tourism ireland

Social Media Experiences

Hotel Website Marketing Conference24th November 2009

Presented by Brian Harte

Head of Customer Engagement and eMarketingTourism Ireland

Tourism Ireland’s RoleResponsible for marketing the island of Ireland overseas as a holiday destination“ ”

41 Websites – 19 Languages12 m visits64 m page views2 m referrals

+28% vs 2008

Importance of OnlineOnline Advertising: all standard

formats (banners, skys, MPUs), rich media

Partnership Media Promotions: joint campaigns e.g. Lastminute, Expedia, Tripadvisor

Email Marketing: TI database, cold data, media partner databases

Search Engine Marketing: over €700,000 invested in 09, 2,000+ key search terms

27% of 2010 marketing spend online

Social Media: Tourism Ireland’s Perspective Here to stay Important Long-term

engagement

Our Social Media Strategy

1. Social Media Capability2. “Platform” presence on key media3. Social Media Campaign Component4. Online PR5. Customer Service6. Promote internal skills & knowledge

Social Media ApproachProcess: Use existing providers

& staff plus projects co-ordinator

Applications: Build appropriate apps & deploy

Amplification: calls to action, PR & publicity, advertising

Activities to Date

• Social marketing ‘toe-dip’– Facebook, WAYN, Youtube, Flickr, Blog

• Market campaigns– Facebook, Twitter, Hyves, MySpace– Mixed success

• Formal Start of Activities– Central & market Twitter streams– Central & market Facebook pages– Market-specific Media

# Hashtags

#irelandoffer

Lessons Learned

…not just for Christmas

Lessons Learned• Be wary

– Difficult to Manage– Very time consuming– Hasn’t yet been proven in delivering sales– “sales as a side effect”– Objective setting & measurement challenging

• Needs…– Process– Consistency– To be appropriate to the medium

• What works?– Personal approach, images, incentives, service

Recommendations• Engage with Trip Advisor & other review sites• Monitor & listen to main social media

– Particularly Facebook, Twitter, travel boards• Contribute

– For example, let Tourism Ireland amplify, tweet at us, use #IrelandOffer

– Talk to our users, interact on our Facebook pages• Start your own

– But be careful, do it sustainably– Remember it’s a network, so interact to amplify – Maintain personal contact & incentivise with offers

Get Involved -Tourism Ireland’s Industry Opportunities

• Ensure your record in Fáilte Ireland/ NITB databases is up to date

• Provide offers to Fáilte Ireland/ NITB to be used on discoverireland.com

• Stand out through good offers, not necessarily the lowest price

• Visit www.tourismirelandindustryopportunities.com

Thank You

bharte@tourismireland.com