Tag Archives: website traffic

Staying on track and ahead of the curve

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By Carrie Finley-Bajak
When it comes to social media strategy, it’s not OK to turn on cruise control: If a reset is in order, take one. Granting yourself a do-over can actually refresh stale campaigns and force you to break bad habits. Here are some ways to keep your social media marketing on track for success.
Stay focused on your goals

It’s easy to get caught up in the buzz when it comes to social media. While I enjoy learning about new trends in digital marketing, I have to remind myself to stay focused on growing my business.

Using Google Analytics, Facebook Insights and reports from social media analytics companies like Simply Measured helps me leverage data to identify opportunities and to optimize activities.

My overall goal is to use social media to get visitors to my website. Almost all of my social media updates and campaigns fit my keyword strategy, and if I am doing my job right, then promoting my brand yields a measurable increase in fans and followers and a rise in website traffic.

Besides building brand awareness and increasing a fan base, social media can be used as a tool for prospecting, lead qualification and customer service.

To get leads on social media, it takes time and a commitment to consistency. A steady stream of product announcements does not perform well on social networks. Instead, focus on showcasing expertise and experience. Use different types of content formats to capture attention.

Using supplier resources can be a time- saver and a way to get new ideas for what to post on social media.

Ken Muskat, executive vice president of sales, public relations and guest services at MSC Cruises USA and chairman of CLIA’s Trade Relations Committee, reports that MSC Cruises continues to provide the most updated promotional tools on its agent website.

Within the marketing tools section is a social media tab offering ready-made tweets and Facebook updates based on the cruise line’s latest news and promotions.

Grow with social media marketing

Social media messaging should include a robust mix of unique calls to action that drive visitors to click on links to your website, where visitors can subscribe to your mailing list or find a number to call for more information.

Make sure you have a system to monitor and track leads from social media.

Even social media-savvy agents with an established presence on social media need to keep abreast of current trends to remain relevant.

One of the key findings in the 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report published by Social Media Examiner was that marketers still value Facebook and even though a large number of respondents use Facebook, 68% want to learn more about it and 62% plan to increase Facebook activities.

If you are one of the estimated 40 million small businesses using Facebook to promote your brand and to connect with customers, fighting for attention is a constant challenge.

A lot of people are looking for creative ways to generate leads without paying for Facebook ads.

In an article posted on Forbes.com, social marketing consultant and writer Jayson DeMers wrote “50 Free Ways to Increase Your Facebook Page Likes.”

Some of the highlights from Jason’s article include the following tips:

  • Use images as a regular part of your Facebook content strategy.
  • Engage with other pages in your niche through leaving “thoughtful comments in response to other people’s posts.”
  • When leaving Facebook comments, post as your page rather than from your personal profile.

If your Facebook page has been on cruise control, go back and refresh the about section, and add relevant events and detailed descriptions to photos.

In Travel Weekly’s Focus on Social Media article, there was a great example of an agent’s Facebook page that can inspire you to revamp lackluster Facebook pages.

Jill LaBarre’s page, Jill’s Great Escapes, has incorporated all the elements that will increase the chance of getting leads. I am impressed by the “book now” call-to-action button that drives leads to her website as well as the use of custom tabs to get leads to “register to win a trip.” Jill also has leveraged the events tab to highlight her upcoming trips — three excellent examples of how to leverage Facebook.

Another Facebook feature that you might not know about is the ability to auto-schedule updates. This time-saver could be enormous help to agents who can set aside a few hours a week to schedule Facebook updates. Find out more at the Facebook Help Center.

Twitter is another social media platform that generates a lot of buzz. For travel sellers, Twitter is a good place to engage with suppliers, network with other agents and stay current on industry news.

There are ways to get leads on Twitter, but I would recommend getting comfortable with the platform before investing in Twitter ads.

I get that Twitter is not for everyone, but according to the Social Media Examiner survey, marketers indicated it as an area where survey responders planned to increase their use.

At a minimum, Twitter accounts should be established and a header image and description with a link to an agent’s website should be set up.

There are many ways to use Twitter. For example, Travel Weekly hosts a live Twitter chat every month about trending topics in travel. We use the #TWchats hashtag to promote and engage with industry insiders, including agents, suppliers and influencers.

I would suggest getting started and using the list feature to help create customized streams specific to your niche. For example, create a list of your preferred suppliers to quickly see their posts.

The advanced search feature enables users to create custom searches based on keywords and variables like location.

Best in show

These are my favorite tweets from June’s #TWchats about social media best practices within the travel industry:

Larry Pimentel admits to using social media to find “a unique luxe wellness lodge in #NewZealand called @SplitApple.” The CEO of Azamara Club Cruises added in his tweet, “Travelers loved the experience. So did I.”

Catherine Heeg: “I really like Pinterest as you can organize your photos and message boards and pins to clients.”

Seiche Wave: “A great social media campaign stimulates dialogue, attracts new followers and increases new visitors to all associated sites.”

Video

No conversation about social media marketing is complete without mention of video.

Whether an agent uses a smartphone, digital camera or expensive video recorders, we know that videos capture the attention of people on social media.

  • Anyone can set up a YouTube channel, and a lot of suppliers will give you permission to upload their content onto your agency’s branded channel.
  • Instagram has a video-sharing feature as well as Vine, which can be easily shared on Twitter.
  • Facebook allows users to directly upload video. Pinterest allows users to “pin” videos, and your website should have a blog where you can easily embed videos to leverage content.

How to get your website converting in the January sales – five top tips

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By Travolution

By Travolution

Graham Cooke, Qubit chief executive, offers his five top tips for travel companies looking to boost conversions in January

With Christmas a distant memory and the days continuing to get darker and colder many consumers start planning their get-away to warmer climes in the New Year.

So how can travel companies make the most of this opportunity and see their conversion rates truly take off? Here are my five top tips for getting your website ready for the Q1 holiday rush.

1. Create a sense of urgency

Scarcity makes us eager. We don’t want to miss out on an opportunity and we all want what we can’t have.

When it’s impressed upon people that others are looking at something they’re considering, or that there is a limited amount left, many visitors feel compelled to purchase.

Travel companies can take advantage of this by showing how long ago the most recent booking was and also how many people are looking at that particular booking at that exact moment.

Booking.com is a great example of a travel company that has seen results from doing exactly this.

When the bookings have nearly run out, booking.com targets users with an urgency message, warning customers that a room is nearly sold out and that 11 people are currently viewing it.

Not only this, they tack on a message informing visitors of the last time a room was booked. All of this information encourages customers to complete the booking as soon as possible.

2. Be more social

Social is a great way for people to share content and keep tabs on what their friends do.
Furthermore, holidays are one of the key activities that people like to share online.

Travel companies can tap into this by adding a social widget to their website so that potential customers can see who out of their friends has done what.

TripAdvisor does this very well as people can see who ate at a particular restaurant or stayed in a particular hotel.

3. Clearly demonstrate value

Everyone loves a bargain, especially in January when people are still recovering from Christmas spending.

Demonstrate excellent value for money by following Expedia’s footsteps. The company crosses out the original cost and highlights the cheaper cost if you were to book with them.

Expedia also includes a pointer emphasising that there are a limited number of tickets left at that price.

4. Personalised cross selling

It’s typical of airlines these days to want to maximise revenue by charging customers for choosing their seat and checking-in baggage.

However, where RyanAir fails, EasyJet succeeds as their cross-selling is personalised to the passenger. The experience of the upsell is therefore more pleasant and less frustrating.

5. Implement hyperlocal deals

Hyper local is the next big phase for ecommerce as it allows websites to identify where their users are coming from so that the website can deliver more targeted offers relating to a visitor’s country, city or even the local weather forecast.

In addition, travel companies can use the person’s date and location search to deliver more compelling search results.

For example, if someone starts with a date then it’s clear that they need to travel on that date. If they start with a location then maybe they’re focused on travelling to that particular destination.

A final thought…

The above tips require a combination of personalisation technologies and real-time data to ensure that you can respond quickly to a consumer’s demand by delivering dynamic updates and targeted offers in real time.

It’s all about creating a sophisticated website which really moulds itself around individual users and presents them with the best content or targeted offers as needed.

Tips for using holiday downtime

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By Carrie Finley-Bajak

Carrie Finley-BajakDuring the downtime before the new year, travel agents can improve their technology skills. Mastering technology can include figuring out how to use your smartphone or tablet or, better yet, invest some time exploring how to use social media to take advantage of current trends like context marketing.

Context marketing has been around awhile, but for some travel agents it could mean new business opportunities. The goal of context marketing is to create marketing strategies that are both personal and relevant to the consumer.

We know consumers are spending time online researching trip ideas and reading reviews about airlines, destinations, vacation packages, hotels and cruise ship vacations. In fact, in a tracking study commissioned by Google to better understand the role of travel in the lives of U.S. consumers, it was reported that 68% of the respondents began researching online before they decided where or how to travel, vs. 65% in 2012. Travel agents need to be where consumers are online early in the planning phase to offer guidance and expertise (see the “2013 Traveler” study at www.google.com/think/).

While consumers are researching online, agents can take advantage of the information they leave behind.

To get started, agents can perform searches on their clients’ and prospects’ social media accounts to gain an understanding about their audience and how they consume content for use in highly personalized marketing campaigns.

Because most travel agents lack the resources needed to retain the services of third-party consultants to help them design context marketing strategies, I have compiled a list of best practices to get you on track for success. Below, you will find suggestioins for how you can integrate context into content that drives results.

Try linking your Facebook account to TripAdvisor.• Be your own data analysis expert. Spend time analyzing and gathering demographic data about your audience. Figure out their likes, dislikes and topics that interest them. Once you have sufficient data, create targeted email campaigns or social media updates that are personal and relevant.

Savvy travel agents are learning how to use the vast amounts of user-supplied data left on social media sites like Facebook. Spend time reviewing information in your friends’ newsfeeds and discover what interests your clients and prospects who follow you on Facebook. Study their likes, dislikes and interactions with travel suppliers for context clues. This information is helpful for creating custom marketing materials to match the right travel product to the individual, which adds value and creates business opportunities.

• Take advantage of Facebook’s custom list feature, which enables users to organize Facebook friends into categories. This feature will come in handy when looking for context clues to use in future marketing campaigns.

• Another source for finding context cues is on TripAdvisor. Try linking your Facebook account to TripAdvisor. Once you have done so, log in to TripAdvisor with your Facebook credentials.

Do some destination research and pay attention to the sidebar on the right (see screenshot above), which displays recommendations from your Facebook friends. This information can come in quite handy for trend spotting and for seeing which Facebook friends are sharing on social platforms.

Knowing how to leverage context about your audience, prospects, leads and clients in your digital marketing campaigns enables travel professionals to present content in a frame of reference that is more likely to result in a response to take action.

• Research what is trending on your favorite supplier’s Facebook pages and then create Pinterest boards that reflect those trends to tell the story. Then share links to your Pinterest boards with your audience, and share your expertise about the topic. Your goal is to offer guidance that helps people learn the unique selling points regarding the products you sell.

• Be flexible and willing to adapt marketing efforts. Knowing what interests your audience online is just one piece of the context-marketing puzzle.

• Another area travel agents can focus on is metrics. Having a system in place to track conversions is necessary to determine if your marketing efforts are successful.

• Be sure to track conversions and measure your return on investment per campaign.

• Keep track of website traffic and correlate with content marketing campaigns.

Finally, use and measure traffic coming from social channels. Pinterest is great for referral traffic and with specific Product and Places pins now available, it is easier than ever to take advantage of the third largest social network.