Do's and don'ts in social media for niche travel companies
18th January 2012
rdquo; or “£” to put a price in the image description to add a price label to the photo Social media sites are ten-a-penny these days and it can be tricky to keep on top of them all. With this in mind, it's becoming increasingly important for niche travel companies to understand and use these outlets properly in order to engage and entertain their various audiences, whilst also subtly exposing their products to new customers.
This quick fire guide to the relevant social media sites is a reaction to observing some good examples of online networking but also a plea to kick some bad habits.
In no particular order, here are the important social media networks that niche travel companies should be targeting and how.
Facebook
Travel companies should see Facebook as a B2C space to reconnect with past guests, allow people to see behind the scenes and generate interest in your brand and products.
Do’s:
- Post inspiring, interesting and amusing media such as relevant travel videos and pictures taken on your trips and destinations
- Ask for feedback to help build your brand and itineraries
- Regularly interact with local or industry partners and share news and media that are relevant to them (eg. post a picture of your team skiing on walls with lots of followers)
- Regularly “Like” and comment on your partners status updates to build up a relationship
- Ask followers for feedback and reviews for your site and other sites you’re featured on
- Update your page at least 3 times a week (but not 3 times a day)
- Add your most important partners to your “likes” section
Don'ts:
- Don’t just talk about yourself, engage with what other people are doing and take a genuine interest in cross-promoting them.
- Don’t spam your followers, focus on entertaining them.
- Don’t link other platform updates that are irrelevant to your Facebook feed.
Good examples to follow: Sno-Limit, Riding to Break the Cycle, Coffee Shack Backpackers, Wild Guanabana, Bodhi Surf School.
Connect to Much Better Adventures on Facebook.
Twitter (B2B, B2C)
Twitter is predominantly used for B2B and keeping up conversations with your industry partners.
Do’s:
- Send a personal thank you message to people that follow you with a link to your website
- Share good news and exciting pictures that you take
- Use travel relevant hash-tags:
#Travel
#Tourismchat (Thursday)
#TT - Travel Tuesday
#TNI - Travellers Night In (Thursday)
#TTOT - Travel Talk On Tuesday (Tuesday)
#TMOM: Travelling Mums
#RTW - Round The World travel
#FF - Follow Friday (to suggest people you think are worth following)
- Arrange meetings at events over Twitter to let others see you are there too
- Link your twitter feed to your website and blog
- Tweet praise at people that you genuinely like, you are likely to get a reply or RT and build a cross-promotional relationship.
Don'ts:
- Don’t just tweet about your company all the time, mix it up.
- Don’t RT articles unless you really want to - just retweeting articles for the sake of it will appear spammy and you are likely to lose followers
- Don’t link other platform updates like Klout or Pinterest to your twitter feed, it will only annoy people.
- Don’t link your Twitter updates to Facebook, see them as two separate entities.
Good examples to follow: Wild Guanabana, Guludo_Beach, Tribewanted,
Connect to Much Better Adventures. (muchbetteradven, muchbettersam, muchbettertom, alexnarra)
LinkedIn (B2B)
LinkedIn is very much a B2B only place to build up your industry contacts and start partnerships.
Do’s:
- Make a company page to link to your personal profile with integrated twitter and blog feeds.
- List all the employees of your company on the company page
- Send a personal and tailored message to people that you invite to connect with Join groups and engage in group discussions that are relevant to you
- Be proactive in connecting with industry professionals that you meet at events
- Ask or answer questions and get involved in group discussions in places such as:
Adventure Tourism and Travel Professionals
Global Tour Guides
Green Hotel,Travel, Hospitality & Tourism Professionals
Local Travel
Professionals for Adventure
Responsible travel and tourism
Travel & Tourism Industry Professionals Worldwide
Don'ts:
- Don’t throw spam ‘comments’ into group discussions (it looks really bad).
- Don’t only self-promote yourself, make an effort to praise others who you think are doing good things.
- Don’t link to your twitter feed unless your tweets are relevant to the industry. (The travel industry at large doesn’t really need to know that you just had a yummy lunch).
Good examples to follow: Intrepid
Connect to Much Better Adventures LinkedIn page.
Google+ (B2B, B2C)
G+ is a fast growing social media network that improves your SEO and allows you to post travel updates, photo’s and connect with potential guests. Interaction for brands is pretty slow at the moment so it may require some patience.
Do’s:
- Make a brand Page for your company, not a user profile.
- Add 5 scrapbook photos that help define your brand.
- Invite guests to ‘hangout’ with you before they book to ask any questions and get to know you.
- If you have a low follower count, hide it. +1 partners, friends and website that you like. You will feature in search results on Google as a result.
Don'ts:
- Don’t post the same thing over and over again - mix up your posts.
- Don’t just talk about yourself.
Good examples to follow: Gunyah, G Adventures.
Connect to Much Better Adventures Google+ page.
Wordpress/Blogger/Tumblr
Regular blogging is a great way to share your stories, passions and local community work in more detail than regular social media channels allow.
Do's:
- Provide calls to action and clear links to your main website and social media pagesInvite guest writers to keep content fresh
- Create top 5 lists
- Be honest and write about things you have a passion for to let people really get to know the people behind your travel company
- Use videos and images from your destination as much as you can
Don'ts:
- Be sales-y, you already have you’re sales page for that.
- Be boring - this is obviously subjective but a full page block of text simply isn’t going to be read, split themes into sections if you can.
Good examples: Ecoteer Blog, Hotel Los Castanos Blog, Intrepid Express Blog, Undiscovered Alps Blog.
We're going to be launching our own blog soon - The Search For Better - keep an eye out!
Pinterest
Pinterest is an up and coming image sharing social media network that is very well set up for travel businesses to utilize. It’s still in it’s infancy but worth exploring. Email us if you need an invite to get involved.
Do’s:
- Most of the users (70% female) have a ‘Bucket List’ or ‘Places I’d like to go’ board which you should be trying to get your images and products on to.
- Pin images that reflect your brand
- Upload original HD images that have share-ability
- Claim the image title and create a link to your website or “£” to put a price in the image description to add a price label to the photo
Don'ts:
- Don’t put bad quality images
- Don’t pin spammy brochure images
- Don’t only pin your products, engage with other images.
Good examples to follow: Boots'n'All Indie Travel, G Adventures, Jetsetter.
Connect to Much Better Adventures on Pinterest to see how we have started to sell 'muchbetter' holidays through the network.
If there are other good examples or social media platforms that you have been mining successfully, do share your experiences in the comments sections below for the rest of the muchbetter community to benefit.
Happy pinning/poking/posting!
stay updated
Pick up specific RSS feeds.
Follow us on Twitter
If you would like to receive an email when we add more news/articles, please leave your details below:
10 Comments
On 19th January 2012 Sally Guillaume said:
Thanks for this - it's very difficult to understand and keep up to date with all the different social media tools. Very useful to have a quick list of dos and don'ts! Thank you
On 19th January 2012 Tom said:
No problem - social media is becoming so important for companies large and small, and there are so many different platforms with which to communicate with potential clients, it can all get a little confusing! There are loads more out there, but hopefully some of the points we've raised are relevant to them too.
We'll be doing a piece on basic SEO (search engine optimisation) in the coming weeks too - hopefully relevant for both listings on MBA but also your own websites too.
On 25th January 2012 Rhonda said:
Thank you for teaching me about Pinterest in regards to upcoming niche travel products! Good to know and fits my market perfectly.
Gracias
On 30th January 2012 Chrissy Dawkins said:
Really enjoyed reading through that, we are up to date on most, but had never heard of PinInterest before so thanks for that. Looking forward to more of these types of articles in the future.
On 17th March 2012 ringojack75 said:
You made it, your article will surely satsified every readers attention. And I am happy that I was able to reach here. You made my day. Thanks a lot.
On 27th March 2012 mandygeorge51 said:
I always find such amazing posts on this website and today’s post was really amazing. Now I have become a regular user of this website. Thanks for giving us so much knowledge.
On 28th March 2012 Tom said:
Glad you have found it useful! If there are other topics on which you'd like us to post, please let us know.
On 23rd April 2012 nathaliebucks said:
This text is well thought out and full of excellent information. Many Thanks for taking time to convey this collectively into one article.
On 15th May 2012 Verna White said:
Great stuff here. The information and the detail were just perfect. I think that your perspective is deep, its just well thought out and really fantastic to see someone who knows how to put these thoughts down so well. Great job on this.
On 16th May 2012 Verna White said:
Hey your site is really great I came across while in search for brand info on bing and it has lots of related information on it. Will be sure to come back again and bookmark. Keep up the great work! Canada Pharmacy Online No Prescription