What You Can Learn From BP’s Mistakes

admin — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 21:01:57 +0000

Of all the lessons learned from the BP debacle, the most important was the first one BP learned. The internet is a powerful PR tool that can crush you quickly. Bad news gushed across the internet like…well, like a broken pipe. In the days, and now weeks, following the initial report, BP continued to make one bumbling decision after the next. It didn’t take long for every move that that BP made (many of them sluggish and poorly executed) to be scrutinized and commented upon by everyone who had an internet connection. BP quickly learned that they weren’t just managing an environmental disaster, they were managing a PR disaster – one they still haven’t grasped.

It’ll be years before the victims of this disaster recover, if at all. But, as we can’t unring that bell (or in this case, put the oil back in the pipe), we have to focus on what we can do to facilitate recovery for the lovely coastal towns whose beaches and reputations were stained by this disaster.

If you’ve got marketing dollars, now is the time to spend them.

Your tourism, visitor’s bureau, local or regional website needs to be addressing all the wonderful features of your town and reminding vacationers that you’re still open for business. If you’ve got local photographers, invite them to submit new photos and then get those photos out through Flickr, Facebook and Twitter.

Build a social media campaign, like this one run by the Jamestown Foundation that encourages past visitors to talk about their vacations and events. If you’ve got a YouTube channel, so much the better. Link to vacation videos that show your sparkling beaches, your lovely shops, your friendly locals and fantastic restaurants. Need some inspiration? Check out Currituck County, North Carolina. Now is an excellent time to invest in a pay-per-click campaign that helps users reconnect with your town or find you for the first time.

Family vacations, reunions, honeymoons and holidays are all still happening. Make sure these people know that good things are still happening at your place, too.

Melissa Baumann is a Search Marketing and Tourism Specialist as well as a seasoned world traveler.

Using Social Networking in Tourism Marketing: Twitter

admin — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 13:18:21 +0000

What is it?

Twitter is a social networking site that allows users to answer the question “What are you doing?” in 140 characters or less. People have the opportunity to “Follow” people from all over the world to keep up with friends, headlines or even celebrity gossip. There is no limit of how many people can you can follow, and if you no longer want to follow someone (or have someone follow you), you can turn this option off. Twitter also comes with a search box so you can search for people or ideas that interest you, and read those user updates.

Who uses it?

Twitter has a very all-inclusive group of users. News organizations post headlines, companies post updates and press releases, travel agencies post deals and packages, retail stores post discounts. On the flipside, the Average Joe and Jane can post anything about their personal life from updates about a boat he’s building in the garage, or how a new recipe was a big hit at the dinner table last night.

Benefits in Tourism Marketing

Because Twitter is so user-friendly and easily maintained, it is almost unspeakable to not have an account for your CV or tourism bureau. Adding travel aficionados (and future tourists) as friends and keeping up with their interests and wants can help you be more in-tune of what they are looking for. Also, use Twitter to keep up with your competition. Finally, if your travel agency keeps a running blog, you can “tweet” each blog entry, directing more traffic to your site, and hopefully to your destination. Tweeting travel deals, new resort features and package information are all possible ways to make Twitter work for your tourism marketing plan.

How to sign up

Twitter is as simple to register for as it is to use. Just create a user name and password, provide an e-mail address, enter a captcha and you are ready to go.

Social media optimization defines the use of new portals and sites designed to bring people of common interests together, and travel-related companies have recognized the marketing potential for such sites. At Simple Tourism, we specialize in the maintenance and development of your brand and destination via social media exposure. Social networking sites offer Internet users the opportunity to discover where to eat while on vacation, and which resorts have the best deals. These networks also provide businesses the opportunity to boost the link popularity of their main websites and draw potential subscribers to become regular visitors of their sites as well. When you sign on with Simple Tourism for our SMO package, you have the option of customizing a social media presence as it suits your business or bureau. Contact us today for a free quote.

Jessica Swink is a freelance writer specializing in articles about Social Media Optimization and SEO for travel Web sites.