Are you familiar with the 10,000 hours theory? Research shows it takes 10,000 to become an expert in an industry or sport. I’ve read that Biathlon athletes start training at 8 or 9 years old. Mogul skiers hit their peak at 23 to 26 years old. That’s the time frame these athletes have to accomplish their 10,000 and get onto the Olympic podium.
Thankfully, most of us have a 30+ year career to build our expertise and gain our 10,000 hours as travel and tourism experts. Let’s explore the assets and strategies that will give you a leg up in becoming an expert in social marketing.
Social Marketing Tips for experts
Social marketers who take their skills to the highest levels are the ones we all look to as role models. These golden social mavens continually up their game and build stronger relationships with new tools and new ways of using available assets.
# 1 — Content repurposing
Do skaters practice yoga? Do bob sledders lift weights? You bet! Do social mavens use a variety of skills to pull together great content that they can use in a variety of different ways? You bet! Just because a bob sled champion doesn’t lift weights during his event, those weight lifting sessions give them strength to get a fast start. Just because a social maven produces a great You Tube video, that doesn’t mean the video can’t be used in a blog post, on a website and in an e-blast. Making the most of your assets gives you more traction to get out front.
#2 — Understand and leverage your Analytics
Understanding the styles of your curling opponents gives you a glimpse into their upcoming strategy. Understanding your social audiences helps you put together content they’ll relate to and then reward you with the coveted likes, comments and shares. There are so many tools to measure, analyze and test that it’s becoming as much of a science as ice management is to curlers. Here’s what to measure.
#3 — Video; live and native video
Social marketing is careening down the video ski jump. Facebook and Instagram are currently rewarding marketers with increased reach for any type of video.
Here’s a couple of options:
Facebook Watch is a video on demand service that’s described as a platform for funded, premium shows and episodes that could create a more serialized viewing experience for the Facebook audience.
Live streaming video is winning the video competition these days. Whether you go live in destination or from your desktop, you’ll reap the rewards of greater reach and engagement.
Native Video (video that’s uploaded directly from your phone or hard drive) gets great engagement. Just don’t upload a You-Tube video to Facebook as it only shows up as a thumbnail.
Facebook Premiere is an opportunity to reap the rewards of going live, without actually going live. When you upload a video on your business page, you can select to schedule it as a Premiere. When the video launches it will contain a red badge designating it as a “Premiere”. Be sure to answer comments and questions in real time.
#4 — Targeted ad audiences
If you’re a ski enthusiast, would you really want to be forced to watch any other sport? As a marketer we want to show people ads that appeal to them. Highly targeted ads are the gold medal winners.
Split testing and developing assets that appeal to a variety of fans will keep you on top of your game. Here are other ways to test your ads to ensure they win with your fans.
Ads Manager vs Business Manager is an on-going discussion among social advertisers. Here’s an update on some recent changes in the world of Facebook and Instagram advertising.
#5 — Partnerships that Pay
Do you even wonder which athlete is going to get their photo on that box of cereal that stares at you every morning? Facebook and PayPal teamed up to enable users to purchase items through Facebook Messenger. PayPal has recently announced a new feature that will allow Facebook users to send or request money from our friends, entirely via Facebook Messenger. What a great way to collect your trip deposits or plan to go fees!
How to Lose your Hard Earned Fans
If you want to ensure your place at the back of the pack, these tactics will get you there.
- Posts that focus only on sales, promos and special pricing
- Posts that lack any semblance of humanity or humor
- Ignoring the value of video or being afraid of getting in front of the camera
- Like Baiting, Engagement baiting, Share baiting, etc.
- Other tactics that keep you out of medal contention.
In our competitive world, being ‘in the game’ is the start to being ‘on the podium’. Athletes and social mavens are similar in their quest for the gold in that they plan and execute with the precision of a top athlete.
Related Articles
How to Upcycle Your Social Content
Social Marketing Strategies for Travel and Tourism
About Catherine Heeg
Catherine Heeg is a recognized social media trail blazer passionate about social media and marketing in the tourism and hospitality industry. She takes the mystery out of marketing!
She creates and delivers meaningful, dynamic workshops that meet your unique needs in the Travel, Tourism & Hospitality Industry.
Catherine and her team help travel, tourism and hospitality pros design and implement social media marketing strategies and tactics that drive traffic to their social and web sites. Learn more…
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