Archive for the ‘sales’ Category
Tuesday, April 30th, 2013
freedigitalphotos.net
Maybe it will go away.
Social media’s really not that important to my clients.
I don’t want to make any mistakes, so I just won’t do anything.
These are common concerns I hear whispered at the back of the conference room. Guess what, when I spoke at NTA in 2009 to a capacity filled room, social media was in its infancy. Now in 2013, it’s growing exponentially and changing constantly. Are you harnessing it for your business?
Key takeaway: Survey your clients to find what social platforms they use, then decide how to leverage your time and talent. Social media is the new search engine. When you have a consistent voice and presence you’ll find your SEO will grow and clients will help you market by becoming your brand advocates.
Free Survey Tools
There are a number of simple, free tools to use to survey your clients. You may want to check out Survey Monkey, Kwik Surveys, and Poll Daddy.
Travel pros, you may want to ask your clients 3 quick questions; 1) What social sites do you visit? A. Facebook, b. Twitter, c. other, d. none. 2) How often do you check your social pages? A. daily, b. weekly, c. other. 3) Do you read on-line news and travel info? YES, NO.
Tour Operators, you may be interested in polling your tour participants about their social photo album use by asking something like this; 1) What social sites do you upload your vacation photos to? a. Facebook, b. Instagram, c. other d. none. 2) How likely are you to photo tag your friends in your vacation photos? A. always, b. when I remember, c. other 3) Do you capture your memories on video? YES, NO
Here’s what it looks like on Survey Monkey:
You can easily reach your audience in a variety of ways:
Social Tip
Remember to use the powerful polling and questioning tools on Facebook and LinkedIn. Don’t forget the instant power of a question on Twitter.
With these tools you’ll leverage the power of knowledge. You’ll be amazed at the many ways you’ll be able to apply your new knowledge and reach your clients, potential new clients and brand evangelists where they ‘hang out’ in the world of social media.
Tip: Start simple. Keep at it. Evolve. Focus on the 1 platform where most of your clients are, then branch out from there. Here are 9 Key Tactics to avoid Social Media Missteps.
How many social sites do you invest your time in?
Another social slip-up to avoid is to think it’s just about business. Read more
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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: Facebook, facebookpromotion, LinkedIn, marketing, marketingplan, Mistakes to avoid, sales, salestips, smallbusiness, social engagement, Social Media, Social slip-ups, Survey Monkey, Survey tools, Surveys, tourism industry, tourismbusiness, tourismsalestips, touroperator, travelagent, travelindustry, Twitter
Posted in Branding, Customer Service, hospitality, hotel industry, LinkedIn, marketing, Mistakes to avoid, promotion, sales, Social Media Marketing, Social slip-ups, strategy, Suvey, Travel Consultant, travel industry, Twitter | No Comments »
Friday, March 22nd, 2013
What are you risking in your social media presence with a misstep? Reputation? Loss of the social element? Marketing socially is changing so quickly, yet we all make mistakes as we find our voice and audience. Here are 4.7 common mistakes in our industry and ways to ward them off.
freedigitalphotos.net
Mistake #4 – Social Media is Just Business
Our industry is FUN! When you create a mini-vacation for your clients on your social sites, you’ve connected and they will love you for it. Many businesses focus their posts only on their own sales, promotions and news updates while forgetting to add the personal touch, a bit of frivolous fun and whimsy.
Key takeaway: Remember to let your personality and that of your business shine thru. Give your clients the chance to indulge in their travel dreams and they’ll reward you with their loyalty and hard earned money. A general rule of thumb is that a business page is successful when relevant information from others is shared 80% of the time. The balance can be focused on selling and marketing your travel products. This means sharing links, photos, video and content from suppliers, clients and destinations. This tactic will keep your fans interested and SOCIALizing with you.
Tip: Social media platforms are conversation starters.
Key takeaway: Variety is the spice of social media. Here are some ways to keep your fans engaged
- ** Use photos of your clients enjoying their travels
- ** Upload photos of your and your staff in your office working. People like to be able to put a face behind that great voice on the phone.
- ** Polls and questions will help you understand your unique audience
- **Use humor; photos, captions, quotes
Stat: Did you know… Emoticons can increase ‘likes’ by 57% and comments by 33%.
Emoticons can increase 'likes' by 57%
3 additional social slip-up’s will follow. Stay tuned.
What slip-up’s have you recently avoided?
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Tags: Emoticons, Facebook, facebookfans, facebookpromotion, hospitality, marketing, marketingplan, Mistakes to avoid, Photos, Polls, sales, salestips, Selling, smallbusiness, social engagement, Social Media, Social slip-ups, tourism industry, tourismbusiness, tourismsalestips, touroperator, tourwholesaler, travelagent, travelindustry, video
Posted in Branding, Facebook Marketing, Google +, marketing, Mistakes to avoid, promotion, sales, Social Media Marketing, strategy, tourism industry, Tourism Sales Tips, Travel Consultant, travel industry | No Comments »
Friday, February 22nd, 2013
Travel pros are always searching for new ways to reach untapped markets.
Leverage your LinkedIn Presence
LinkedIn is the opportunity to reach new potential clients in a different channel and meet them thru a business networking situation. That’s great news for both leisure and corporate travel consultants, hoteliers that focus on both markets, as well as tour operators and receptive operators.
LinkedIn has been called the ‘red-headed step-child’ of social media. As a red-head growing up with dark haired parents, I always thought that maybe I was the step-child. When LinkedIn came along I had to check out this new ‘Red Head’. So I jumped on the band wagon and have found great connections and new ways to communicate with colleagues.
Marketing tactics
Travel consultants
Think of the possibilities of marketing yourself to distinct groups of professionals by giving them the gift of time and relaxation in their next vacation. Consider reaching small business owners and providing them expertise for their corporate travel planning.
Hoteliers
Consider LinkedIn as a way to reach out to conference planners and corporate-stay decision makers.
Tour Operators
Have you thought about maximizing your connections with industry leaders and keeping up with your suppliers.
I love the Infographic below as it brings focus to 10 ways to make the most of your social networking.
Positive Positioning Statements
My favorite tip is #2: Optimize your positioning statement. This is a critical piece of your LinkedIn success when members are searching for a skill set or expertise.
Travel pros may want to list their title as “Cruise Expert” or “Vacation Pro” to aid in search results both within LinkedIn as well as in organic internet searches.
Tour operators may find success listing their key destinations in their title. It may look like this; “New York and Washington DC inbound receptive expert”.
What successes have you found on LinkedIn?
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Here are other marketing articles for travel & tourism pros:
5 Creative Ways to Market your Social Presence
3 + 30 Proactive Promotional Tips for your Blog + Infographic
5 Key Blog Marketing Tactics+ Infograhic
By Catherine Heeg
Tags: hospitality, hotelsales, LinkedIn, marketingplan, Networking, sales, salestips, Selling, smallbusiness, social engagement, Social Media, tourism industry, tourismbusiness, tourismsalestips, touroperator, tourwholesaler, travelagent, travelindustry
Posted in Branding, hospitality, hotel industry, Infographics, LinkedIn, marketing, Networking, promotion, sales, Social Media Marketing, strategy, tourism industry, Tourism Sales Tips, Travel Consultant, travel industry | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 29th, 2013
Google+ is becoming an essential tool for the travel & tourism industry. Early adopters have shown us a path to success. Let’s explore some current best practices to maximize your presence.
Google + Best Practices
Share content about your business as well as other industry information. Research has shown that out of 9 or 10 posts 1 or 2 can be about your own business.
- Destinations can share information from hotels, restaurants and attractions to broaden their circle of influence.
- Hotels and attractions can share not only their in-house specials but local events, updates on local promotions and even video.
Comment other businesses to increase your own brands’ awareness.
- Tour Operators & Attractions can comment on a Destination update to draw attention to their own itineraries and new developments.
Photos in every post increase engagement and awareness. The space allocated to photos and videos in a post is large and clear. Focus on your Cover Photo and change it by season to highlight new events and group departures.
Profiles include clickable links and a variety of relevant sections to showcase your business. Key areas of impact are your blog, website, social sites, newsletter and on-line booking engine. Maximize the power of your key words by weaving them into all sections of your profile.
Customize the names of the Circles as well as your cover photo and logo. Stimulate reader attention to your blog, website and other social sites by creating links to each.
Icons! Add the +1 icon to your website so that people can more easily share your information.
Early adoption of new ways to socially reach more clients has been proven to uncover new business. When you harness the excitement you’ll join these companies who are already reaping the reward of early adoption. (Please note this is a brief list and I apologize if I missed your company.)
- Tour Operators: Tauck Tours, Globus Family of Brands, Explorica
- Hotels: Four Seasons, Hilton, RIU, Hyatt
- Cruiselines: Celebrity, Princess, Viking River Cruises, Fred Olsen Cruising, Carnival
- Attractions: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Callaway Gardens
- DMO’s: Visit Palm Springs, Destinations in Florida, Glacier Country Montana
What other best practices have you found helpful?
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Tags: blogging, Google+, marketing, marketingplan, Mobile marketing, Networking, sales, salestips, Selling, smallbusiness, social engagement, Social Media, tourism industry, tourismbusiness, tourismsalestips, touroperator, tourwholesaler, travelagent, travelindustry
Posted in airline industry, blogging, Branding, Facebook Marketing, Google +, marketing, Mobile marketing, promotion, sales, Social Media Marketing, strategy, tourism industry, Tourism Sales Tips, Travel Consultant, travel industry | 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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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 »
Sunday, December 9th, 2012
Hootsuite continues to amaze me.
Hootsuite
At the recent #somet12 conference in El Paso we were honored to be able to hear Dave Olsen relate how they’re adding ‘interestingness’ to their own product.
Hootsuite Ambassadors, called HootScouts, are bringing the excitement of Hootsuite to more people around the world. These ambassadors come armed with Owl Swag and host Hoot-up’s. (a gathering of Hootsuite users) Here Hootsuite users have a chance to talk about how they’re using the apps, how to better engage their social fans and exchange ideas.
They also have a chance to ‘Play with the Brand’, as Dave said, by creating their own owl masks and using the swag in creative ways. This helps them not only spread the word, but the company gets a sense of what users are talking about. These brand advocates take photos and let the company know their ideas for improvements. What a fun way to have people engage with a brand in a fun and playful way.
Travel, Tourism and Hospitality
How exciting this would be in the travel and tourism world. Imagine consumers ‘playing with your brand’ making their own ____________ and discussing their travel dreams. You fill in the blank with your destinations’ mascot or iconic figure. Attractions can fill in the blank with their favorite mascot whether it’s Mickey or Minnie or _________________. Travel agents: imagine having people at your next consumer night use swag from the supplier you’re representing creating a collage of their favorite reasons to ____________________.
This is a great way to build a posse or tribe and take your clients from loyal to brand advocate.
How can you add these ideas into your marketing strategy?
After the conference I had a chance to meet with Dave personally and here’s what we talked about. I hope you enjoy the interview….even though you’ll hear a bit of airport noise at the end. Dave and I chatted about some exciting new apps available. Exciting news!
Click here for the interview or click on the player below.
What’s your favorite app within Hootsuite?
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Tags: Facebookmarketing, Hootsuite, hospitality, marketing, marketingplan, Mobile marketing, Podcasting, sales, salestips, Selling, smallbusiness, social engagement, Social Media, tourism industry, tourismbusiness, tourismsalestips, training, travelindustry
Posted in Audio Interviews, Branding, marketing, Monitoring tools, promotion, sales, Social Media Marketing, strategy, tourism industry, Tourism Sales Tips, travel industry | 2 Comments »
Friday, November 23rd, 2012
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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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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
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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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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 »
Tuesday, August 21st, 2012
Measure, Monitor and Metrics are the key words in social media today. Many of us find that merely getting the social marketing plan executed is demanding enough. Let’s explore the essential tools designed to boost your effectiveness by giving you insights into your audience engagement.
Social fans today demand relevant, up to the minute information that will help them plan, execute and dream about their next trip.
Engagement and sentiment are crucial. Let’s explore these key social metrics.
Measurement Tools
Imagine if you were able to figure out why and when your fans were available to read your latest Facebook post or Tweet. With these tools you’ll have that information at your fingertips.
Facebook Page Insights. Once your fan count exceeds 30 you’ll have access to demographics as well as which posts reach the most fans. When studying your Page Insights, re-order the list of your posts by Reach. To do this, click on the down arrow next to reach and it will re-order from lowest to highest or the reverse order. These are the number of unique people who have seen your post.
Study each post to see what time and day it was launched on your Facebook page. Check out what type of posts are generating the best reach for you. Are they posts that share photos, links or ask questions? Dig deeper into the analytics to look for trends, then put out your next series of posts based on this information. Tip: Test your strategy over a couple of weeks to see what other patterns emerge. Then build on this success by posting in a similar style to reach an even greater audience.
Page Insights Bonus tip
Recently I was talking with a travel client who had a really good handle on the demographics of their client base that travelled with them regularly. When we started digging into the analytics of their Facebook fans we found the demographic skewed much younger. We were then able to adapt our posting voice to appeal to this demographic. This is a powerful way to use a different channel of communication to reach another audience and grow your business.
Here’s what you will want to investigate in your own Page Insights. Click on Reach then study the age, gender and location of your fans. Here’s how it looks.
Tip: Don’t forget to look at the cities your fans hail from. You-all can always adapt your voice there as well, eh? (Ok, that’s a bit of my Southern-ism and Canadian combined.)
Timely.is, WhentoTweet, TweetWhen.
Who wants their tweets to fall on deaf ears? These tools give you the chance to reach your followers when they’re listening. Measure your Twitter reach and times of greatest visibility.
Timely.is provides you time frames and hours to optimize your tweet schedule. As a sample they will analyze your last 199 tweets and provide this information for you. These analytics are looking at when you’ll reach your greatest audience. If you sign-up for their service they will post your tweets at the optimal times to reach your audience.
WhentoTweet.com used to be a free service and now they charge $4.99. It’s a comprehensive look at the times your audience is available. WhentoTweet analyzes when your followers tweets and gives you a personalized recommendation of the best time of day for you to tweet.
Here’s what the sign-up looks like:
Here’s what results look like for @mashable. Based on your Twitter usage you can decide if the value is there for you to use this service versus the other free services covered here.
TweetWhen will give you stats on when you’re most likely to be re-tweeted. Here’s what my analytics look like:
With this information I’ve planned my most important tweets for Tuesdays between 3 and 4p EST. Then, I look at my next best time and schedule other posts for Thursdays during that same time frame. What do your analytics tell you?
Tip: Leverage the timing of your live tweets to begin conversations with your followers. Then check your @replies and direct messages at least daily to keep up with your new connections.
Measurement tools are an effective way of reaching your followers, and to better understand when the best time to get your message across is. Have fun boosting engagement!
How often do you measure your audience?
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Tags: Facebook, facebookfans, Facebookmarketing, facebookpromotion, hospitality, hotelsales, marketing, Networking, NTA, Page Insights, salestips, Selling, Social Media, Timely.is, tourism industry, tourismbusiness, tourismsalestips, touroperator, tourwholesaler, travelagent, travelindustry, TweetWhen, Twitter, WhenToTweet
Posted in Branding, Facebook Marketing, Mobile marketing, Monitoring tools, NACTA, National Tour Association, Networking, NTA, OASIS, promotion, sales, Social Media Marketing, strategy, Time Management, tourism industry, Tourism Sales Tips, Travel Consultant, travel industry, Twitter | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 31st, 2012
Have you just returned from a fam trip and been awarded another specialist certification?
Has your hotel just earned another award?
Will your attraction be featured on a new Top 10 list?
As a tour operator, have you just booked your 10,000th client?
Here’s your chance to make your business milestones work hard for you! Facebook offers a fabulous tool to showcase your company achievements and boost your credibility…for FREE! Beats taking out an ad!
Milestones are similar to highlighted (starred) posts and will enable you to show off a bit, without being a show-off. When you add a Milestone you’ll be defining a recent event or story so that your fans will better understand your business. Remember people do business with those they know and like. This gives your clients and potential clients a chance to know you and like you better.
Here’s how it works:
First. Log-in as your business page.
Second. Hover over the share box and click on Events and Milestones
Now you’re ready to create your Milestone
Third. Complete the info in all the drop down boxes. See below.
Fourth. Upload photos either from your Facebook Photo albums (Choose from Photos) or from your hard drive (Upload Photos). Tip: Add photos that tell the story of your Milestone. Multiple photos are great as they will appear as a film strip beneath your main photo.
Fifth. Complete the story box. Remember it expands so that you can include as much info as you feel is relevant to your audience.
Sixth. Remember to click SAVE! Your Milestone will become a part of your Timeline and stay in chronological order
Here’s how it looks.
Bonus Tip. You can Pin or Highlight your Milestone so that it shows up more prominently.
Hint: You may want to crop your photos in advance of uploading them if you want to Highlight your Milestone. This will eliminate heads being cut off! Also, remember to upload as many photos as you have because you’ll have space for 7 photos when you Highlight.
Travel & Tourism pros, here’s how to use this.
Travel Consultants:
Fam trip: Showcase your new expertise with photos
New Destination Specialist Award: Add a photo of your certificate along with destination photos
Hotel:
Renovation: Show off your newly renovated rooms, restaurant or lobby.
New Menu: Take photos of your new menu as well as the chef preparing the food
New event décor: Include photos of new tablescapes, new trade show set-up, wedding décor
Anniversaries: Create a milestone for the anniversary of your opening
Attraction:
New events or shows: Upload photos of guests enjoying the new features of your attraction
Restaurants: Show off your newest restaurant or food outlets. Include room and food photos.
Tour Operator:
New travellers: Take a photo of your 10,000th client along with them enjoying the trip they’ve booked with you.
New Staff: Upload photos of your team, tour directors, reservations team, etc.
New Destination: Include photos of destinations you’re just beginning to offer along with your ground handling team, hotels, attractions. Make this a virtual tour of your newest destination.
Anniversaries: Have you been in business for 10 years? Create a Milestone!
Association:
New Staff: Include photos of your staff in their offices, res staff at their desks. This will put a personalized face out there for your members.
Events and meetings: Upload your candid shots and event highlights. Then Highlight the Milestone for even more exposure.
Member awards: Include photos of awards you give to your members. Include a photo of the award and of the person.
Monthly new members: How about including photos of the members that have joined over the past month. Tag them in the photos and bring even more exposure.
What other ideas do you have for using this powerful new tool to engage your fans?
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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, Focus, marketing, marketingplan, NTA, sales, salestips, Selling, smallbusiness, Social Media, Timeline, tourism industry, tourismsalestips, touroperator, tourwholesaler, travelagent, travelindustry
Posted in Branding, Customer Service, Facebook Marketing, marketing, NACTA, National Tour Association, NTA, OASIS, sales, Social Media Marketing, strategy, Tourism Sales Tips, Travel Consultant, travel industry | No Comments »
