The tourism industry has been combining varied marketing techniques to develop effective communication mix strategy that comprises of the type of tourism market to cater, map the traveler’s readiness to make purchase, destination development stage, and the brand’s market share & positioning. Sophisticated target groups and modern ICT environment are a serious challenge for tourism industry and it is of great importance to send the right messages through the proper media channels. According to the new information technology trends, consumers have become more adaptive and flexible, and a new consumer profile has emerged - the digital users. The new type of consumers leads to new experiences. With new technologies being developed, the main interest of tourism subsequently lies in exploring the potential of ICTs, and particularly social media networking, as strategic instruments for positive enhancement of tourism experiences.
Social media has transformed the ways to build a reliable brand. The same applies for the tourism industry, being one of the most vibrant sectors of the global economy. And social media management is the key to business success that helps to collect social shares, positive user reviews and customer satisfaction on social media. Social media impact on tourism is seen in the ways people research before going on a trip and share their travel experiences. Thus, social media has evolved the way people make decisions. People build their trust in a tourism agency based on the reviews of the others.
The rise of social media led to the development of two-way communication between agencies and customers and customers to customers. Social sharing has better the customer relation and has also attract new travellers which simple advertisements can’t.
With systematic and exponential increase in social media-based engagement in the last few years, CSM has now become a channel of choice for various governing institutions including the state tourism department. It has provided a holistic 360-degree intervention for strong social media presence to promote local tourism in the global map.
Following is the process of the social media management adopted for strong social media reach.
Process flow of Social Media Management
1. Discovery
In this stage, a clear vision of the brand positioning, the purpose of the business and target audience is defined after a discussion with the stakeholders. This further helps in setting the marketing goals to achieve.
2. Strategy
A strategic social media marketing plan is developed and discussed with the stakeholder for their approval. Every campaign of the plan gets approved before it is implemented.
3. Develop
The finalized campaign plan is briefed to the content vendor, who then starts working on it. The content is curated at two levels internally; one at the creator level and other at the editor level before it is vetted by the department.
4. Implement
After the final approval the campaign kicks off and is successfully implemented and completed.
5. Measure
The campaign is assessed & analyzed to track the performance. The editor assigns insights to the analytical reports which is shared with the department for their feedback. The feedback is noted for future reference and designing of new campaigns.
