I first wrote this for the Xola Blog – and I’m republishing it here.
Clearly, Facebook has people’s attention. Consider this:
- According to Alex Trimp, 1 in every 13 people in the world is on Facebook;
- 71.2% of the U.S. web audience is on Facebook;
- 30% of Facebook is older than 35;
- In the U.S., Facebook drives more traffic to websites than Google.
People of all ages and all nationalities are spending more and more time on Facebook and less time on other sites ( the New York times recently commented on the death of blogging). Marketers from all sectors have noticed this and are seeking to engage with their consumers in places where they are already active on a daily basis – such as Facebook. Major product brands are becoming increasinglycreative and innovative in developing their Facebook pages – creating new applications, competitions and functionalities to engage their “fans.”
However imperative, this task is a bit more complicated for tourism destinations because the clients they need to attract – potential visitors – historically only remain engaged as long as their trip planning phase. Once they’ve taken their trip – they have no reason to spend time on a destinations Facebook page.
One way that tourism destinations are learning to cope with this is to to first engage with their residents. They do this by appealing to a sense of local pride and desire to share. Residents will always be interested in relevant, timely news on their place, and their knowledge can be leveraged to offer authentic interaction to potential visitors. Facebook users, like adventure tourists want to feel like they are discovering something new and authentic.
There seem to be a few key success factors for branded Facebook pages. One needs to immediately create a clear and engaging front page that gives users a reason to “like,” the brand. The most exciting Facebook pages are those that have developed custom functionalities and finally marketers need to work to engage users, by asking, surveying, quizzing etc. But these checkboxes are insufficient for tourism destinations – whose target market is unlikely to stay engaged for a sustained period.
We propose 3 key rules for adventure tourism destination Facebook pages:
1. Engage Residents first, and promote interaction between residents and potential visitors
Sydney, Australia is run by Tourism New South Wales, but engages mainly with residents by asking questions such as “How was your weekend, Syndeysiders?” or “What’s the best suburb in Sydney?”
They regularly get over 200 people liking posts and 50 people commenting. The custom tab “Sydnicity,” is more directed to tourists. This tab explains the different facets of Sydney (Adventure, Culture, Icons etc.) and provides information clearly directed to prospective tourists.
I Love New York – one of the oldest tourism brands (unchanged since 1977) has a strong Facebook presence with two custom tabs. The first encourages users to join “Team I love NY,” by liking the destination page. Members of the team create and provide information useful to the “I Love NY” community. The second tab allows users to take a quiz about New York – successful quiz takers have the opportunity to win a prize.
Pure Michigan, one of the first destinations to pay a consulting firm to create a Facebook strategy, has an excellent landing page, which is clear and engaging. Pure Michigan has nearly 200,000 fans, more than NY and Vegas. George Zimmerman, Vice-President of Travel Michigan, has noted that their Facebook strategy has made a difference in their marketing success “As summer travel takes wind, our fans are sharing their favorite vacation spots and experiences, which we believe helps influence interest and travel decision making in Michigan’s favor.” Survey results showed that nearly three quarters of the Pure Michigan Facebook fans learned about places and activities in Michigan they did not know about. In addition, a third of those fans were inspired to travel to or within Michigan after reading the posts.
2. Provide exclusive offers to Facebook users (competitions’, opportunities for recognition, discounts.)
Love UK is a page for people “living here, visiting here, wanna visit here, leaving here (don’t go!) or none of the above.” Nevertheless, it is run by the national tourism agency, Visit Britain . The page currently opens with a competition called “Unite the Invite.” They are giving away half a trip to Britain – each person who enters receives the profile picture of another entrant, and through Facebook they have to track down their partner. The first pair to do this successfully wins the trip.
Visit Colorado’s Facebook page is tantamount to a destination site but offers “hot deals,” and special offers from partners such as Orbitz and South West.
3. Know why people want to visit your place, and create custom tabs to facilitate their finding the information they are seeking:
Typically, Facebook pages are in only one language – but MySwitzerlandposts in four. Their general approach is simple and focused: their custom Tab “Snow Report,” addresses the question that most tourists to Switzerland want to know about: snow!
Vegas immediately offers users the opportunity to plan their trip – perhaps capitalizing on the high number of people who plan Vegas on a whim. They also communicate their brand effectively with strong images and easy messaging: “Vegas Moves Fast, Stay in the Know.”
You’ll notice that all these sites are linked to rich media, through Flickr and YouTube, and while most provide easy links to the destination homepage – users are able to get most information without ever leaving Facebook.
Do you know of any tourism destinations using Facebook in an innovative way? Leave a comment and let us know.
