Social media platforms allow you to create inspirational and creative content that captures the attention of potential consumers. They allow your business to engage directly with new and existing consumers from across the globe. As the tourism industry generally depends on visual experience to inspire consumers, it is essential that you are creating captivating content.
Content Creation
When we look at what our content needs to do through the eyes of our visitors, there are key principles that should guide content creation:
- Make it engaging.
- Make it different.
- Make it experiential.
- Make it achievable.
- Make it shareable.
- Make it human.
- Make it fun, bold and spirited.
Most people look at their social newsfeed to get updates from family and friends, so the content that we post needs to be able to compete with that, and not appear to be too commercial. In a nutshell, we’re looking for the most eye-catching content to grab the attention our followers and get them talking about it.
Content Inspiration
Align your content to our Annual Content Calendar. At Visit Jersey we have looked at what our best prospect audiences want to be reading about and when, and we have put this together in a handy document for you. This reflects the themes that we will be serving up in social, email and on our website. Align your messaging with ours to make sure we’re delivering compelling social content together to make our voices shout louder.
Amplify your Facebook profile
With approximately 3 billion active users on Facebook, it is key for businesses of all sizes to have a presence on social media. Creating a Facebook Business page is a free and effective marketing tool with the potential to reach large and diverse audiences, if utilised correctly. The versatile platform allows you to:
- Showcase your products and services.
- Engage directly with new and existing customers.
- Run targeted ads to reach the people you know are right for you.
- Gain valuable insight into the analytics and demographics of consumers, along with highlighting other key organisational information.
Make the most of your Facebook
- Define a manageable content calendar – make it topical and current.
- Use a strong call to action e.g ‘book now’, ‘find out more’.
- Produce engaging and concise copy.
- Use captivating imagery and video. As of June 2022, video makes up 50% of the tie users spend on Facebook.
- Share existing content on your website.
- Engage with consumers by liking their comments or responding to them and encourage users to engage with your post e.g., ‘tag who you’d like to share this view with’.
- Know your target audience and run targeted advertising.
- Tell a story and avoid sales focused posts.
- Tag @visitjerseyci so we can share your content and keep aware of news and updates.
Amplify your Instagram profile
- Utilise imagery from the Visit Jersey Media Library and content from jersey.com to promote the island with a consistent look and feel.
- Don’t just think about the individual posts, also think about your grid, how does it look when someone visits your profile for the first time? What image or personality does it present?
- Get outside – highlight Jersey, not just your business.
- Add the location to your posts to show where your business is, and showcase beautiful areas of the island. This also helps you show up in location searches.
- Use hashtags related to your business and industry – this will help your target audience discover you.
- Engage with your followers – reply to their comments, direct messages and related posts.
- Utilise Instagram stories and go live to show your personality. Try polls and use interactive stickers to build engagement.
- Make the most of reels using short form video and trending music tracks. Instagram says that over 45% of accounts now interact with a Reel in the app at least once a week. They can be a great way to be discovered by people who don’t already follow your account.
- Know your target audience and run targeted advertising.
- Tag @visitjerseyci so we can share your content and keep aware of news and updates.
Utilise popular hashtags and hashtags relevant to your industry to reach the right audience:
#JerseyCI #theislandbreak #instatravel #beautifuldestinations #wanderlust #travel #escape #instaexplore #travelgram #food #finedining #seafood #seasonal #beachcafé #minibreak #weekendaway #hotel #getaway #boutique #shopping #local #retailtherapy #activity #getoutside #watersports #adventure
TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor is undoubtedly one of the most influential review platforms available on the internet, with approximately 490 million unique users monthly, according to a report published by TripAdvisor in 2019. Having a business profile is vital for gaining visibility in an increasingly competitive market, and it allows potential consumers to gain an honest insight into your organisation.
Using Tripadvisor Effectively
TripAdvisor is a cost effective and direct method of promoting word-of-mouth marketing, engaging with customer reviews, both good and bad and allowing your business to form brand identity and loyalty. Salesforce identified that 69% of consumers make purchase decisions based on the quality of customer experience. Therefore, it is essential that you maintain a sense of community by engaging with consumers.
Your TripAdvisor ranking is influenced by a number of factors; the frequency, the quality and the quantity of reviews. For your business to improve its ranking, you need to ensure that you are receiving regular reviews that reflect an honest account of their experience. So don’t be afraid to reach out to your consumers and ask them to leave a comment, it all helps when it comes to scoring high in the rankings.
Top tips for using Tripadvisor
- Regularly update your profile, adding inbound links and providing new organic content improves your visibility and SEO ranking.
- Share captivating content that best showcases your company. Use engaging imagery that draws attention.
- Customer reviews inspire operational improvement, identify your operational strengths, weaknesses or gaps and address them accordingly.
- Be transparent with your consumers, don’t undersell or overpromise, your reviews will speak for themselves.