advance, with captions already written in three languages, keep publishing steady through the busy period.
Peak season (May–September): frequent, short, on-site content
In peak season the goal is to be visible today to the guest who is in Alanya today. Content should be more frequent, shorter and more "in the moment".
- Reels take the lead. Vertical, short videos that show the venue in the first second: a table facing the sea, a dish being plated, the pool in the morning, the terrace at sunset.
- Stories are kept daily. Catch of the day, tonight's live music, "a few tables left on the terrace", the beach this morning.
- Location tags are used correctly. Every post tags the business's own location; well-known places nearby (Cleopatra Beach, Damlataş, Alanya Castle, the Mahmutlar seafront, Oba or Kestel) can be mentioned in the caption or Story when they are genuinely relevant. Tagging unrelated popular locations misleads guests.
- Guest moments only with consent. Birthdays, celebrations or sunset moments make great content, but every guest whose face is visible must give clear consent, and children should not be shown. Ask for permission before resharing a post in which a guest tagged you.
- Messages are bookings. In peak season Instagram messages and comments are direct booking requests. Set up ready replies in three languages for frequent questions (availability, prices, transfers, kids' menu) and a clear flow that moves the conversation to WhatsApp.
- Plan paid support. Organic content does not reach everyone in the area. Social media ad management is set up alongside the organic plan to reach guests already in Alanya by location and upcoming guests by language and interests; the ad budget is separate from the service fee and spent from your own account.
On-site shoots become more frequent in this period. Because our office is in Alanya, our video editor can plan shoots around your busiest or quietest hours — that proximity matters for short windows such as sunset.
Shoulder season and winter (October–February): lighter but continuous
October still has guests; "the last weeks of the season", the autumn sea and quieter beaches are good topics. From November the audience changes: foreigners living in Mahmutlar, Oba, Kestel and the centre, together with locals, come to the fore.
- Restaurants and cafés win regulars with weekday menus, a winter menu, hot drinks, live music nights and special days (New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day). This audience returns to the same places; team introductions and "familiar face" content are worth more in winter.
- Hotels that stay open in winter can talk about quiet-season stays, walks and trips around the castle, and facilities such as an indoor pool or spa.
- Hotels that close in winter should not silence the account completely; they can share renovation work, preparations for next season and the early-booking announcement.
Posting frequency can drop, but the account must stay alive; a profile that has been silent for months loses time warming up again at the start of the season. Winter is also the right time to plan next season's shooting calendar and language plan.
| Period | Main audience | Content focus | Priority tasks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-season (March–April) | Foreign and Turkish guests planning a holiday | Rooms/venue, new menu, opening announcement | Update profile and Google Business Profile, archive shoot |
| Peak season (May–September) | Tourists in Alanya, upcoming guests | Frequent Reels, daily Stories, location tags | Replying to messages, ads, tracking bookings |
| Shoulder season and winter (October–February) | Resident foreigners, locals | Winter menu, events, team, renovation | Lighter plan, next-season preparation |
Content ideas by business type
Even in the same season, what an apart hotel has to say differs from what a beach club has to say. The table below gives starting-point ideas for each type of business and the action you want the guest to take at the end.
| Business | Reels ideas | Stories / daily content | Target action |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hotel | Room tour from the guest's point of view, breakfast being prepared, the walk from pool to sea, team introductions | Today's activity, evening programme, weather and sea | Booking request on the website |
| Apart hotel | Apartment tour, kitchen equipment, the walk to the nearest shop and beach, family-friendly areas | Availability, transfer info, local tips | Availability question on WhatsApp |
| Restaurant | A dish being plated, the open kitchen, the sunset table, the chef's recommendation | Catch of the day, tables free tonight | Phone or WhatsApp reservation, directions |
| Café | Coffee and desserts being made, the breakfast plate, a quiet work corner | New items, weekday hours, winter menu | Directions on the map, leaving a review |
| Beach club | Morning set-up, the sunbed area, sunset, event moments filmed with consent | Event programme, how busy it is, weather | Reserving a sunbed or table |
What these ideas share is that they are all filmed at the business itself; stock images do not match what guests find when they arrive.
Multilingual caption strategy: Turkish, English and Russian
In Alanya multilingual content is not a choice but the natural result of the customer mix. Still, "let's write everything in three languages" is not a strategy on its own.
- Decide the language weighting first. Look at your booking records, the language of incoming messages and the language of your reviews. A restaurant may lean towards English and Russian in summer and towards Turkish in winter; the plan should shift during the year accordingly.
- Put the first line in the main audience's language. The part of an Instagram caption shown before "more" is short. If you write three languages one under another, give the first line to that period's main audience and separate the other languages clearly.
- Sometimes separate content works better. Rather than publishing the same post in three languages, a separate series per language (for example transfer and location content for Russian-speaking guests) or language-targeted ads can give cleaner results.
- Make the video language-independent. The best Reels are understood with the sound off. Preparing on-screen text and subtitles in three languages lets one video serve three audiences.
- Adapt, don't just translate. Instead of translating the same sentence into each language, answer the question that audience will ask. Turkish guests look at offers and the experience; foreign guests want to know about location, getting there and how easy it is to book.
- Keep terms consistent. Dish names, room types and campaign names should be identical on Instagram, the QR menu and the website. Write your ready message replies in three languages and hand them to the team; relying on the auto-translate button looks careless to guests.
Connecting Instagram, Google Business Profile and the website
Guests do not decide in a single channel. They see a restaurant on Instagram, search for it on Google Maps, read reviews, open the menu and send a WhatsApp message. Every link in this chain should lead to the next.
- The bio link should go to the job, not the homepage. For a hotel, the room and booking page in the right language; for a restaurant, the menu and reservation page. We describe the scope of room pages and booking-request flows on our hotel website page, and menus, location and table booking on our restaurant website page.
- Make the website multilingual too. Reaching a Russian-speaking guest on Instagram and sending them to a Turkish-only site breaks the chain. For a structure with separate language pages and hreflang, see our Alanya web design page.
- Make Google Business Profile a mirror of Instagram. Publish new photos and important announcements as Google Business Profile posts too, and keep the website, menu and booking links on the profile up to date.
- Offer WhatsApp with the same number everywhere. The button on your Instagram profile, the website, the Google profile and the card on the table should all use the same number.
- Build a bridge from the QR menu to Instagram. The QR menu on the table is the guest's first digital contact with your business on their own phone. Adding Instagram and review links to the menu page makes it easier for tourists to follow you and leave a review on the way home. For businesses using an Alanya QR menu, preparing the menu's product photos from the same shoot as the social media content saves time and keeps visuals consistent.
For businesses that want all these links set up by one team, as an Alanya social media agency we handle the website, QR menu and social media within the same plan.
Measuring bookings: UTM, GA4 and WhatsApp clicks
Likes and follower counts tell you how often the account is seen; they do not tell you how many bookings it brought. For hotels and restaurants the real question is "which channel and which post filled the table or the room?". Three simple steps are enough to see it.
1. Tag every link with UTM parameters. Every link to the website should carry parameters that say where it came from:
| Channel | Where the link sits | Example UTM parameters |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram bio | Profile link | utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=bio |
| Instagram Story | Link sticker | utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=story&utm_campaign=early-booking |
| Google Business Profile | Website link | utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gbp |
| QR menu | Code on the table | utm_source=qr&utm_medium=offline&utm_campaign=table |
| Meta ad | Ad link | utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_campaign=summer-season |
2. Set up actions as key events in GA4. Booking form submissions, clicks on the WhatsApp link and clicks on the phone number should each be measured separately. That shows whether a visitor from Instagram actually reached the booking step.
3. Separate the source of WhatsApp messages. Using different pre-filled messages on the WhatsApp links in Instagram, the Google profile and the QR menu (such as "Hi, I'm writing from Instagram") reveals the source even of enquiries that never visit the website.
For the accounts we manage, the monthly report shows website and WhatsApp clicks alongside reach and engagement. Putting that data next to your own booking records means next month's content and ad decisions are based on results, not guesses.
Common mistakes
- Planning the shoot after the season has started and entering the busy weeks without ready content.
- Posting guests' faces without asking for permission.
- Squeezing three languages into one block so that the first line speaks clearly to no one.
- Tagging popular but unrelated locations.
- Announcing the new menu on Instagram while leaving old hours and photos on Google Business Profile.
- Sending the bio link to the homepage instead of the booking page.
- Replying to messages hours later in peak season.
- Abandoning the account completely in winter and starting from zero at the season opening.
- Increasing the budget without measuring paid and organic results separately.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should a hotel or restaurant in Alanya start social media management?
The best time is before the season, between late winter and March–April. That is when the profile, Google Business Profile and archive shoot are prepared and a content bank is built for the busy weeks. Starting mid-season is possible too, but the first weeks go into setup, and results should be followed month by month in the report.
How often should I post in peak season?
Rather than a fixed number, the decision depends on the business type and the season. In summer Reels are usually posted more often and Stories are kept daily; in winter the number of posts drops while the account stays alive. When we define the scope, we agree the monthly content volume and shooting days with the business.
Can I share photos and videos of my guests?
Yes, after getting clear consent from every guest whose face is visible; it is best not to show children at all. Ask for permission before resharing content in which a guest tagged you. When consent is not possible, shots from behind, from a distance or showing only the table and the food are a good alternative.
Should I open separate Instagram accounts for Russian and English?
For most businesses there is no need; one account with multilingual content keeps followers and reviews together. Where one language clearly dominates, separate content series and language-targeted ads can be set up. A separate account only makes sense for a business serving a completely different market.
What determines the price of social media management?
The monthly content volume, shooting frequency, number of languages, whether ad management is included and tasks such as message handling set the price. The ad budget is always separate. For a detailed breakdown of the line items, see our article on social media management prices in 2026.
Who owns my account?
The accounts always stay in the business's name. We connect to your Meta business portfolio with partner access; you do not need to share passwords, and ad spend goes directly through your own ad account. When the work ends, you simply remove the access.
Conclusion
A good social media plan for hotels and restaurants in Alanya splits the year into three periods: before the season you prepare the profile, the map and the archive; in peak season you stay visible every day with frequent, short content filmed on site; in winter you speak to resident foreigners and locals with a lighter but continuous plan. Well-structured captions in three languages, a connected Instagram–Google–website chain and measurement that shows bookings are the backbone of that plan. If you would like to work out the season, language and shooting plan for your business together, you can request a free initial consultation through our social media service in Alanya.
