Building a Social Media Presence for a Niche Tourism Business – by Deirdre McDonald

Social Media and the role it plays in tourism marketing is of growing importance for niche tourism businesses in reaching their target audience.  An effective and engaging social media presence will enable your business to reach existing customers more frequently, whilst also attracting new prospective customers. This contributes to a shortening of the sales cycle, which in turn will lead to greater profitability.

We are all aware of the importance of traditional “word of mouth” and the contribution it makes to the reputation of a hotel, bed and breakfast, visitor attraction or indeed any tourism operation.  Social media marketing in effect is word of mouth fuelled by technology making it a vital component of the marketing activities of any tourism or hospitality business

Given the importance of the role played by social media marketing and the high percentage of SMEs that make up the tourism industry, we thought we would share some ideas and considerations which may be of assistance when building a social media presence for a small tourism business.

1. Choose the social media channels which will most benefit your business. Look at the social networks which are available, considering the channels that your target audience are active on. Most tourism businesses will have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Pinterest is a channel worth considering for sharing image rich content.
2. Nominate one key person to take care of the social media marketing activities in the business. Agree the online tone that your business will adopt and be consistent in this tone. Ideally the person responsible for social media should be based on site, which will assist greatly in sharing fresh, regular content related to the story of the business.
3. Complete your business’s social media profiles using well thought out bios and good quality, relevant images. This will give both existing and new customers a glimpse of what your business is about – this is a great opportunity to catch their eye.
4. Share meaningful and interesting content about your business, your community and your industry. Whilst it is important to profile the story of your own tourism business through social media, content doesn’t always need to be company centred. Perhaps highlight your key suppliers and how they contribute to your success. Talk about local and community initiatives and events. Follow similar tourism businesses and industry accounts. Sharing valuable content will be rewarded with engagement from your followers.
5. Keep informed with your competitive set and their activities on social media. Look at the channels they are active on, how regularly they post and the type of content which they share.
6. Follow influencers and thought leaders in tourism. Share their content on your social media feeds where relevant and engage with them to build relationships.

For further details on how The Innovate Room can assist with your social media strategy contact sales@theinnovateroom.ie