19 Oct 2021 Business Insights

How to Get Started With Social Media in the Travel Industry

Social media offers an effective and cost-efficient way to grow your customer base. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as creating an account on one of the platforms and sitting back while new followers pour in. You need a strategy loaded with ideas that resonate with audiences.

Those followers can then be monetised to help increase your bottom line. But how do travel brands successfully navigate social media, especially if they’re just starting out? That’s what we’re here to tell you with our ideas for using social media. Read on, and find out how you can create a winning strategy for your travel brand.

Research is key 📚

Just because you can post a social media message doesn’t mean you should post one. Not straight away, at least. Like other plans of action, anyone using social media needs to research their market before jumping straight in and creating content.

You most likely formulated a business plan for your travel brand in the early stage of your company’s conception, and it’s essential that you apply the same thought process to your social media outreach. Research your audience, identify personas and discover where your target market congregates online.

Research could reveal that your audience is mostly on Instagram, as opposed to Facebook or Twitter. One of the best ways to determine this is by identifying the ages and personas of your target market and then cross-referencing them with social media networks.

For example, Facebook users are 83% women and 75% men. 62% of seniors use Facebook, which suggests its demographic is a slightly older audience than, say, Instagram, whose average is between 24 and 35.

Keep up with the latest trends 📈

Nobody wants to arrive at a party too early or too late. It’s all about timing it so that you get there during the peak period. It’s the same for social media channels and implementing the latest trends: users need to embrace trends just as they reach peak popularity.

It’s easier said than done but making sure you’re slightly ahead of the curve with your social media output can give you an edge over other travel competitors. One of the best ways to do this is by looking at the most popular social networks and reviewing the actions of the biggest brands across the travel landscape.

Whether it’s using live streams on Facebook, Instagram TV, or taking advantage of location-based marketing, the latest trends can help propel your brand’s social media outreach. You want to be seen as a thought leader and trendsetter rather than a follower.

Be consistent with your output 💻

Opening social media accounts for your travel brand is the easy part. Building an audience with engaging content is a somewhat harder task. Persistence will pay off, though, even if it feels like you’re not gaining traction, to begin with.

Failure to see instant growth should not mean that you leave your social media account to accumulate digital dust. Instead, schedule regular posts, engage with other people and travel-related online and aim to start conversations.

Regularly update your website with new content, such as blog posts about the industry and places to travel, and then share them on social media. Include images in posts: on Twitter, tweets with images get 18% more clicks 89% more likes. It might take a few months, but you will start seeing follower counts increase.

Don’t go for the hard sell ​​🚫

The majority of brands navigating social media think about one thing: selling holiday services. Looking after your bottom line is essential for revenue growth, but going straight for the hard sell on social media can end up being a costly mistake.

Using selling as the only method of communication will see you lose trust with your audience. And once that trust is gone, it’s virtually impossible to build it back up. Instead, create content that enhances your audiences’ knowledge and be a thought leader on topics. Right now, there’s still plenty of confusion over travel restrictions related to Covid, so use your platform to be an educator and make people’s lives a little bit easier.

Show value in your services by detailing how they can improve your industry. These methods are far more likely to get potential customers thinking about buying with you further down the line than a barrage of posts trying to sell your offering from the get-go.

Get your audience involved 🤝

Social media has given everyone a voice. As a result, it’s changed the way that consumers think about brands. They no longer want to buy from faceless organisations, and they also want to have their own input in the brand.

Essentially, you need to create a community where your followers feel like valued assets. One of the best ways to achieve this is by engaging with them and asking their opinions, and getting them to.

If customers feel valued, they are more likely to become brand evangelists and champion your cause. 56% of customers stay loyal to brands that understand their needs, which is why it’s vital that you make your social media channels a community where everyone has their input

Using social media to build your brand

Applying these suggestions will help your travel brand get off on the right foot in the world of social media. At first, it might seem like a tricky place to navigate. But keeping at it with creative, engaging content will prove to be a rewarding experience that sees you grow your follower count while enhancing your startup.