1. Oh! The Places You’ll Go!
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IN
THE TOURISM INDUSTRY
Tracy Tuten, Ph.D.
East Carolina University

2. Breaking Down Social Media
 Media:
 the means of communication, as
radio and television, newspapers,
and magazines, that reach or
influence people widely

3. Breaking Down Social Media
 Social:
 involving allies or confederates
 marked by or passed in pleasant
companionship with one's friends or
associates
 of or relating to human society, the interaction
of the individual and the group, or the welfare
of human beings as members of society
 tending to form cooperative and
interdependent relationships with others of
one's kind

4. Social Media
 Social media are the means of
communication based on interdependent
relationships and cooperation among
friends and associates
 Enhanced by the anytime, anywhere benefits
of the Web and mobile technologies
 Built around online communities

5. Social Media Marketing
the strategic use of social media
to leverage the
cultural context and connective web
of social communities
to meet
branding and communication
objectives

6. Why Market with Social?
 It’s trendy
 It‘s free
 It’s fast
 It’s Facebook

7. WRONG!!

8. The Truth about Social
 Social is here to stay
 113 million blogs...& over 250 million
pieces of tagged social media
 Over 400 million Facebook
members

9. The Cost of Social
“Social media
trades
media cost for time cost”
Charlene Li, Forrester Research

10. Strong Ties Take Time
Social media marketing is
RELATIONSHIP MARKETING
in social spaces

11. Social is Beyond Facebook

12. And Besides
Social media marketing
is about interacting, participating,
engaging, conversing
in ways that meet marketing
objectives –
it’s not about the site or the platform;
it’s the strategy that counts

13. A Social Foundation
 Participating
 Listening
 Talking
 Sharing

14. Participating

15. Listening, Talking

16. Sharing

17. Are Travel Consumers Social?
 YES!
40% use social media content in
making travel-related decisions
 Of those
 58% rely on RATINGS/REVIEWS
 18% use photo content
 18% discuss in social networks
 12% use traveler blogs
 5% use video

18. How
Social?

19. The SMM Process
 Step 1: Review current marketing strategy
and potential for social media integration
 Step 2: Assess the environment
 Step 3: Set campaign objectives
 Step 4: Develop social media strategy and
tactics
 Step 5: Execute strategy and tactics
 Step 6: Evaluate and Refine

20. Objectives
 Build brand awareness
 Drive traffic to websites
 Improve search engine rankings
 Promote a brand message
 Build reputation and image
 Develop/maintain a network of prospective
clients and colleagues
 Distribute news/PR efforts
 Communicate

21. Tools in Social Strategy
 Social network sites  Virtual worlds
 Niche network/  Games
Content sharing sites  Bookmarking & News
 Micro-sharing sites
 Blogging  Social merchandising
 Mobile Apps and  Social software
Widgets (especially for inspiring
 RSS feeds co-creation)

22. Social Media are CHANNELS
You still need a
Value Proposition

23. Making a Plan
 Which tools do use
 What to share (content!)
 When to share (social calendar)
 How to engage (participation!)
 How to leverage fans (credibility,
wom)

25. Key Social Tools for DMOs/CVBs
 Facebook fan page  Blogs
 Twitter and HootSuite  RSS
 YouTube  Mobile Apps
 Travel networks  VisitMobile
 Trip Advisor  FourSquare
 Custom
 WAYN
 EveryTrail

26. Queensland Tourism
 Video entries (34,000), 500000 votes
 200000 hits to website in first day, over 7
million total
 1500 blog posts
 8% decline in international tourist traffic

27. Facebook Fan Page

28. TripAdvisor
 Multi-media UGC
 Reach
 Sponsored Pages

29. Niche Networks

30. Pennsylvania Tourism and
FourSquare

31. VisitMobile

32. To Dos
 Ask for what you want
 Create ways for people to participate
 Comments & Testimonials (Videogenie)
 Videos, Photos
 Travel guides & Suggested itineraries
 Contests and games
 Make things to give away
 Be in the right places (TripAdvisor) with the
right content; Feed content to other sites
 Keep it fresh, updated; be responsive

33. Revisiting our Objectives
• Content delivery > build awareness of offer;
reputation and credibility; showcase destination
• Touchpoints > remind prospects; reinforce
message
• Referral systems > reach opinion leaders;
encourage referrals and recommendations
• Social buying centers > match the social
communication structures of the buying center

34. Weak Links in the Social Web
 Setting inappropriate objectives
 Reinventing rather than building,
Leading rather than sharing
 Failing to deliver value
 Failing to provide resources
 Lacking a core (hyper-tactical)
 Keeping the faith over measuring
outcomes

35. QUESTIONS

36. Contact Me
 Dr. Tracy Tuten
tutent@ecu.edu
Brandacity.blogspot.com
www.twitter.com/brandacity
www.linkedin.com/in/tracytuten
Skype: tracy.tuten
Facebook: tracy.tuten
 Read more on social media marketing