Social Media and Marketing

In the modern world people are increasingly turning to the Internet to find information on everything, including tours, classes, and activities. If you lack a strong presence online you will not only be making it more difficult for people to find you, but you will be sending the wrong message – that their business isn’t significant to you.

It can’t be stressed enough how important it is to optimise your web presence for today’s tech-savvy consumers. If your business is not online already, this needs to change! If you are online, there are channels you should leverage to enhance your brand, get new customers, and ultimately increase sales.

Here are three simple steps to help you optimise your web strategy efficiently and inexpensively.

1. Social Media

Social media is introducing powerful new potential to communicate with both existing and potential customers. For those able to engage it best, social media will bring a bright future. Facebook is the largest social network in the world, and arguably the most important place to start. As the Internet becomes more social and Facebook pushes toward 1 billion users in 2012, you will want your business to have a presence.

Where to start?

Facebook Fan pages setup wizard

Step-by-step video on creating and managing your page

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF FACEBOOK

The Main Idea: Encourage Community Interaction

·    Share Articles and Your Opinion

Share useful articles and links to valuable resources on your wall that would interest customers and prospects. This helps to establish credibility. Ask fans questions or share neat company (or personal) insights. Facebook and social media in general can be used to infuse personality into your brand. Use this to your advantage!

·    Photos

Post photos of your service and product offerings and invite your fans to do the same. Real photos of you services are very important; it serves legitimate proof of what your company does, and gives people a sense of the experience before they get involved.

·    Offer Facebook Specific Deals

When asking consumers what would make a Facebook fan page interesting enough that they'd join it, a large majority say it is all about exclusive coupons and deals.

Don’t be worried about technical implementation with Facebook. You won’t have to set anything up. You can just utilise Facebook to promote the deal. Post information about a deal on your Facebook wall and simply tell fans to mention “Facebook discount” (or whatever you name the promotion) when they book to receive the discount.

To measure ROI, offer the deal exclusively to Facebook fans only. Don’t share it on your email newsletter or anywhere else. This is a good way to check specifically if your Facebook efforts are working.

·    Be Creative with Specialised Content

Specialised content is something unique that fans can only get on your Facebook page. Take photos during your tour, class, our activity and post to your Facebook page. Let your customers know the photos will be on there. This gives them a reason to engage with your page and “tag” themselves in the pictures. This can have a viral effect as their friends will see the picture and then possibly visit your page too.

Another idea is to include special videos on your Facebook page such as “how-to-videos”. For example, if you are a yoga instructor and post videos on how to accomplish certain poses, you start to establish yourself as a yoga expert – this can certainly lead people to book a class.

·    Promote Your Events, Invite Fans

You may find opportunities to host or sponsor events. Post information about upcoming events and any conferences, webinars or other programs where you or someone from your company will be present. If it makes sense, invite your Facebook fans to come and say hello! If you are hosting an event, it can be a great opportunity to let your fans connect with each other and build bonds.

Remember, activities in general are inherently social, and people enjoy meeting others with similar interests.

2. Optimise for Local Search

Local search is any search made with the goal of finding something within a specific geographic location. Most searches for leisure, tours, classes, and other types of activities are made with local intent – people look for an activity in a specific geographic location. These searchers may be across town or a continent away. Wherever they are, you want them to find you.

Local listings are more important than ever. Below you fill find links to get your business listed on the most popular search engines and directories.

Google

www.google.com/placesforbusiness

Yahoo

http://listings.local.yahoo.com/

Bing

http://www.bing.com/businessportal

Citysearch

http://national.citysearch.com/profile/add_business

YellowPages.com

http://listings.yellowpages.com/

Yelp

www.yelp.com

3. Accept Booking Online

With more and more people searching and booking activities online every year, it just makes sense to ready your business to accept online bookings from customers. You may think that implementing online booking is complicated and even intimidating. Fortunately, there are many booking software solutions now to choose from that make it very simple.

Some of the best in class include:

§   Rezgo

§   RAVN Tools

§   Booking Bug

§   Blue Claw

§   Bookeo

These solutions help you sell tours, activities, classes, and attractions online. They enable you to get more bookings, get paid quicker, and manage your tour, class or activity business.

A fewlisted above can even handle many of your day-to-day operations such as payment processing, scheduling and reporting.

It’s important to consider the purpose and capabilities of the booking software. A few good questions to ask:

Are the core features specifically designed for tour operators, activity providers, and class instructors, or for everyone?

Does the booking system work with schedule based, fixed, or open availability activities?

How much does the service cost per month?

What is the percentage or amount taken by the booking service from each booking?

Does the monthly fee increase based on the number of bookings?

There are many other methods you can use to expand your base and increase sales than the three outlined above, however, optimising your online presence is of the greatest importance in reaching new customers while maintaining current ones.

(Contributed by Joe Frabotta, marketing manager for RAVN, an online booking solution and marketplace for travel, tour, and activity providers).