Whether you love or hate
social media, you can't deny its power. Almost everyone now has some kind of
social media account, especially Facebook or Twitter, and often both. The fact
that social media has become such a part of life makes this a very powerful
tool for people who want to market their businesses, and especially people who
are in the social professions, such as travel and tourism.
After all, when people have been on holiday they love to talk about it, and any
visit to Facebook will show you that a large proportion of the posts are often
pictures of people enjoying themselves at the beach, or walking along a country
road, or cycling in the sunshine through a picturesque village. This is great
news for hotel marketing executives and hoteliers in general, because it gives
them a chance to really get the message out there and help them to pull in new
business.
The
Best Techniques
In
order to use social media to the best effect, especially Facebook, it has to be
used in the right way, and this is something many hoteliers really do not
understand. This isn't surprising, because most people use social media to be
exactly that – sociable — and therefore most people in the hotel industry when
they come to market their hotel tend to do the same, and go on to Facebook to
chat about things they enjoy doing and to talk about that particular hotel.
Although
the average person enjoys being sociable and uses Facebook for exactly this
reason, if you are a tourism professional you should take a slightly different
approach, and instead of going on there to make a conversation you should
concentrate much more on providing useful content. This will have the effect of
making you appear as an expert in your field, and will bring a much wider
audience to your Facebook timeline or business page, which is exactly the
result you want.
There's a huge amount of scope for giving great
content when you work in the travel and tourism industry, and there really is
no excuse for not putting some effort into it. For one thing a hotelier can
give tips about the resort, and the great places to visit, including how to get
around, how to hire a car, how to hire a bicycle and so. He or she could also
talk about the local cuisine, and give people tips on which dishes to try, and
which wines are suitable to be eaten with particular foods. He or
she can also talk about which wines can be enjoyed on their own, especially if
they're local vintages which cannot be found in other places, generally
speaking. The type of excursions a tourist can take from a particular result is
also another good thing to talk about, along with all the other attractions
such as museums, art galleries, areas of natural beauty and so on. There is
also scope for giving advice about how a holidaymaker can get the best out of a
trip overall, perhaps by talking about the preparations needed ahead of travel, including
how to get help with travel insurance, how to book flights and the hundred
other things the tourist needs to think about. All this will attract visitors
to the hotel’s Facebook page and create a strong relationship with the
prospective customers. Facebook and other social media sites are constantly
coming up with new ways to enhance the experience of their users and provide
some invaluable tools for businesses, enabling them
to track and monitor their customer interactions.
Get
More Business
Once
this has been done, and the hotelier has begun to build up a following, he
should make sure he then takes the next step of giving links to his website,
and telling people to click on the link in order to claim something for free.
This can be anything from a free downloadable report, or a set of videos which
they could watch on the website, but whatever he offers he should make sure he
asks for the e-mail address in return. Once he has this he can then contact
prospective customers regularly by e-mail, giving even more information about
the resort, and of course telling them about the wonderful facilities in his hotel.
Most businesses which use Facebook will never think of using a technique like
this, and by putting it to use a tourism professional can really make social
media work for his business, by bringing in more leads and more sales. And in
the end that is really the whole point of using social media, and especially
Facebook, as a marketing tool.
by Melissa Moram
admissions@swissalpinecenter.com
