How To Use Social Media To Drive Your Destination Business

"How To Use Social Media To Drive Your Destination Business" Amy Marshall, Webbed Marketing May 6, 2009

Webbed Marketing Internet Strategy

Quick Social Media Quiz!
How many of you:
Have a listing on Google Local for your business
Have a listing on Yelp
Read news online
Comment on news online
Have a personalized Google or Yahoo! page (iGoogle/MyYahoo!)
Use RSS feeds
Read blogs, view videos on YouTube or download shows on iTunes
Have a blog (Wordpress, LiveJournal, Blogger) or a microblogging account (Twitter, Jaiku, etc.)
Have an account on a social network (LinkedIn, Facebook, Ning, MySpace, Plaxo, etc.)

Is Social Media Marketing for You?
Are you goal-oriented?
Can you fast track legal, marketing and branding concerns?
Is it okay if EVERYONE hears about this program?
Can you stand behind your product and program in the face of criticism?
Can you be edgy?

Agenda
Define Social Media
Social Media trends
Social Media trends in the travel industry
What social media tools should you focus on
Specific examples of using social media tools to drive business
Measuring the success of using social media
Integrating social media with traditional marketing

Business Conversations
“ We can't open this up to our employees, it will pull them away from work.“
"What about legal implications? The FDIC regulates all our communications. An employee can distribute un-reviewed content to the world and we could liable.“
"We lose control of our brand."

What are they talking about?
Blogging?
Twitter?
Facebook?
LinkedIn?

History Repeating Itself
The year is 1995, and that's a conversation about e-mail!

Parallels

What do you believe? (source: The Open Brand) Companies use marketing to control their message Customers influence the messages marketers send Companies own and orchestrate the brand Customers co-create the brand Feedback only happens when brands invite it Customers give feedback, expect to be heard and make noise if they’re not Ideas that matter come from the brand Customers have ideas that matter to other customers The web is for extending campaigns (if there is leftover budget) Customers start with the web or end with the web – and increasing do both Online chatter is white noise Consumer online chatter is a crystal ball and a sounding board Bloggers are amateurs who should stick to their day jobs Customers trust bloggers as the new tastemakers and truth tellers

Definition of Social Media or Social Network
An online meeting place for consumers and influencers
to create,
share and
interact with content.

What is Social Media?

Examples of Social Networks
Twitter
YouTube
Facebook
MySpace
LinkedIn
Amazon
Technorati
Flickr
CitySearch
Wikihow
Wikipedia
Craigs List
Newsvine
Yahoo! Answers
Digg

Social Media Travel Sites

Social Media Trends
79% of travel industry executives view social media as a long-term part of the online marketing mix.
Only 36% of people think price is important.
47% of all respondents said they would go to a social networking site to download coupons or search for gift ideas if those services were available;
45% said they would visit a social networking site to find out about upcoming sales in stores or discounts on products;
22% said they would read or write a product review on a blog.

Traveler Booking Trends
Survey of 702 people:
57% of people booked their last vacation online
19% doing so by telephone
25 to 44 year-old age groups were the most web-savvy
68% saying they booked their last vacation online
Good ratings/feedback on travel websites (51%) was the reason for choosing a destination

Why Social Networks Matter

Social Networks Are Very Visible Consumer Generated Media (Content) Many time will rank above an official Website!

Everyone Builds Content

Tracking Search Patterns with Google Trends

Keyword Research Tool – SEOBook.com

Social Media Trends for Hocking Hills

Trended Terms
hocking hills
ohio get away
ohio getaway
ohio romantic weekend
ohio vacations

Hocking Hills Daily Search Volume

Searches by Social Media Source

Demographics for Hocking Hills

Gender & Age of Hocking Hills Influencers

Where are the Influencers?

Examples of Posts

“ Hocking Hills” on Twitter

Trends for “Hocking Hills” Online
Avg 7 searches a day
Message forums are talking about “Hocking Hills” the most
Blogs then Twitter next
A majority of the influencers writing about “Hocking Hills” are male, and over 50 years old
Top sites talking about “Hocking Hills” are:
Bloglines.com, TripAdvisor.com, Flickr.com, Wikipedia.com,

Where to Focus for the Best ROI

Areas to Focus
Monitoring blogs, message boards
Blogger outreach and participation
Target getaways and packages to 40s/50s crowd
Use Twitter to promote packages, deals, events
Be active on TripAdvisor.com
Be visible for keyword searches

Social Networks to Focus On
Facebook Fan page and Group page
TWITTER!!
YouTube (even though it doesn’t appear high in the usage, it helps with search ranking results)
Top Travel blogs and Ohio blogs
TripAdvisor.com

Define a Social Media Strategy That Can Be Executed AND Delivered!

Online Research – What are people saying about you?
Google your company name
Google your competitors
Google keywords you think people type in to find your product/service (this is the hard one!)
Determine where you are ranking
Look at Google blog posts about your product/service
Perform a Twitter search on your company name, product/service
( www.search.twitter.com )
Look for topic Facebook pages
Analyze demographic information on Quancast.com
Search in YouTube for relevant videos and channels

Online Setup
Install Google Analytics
Set up Google Alerts on your company name, product/service and competitors names
Track your website traffic (and competitors) with Compete.com
Set up TwitterBeep to track keywords

Set Clear Goals
Can’t measure “more buzz”
Define measurable metrics – 16 media placements, 40 relevant links, increase sales 12%
Take baseline metrics before campaign starts
SEO metrics, social media metrics
Break metrics down into quantifiable goals
Mentions in blogs, social networks, links to the site…
You can quantify metrics

Determine the “Hook”
Set goals before determining the “hook”
Questionnaire to determine need – what gets the participants excited?
Examples: free sample, white paper, video, online calculator/application, stunt

Determine the Distribution Plan
Earn your way into distribution
Avoid using the word “free” to describe online
Look for specialized networks or “celebrity” bloggers that don’t often get pitched
Rate the value of each participant and determine the pitch

Determine the Distribution Plan
Think in terms of most efficient coverage
Examples: pitch a blogger, obtain a following on MySpace/Facebook, use tagging sites, Tweet to your target, make new connections on LinkedIn and build a presence on targeted social networks
Great Content + Great Distribution=Great Word of Mouth

Using the Specific Social Media Tools

Facebook

Facebook
Online social network
People connect with friends
Share stories, photos, causes
Widgets/Applications: Trip Advisor, Where I’ve Been, Going Places

Facebook – Connecting

Facebook Group

Facebook Fan Page

Facebook Pages vs Groups

Twitter

Twitter
What are you doing right now?
Web, IM, Phone
Real time interaction in one sentence
140 characters to be exact!
Twitter “handle” can only be 15 characters

Twitter
Eight million members
Traffic increased 800% in one year!
Twitter accounts have monetary value
Who uses Twitter:
State Department
Barack Obama
NASA
Reporter, buyers, analysts, media…..

How to Use Twitter
To listen! to consumers and the media are talking about you in real time, openly and honestly
Build brand perception
To learn about the competition
To communicate (but not to sell)
Build your profile and start connecting
Build personal relationships!
Promote deals – maybe only available through Twitter
Promote events
Promote facilities

www.search.twitter.com

Twitter Home Page

Key: Finding People to Follow!

YouTube

YouTube
44% of online video market
5 billion page views per month
75% of Internet users watch video online
The average viewer watches 80 videos per month
92 million viewers per month
$175,000 per day for a homepage ad
Nearly perfect representation of Internet users

YouTube Tens of thousands of views!

YouTube Channels for “Hocking Hills”

Buy a Flip camera
Set up a YouTube Channel
Start connecting with partners, prospects, clients, coworkers and friends
Video Tours
Cost per impression is next to nothing!!
How to Use YouTube

TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor
Can double conversions on your website by integrating TripAdvisor reviews on the website
Get listed – free listing (75 words & a photo)
Monitor reputation regularly – reviews AND forum
Participate without selling
Number of reviews is key on TripAdvisor – Need to be listed AND have active, recent reviews
Ask your advocates to promote you – ask when they leave, send out thank you emails with a link to write a review

Other Social Media Ideas for Travel

Other Social Media Ideas
Add a blog – fresh content –
topics could be “best kept secrets”, “hole in the wall restaurants”, events, promotions
Add RSS feed to website and/or the blog
Google Maps – Register your business with Google Maps
Register in Yelp

What are your other social media marketing ideas??
Thank You
Amy Marshall
Twitter: @amymarshall
[email_address]

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How To Use Social Media To Drive Your Destination Business

by Webbed Marketing on May 13, 2009

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