Archive for the ‘NTA’ Category
Thursday, May 23rd, 2013
Is seeing reallybelieving?
Photo tips for Travel & Tourism pros
Ever find yourself in a spot you just know your clients would love to see themselves?
Using photos online is an awesome way to strike up engagement with your clients and draw attention to the great experiences you have to offer them. And the good news? You can take these pictures yourself!
#1 Photograph Lighting
No matter what the subject of your picture is, the lighting can make or break the quality of your photograph. Always make sure that the main focus of your photo is easily visible, and when possible, try to make the subject the brightest part of the picture.
Hotels: to showcase your rooms, utilize both natural and artificial light. Watch for glare from reflections on windows and mirrors.
Destinations: take advantage of the hours of sunrise and sunset in order to give your destination an out of this world appearance. If you are taking a photo of a landmark when the sun is behind it, consider using the flash feature to fill in any unwanted shadows. You may have to use manual flash for this – many cameras on Auto will not flash during daylight.
Travel Pros: use natural light to make a landscape or landmark pop during sunrise when few people are around to interfere with your shot! Be sure the sun is not creating distracting shadows within your frame.
(image with glare from lighting)
(image free from glare)
#2 Photograph Framing
Lead all eyes right to the target of your photos by framing your subject properly. One way to frame your subject is to use the Rule of Thirds: dividing the photo into nine equal squares and placing the object of focus on or near an area where the lines intersect.
Image by John R. Daily, Source
Hotels: include multiple features of a room in one photo by placing them on opposite sides/corners of a photo. If you wish to only highlight one feature, place it in the center of the photograph to maximize attention.
Destinations: when photographing landscapes, keep the land/water level just below the center of the photo. Use lines in the landscape as “leading lines” to draw attention to a certain subject/area!
Travel Pros: use the “Grid” option on your camera to more easily follow the Rule of Thirds with your shots. Use distance to your advantage by allowing an object or line to travel diagonally across the shot, such as a stream or pathway!
These two tips will help you get some sensational snaps of your own to show off to your clients online!
Next in the Photos in Social Media photo tips series: How to Use Photos on Different Platforms. Stay tuned!
Thanks to Ruby Murphy for her research and input.
Other posts you may enjoy:
2 Photo Tools for Travel Pros
5 Powerful Pinterest Tools
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Join me socially: Facebook, Twitter , LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest
When you ‘like’ my Facebook page you’ll have access to Free Resources just for travel pros!
By Catherine Heeg
About the author, Catherine J. Heeg
Catherine Heeg is a travel, hospitality and tourism industry thought leader. As President of Customized Management Solutions and an international speaker and trainer she delivers customized interactive social media, marketing and communication workshops and webinars. Customized social marketing strategy design and coaching keep her driving results for the tourism, travel and hospitality industry.
Tags: marketing, marketingplan, Photo Tips, Photography, sales, salestips, Selling, social engagement, tourism industry, tourismbusiness, tourismsalestips, touroperator, tourwholesaler, travelagent, travelindustry
Posted in Branding, hospitality, hotel industry, ITMI, marketing, NACTA, National Tour Association, NTA, OASIS, strategy, tourism industry, Tourism Sales Tips, Travel Consultant, travel industry | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 14th, 2013
FACT or Fib: Social Success Will Happen Overnight
Success in athletics takes years of training. Success in business can take a lifetime. Social media success doesn’t happen overnight.
Key takeaway: Tracking, optimizing and keeping up to date on communication trends will ensure your social success. Don’t make the common mistake of assuming that just because you have a social media presence your clients are connected. Check your social demographics to see if they match the demographics of those you reach with traditional marketing.
Key tracking tools: Facebook Page Insights (see below), CrowdBooster and TweetWhen.
CrowdBooster provides additional demographics and stats that enable you to learn more about your fans. Once you find a communication style that’s generating likes and shares, be sure to replicate it to increase your reach. On your CrowdBooster dashboard you’ll learn which is your most popular tweet and/or Facebook post along with suggestions on what times to reach your audience. There is a nominal fee for this service.
TweetWhen is a free service that gives you stats on when your tweets will get the most re-Tweets. Armed with this information you can plan your strategy and schedule your tweets for the greatest reach beyond your followers.
Travel pros: These tracking tools can be used to reach a wider audience and build your fan base. Remember to market your social presence using every tool in your toolbox; e-blasts, your blog, any printed materials you produce.
Time and patience do pay off when you have a plan.
Want more fans?
While we all strive to gather as many fans, followers and contacts as we can, we still need to focus on keeping these people engaged so they remain loyal, revenue-generating clients.
Key takeaway: We need to be vigilant about responding, listening and being pro-active to create new business. Remember, people do business with those they like—really like, not simply ‘like’.
Key listening tools: Social Mention, Google Alerts
Gaining the inside scoop on your unique audience will help you give your fans what they need and want from you. Transform your tool box and propel your presence to new levels that will help your business.
Which tools to you use to track and monitor your social presence?
Other related posts:
2 Social Metrics Tools + Tips
3 Social Monitoring Tools
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Join me socially: Facebook, Twitter , LinkedIn and Pinterest
When you ‘like’ my Facebook page you’ll have access to Free Resources just for travel pros!
By Catherine Heeg
About the author, Catherine J. Heeg
Catherine Heeg is a travel, hospitality and tourism industry thought leader. As President of Customized Management Solutions and an international speaker and trainer she delivers customized interactive social media, marketing and communication workshops and webinars. Customized social marketing strategy design and coaching keep her driving results for the tourism, travel and hospitality industry.
Tags: CrowdBooster, Facebook, facebookfans, Facebookmarketing, facebookpromotion, Google Alerts, marketing, marketingplan, Page Insights, Polling, sales, salestips, Selling, smallbusiness, social engagement, Social Media, Social Mention, Social Metrics, tourism industry, tourismbusiness, tourismsalestips, touroperator, travelindustry, TweetWhen, Twitter
Posted in Facebook Marketing, marketing, Mistakes to avoid, Monitoring tools, NACTA, National Tour Association, NTA, OASIS, Social slip-ups, strategy, Tourism Sales Tips, Travel Consultant, travel industry, Twitter | No Comments »
Friday, April 19th, 2013
Fact or Fib: 19% of travelers visit a blog site when planning their trip. 
Fact or Fib: 65% of daily internet users read a blog.
Are you making the most of your fam trip knowledge? Does your destination reap the rewards of guest bloggers? Is the expertise you glean from webinars working overtime for you?
Blogging is a proven way to set yourself apart from the crowd and enthrall your fans with your experiences.
Blog Best Practices
#1: Clear specific topic ideas
Travel Consultants—strategically plan your blog schedule around what’s hot in your marketplace at the time the blog will go live. For example, during Wave Season write consistently about cruising.
Tour Operators – How about rotating your blog posts based on your top selling destinations. Make sure to use tags and categories so that readers can easily find information specific to the destination they’d like to see.
Destinations – Consider rotating your posts based on activities that appeal to a variety of demographics. Foodies, adventure seekers, wine lovers, outdoor enthusiasts, art lovers, etc. Look outside your organization for guest bloggers who specialize in a niche market and have a base of raving enthusiasts.
#2: Work from an outline
Your outline will ensure you stay within the magical word count of 200-500 words. Tip: Add photos … you know what they say. “A photo is worth 1000 words”
#3: Market your blog socially
Travel Consultants –your blog is the perfect vehicle to boost your credibility. Gain new eyeballs and potential new clients by marketing your blog on your social sites as well as on blog directories. Check out Technorati, AllTop, Bloggeries, Blog Catalog, Trail of Ants.
Tour Operators – Blog posts can be repurposed from your brochure and itinerary content. Then recycle thw great content you’ve written as a newsletter or e-blast.
Answer: Both are FACTS!
Leverage your blog to be a marketing asset to showcase your credibility and boost your revenues.
Happy Blogging! Enjoy the infographic below.
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When you ‘like’ my Facebook page you’ll have access to Free Resources just for travel pros!
Other posts you may want to read:
30 + 3 Proactive Promotional Tips for your Blog
5 Key Blog Marketing Tactics
By Catherine Heeg
Tags: blog, blogging, Facebook, facebookfans, Facebookmarketing, marketing, marketingplan, nichemarket, sales, salestips, Selling, social engagement, Social Media, tourism industry, tourismbusiness, tourismsalestips, touroperator, tourwholesaler, travelagent, travelindustry
Posted in blogging, Branding, Facebook Marketing, Infographics, marketing, NTA, OASIS, promotion, Social Media Marketing, tourism industry, Tourism Sales Tips, Travel Consultant, travel industry, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Sunday, March 31st, 2013
Choosing your words wisely will help you close more sales!
Luxury Words that Sell
Travel pros: here’s a selection of words that will attract, entice and enthrall luxury clients. Imagine being able to sell more travel by simply adjusting the words you use in your conversations, blog posts, social media posts as well as your written communication.
Social Media for Travel Pros–Luxury Words that Sell!
What are your favorite luxury words?
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By Catherine Heeg
Tags: Facebook, Facebookmarketing, marketing, sales, salestips, Selling, smallbusiness, social engagement, Social Media, Words that sell
Posted in E-mail, Facebook Marketing, Google +, hotel industry, marketing, Niche Marketing, NTA, OASIS, Social Media Marketing, strategy, tourism industry, Tourism Sales Tips, Travel Consultant, travel industry, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, January 25th, 2013
Fact or Fib? 80% of U.S. social network users prefer to connect to brands through Facebook.
Fact or Fib? Social media and blogs reach 80% of all U.S. Internet users.
Are you reaching your potential clients with your social media marketing?
Here are 5 powerful ways to reach a wider audience while drawing more fans, readers and followers to your social channels. By creatively funneling people from one channel to another you will leverage their involvement and help them become more engaged. They’ll get to know you better!
You know the saying; people buy from people they know and like. Here are some tips to develop that relationship.
#1 Blog Sharing 
Sexy Bookmarks is a great tool to encourage people to share your blog. It’s reactive and cool! When you hover over an icon it pops up! Plus you can customize which icons appear in your blog. Here’s what it looks like.
An RSS feed is a way to capture their attention with each new blog post.
Bonus tip: Once people see your blog, remind them to connect with you on your other social sites by including an invitation to connect via hyperlinks to each of your other social and web sites. See below for an example.
#2 Facebook | Blog 
Networked Blogs is an easy to set up app/tool that will automatically roll your latest blog post right to your Facebook page. Here’s what it looks like on your Facebook page.
#3 Pinterest |Facebook 
WooBox is the go-to tool ensuring that your Facebook fans have direct access to your Pinterest page. Simple to install it puts a Pinterest app front and center on your Facebook business page.
Bonus tip: Pinterest has just added Business pages. You can now change your personal Pinterest site into a business page and add your website verification that makes it easier for people to find you. When you complete this step by adding some code provided by Pinterest to your website .
Here’s what your Pinterest bio will look like.
#4 Twitter Engagement 
Have you uploaded your new Header image? Twitter has recently given us more real-estate to brand and show who we are and what we do. Here’s your chance to put a picture or graphic of your specialty, niche or latest fam destination. Remember to include links to your other social sites in your Twitter profile. Here are some great examples from our industry.
#5 Measure & Monitor 
Some of my favorite tools to learn more about when to post, fan demographics and HOT news are:
- SocialMention-track what’s being said about your top destinations, suppliers and your company
- Crowdbooster—measure and optimize your social marketing, plus tips to help you improve
- GoogleAlerts—set up a notification system to be alerted to top news on your key words
- TweetWhen – track your Twitter stats
- Facebook Page Insights—check your fan demographics and success of your posts
- Reachli—learn more about your Pinterest audience with analytics
- More of my favorites.
Fact or Fib? Both are FACTS! Gripping reasons to leverage your involvement and up your game!
For more stats please go to: http://bit.ly/W3mWet and http://bit.ly/U3QKGa
What success stories have you had marketing your social sites?
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Join me socially: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest
When you ‘like’ my Facebook page you’ll have access to Free Resources just for travel pros!
Tags: blog, blogging, Facebook, facebookfans, Facebookmarketing, facebookpromotion, hospitality, hotelsales, marketing, marketingplan, Networking, Pinterest, salestips, Selling, social engagement, Social Media, tourismbusiness, training, travelagent, travelindustry, Twitter
Posted in blogging, Facebook Marketing, hospitality, hotel industry, marketing, NACTA, National Tour Association, Networking, NTA, OASIS, Pinterest, promotion, sales, Social Media Marketing, strategy, tourism industry, Tourism Sales Tips, Travel Consultant, travel industry, Twitter | 2 Comments »
Monday, December 31st, 2012
Is anyone reading this?
Here are 3 creative ways to gain more exposure and make your blog work harder for YOU!
After you’ve spent your time writing, editing and publishing now you get to market your blog. These 3 key promotional tips will immerse you in other channels to bring a wider audience to your blog posts.
Audio podcasts are perfect for commuters and travelers to have a new way to connect with you and learn from your expertise. Using audio podcasts to promote your blog will give listeners a chance to sample your style and compel them to subscribe to your written blog.
Travel pros can easily create a short audio podcast of tips you’ve gained from you last fam trip or destination presentation. Tempt, tease and titillate listeners to subscribe to your blog.
Destinations can create a story about their city for people to listen to on their commute. At the end of the audio podcast remember to direct people to your written blog for related posts.
To record an audio podcast check out Garage Band for MAC users and Audacity for PC users. You’ll record your blog and tips as an .mp3 and then upload it to your social sites and e-newsletter.
Tip: make sure to have a call to action in the audio recording inviting people to your blog site and provide them the link.
For more information on creating audio podcasts, please see my blog post filled with how-to information and listen to my podcasts here
#2 – Video Podcasts
Video is quickly becoming the way of the world. You-Tube is now the 2nd largest search engine garnering over 800 million unique users each month. Leverage this success and market your blog in a video giving people a preview of your latest or most popular blog posts. Then make sure to turn your next blog post into a video podcast.
Travel Consultants & Tour Operators; how about taking video of yourself in your top destination? This gives you the perfect venue to showcase your expertise and show (not just tell) people why they want to travel and why they want to book with you!
To spice up your blog marketing video you can interview others while in a destination. How about interviewing the ship’s captain, your favorite waiter, your contact at the CVB or other supplier.
Have you considered doing a brief interview with your DSM after a destination presentation or training session?
This interview can be embedded into your next blog post or stand alone as a video on your You-Tube channel. When recording the video don’t forget to provide the link to your blog site so that people can engage with you on one more channel.
Tip: When recording with your phone or digital recorder you may want to consider placing your camera on a tri-pod or stable surface and editing where necessary.
#3 – E-book
Get more bang for your blog by turning a series of blog posts into an e-book. This e-book will then become a give-away at trade and consumer shows as well as an on-line giveaway to your fans and potential clients. Some people have added e-books to their selection of items for sale in their on-line travel store.
Imagine an e-book featuring each destination, ship or city you’ve visited. Think of the marketing possibilities. What better way to capture more subscribers for your written blog.
Tip: When creating your e-book make sure readers know how to find your blog so they can engage with you on a regular basis.
Below are 30 more ways to promote your blog. Check out the cool infographic!
What else are you doing to gain more eyeballs for your hard work and research?
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Source: http://marketingland.com/infographic-how-to-promote-your-blog-posts-24579
Tags: audio podcasting, blog, blogging, Facebook, Facebookmarketing, facebookpromotion, marketing, marketingplan, Mobile marketing, Podcasting, Podcasts, sales, salestips, Selling, social engagement, tourism industry, tourismbusiness, tourismsalestips, touroperator, tourwholesaler, travelagent, travelindustry
Posted in blogging, Branding, hotel industry, marketing, National Tour Association, NTA, OASIS, promotion, Social Media Marketing, strategy, tourism industry, Tourism Sales Tips, Travel Consultant, travel industry, Video | No Comments »
Friday, November 30th, 2012
Pinterest is the newest ‘shiny’ thing to become a part of the travel & tourism industry’s social involvement. And it’s really bright & shiny!
The biggest news is that it’s actually working to engage travellers while they’re in the trip planning stage.
Travel consultants are leveraging this by using their own library of photos along with photos from supplier image galleries to entice, enthrall and close more sales.
Destinations are reaping the benefits as travelers are posting photos to their own boards and further spreading the word to future travellers. In addition, pins a DMO posts on related boards are benefitting local businesses as they’re being frequented by travelers.
The big question now is how to leverage this exposure over other social sites. Here are some marketing tactics to help travel pros spread their Pinterest page content to their other social pages.
Pinterest |Facebook
- Make sure you add the Pinterest app to your business page. Check out Woo Box to easily add access to your Pinterest site.
- Add a Post to your Facebook page announcing your newest board
- Ask your Facebook fans to follow you on Pinterest
- Make sure your Pinterest address is in the About section on your Facebook page
- Monitor your social presence. Here are some tools for you.
Pinterest |Website
- Add a ‘Pin It’ button onto your website
- Add the Pinterest icon linking directly to your Pinterest site.
- Create ‘Pinnable’ web materials
Pinterest |Blog
- Add your Pinterest address to your blog post
- Add a ‘Pin It’ button to your blog
- Blog about your Pinterest contest or your newest board
- Get creative with your photo editing. Here are some tools for you.
Pinterest |Twitter
- Tweet about your new involvement in Pinterest and provide a link to your newest board
- Create a Welcome board that showcases photos of your latest trip, an upcoming group departure or your newest blog post and Tweet about updates to this board.
- Update your Twitter profile to include a link to your Pinterest site.
Pinterest |LinkedIn
- Add your Pinterest address to your LinkedIn profile’s Professional section
- Announce new boards to relevant groups on LinkedIn
Pinterest |Google+
- Post your latest blog or photo updates to relevant Google+ circles
- In your G+ posts, include information on your latest Pins with a link to the relevant board.
Here are some other tactics for you to make the most of your Pinterest presence and grow your following of raving fans. See Infographic below.
Tags: blog, blogging, Facebook, facebookfans, Facebookmarketing, facebookpromotion, hospitality, LinkedIn, marketing, marketingplan, NACTA, NTA, Pinterest, sales, salestips, Selling, social engagement, Social Media, tourism industry, tourismbusiness, tourismsalestips, touroperator, tourwholesaler, travelagent, travelindustry, Twitter
Posted in blogging, Facebook Marketing, hospitality, hotel industry, marketing, Monitoring tools, NACTA, National Tour Association, Networking, NTA, OASIS, Pinterest, promotion, Social Media Marketing, tourism industry, Tourism Sales Tips, Travel Consultant, travel industry, Twitter | 2 Comments »
Friday, November 23rd, 2012
freedigitalphotos.net
What social site has 23 million unique visitors/month?
Where can you showcase all your fam trip photos?
Only 28% of travel pros who attended the last Pinterest webinar I hosted had a Pinterest site. So what better time to focus on this wildly popular tool.
Here are 5 tools to power-up your Pinterest experience.
Pinerly now renamed Reachlii
This amazing site gives you the tools to measure the reach and effectiveness of your Pinterest pins. With this relevant knowledge you’ll be able to see what types of photos are being liked and re-pinned as well as the estimated reach. Great news! I’ve heard that a scheduling tool is coming soon. This will give us a chance to schedule pins to coordinate with posts on Facebook and Twitter.
Tip: Did you know that pins with a description of about 20 words are most re-pinnable?
Pinstamatic
Have you ever wondered how people get quotes turned into eye-catching pins? Would you love to add music to your boards? I love being able to create ‘sticky note’ pins that grab attention. Check it out here.
Like quotes? Here are 2 of the 6 examples of styles you can choose.
Pingraphy
Scoring, scheduling and analytics all in one! Harness the power of this knowledge to increase engagement. I found the scoring factors cumbersome. Yet if you like details this may be a valuable tool.
Pixlr.com
This online photo editor makes it really simple to create a collage or with some time and talent create your own long pin. Research has shown that long pins get re-pinned more often.
Infogr.am
Create infographics using templates and statistical information. It’s a great way to visually chart statistical information you’ve developed or read. Consider mapping your cruise sales over the years you’ve been in business. What a fresh way to lead people to purchase a cruise.
Pinpuff.com
This scoring tool helps you see how influential and popular your Pinterest site is compared to other users. Like other scoring tools you get a snapshot of your reach, activity and virality. Plus you also can see a comparison of your top 20 boards showing number of pins, re-pins, likes and followers.
Boost your effectiveness by using these tools to understand your audience and then you’ll be able to put together a relevant Pinterest strategy to engage and maximize your sales.
What are your favorite Pinterest tools?
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When you ‘like’ my Facebook page you’ll have access to Free Resources just for travel pros!
Tags: hospitality, hotelsales, Infogr.am, marketing, marketingplan, NACTA, NTA, Pingraphy, Pinpuff.com, Pinstamatic, Pinterest, Pixlr.com, Reachli, sales, salestips, Selling, smallbusiness, social engagement, Social Media, tourism industry, tourismbusiness, tourismsalestips, touroperator, tourwholesaler, travelagent, travelindustry
Posted in Branding, marketing, Monitoring tools, Niche Marketing, NTA, OASIS, Pinterest, promotion, sales, Social Media Marketing, strategy, Tourism Sales Tips, Travel Consultant, travel industry, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, November 16th, 2012
freedigitalphotos.net
1 Hour and 17 minutes! That’s how long people spend on Pinterest.
1 in 5 Facebook users are on Pinterest DAILY! That’s 4 million daily unique visitors to Pinterest.
Are you leveraging this untapped potential in your own marketing? Here’s how to engage your followers and turn them into clients today!
Tip #1 – 
Announce your latest Pin on your Facebook business page and provide a link.
Photos on your Facebook page are more readily shared and ‘liked’ so here’s your chance to maximize your social reach. In working with travel pros I’ve found that people are more likely to share photos of beaches, sunsets and food. Where’s your focus going to be?
Tip #2 —
Do you want to engage and sell more? A call to action is crucial to reach your goal. Ask your Facebook fans to re-pin their favorite photos from your boards.
Bonus tip: Is cruising your niche market? You may consider setting up boards for each cruise ship you’ve sailed, then ask your fans to re-pin their favorite photos to their own Pinterest boards. This is a call to action along with building remarkable reach. Then, consider making this into a contest. More on that later.
Tip #3 — 
# aren’t only for Twitter! When you’re composing a description of your latest Pin think about key words that people may search and include as many as you can using # for the most important. Picture this—you’ve just returned from a fam trip and you’re in the process of marketing that destination. How about creating a board for the destination then in the description of each pin include something like this: “#name of destination, is great for #activity enjoyed. I had a spectacular time! Tip: remember to #travel tip”
Tip #4 —
Your blog is the perfect avenue to talk about what’s exciting on your Pinterest site and ask for comments and re-pins. Have you considered inserting some of your best photos into your next blog post, talking about Pinterest in that blog and then linking people to your Pinterest site? An awesome way to stimulate conversation all while maximizing credibility!
Tip #5—
Try this…in your next e-blast announce your newest Pinterest board additions, provide links and ask people to comment and re-pin their favorites.
Bonus tip: make sure that your links in your e-blast open in a different window so you don’t lose your blog reader.
When you put these techniques to work for yourself, imagine the potential for reaching and engaging your fans in a unique new fashion. Ignite and inspire your friends, fans and followers with these techniques!
What success stories have you had with your Pinterest site?
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Join me socially: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest
When you ‘like’ my Facebook page you’ll have access to Free Resources just for travel pros!
Tags: blog, blogging, Facebook, facebookfans, Facebookmarketing, facebookpromotion, hospitality, hotelsales, LinkedIn, marketing, marketingplan, NACTA, Networking, Pinterest, sales, salestips, Selling, smallbusiness, social engagement, Social Media, tourism industry, tourismbusiness, tourismsalestips, touroperator, travelagent, travelindustry, Twitter
Posted in blogging, Branding, E-mail, Facebook Marketing, hospitality, hotel industry, LinkedIn, marketing, NACTA, National Tour Association, NTA, OASIS, Pinterest, promotion, sales, Social Media Marketing, tourism industry, Tourism Sales Tips, Travel Consultant, travel industry, Twitter, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Friday, November 9th, 2012
FreeDigitalPhotos.net
What’s the secret to fan engagement?
Questions are the oldest yet most effective way to get people’s attention! Posting questions on your Facebook page will double comment rates over other types of posts.
Essential Types of Questions
1. Multiple choice
- Remember many people will be viewing your posts on their mobile device so keep the answers options simple.
- Tour Operators may ask “What’s your favorite thing to do on a motor coach? A) talk with fellow travelers B) watch a movie C) Sleep
- This critical knowledge will help your tour directors understand your unique clients’ needs.
- Hotels may ask “What’s most important to you? A) a hearty breakfast B) evening cocktail hour. See LaQuinta Inns and Suites as an example.
Bonus Tip: The Question feature on Facebook is under-used and provides a graphic look that will encourage engagement. You’ll find this in your ‘Status/Share’ box:
2. Fill in the blank
- Learn insights to influence your marketing and delivery tactics and combine with other demographic data for a broader picture.
- Attractions could ask “My favorite exhibit is _________________. Fill in the blank”. “I love to visit with a/my _______________. Fill in the blank”.
- Travel agents find success with “My favorite cruise ship is__________” “What one thing is always in my suitcase________”
- Tour Operators Tauck has great examples.
- Research shows that this type of post receives 9 times more comments than other posts. Source:
3. One word
- Intriguing! These posts are similar to Fill in the Blank questions, but strive to gain a one-word answer.
- Tour Operators or destinations might want to post something in this style; “New York City makes me feel….”
- Hotels may post “Like it or Leave it…Hot breakfast….” (ok, it’s 2 words yet filled with impact
4. Open-ended questions
- These questions take a bit longer for your fans to answer but provide an invaluable emotional connection.
- Tour Operators consider these “My favorite thing about motor coach travel is…..” Or how about “What’s at the top of your travel bucket list?”
5. Photo with a question
- Post a series of 3-5 photos on your wall and in an album then ask people to ‘like’ their favorite photo.
- For more info on photos and editing images, click here.
- Tour operators can have some fun by posting different destinations, attractions or restaurants that are components in past or future tours. Imagine the market research you’ll gain when planning your next group departure.
- Attractions can intrigue people by posting photos of different features of their venue. Consider choosing a couple of highly popular exhibits as well as some often-missed or little known.
- Hotels can post 2 photos with slight differences and ask fans to tell what’s different in each photo.
- How about bringing your Pinterest boards into this equation. Check out Visit Savannah.
Quintessential tip: Create compelling posts with a call to action. This simple formula targets fans interests and provides you with all-important activity on your page. Choose a topic that you think the majority of your fans like or agree with. Then compose a post in this format: “Click ‘like’ if you’d love to…. visit Colonial Williamsburg. Try this: “Click ‘share’ and let your friends see this great photo.” How about this: “Love Girl Getaways, click ‘share’ and spread the word to your gal pals.
Using questions to boost your ‘likes’ and ‘comments’ and ‘shares’ will increase the likelihood (based on Facebook’s EdgeRank methods) that more of your fans will see your content. Why not increase traffic and comments to your Facebook page?
What question has brought you the most response?
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When you ‘like’ my Facebook page you’ll have access to Free Resources just for travel pros!
Tags: Facebook, facebookfans, Facebookmarketing, facebookpromotion, hospitality, marketing, marketingplan, NACTA, NTA, Pinterest, Questions, sales, salestips, Selling, smallbusiness, social engagement, Social Media, Timeline, tourism industry, tourismbusiness, tourismsalestips, touroperator, tourwholesaler, travelagent, travelindustry
Posted in Branding, Facebook Marketing, hospitality, hotel industry, marketing, NACTA, National Tour Association, Niche Marketing, NTA, OASIS, Pinterest, promotion, Social Media Marketing, strategy, tourism industry, Tourism Sales Tips, Travel Consultant, travel industry | No Comments »
