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Twitter for Tourism

By Ayngelina Brogan, Michael Hodson May 12, 2014

+Find Us

@Ayngelina  @GoSeeWrite  

+Why Twitter?

n 52%  of  travelers  use  social  media  for  vaca;on  inspira;on.  

n Travelers  love  to  tweet,  when  on  the  road  38%  of  tweets  are  ques;ons  related  to  travel    

n 26%  of  tweets  seek  advice  about  purchase,  i.e.  best  hotel,  prices  etc  

n When  customers  are  unhappy,  they  are  likely  to  tweet  about  it  first  

+7 Rules for Twitter Success

1.  Establish  your  objec;ve:  n Build  brand  or  generate  leads?  

2.  Tweet  like  a  person,  not  a  company.  3.  Keep  it  short.  You  have  140  characters  but  leave  room  for  

people  to  share.  n Although  it’s  in  a  140  character  world,  studies  show  photos  and  videos  are  most  shared  

4.  Share  more  about  others  than  yourself.    5.  Engage  daily  with  the  community  6.  Consider  different  ;me  zones.  7.  Schedule!  

+Who’s on Twitter

n 340  million  tweets  daily.  

n Unlike  Facebook  your  mother  is  probably  not  on  Twi[er.  

n Users  tend  to  be  content  creators,  small  business  owners,  heavy  digital  users.  

n  It’s  where  people  with  similar  interests  meet.    

n  It’s  a  conversa;on  not  a  means  for  adver;sement.  It’s  a  long-­‐term  so^  sell.  

 

Your  region  may  not  use  Twi3er  but  does  your  customer?  

+Confused About Hashtags?

n Twi[er  chats:  #MexChat  n Events:  #MauiAgFest  n Long-­‐term:  #InCostaBrava  

They  also  help  people  find  you.  Try  searching  your  name  with  a  hashtag  to  see  if  people  are  talking  about  you.    Want  to  create  your  own  hashtag  n Check  if  it’s  already  being  used  n Make  it  short    n Does  it  work  in  a  sentence?    n Do  not  hashtag  your  business  name  in  your  own  tweets  n Do  not  include  more  than  2  hashtags  per  tweet.  

+What About the Jargon?

RT  Retweet:  when  someone  shares  another  tweet.    MT  Modified  Tweet:  essence  of  tweet  remains  but  it  was  shortened  to  fit  140  characters.    Quote  Similar  to  a  RT,  allows  you  to  quote  another  tweet.    Favourite  Passive  way  to  acknowledge  someone’s  tweet  or  save  it  for  later.    DM  Direct  message.  You  can  speak  to  someone  privately,  remember  not  everyone  wants  to  see  your  conversa;on.  

+What should you tweet?

New?  Listen  first.  See  how  people  are  interac;ng,  what          is  interes;ng  and  what  just  seems  like  an  adver;sement.  

n Regional  news,  are  there  any  fes;vals?  

n Tweets  from  community  businesses  

n Industry  news  (i.e.  food  or  adventure)  

n Photos!  Today’s  sunrise,  lunch,  interes;ng  architecture  

n Happy  customers,  product  experiences  in  real  ;me  

n Respond  to  tweets  and  engage  with  followers,  retweet  compliments  and  respond  to  cri;cism  

+And these millions of impressions?

Twitter is much like a newspaper. Although a paper claims to have 100,000 in circulation it doesn’t mean 100,000 people read your ad.

This is more true with Twitter as the life of a tweet is less than 10 seconds.

While people like to report campaigns with millions of impressions it is a bit of a false number as there is no way to guarantee who read a tweet.

Instead look at social sharing and click through rates.

+Organize Now for Later Success

n Download  so^ware:  HootSuite  or  Tweetdeck  to  schedule  tweets:  know  your  customer’s  ;mezone.  Create  columns  for  relevant  hashtags.  

n Set  up  alerts.  Know  when  people  are  twee;ng  you.  

n Create  lists,  managing  different  types  of  customers  and  community.  

n Make  it  easy  for  people  to  find  your  Twi[er  handle    

DO  NOT  automate  Twi[er  to  Facebook  or  vice  versa.  

+Or you end up with this

+

+Who to start following?

n Partners  in  your  community.  

n Your  compe;tors.  

n People  who  follow  your  community  and  compe;tors.  

n People  who  follow  you,  if  they  are  legi;mate.  

n People  on  relevant  hashtags  

n People  who  engage  with  you.  

Pro-­‐Bp:  It’s  poor  e;que[e  to  ask  someone  to  retweet  your  tweets  or  follow  you  back.  You  must  earn  this.  

+Great Twitter Accounts

+@Sweden: The Local Experience

In  2011  @Sweden  launched  a  high-­‐profile  and  controversial  Twi[er      campaign.  They  gave  the  account  to  a  different  Swede  each  week.  The      tweets  were  completely  spontaneous  and  uncensored,  to  provide  an  authen;c,  entertaining  look  at  Sweden.    

Success  but  also  controversial  as  @Sweden  needed  to  apologize  a^er  one  par;cipant  posted  a  series  of  racist  comments  and  another  posted  odd  and  nonsensical  tweets.  

Despite  bumps  n  the  road  the  account  now  has  over  70,000  followers  and  inspired  imita;ons  @denmarktweets  and  @Netherlanders  

 What  you  can  learn:  n  Be  fun.  Don’t  take  yourself  too  seriously.  It’s  ok  to  make  mistakes.    n  Share  insider  experiences.  What  is  it  like  to  be  a  local?  n Would  you  give  your  Twi[er  account  to  a  customer?  

+Bahamas: Encourage Conversation

+Visit Philly – Be the expert

Philadelphia extends its Brotherly Love to Twitter.

The @VisitPhilly handle tweets out exclusive cyber deals on hotels and events to keep its visitors in the know.

As for the city’s local fan base (like Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly), @VisitPhilly is known to send love letters via TwitPic.

+Monitor Success

n  Many sites like Buffer App Tool help you track which tweets are most shared and clicked on so you can refine content sharing.

n  Software such as TweetReach allows you to track the success of a hashtag, its total impressions and who are the biggest participants.

+Questions?

Ayngelina Brogan: @Ayngelina

Michael Hodson: @GoSeeWrite