Our top tips for making the most of the holiday season and your social media presence
If you’re like me the holiday season is not only very busy at work but also incredibly busy on the home front. If we are lucky somehow every year we manage to pull off the festive season. For many in the tourism industry, the 26th December marks the beginning of the peak season ,tours are full, attractions are buzzing and the accommodation is fully booked.
Who’s got time for anything but looking after your guests, especially marketing?
In case it isn’t obvious your social media presence is not only about marketing, it’s about providing information to your guests that’s relevant and meaningful on a platform they are familiar with.
That can be a challenge but here are some of my tips to help you get through the busy season
Pick a winner (or two!)
If you are not fully into social media then now is not the time to start, but if you consider yourself a guru I suggest you read this tutorial to make sure you are on top of it.
For the rest of us, I suggest you pick a winner and focus on it over the busy period. It’s not that hard to choose and it depends on your guests demographic, if you appeal to the younger generation and your offering is active try Snapchat, if your guests are drawn to you by amazing scenery maybe Instagram or perhaps the social media channel with the widest appeal Facebook is your safest option. Either way pick one or two if you can’t decide and do it well. Use the links provided above to get familiar with the platform before things get busy, that means this is your homework now!
Plan, plan plan, let’s get organised
You need to create your own content calendar, I don’t care if it’s on a scrap of paper as long as you use it. By having a plan you’ll be less likely to forget your social media presence, be less stressed and your online presence will be professional.
I suggest that you pre plan and pre schedule as many appropriate posts as possible, remembering that 3-4 posts a week will be adequate and only 1 should be self promotional.
So that’s….
- One post per week of self promotion (vacancies etc)
- Two scheduled posts of useful information events etc
- One absolutely fantastic happening thing on any particular day
Below is a simple way to go about it gathering the information for the scheduled posts and you can start now!
- Start researching your area and find the interesting events over the peak period. Look up their Facebook page, like it and schedule a post to appear in your news feed the day before the event.
- Next look around your business and take some shots or videos of interesting things, make sure the weather is good and try and enlist some people to participate. For example if your caravan park has a pool why not pre record the action on a hot day and schedule for late January when occupancy starts to decline.
- Make your business easy to find, take shots of the road in and the signs, landmarks not to miss, as your guests may scroll through your posts this will make the journey more pleasurable and show that you care!
- Take shots of the staff and profile them, you can then schedule a “Meet Nancy, she’s your go to lady at the kiosk”
- If you know certain things happen the same every year for example “Crowds can be expected tomorrow at the park, we suggest you…” these tips can also be pre scheduled.
If you plan all the activities in advance you can confidently tell your guests to check your preferred social media channel for updates. If these are scheduled your social media feeds will not look abandoned.
So now all you have to worry about is promoting one amazing thing that happens a week and one self promotion, that shouldn’t be too hard should it?
Alas, your job is not over, this time of year is a prime time to source information, don’t worry this bit should be fun!
It’s content gathering time
Holiday season is when your business is at it’s best. Gathering content needn’t be an arduous task especially if you incorporate it into your daily tasks
- Snap, snap, snap away (don’t forget to ask for permission) Use your phone to photograph or video your business at its best. Interview guests and ask them where they are from and what they like about your business, you can use all this content at a later date. You can also encourage your staff to do the same, make them feel part of your social media presence.
- Run as competition on Instagram and create your own #Hashtag.
- Ask guests to share with you their favourite shots on your social media channel.
Use this season to gather images and videos that you can load onto your website, send in emails or post to social media at a later date, when things have settled a bit.
Imagine the impression you’ll give potential guests when they enquire and can envisage themselves having the best time at Easter by showing them what happened a Christmas, that’s sure to help your conversion!
