An Introduction to Social MediaMonica Stott

@TheTravelHack

@TheTravelHack0 It’s all about me, me, me0Reasons why people are reluctant to use social media0Why should you use social media?0 Social media: Back to basics0How not to use social media0How to use your following when working with brands010 tips to increase your following0Analysing your social media channels0Bloggers who are using social media awesomely0My final top 10 tips

Monica Stott0 I’ve worked as a social media manager/specialist/executive/guru/expert for 4 years0 I began in journalism but through my blog I discovered a love for the online

community0 I was responsible for incorporating Flight Centre’s social media strategy with

marketing campaigns. I basically had to use social media to sell more flights.0 I’m now a freelance social media specialist. I help small businesses and travel

brands use social media to:1. Increase sales through promoting products2. Increase brand awareness3. Communicate with customers4. Deal with complaints

My main task is to grow their following because the larger the following, the more potential customers/readers

Why should you be using social media?

0 Attract a new audience and readers0 Drive traffic to your website0 Connect and engage with your readers0 People don’t comment like the used to – so

social networks are the best way to chat to your audience

0 You can ask your audience what they want0 Social media helps search rankings (G+)0 Highly targeted marketing0 Network with like-minded people0 Ask for advice, inspiration, support – use

social media as a resource0 Highlight your expertise0 Monitor brand awareness (Business)0 Brands want to work with bloggers with a

strong social following

Back to basics

0Make sure all your networks are the same. Same name, same picture.

0Profile Picture – Make sure it’s bold and memorable. Change it as little as possible. Make sure we can see your face. Being an individual and letting your personality shine is what makes your different to a travel brand and why brands want to work with you.

0Profile description – Descriptive but interesting0Have social media badges on the homepage of your blog –

preferably above the fold0Have sharing buttons in each post with Twitter linked to

your profile.

Reasons people don’t use social media

0 It’s time consuming0 It won’t benefit my blog0My audience aren’t on social media0 It’s complicated0 I can’t track the results0 It’s annoying0People are finding my blog anyway0Social media is just a fad0People will use it to make complaints (Business)

How NOT to use social media

0 Don’t ask – Your content should be so good that people want to share it0 Don’t play the follow and unfollow game0 Don’t overshare0 Don’t share just your own content0 Don’t share shit0 Don’t use more than 2 hashtags on Twitter0 Don’t share anything personal0 Don’t be a creeper0 Don’t bitch or moan about any brand you’re working with0 Don’t argue0 Don’t ignore your followers0 Don’t use your social media or online influence to complain0 Don’t think you’re an expert

Facebook0 Lots of people moan that their engagement and referral traffic is

low. It isn’t Facebook’s fault. It’s yours.0 To increase referral traffic you need to increase engagement. To

increase engagement you need to increase likes, comments and shares.

0 Ask questions and use great photos0 Posts with text only are actually seen by more people than photos.0 Post once-twice a day and be consistent. More than twice can be

annoying.0 Facebook advertising can be a really effective way of attracting your

initial audience.0 Guest post and make sure the site shares your content on Facebook.

Google+

0Use the communities0Share valuable content in communities and interact0Write long messages on G+ and then tweet the link0Treat it like a microblog – long updates, more details, constantly

sharing.0Be as active as you possibly can

Twitter

0More tweets = more followers0As long as what you’re sharing is interesting0Use a combination of casual conversations, links and photos.0Photos on Twitter perform well because they take up more

space in the steam.0Respond to people’s random musings and also tweet things

and ask questions that people want to respond to.0Make Twitter lists to organise your followers and get noticed0Create a list of influencers and tweet them regularly

Instagram

0 Best advice for Instagram: Post great photos. And lots of them.0 Hasgtags to use:0 Hashtags that cover your destination, activity, mood, food, weather.0 #naturelover #Beautifuldestinations #Worldplaces

#Landscape_specialist #top_landscapes #Landscapehunter #jaw_dropping_shots #Thebestshooter

0 #instatravel #mytravelgram #instapassport #bestphotographers #picoftheday

0 Great apps:0 Camera+, A Beautiful Mess, PicLab, iMotionHD, Flipagram, Qwiki0 Pictures in frames never do as well as individual images

Awesome Travel Bloggers0 Instagram – Young Adventuress – 14,0000 Posts about 3 times a day0 Every single picture is amazing0 Each picture has a separate comment with 6-10 relevant hashtags0 Great selfies – use a tripod and timer app0 Experiment with apps to create something different – iMotion HD, Qwiki, PicLab

0 Twitter – Matt from @LandLopers – 45,0000 Matt is a prolific tweeter. More tweets = more followers0 He seems to respond to every tweet0 He gets involved with Twitter chats0 He is constantly sharing other people’s content0 He shares travel news and interesting things0 If you @mention someone at the beginning of the tweet, it isn’t sent out to everyone

More awesome travel bloggers

0 Facebook – Dave and Deb from Planet D0 Proving that you can successfully schedule!0 Shareable quotes and lots of questions increase engagement0 Their engagement rate is 39.4%! Average is around 2-3% even for travel brands that invest a lot of

money in advertising.

0 Pinterest – y Travel Blog – Over 4 million! 0 Lots of images with text over them to encourage click-throughs to their website

0 G+ - Paul Dow – Over 11,000 followers

Quick tricks for social media

0Schedule 0Use Tweetdeck to set up search streams for particular

topics/favourite bloggers0 Instagram – put phone in flight mode and edit a batch

of photos0Use apps like A Beautiful Mess and PicLab to edit

photos and add text for Pinterest0Read tweets on the train and favourite the links you

want to read

How to grow your following

0 Post things people will share0 Post regularly and consistently0 Share people’s content0 Social pop-up boxes0 Consider Facebook advertising – For new likes and promoted posts0 Promote your channels via each other0 Look outside your niche - #lbloggers #bbloggers0 Consider competitions where the entry mechanism is a follow –

especially in the early stages0 Twitonomy – Detailed and visual Twitter statistics0 Pinterest – Use a business page for analytics

Curating Content

Feedly

Tweetdeck

Tools to analyse and monitor

0Tweetdeck – Set up search streams for your ‘competitors’

0Hootsuite – Run reports for your popular tweets0SocialBro – Best time to tweet, who has unfollowed

you, who doesn’t follow you back, people you follow who are inactive

0Flitter – Find relevant people to follow on Twitter0 IFTT – Automatically deliver content

How to use social media when working with brands

0Whoever you’re dealing with, that person will need to report to someone – make their job as easy as possible.

0Writing blog posts – tweet your posts0Screenshot good feedback0Use a hashtag and run a TweetReach report0Don’t underestimate the the value of your following0Offer extras – Hotel stay – Do a live Twitter chat

Final 10 tips

1. Be natural2. Be consistent and active3. Be informative and useful – give people a reason to follow

you4. Be entertaining5. Be yourself6. Be patient7. Be analytical8. Be sociable9. Don’t be everywhere10. Be ahead of the game

@TheTravelHackMonica@thetravelhack.com