BLUE SAIL MARKETING TOOLKT EAST NORFOLK
JANUARY 2011
4 SOCIAL MEDIA
WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?
Social media is about connecting with people over the internet. It
provides the tools for individuals and businesses to interact with an
online community to build relationships and exchange information.
All users have an equal voice. Anyone can comment on, vote for,
discuss and criticise anything they wish.
There are numerous forms of social media, often called ‘channels’.
Most are free to use and relatively easy to set up. Beware! Just
because it is free and easy to set up doesn’t mean you should do it.
You need to be sure a particular channel will benefit your business
and that you are prepared to put in the time and effort to make it
work for you.
Social media activity does not occur in isolation. Every post, topic
and picture published on social media sites adds to the online
information about that subject. Major search engines can now
collect and index this information in real-time making it available to
everyone (not just social media users) instantly.
WHY USE IT? – WHAT DOES IT OFFER
When it comes to visiting a place, people generally trust what others
say about an experience. When a visitor has a great experience
they share it with family and friends; they do the same for poor
experiences. Increasingly, people use social media to share these
experiences – and so they influence many more people than a few
family and friends.
Hundreds of millions of people use social media every day and
therefore it is potentially a very powerful tool for your business.
Social media is about conversations between your business and
consumers and between consumers about your business. So it is
not a place to blatantly advertise, people quickly see through that
and dismiss what you have to say. Social media is a platform for you
to share ideas, directly interact with like minded people and collect
valuable information about what people are saying about you, your
business and your destination.
If you use it effectively, social media can place your business ahead
of the game by allowing you to speak directly to your existing and
potential customers instantly. It will help you to quickly and easily
deliver a consistent message that builds trust and encourages
loyalty. It also allows you to quickly ‘nip in the bud’ any negative
and inaccurate publicity that may come your way, limiting possible
damage to your business.
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WHAT’S OUT THERE?
There is a huge number of social media sites; it is impossible to
actively participate across them all.
We have divided these sites into four main categories:
Here is a list of the most relevant social media sites for tourism
businesses; the ones that you can quickly and easily utilise to help
build relationships with your customers and create a clear distinction
from competitors.
 Content sharing sites
 Sites used to plan visits
 Social networks
 Blogging
Sites used to plan visits
TripAdvisor
www.tripadvisor.com
Relevant markets: Mini-Explorer Families, Budding Explorer Families, Experienced Explorers, Relaxing Greys
Time commitment: Medium – initial set up and then check reviews every week
Next steps
Check the site – your business
may already be listed with
reviews
TripAdvisor is the leading travel review website used by more than 32 million people every month. It
provides information on destinations, hotels, restaurants and attractions supplemented with contributions
from users. There is no charge for a listing.
Claim your listing and improve
the content
Although the site includes listings for a variety of tourism services, it is most commonly used by people
looking for holiday accommodation. If you don’t offer accommodation there may be limited value in
registering with the site (although it is free).
If you are not listed, then register
– especially if you offer
accommodation
Content is indexed by search engines regularly. That means user reviews offer appear high-up on search
engine results. That gives your business a better chance of attracting users. TripAdvisor also licenses
content to partner websites such as Google Maps and includes direct links with Facebook.
The success of TripAdvisor comes largely from the reviews made by real travellers. Once listed, a tourism
business can respond to these reviews. It is important to reply to all reviews – good and bad – because it
helps your entry more interesting and engaging for TripAdvisor users.
Tailor content to audiences you
are targeting
Measure yourself against your
direct competitors
Always respond to reviews
Order customer review cards
from TripAdvisor
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Google
http://maps.google.com
Relevant markets: Mini-Explorer Families, Budding Explorer Families, Experienced Explorers, Relaxing Greys
Time commitment: Low – initial set up and then add content and check reviews every few weeks
Visitors are using Google Maps to plan a trip because it is easy to use and contains lots of relevant
information.
The site is not only used to provide directions but also offers suggestions on local attractions and includes
photos, video and reviews of the place. Google also prominently displays names, addresses, phone
numbers and any user reviews of businesses in the area.
Google Maps content is integrated with TripAdvisor as well as the Google Local Business Center (sic) –
another tool that allows you to publish further information about your business and push users to your
own website.
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Next steps
Try a Google Maps search for
your area and see what’s
displayed
Register your business on
Google Places – include photos
and video
Encourage loyal customers to
write a review
Review impressions and action
taken by users when viewing
your listing
Explore other business tools
offered by Google
Content sharing sites
YouTube
www.youtube.com
Relevant markets: Mini-Explorer Families, Budding Explorer Families
Time commitment: Medium – significant setup to develop video then check comments every month
YouTube is a video sharing site with nearly to 100 million users. It is free to use and is potentially an
excellent social media tool for tourism businesses.
Video featuring different elements of the visitor experience such as accommodation, attractions and
events can be created and uploaded, making it instantly available to millions of users. The YouTube
search function provides users with a list of recommended videos related to the search subject. You
Next steps
Look at videos relating to your
area and your service offer
Decide who are you aiming your
video at - can you produce
multiple videos targeting different
audiences?
Video quality is important, make
sure you have the equipment and
expertise
Produce trial videos and test
them on existing customers
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need to understand the words your target markets will use when searching for videos. Funny and interesting videos are more popular and often
have the potential to go ‘viral’ generating millions of views in a very short time.
Flickr and Picasa
www.flickr.com & http://picasa.google.com
Relevant markets: Mini-Explorer Families, Budding Explorer Families, Experienced Explorers
Time commitment: Medium – significant setup to develop galleries then minor updates every month
Flickr and Picasa are web-based photo sharing sites that allow individuals and businesses to share
pictures across the internet. As a tourism business having the opportunity to provide a visual
representation of products and services will help to grow interest and build trust with potential visitors.
You can embed the images onto your own website or blog. The major search engines index images
from these services meaning they appear in search results in Google Maps.
Next steps
Group your photographs into
galleries aligned to your target
audiences
Upload your photographs to Flickr
or Picasa (free account)
Give each photograph a clear
description
Link your galleries to other social
media and your website
Social Networks
Twitter
www.twitter.com
Relevant markets: Mini-Explorer Families, Budding Explorer Families, Experienced Explorers
Time commitment: High – easy set up but requires daily attention
Twitter is a social media tool that allows users to publish short 140 character messages (tweets) to the
web where they are read by other users on computers or mobile phones. People use Twitter to deliver
opinions, news and ideas to other users who have opted to follow them. Twitter is basically opt-in
marketing where users elect to receive updates on things they consider important.
The power of Twitter can be realised by tracking and directing the attention of the users. For a tourism
business this means engaging with your followers to provide immediate information. An instant update
may spark interest and result in a spontaneous purchase or a visit to your website. An example tweet for
Next steps
Use the twitter search to look what
competitors are saying
Set up a personal account and
follow regional and national
tourism organisations
Plan how you are going to recruit
‘followers’ – links through your
website, customer comment cards,
email footers etc
Your tweets need be informative,
interesting, regular and
appropriate to the audience you
are targeting
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a local restaurant in North Norfolk might be ‘Just collected amazing fresh Cromer Crabs for evening service’ – to strengthen the impact of the
message it can be accompanied by an image of the crabs and a link to the restaurant’s website.
It is important to remember that Twitter is a social networking tool that requires two-way audience engagement. Tweets tend to be more
conversational (not business like) and require the business to take an active role in building its followers. It is potentially very time consuming;
you need to tweet every day. You also need to invest time when you first start working out how to use it effectively and build up followers.
Facebook
www.facebook.com
Relevant markets: Mini-Explorer Families, Budding Explorer Families
Time commitment: Medium – easy setup to develop then regular updates every week/ two weeks
Facebook is a social networking site with around 120 million users worldwide. The site allows
businesses to create pages and share information about their products and services. These pages can
be promoted with Facebook ads or a link from your website to attract ‘fans’. A fan is a Facebook user
who elects to include the business page within their Facebook social network.
Tourism businesses can build online profiles and create groups that other Facebook users can join.
Facebook groups allow users with the same interest to share information such as special offers and
events. Having a Facebook page for your business helps to build trust online and as it is linked with
other social media channels helps with your online profile.
Next steps
Register as an individual and
browse the different business sites
Collect sufficient levels of
information and content that will be
relevant to the markets you are
targeting before publishing
When you have your page set up a
facebook link from your website
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Blogging
www.wordpress.com www.blogger.com www.tumblr.com www.posterous.com
Next steps
Relevant markets: Mini-Explorer Families, Budding Explorer Families, Experienced Explorers
Time commitment: Medium – easy setup but requires detailed articles very two weeks at a minimum
Blogs are online journals that give individuals and businesses an opportunity to publish articles and
encourage feedback. It is an extremely popular form of social media and more and more businesses
are using blogs as a way to communicate their values to customers and share current information.
There are numerous sites that offer free online software to start your own blog – we have provided a
selection of the most popular.
The key to successful blogging is effective content and regular updates. If you make good use of it,
blogging is a helpful tool to:
 Establish credibility in a specific subject area
Subscribe to blogs you find
informative and useful for your
business
Decide the theme for your blog
and define the audience you are
targeting
Write 2 or 3 articles in advance of
launching your blog and test them
with friends and colleagues
Post your articles and include
keywords in the title that will recruit
the right audience
Tweet a link to your blog and
integrate it with your website and
other online content
 Build loyalty among a target community of users
 Improve search results as content is refreshed regularly
 Create a web presence – in some cases replacing the need for a corporate website
WHAT’S RIGHT FOR ME?
Instead of establishing a presence on every social network you will
achieve better results by involving yourself on a small number of
channels that suit you, your business and your customers.
The following 9 step process will help you make the right choices for
social media and maximise your results.
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9 STEP PROCESS TO MAKING IT HAPPEN
1. Decide what you want to achieve
Set clear, business-led goals for your social media activity.
Types of goals might be raising awareness of your brand among
specific market groups; or establishing a position of authority in
a specific tourism subject area such as Norfolk history; or linking
your business and brand to a specific location; or simply to
encourage more people to visit your website. All are good
reasons for undertaking social media activity and all require a
different approach and use different tools.
2. Define who you want to speak with
Who are the people you are going to engage using social
media? What channels are they likely to use? What interests
them and how can you meet that interest? These are important
questions that you need to answer before embarking on social
media activity. A clear understanding of your audience will allow
you to focus your activity to deliver greatest impact for your
efforts.
3. Audit your online content
Trawl the internet to identify what is already out there about your
business. You are likely to have listings on aggregator sites
such as yell.com, regional tourism websites, Google Maps and
possibly TripAdvisor (even if you haven’t listed yourself). Make
sure all content about you is accurate and consistent. Make
best use of these free listings – include full descriptions, photos
and web links where you can; this will help build your online
profile and support your social media activity.
4. Explore and listen to what people are saying
Take a good look around the different social media sites and
see what other businesses are doing – especially your direct
competitors. Make use of the search facilities to see what
people are saying about specific subjects and the content they
are posting. Read the comments people are making about your
area and across UK tourism more generally. Set up a personal
twitter account and follow the national and regional tourism
organisations, they are an excellent source of industry
information.
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5. Set up analysis tools
If your goal is to use social media to drive people to your
website it is important you have the tools to measure results.
Google Analytics is a free service that provides detailed analysis
of visitor traffic to your website. This allows you to concentrate
on the social media activity that’s working and ignore the things
that aren’t. Also use ‘Google Alerts’ to deliver you email alerts
on new web content that will help your social media activity.
6. Allocate responsibilities
Social media is a time consuming activity and in some cases
needs daily attention. It is important to allocate responsibility to
an individual in your business to manage social media and give
them the time necessary to do it effectively. You will be
surprised at how time consuming it can be - be realistic about
what you can do.
7. Start with free, easy social media
Don’t be fooled, social media is about quality and not quantity.
You want to establish strong, interactive relationships with
individuals that will deliver value to your business. Start with
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TripAdvisor and Google Maps and then monitor and respond to
the feedback you are receiving. Once established then start to
investigate blogging, content sharing and social networking
sites.
8. Integrate your social media channels
Once you have established your social media activity make sure
you link them, so they work together to improve your online
profile. All social media sites have easy to use tools to link with
other channels, e.g. if you are blogging make sure you tweet a
link to it.
9. Evaluate results and refine activity
Measure the impact of your social media activity against your
business goals. Google Analytics will tell you how many people
are visiting your website, blogs usually provide counts on how
many people visit and sites such as www.klout.com can
measure your influence with other twitter uses. Use this
analysis to understand what channels and messages are most
effective. Then refine your approach to maximise effectiveness.
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WORKBOOK – YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACTION PLAN
Goals
Your answers...
In 12 months time what do you want social media activity to have achieved for your business?
What does success look like from your social media activity?
Markets
Your answers...
Which of the four market groups for East Norfolk are you going to target using social media?
How do you want to be perceived by each of your target audiences?
What types of messages will achieve this target perception?
Commitment
Your answers...
Who is responsible for delivering social media activity?
How much time have they been allocated to deliver social media?
Do they have the necessary skills?
Tools
Your answers...
What social media tools are you going to use?
What tools are your competitors using?
Will these tools reach the audiences you want to target?
How are you staging the implementation of social media activity?
Can you integrate these tools to maximise your message?
Do you have the necessary tools in place to analyse the results / impact of your activity?
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