Social Media Done Right?
This week the New Jersey Tourism Industry Association held the New Jersey Conference on Tourism meeting in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Social Media for destinations is one of the break out seminars at the conference each year. With much regret I was not able to attend this years conference. For several years as President of the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Cape May, I was fortunate to attend and always learned a great deal.
This year one of the panelists, Sheila Scarborough of the group Tourism Currents did a remote presentation titled Sensible Social Media for Destinations and Attractions. If you were not able to attend her presentation slides are available HERE. If you are on Twitter- you should definitely add these two accounts to your following list. I have only met Sheila through social media channels. By following Sheila and her organization, we have become good at what we do at the Victorian Motel with regards to social media.
.@CookeCapeMay Well, of course! You & #CapeMay were the 1st things I thought of when looking for New Jersey social examples. #NJtourism
— Sheila Scarborough (@SheilaS) March 12, 2015
One of the first slides that Sheila presented was a picture of a retired Coast Guard father on the morning of his son’s boot camp graduation.
I can only imagine what Sheila said at the presentation. It might have been something like the importance of including personal accounts of guests visits. It creates a vital sense of engagement and encourages the guest to return and possible share with others that they appeared on the Motels page.
Sheila next shared our program of updating availability of cancellations on our Facebook page.
Rather than maintaining a waiting list, we post short notice availability on our Facebook page. When people inquire about availability during peak times we suggest they like and follow our Facebook page as posting there has become a practice. It works for us.
The third slide Sheila used was an interesting one.
Again not present for the presentation, I have to believe that what the presenter liked was the amount of reach this Facebook post acquired. Each reader on this availability post mentioned someone else that they wanted to call attention to. Three different people mentioned another friend thus multiplying its viewing potential in the process.
So why share these inside “secrets” to our success when the Victorian Motel is largely full for the summer months? It makes sense to me that if we can fill all of Cape May, then it’s better for everyone.
In an earlier blog I bragged about how Cleveland Ohio did it right when it came to engaging the visitor. When I saw the presentation slides from the State Tourism Conference yesterday I felt just a little bit validated that our social media program and plan was seen as not bad. If nothing else, view Sheila’s slide presentation, follow them on twitter and do what works for you.
Drop me a comment and let me know if this blog post helps you.
*NJTIA advocates for enhanced government support for Tourism in the State by educating our elected and appointed officials on the industry, its economic benefit to the State and the role that those employed by and for the industry add to the quality of life for every citizen of NJ.
