SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTION IN TOURISM

Rohitesh Singh ChawlaTourism & Travel “B”

Tourism

Tourism, as We all know is one of the largest Service Industry that apart from providing Employment to lot of People also is a Big Economy Generator.

It is not just the largest but even the Fastest growing Industry today and that is the reason Why it attracts attention from millions of People.

Tourism is even termed as the Second Glamorous Industry Where “Professionalism” & “Keeping Promise” are the top Priorities.

Social Media

The most important need for the diverse and big society today is the Information gathering & information sharing.

Social Media helps people in getting/giving the needful information.

Social Media has the Capacity to gain attention on a large scale.

Social Media has a Deep Impact as It directly hits the Mindset of People, If Properly handled.

Role of Social Media in Tourism

Tourism Industry, Being a Glamorous Industry needs to cater a lot of Attention seekers, and this is where Social Media plays a vital role.

The reach of Social media is so wide that Today one person can publicise/spread information at a lightening speed to any part of the world.

And the information shared on social media with a wider reach has to an extent a large trustworthiness and that’s where people find it relevant and useful for themselves.

Roles Cont......

A Small Example of Social Media’s wonder is that It generates a feeling in the reader to read/use/implement the suggestion or use the information provided through the social media.

For example, If today a person wants to share his/her Holiday Experience or even Photographs, he/she can do it quite easily through social media and such shared information even generates a feeling in the audience’s mind to visit that destination or feeling the kind of experience the person would have got.

Roles Cont......

People say Social media is just a platform but actually It is more than a platform as your ability to use it defines the quantity and quality of output you can get out of it.

What is Tourism? Just an “Experience” Right!

And to attract People to feel the same experience that you or someone else experienced, social media is the intermediate which creates that curiosity among many.

Uses of Social Media

Facebook- Facebook is extensively used today to post updates, upload Holiday pictures, like, comment on other’s post, inform People about your past Experience, future plans, ask for information to Friends, Relatives & in social circle.

Twitter- Twitter keeps you updated with plans, post, tweets of friends and also We can have all the updates on their social networking activities by getting all their updates instantly.

Uses of Social Media

Social Media is not just “Society” but It Facilitates the Entire Society.

Social Media generates an awareness in people by giving them a good idea regarding Tourism & preferred Tourism services taken up by the people, as many Tourist would even go forward in writing Testimonials and all the Feedbacks, Positive or even Negative helps the reader in making his/her choices accordingly.

Social media is a boon to Tourism.

Uses of Social Media

Social Media allows the viewer to discuss the issues/services/experiences that he/she is intending to have.

And as We all know Social media and other networking sites are the best source of keeping together with all close people, friends, social circle acquaintances etc and surveys on travel destinations have always proved that People usually get their holiday plan recommendations from their Friends & Relatives or through Social Media directly.

Social Media in Tourism

Blogging always Inspires People to take up Travel.

Social Media Facilitates Real Time Interactions & Connections.

Social media can not just be used as a tool that motivates People to travel or just Awares them of the available option But it also gives people a chance to even Share their Experiences and even step forward and right How their Expectation was before such Travel and now What they feel about the place or about the Travel.

Social Media in Tourism

Social Media even by getting Customer feedback comes to know Whether the Customer was satisfied or not.

Therefore needful action can be taken as per as the feedback, Courteous Treatment with the Customer can even make your present Customers Your Lifetime Walking Advertisements.

There are so many such examples where Social Media plays a significant role Specially for Tourism.

Social Media Includes:

Social Networking site Facebook is running with the fastest growing speed in terms of content sharing & even It’s been used by many on even Professional grounds today, not just Personal Social circle & personal sharing.

People through Facebook can upload their holiday photos/videos in Real time and can get updates or comments/likes on them instantly.

They can even include details like “Place where the picture was taken”, “You’re with tag”, and even “What are you feeling” or “What’s on your Mind”

Social Media Inclusions:

Sometimes It is through Facebook that an undiscovered destination through continuous updates gets so popular or publicised that even Travel Agencies don’t require too much of Advertisements for such locations.

This happens due to Exotic Location’s Photos Updates from Friends, Family, Relatives etc on Facebook.

People are even adding their professional pages on the Facebook and utilizing such platform very well.

Social Media Inclusions:

Twitter is used extensively these days to forward update short messages, short as 140 character messages and such short messages on Twitter are known as Tweets.

Registered users on Twitter can read/write such Tweets but Unregistered users can only read such Tweets.

Any Tourism/Destination related updates/information can be shared within the word limits.

Social Media Inclusions:

A Blog writing site Qzone is again too famous as it maintains the blogs written by travellers, the photographs uploaded by them, their maintained diaries, can listen to music & can even watch videos.

Qzone was created in the year 2005 by Tencent.

It is one of the biggest and popular Social Networking site of China.

Social Media Inclusions:

Pinterest is a virtual place which is a collections of Ideas, Discoveries, Business plans & Business ideas given by People like us randomly.

It even facilitates saving, uploading, managing & sorting the pictures available and such selected contents are known as “Pins”

Meetup is one of the biggest network specially concentrated towards making a big social circle of only the “Local People” or “Local Community”

Social Media Inclusions:

Foursquare is a networking site, about which It’s number of users define the kind of popularity it holds, It has about 275000 users in just a time period of just one year.

It’s main purpose is to know exactly Where your friends are and instantly to see where you’re as compared to them.

It also gives coupons, redeeming points, badges to run and going about with your everyday work or business.

Social Media Inclusions:

Instagram is basically a mobile running application that allows users to save their preferred photos & videos and publish them on other networking sites like Facebook, Twitter etc.

Myspace, an Internet site that can also be called as the collection of Personal Profiles, specially stressed on the music contents.

All such information are known as USER GENERATED CONTENT for e.g Uploading video on YouTube.

Some Survey Reports & Percentages taken by the Internet:

A Survey about Mobile Applications say that 25-30% People use such applications to find Flight deals.

A Survey on Facebook users say that about 52% of them get influenced or were directly affected by the Photos/Travel Pictures uploaded by their Friends/Relatives for making their Travel Plans.

About 30% of People directly opt for Mobile Applications to search for Online Hotel Deals.

Survey Reports Continued:

15% of People have downloaded such Mobile Applications just to plan their upcoming vacations and the numbers are still increasing.

85% of Leisure Travellers actually use their Smartphone for any such online need while being on a Vacation.

An Amazing percentage comes out as 72% of Leisure Travellers use their Mobile Phones to Upload their content/pictures of Holiday while being on the Holiday.

Case Study of Kenya Safari & Tours

Social Media can be utilized in Presenting a Business Brand to Millions and Millions of Audiences at the same time. Social Media caters small as well as Big Corporations.

The Social Media has established itself with Web 2.0 Phenomenon Where People have turned to active producers of information from being merely a passive consumers.

Research Context

This research is about a company naming Kenya Safari & Tours of Nairobi, Where It checks the Effectiveness of Media in their Tourism Operations.

This Case study also generates ideas & Investigates the strategies that will assist the company in effectively designing the media strategies & It’s effective uses.

The above mentioned report is taken by Social engagement spectrum (Armano 2009)

Different forms of Social Media

Facebook Twitter Instagram Blog Writing Forums/Bulletin Boards Youtube like Media sharing sites Virtual Worlds Micro Blogs Social Networks & Content Communities

key social media platforms (source; virtual project consulting 2010)

Outcomes from the Case Study

Research stated that though Social Media is a new concept for Tourism Organizations to use it for their Business Purposes, But They Lately now have realized the worth of using Social Media and It is by such case studies that They’ve come to a conclusion regarding importance of Social Media usage in Tourism.

Yes, New Market Tactics & ways are new to them indeed, But They need to study the Output that they can receive out of it.

Outcomes of Case Study

The Research also stated that Such Media Usage can accomplish & overcome the Traditional Marketing.

Today more people use social media Internet for getting information for making a Tour Plan or making any kinds of Bookings online.

Such Online Communication Network has deeply impacted consumer behaviour too and it is way more convenient for those who can do such information seeking well.

Lastly, My Views

I, personally feel the Role of Social Media in any sector today, including Tourism is to a Great Extent Huge and a lot needed today.

At a time where once Human Resource was the only source of influencing Consumer behaviour, Social Media, Internet, is doing that Job pretty well and on a large scale.

The only thing required today is to spread more and more awareness for those people who still either lack the right way of looking for or searching for the required information or still don’t know the right way of using media/internet wisely.

The Other View Point

There has to be boundaries for the extent of role the Media plays and to what Extent the Human Resource plays it’s role as Humanistic Value too is very Important When it comes to Service Industry specially Tourism Which Comprises of Selling the Intangibles and keeping & Delivering the Promises and Satisfying Customer by some unforgettable Services and Experiences.

“Social Media is a Platform on which Tourism can present It’s Best Show”

THANK YOU