Are you busy and struggling to make the most of your time and efforts to promote your NT tourism business on social media? Then take 10 minutes to read these seven top tips to making the most of your time in what is now one of the most important marketing platforms for your business.
Social media is just a way of life and business in the world today. According to the 2016 Sensis Social Media Survey:
- 69% of internet users have a social media account
- 50% of them use social media daily
- Are you one of the 25% of Australians who check your social accounts more than five times per day?
- Are you one of the 49% who check social first thing in the morning, maybe whilst you’re still in bed?
From a business perspective it’s just as important to have a social presence as it is to have a good website, with one in three people willing to follow a business on social media. Social creates an opportunity, like never before, to connect one-on-one with people in your target market and to grow the number of people who will consider your business as part of their next itinerary. Social is also a highly visual channel and we all know that when we’re on holidays we have the motivation and the time to post and brag…we’re having a good time and we want to share that feeling.
For tourism operators, this means there is no doubt that social media marketing has to be part of their marketing plan, but many operators experience frustration with the many aspects to social media, the fact that Facebook is always changing and the time it takes. Here are our top strategies and tactics from the front line. It’s in no way a comprehensive guide, but it hits on the most important things you should know to optimise your social media efforts.
Tip #1 Understand the likes and dislikes of your target audience
You need a clear understanding of your customers and what content entertains them and what information is interesting to them. Creating personas is a great tactic to help you define your target markets in a meaningful way and you can find out how to do that in the Smart Marketing Spend tutorial on Tourism Tribe.
Tip #2 Focus on the most relevant channels
Research where your target audience is most likely to hang out on social media and what they use that channel for and then prioritise your efforts to focus on one or two channels.
It’s better that you do one channel well than several not so well. Most travellers are on Facebook and a growing number are using Instagram to share their best photos, but if you’re targeting the youth market, then explore Snapchat for your business.
Tip #3 Quality and Consistency
Facebook rewards quality and consistency in your posting. So do your followers. Facebook will help your followers to see your posts if they regularly like and engage with your content. Therefore posting quality content that is interesting and useful to your audience and posting regularly, up to three times a day will win you points in the Facebook algorithm.
Tip #4 Create thumb-stopping images
Images are everything on Instagram…what else is there on Instagram…ok short videos and stories too? Focus on thumb-stopping images that will grab the attention of your audience is what you’re aiming for. Great learnings on the basics of capturing and editing images and video can be found in the Images and Video learning hub on Tourism Tribe.
Tip #5 Hashtag strategy
Hashtag strategy is essential for Instagram and is growing in relevance for other platforms as well. A hashtag strategy will grow your followers. Know your destination and niche market tags and always have them easily accessible to copy onto your posts.
Tip #6 Balance your content
This is probably one of the most important pieces of advice we can share. Be entertaining, educational, tell stories about your businesses, but only sell/promote 10% of the time in your posting.
Tip #7 Create a content calendar
Developing a monthly social media calendar is an excellent start to getting organised with your posting and taking away that feeling of “I don’t know what to post about!” Map out what’s going on in the destination, your niche and your business and find your theme for the month. Get your partner or team involved in brainstorming and content gathering…it will make a big difference to your productivity and the effectiveness of your posts.
There is a lot involved in doing social media well and we are all learning constantly about what works for our businesses and what the latest opportunities are in the different social media channels. To do social media well you need to treat it like a journey. Focus on the basics, measure and find out what works, repeat and then keep learning! Check out the upcoming social media workshops below.
The Digital Leap program is designed to build your skills and knowledge so you can keep improving your online presence. Tourism Tribe is a partner in Digital Leap and you are eligible to have an online assessment, online coaching session and a year’s subscription to a large collection of tutorials and helpful resources to assist you. Limited spaces are available in the program. Click here for more information and to sign up.
Also, you have an opportunity to attend social media workshops in Alice Springs (8th September) and Yulara (19th September) and we’ll schedule Darwin later in the year. These are free for Tourism Tribe Digital Leap members. If you’re already a member log on to www.TourismTribe.com and navigate to My Dashboard to register for the workshops.
If you’d like more information about the workshops or joining Tourism Tribe please contact Tourism Tribe on 07 3103 7994 or online chat with Wendy who manages the Tourism Tribe help desk.
