Social Media has altered the landscape of marketing in the travel industry. Most travelers determine their travel plans based on reviews and social media shares instead of trusting travel agencies. The travel industry is on the boom so instead of being just their travel operators become their trusted adviser.
Social media has a major impact on the travel agency model disrupting the traditional model. Before traveling to a particular destination travelers like to know more about that place either from a family, friends, acquaintance or from the reviews on crowd sourcing sites.
Social media platforms like Facebook and especially Instagram plays an important role in this process.
Optimize your social media platforms for your travelers
Be their trusted adviser.
Know what will keep their holiday memorable
Inspire travelers by showing the best side of your destination
Create engaging stories to share experiences
Come up with hashtags that might appeal travelers
Share user-generated content by asking your travelers
Come up with promotion without being salesy
Make your audience curious to know more about your destination
You cannot update your brochure every day, but this opportunity has been given by Instagram. You can share photographs of the destination with a relevant caption and providing other details.
Collaborations giving new opportunities
Collaborate with photographers and share their photos by giving them credit. By doing so you are sharing real-time photos of your destination and you are getting a huge collection of good photographs.
Collaborate with travel influencers and invite them to your destination. They will share their experiences with all the minute details with their audience.
Don't be salesy instead share a really engaging photo or video about your destination.
By curating positive reviews and encouraging social shares, travel industries can leverage social media to build positive brand awareness and can increase brand loyalty.
Influence of Social Media
Focus on building trust that is how you play your game through social media. The influence of social media on the travel industry has left travel companies with no choice but to reevaluate their strategies on engagement with their customers.
The five stages which travelers go through before planning a trip involve, dreaming, planning, booking, experiencing and sharing.
To survive in today's social media world focus on meeting the demands and needs of your audience. Your customer's main pain-point is fear of missing out. Give your travelers the experience that they will be remembering the lifetime.
Need some guidance in expanding your strategy and reaching out your audience through social media? Reach me out through the mail: monica.motivarsha@outlook.com
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