Tourism Marketing for small businesses Chapter 10 Digital and Social Media in Tourism

Chapter learning aims To enhance your understanding of: the influence of digital and social media in tourism how travellers are using digital and social media opportunities for small businesses to use digital and social media

Key terms Digital media Media content such as text, photos, graphics, audio and video, which are encoded into machine readable formats (digitised), and able to be transferred to other devices, sent across the internet, and used across a business’ various online promotional platforms. Web 2.0 The internet platform facilitating content and applications to be continuously modified by all users in a collaborative way. Social media The activities of virtual communities who share information, knowledge and opinions, using Web-based applications that enable ease of creating and modifying content.

Digital and social media The opportunity to digitise media content has transformed the way in which small tourism businesses’ promotional material can be made available across different internet-based platforms. Over half of the world’s population are internet users, and we are now witnessing the most technologically savvy consumers in history. The emergence of Web 2.0 in 2004 enabled co-creation of content on social media, which has democratised the internet. User-generated content (UGC) on social media, related to tourism, has reached levels that now swamp the marketing communications of the global travel industry.

Table 10.1 – World internet users 2017   Internet users Dec 2000 (Millions) June 2017 Penetration of population Growth 2000-2017 Asia 114,304 1,938,076 46.7% 1,595% Europe 105,096 659,634 80.2% 528% Latin America/ Caribbean 18,069 404,269 62.4% 2,137% Africa 4,514 388,376 31.2% 8,501% North America 108,096 320,059 88.1% 8% Middle East 3,284 146,972 58.7% 4,374% Oceania/ Australia 7,620 28,180 69.6% 1% World Total 360,985 3,885,567 51.7% 976%

Consumer-traveller power http://www.untied.com/ For complaints about United Airlines http://www.airlinequality.com/main/forum.htm Reviews on airlines and airports http://www.tripadvisor.com/ Post a trip review or question www.expedia.com Read travellers’ reviews

Tourism industry forced to adapt quickly Source: Pike (2016) The internet has emerged as a dominant medium for travel bookings, both through travel trade intermediaries and through disintermediation  Many travel situations involve high levels of information seeking in the planning stages, with the internet a primary source Tourism offerings are mostly intangible services with many types of risk, and UGC is regarded as credible form of word of mouth advice Increasing influence of travellers’ online reviews of destinations and tourism services

Tourism industry forced to adapt quickly Source: Pike (2016) Increasing use of mobile social media applications and portable navigation devices (PND) during travel Increasing free Wi-Fi available for visitors and residents at destinations High levels of brag value UGC in virtual social networks during travel Unlike any other brand category, travellers are spoilt by choice of an almost unlimited number of destinations with an online presence

Digital and social media For small tourism businesses, digital and social media offer the benefits of lower costs and greater efficiency than traditional marketing approaches Digitised content can be used across different promotional platforms Opportunities to enhance the visitor experience and relationships with customers. The need to have a plan for engaging with consumers online. What is required is a clear focus on social engagement, rather than simply media placement.

How travellers are using digital and social media Travel planning Majority of travellers now using online information sources Increasing levels of online bookings High credibility of social media recommendations versus traditional advertising

How travellers are using social and digital media During travel Onward planning and information seeking Staying in touch with friends Sharing experiences Providing guest reviews Travel blogs and journals Online dating Many deviate from original plans while travelling

How travellers are using digital and social media After travel Sharing information about holiday experiences Guest reviews on community sites such as TripAdvisor With friends on Facebook

Outsourcing digitisation and placement of media Opportunities for small businesses to try to engage with travellers at each stage Small businesses often lack resources to stay up to date with changing technologies The key is to focus on developing clear and manageable objectives, rather than trying to stay technically proficient. It can be efficient to outsource digitisation and placement of media, much in the way as for accounting services

Ten laws of social media marketing 1 Listen Learn how your customers and target consumers engage with social media type, and understand what is important to them 2 Focus Focus on the social media of most relevance to the business, rather than attempt a presence on everything 3 Quality Connect and engage with a small group of influential customers, rather than try to reach everyone 4 Patience Ensure you make a long term commitment to the strategy 5 Compounding Consumers share quality content, which will virally increase the reach 6 Influence Identify those customers and target consumers who have the greatest influence in virtual communities 7 Value Followers will value your content if it is interesting and trustworthy 8 Acknowledgement Acknowledge those customers and consumers who reach out to establish a relationship with you 9 Accessibility Always be available to respond to your followers 10 Reciprocity Share content that has been published by others in your network

Website CSFs Minimalism Responsive design Modular design High quality images Updated content Call to action

Using digital and social media to enhance the customer experience ‘Click and collect’ service on website Eg admission tick to avoid queues Digital digging Many people post a lot of public information online A little searching can find clues to enable a tailor-made treat for the guest Supplying experiential devices See Case 10.1 - MONA

Engaging with influencers Online there can be a blurring between what is an organic image agent (eg word of mouth from friends, media editorial) and what is an induced source (eg advertising) Paid celebrity endorsements have influence on followers An influencer is anyone who wields “the ability to cause or contribute to another person taking action or changing opinion/behaviour” (WOMMA, 2017, p. 7). Influencer marketing is identifying and engaging influencers to share information with their network, to achieve a business objective. Most consumers trust recommendations from other consumers they respect and admire, over advertisements or content published by a business.

Engaging with influencers Small businesses have opportunities to engage with local micro-influencers Eg bloggers, instagrammers and YouTubers with 1,000 to 10,00o followers Micro-influencers drive 87% of posting volume for hotels, bars and restaurants (see Hootsuite, 2017) Micro-influencers are easier to contact, require less compensation, and are more amenable to a partnership Also, opportunities to recruit customers as influencers, by asking for online reviews and sharing of their experience

Social media platforms Most popular platforms used by businesses :Facebook (94%), Twitter (68%), LinkedIn (56%), Instagram (54%), YouTube (45%), Pinterest (30%), and Snapchat (7%) Maximise engagement by using the following mix of posts: 30% about the business (eg What makes the business special?) 30% educational (eg local events, local hidden treasures) 30% entertaining or inspirational And only 10% sales oriented (eg special offers with a sense of urgency)

Discussion questions What are some of the key reasons why most small tourism businesses shouldn’t ignore the need to engage with consumers through digital and social media? Why can it be a more efficient use of resources for a small tourism business to outsource digital and social media technical expertise? What are two key ways in which satisfied customers could be recruited as online influencers for a small tourism business?