Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
Source: Karla Knežević, Kontra.agency
In a flood of information and the invasion of new technological developments, it’s not easy to recognize what will have the most impact on business. With this in mind, the former digital agency Akcija, now Kontra, shared on their blog predictions of trends that will mark the tourism marketing in 2017.
“Feel free to put your crystal ball back in the attic, because you will not need to prophesy what it is in this technological mess that can contribute to your business in the tourism sector,” says Kontra, because they singled out the five key things to keep in mind when it comes to digital marketing in tourism.
1. Content above all
Kontra places a special emphasis on content, and not just any content, but quality content. This refers to the different content you create for your customers – potential guests and visitors, which can be in the form of a blog, an article, an eBook, a picture or a video. It is important to keep in mind that most people first investigate before making a decision on the selection of a travel destination, the hotel they will stay in or a restaurant in which to eat during the holidays. A blog is really an opportunity to respond to the consumer and help them make a decision. The focus is not on your product or service, but the needs of visitors and guests, and through a blog you provide the information they need to opt for your services. Your main questions should be who your guests are and what interests them?
Creating content is a long-run game, which is incidentally also a goal – to have guests who trust you, who will come again and who will recommend you.
2. Social networks
As you are well aware, it’s the little things that count in tourism. The small things you provide along with the expected service can go a long way. In person, that can be a smile at the reception, commenting of forecasts over breakfast or sharing tips for sightseeing. In the digital world, the same effects are achieved with likes, comments or shares.
Facebook still reigns supreme. This is the most used social network and because of its wide use it allows relatively easy communication with customers. In addition to fluid communication, Facebook is an important platform to promote your content, photos and ads. Go a step further and show your customers that you know what fun is – create a 360° video and introduce the interior of your apartments, post a Live video from an event that you organized in your hotel or just post a video worth sharing and virality. You’d be surprised how strong effect a video has on the social networks.
Facebook’s sister platform Instagram is also widely used. As much as we refuse to believe it, even grown people love picture books – a visually attractive picture or a fun video are enough to grab attention, and through captions we direct the consumers towards more information.
At this link you can download Kontra’s free eBook from which you can learn why and how to use social networks in tourism.
3. Open doors day is every day
After the user discovers that your services are among the highest rated on Facebook, TripAdvisor or Foursquare, reviews your photos on Instagram and assesses that your hotel is an ideal place for a holiday, they will contact you with specific queries – either privately via email and phone, or in public through comments on the social networks.
Your role is to be available, active and accessible in real time. Talk to them, ask them for their opinion and listen to their thoughts because they are the ones that bring life into your tourism business.
4. Mobile, mobile everywhere!
Mobile traffic is overtaking desktop. Why? Because the busy and dynamic lives we lead make us use smart devices constantly.
It is estimated that the average person checks their phone about 150 times a day. They check their social networks, e-mails and possibly look at the time. A notification on Facebook? Check it immediately – via smartphone of course. Want to know the best hostel in the city? Search the Internet, usually TripAdvisor, immediately when the thought occurs – via smartphone. Most of the time users spend on social networks takes place – on smartphones.
For this reason you must adjust all your content, social and web pages to mobile users.
5. Be where everyone’s at
Due to the fact that users first get informed and investigate before they decide, it is important to stand out from the competition.
You made effort to make good content, your services are remarkable and you maintain cordial communication with customers – then there’s the inevitable need to push your quality and reach more users. To draw attention to yourself, you need to be where your (future) customers are, and that’s in the digital world.
Advertising on social networks like Facebook and Instagram takes place in a relatively subtle way, in the form of sponsored posts that look identical to other posts. This kind of advertising is efficient, but also cost-effective. Promoting on Google search engine is also not negligible – about 90% of users click on the first 3 things that they are shown after the search. Positioning in search is also affected by the quality of your content. A good blog works wonders for SEO.
Whatever you do, be consistent, be creative and be accessible – because that’s what guarantees the satisfaction of your guests.
Focus on the smaller things that will trump quantity with quality. After all, the technological novelties are not what we should be concerned about, but people and our clients.
If you wish to learn even more, visit the blog of Kontra agency.