With the average social media user spending 2 hours and 25 minutes per day using social networks, travel marketers have to be savvy in the social sphere. But how do you decide where and how to spend your energy?
As with most marketing tactics, trying to be everything to everyone rarely pays off. Instead of flirting with social media users across every platform out there — and of course trendy new ones are cropping up all the time — consider which platforms are the best match for your target audience and objectives. Then, make the relationship count.
Building genuine engagement on a few platforms will pay off more than trying to maintain a presence on all of them.
Whichever platforms you decide are right for your brand, keep in mind that your social media efforts form one prong in an integrated marketing strategy. Your brand message has the best chance of reaching travel shoppers if it’s delivered consistently across channels, social and otherwise.
So, how do you know which social platform is right for you? It may take a bit of trial and error, but here are some high-level insights to help you choose among a few of the top contenders.
- Do you have must-watch videos about your brand or destination to share? Facebook is the place to do it. Facebook users watch 100 million hours of video daily, and videos and photos are the most shared content on this platform.
- Do you want to establish dialogue? Are you looking to interact with travelers and travel shoppers in real time? Then Twitter is the one for you. Try giving helpful tips, posing a question, hosting a live chat or providing answers — as promptly as possible — to customer service queries.
- Believe a picture is worth a thousand words? With more than 95 million photos/videos shared on Instagram daily, there are plenty of people out there who agree. If you’re looking to connect with digital consumers through eye-catching visual content, Instagram is the place.
- Want a platform with users who dream, discover and plan travel? Pinterest’s audience is consumer-centric — 93 percent of pinners use Pinterest to plan or make purchases. With a habit of saving and returning to pins later, they are interested in content that is inspiring as well as helpful.
Finding the right match on social media is a matter of outlining your content, objectives and understanding your target audience. Once you’ve done that, you can do more than tally numbers of fans or followers — you can build relationships that lead to meaningful brand engagement as part of an overall, integrated strategy.
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