how can holiday park get the most out of social media
DESCRIPTION
A short presentation for BH&HPA Scotland AGM that looks at how Holiday Parks can take advantage of Social Media. How Twitter, Facebook, Review sites can be used to build a community around a Holiday Park.TRANSCRIPT
Social Media and how Parks can benefit from it
David Lakins
www.keymultimedia.co.uk/seminars
Follow me: twitter.com/davidlakins
About Key Multimedia
• Founded in 2007
• Based in Poundbury, Dorchester, Dorset
• Online marketing and website performance
• Social networking – Twitter & Facebook• Search engine optimisation• Article marketing• Blog Posting• Writing Content
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How The Internet Is Changing
• The Internet has become an interactive, two-way communication tool
• People are connecting with lots of different devices
• Consumers are using the Internet to gather information before they make purchasing decisions
Future is Mobile
4
The Future is Mobile
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3G or WiFi means almost permanent connectivity to the web.
Users can share news, photos and video clips quickly without having to move to another device or PC
GPS Handsets enables location-based content
The Future is Mobile
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Mobile & tablet applications provide new interactive ways of accessing holiday information
Key Challenges for Parks
• How to reach as many potential customers as possible?
• How to build long lasting relationships with Park customers?
• How to use technology to connect with your customers – before they arrive on your Park and whilst they are there!
• How to add value online and create an online experience that is both engaging and functional?
What is Social Media?
• What else?
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What is Social Media?
• All interactive content on the Internet
• Blogs
• Forums / Message Boards
• eNewsletters
• Flickr
• YouTube
• Reviews Sites
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Uses of Social Media?
• Learn what people are saying about your Park
• Create buzz for Park events & campaigns
• Increase brand exposure
• Identify and recruite influencers to spread your message
• Find new opportunities and customers
• Support your products and services
• Improve your search engine visibility
• Gain competitive intelligence
• Get your message out fast
• Retain clients & establish a personal relationship
Disadvantages of Social Media?
• Time consuming
• Resource hungry
• Negative feedback
• Losing control of your message
Establishing a Social Media Foundation
• Listen
• Learn
• Engage & Share
• Ultimate Goal:
Build a community around your Park
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LISTEN
• Absorbing what is happening in your industry
• Listening to the chatter about your products and services
• What are customers saying about your competitors?
LISTEN
LEARN
• Finding people
• Ranking influencers
• Finding conversations,
themes
• Planning when to act and
what to say
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Monitoring Twitter Conversations
• Identifying Connections - http://mentionmapp.com
• Explore connections via Twitter usernames• Identify influencers
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Google Alerts
• One of the easiest method for tracking keywords
• Set it up for automatic delivery
• http://www.google.com/alerts
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Engage
• Encourage Conversations
• Review sites - TripAdvisor
• Discussion Forums
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Using Twitter
• Small 140-character blips of communication known as “tweets”.
• Follow others to see their tweets – your followers see your messages
• Use twitter to promote activities on your Park, PR, share content and follow others
• Give your Park a voice and develop your community
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Using Twitter Effectively
• How many of your followers are you actively engaged with?
• How often are you talking with them (not to them)?
• Twitter @ are a giveaway
• Twitter is one of the best customer service tools
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Using Twitter Effectively
• How many of your followers are you actively engaged with?
• How often are you talking with them (not to them)?
• Twitter @ are a giveaway
• Twitter is one of the best customer service tools
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Engage Using Review Sites
• Holidaymakers are increasingly engaging with social media
• Parks have a great opportunity to adapt online presence to allow customers to engage with them
• Use that dialogue to evolve the offer and exceed the expectations of today’s web-savvy customer
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Trip Advisor
• Take ownership & encourage reviews
• Respond to reviews – only 4% of owners everrespond to TripAdvisorreviews
• Claim your review page
• Add Trip Advisor widgets to your website
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Build a Community
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Facebook Pages
• Build your community with a Facebook page
• Post photos, videos, events and other messages.
• Interact with your customers
• Encourage Likes
• Participate in discussions
• Post photos to your page
• Create a Review tab
• Fans will share your content in their Facebook feeds
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Time Saving Tips
• It’s not about sitting in front of Twitter & Facebook all day waiting for messages
• Use tools such as Hootsuite and Tweetdeck to manage your messages & monitor keywords
• Schedule SOME of your tweets & Facebook messages
• Allocate a set amount of time daily to update your account
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Making the Most of Social Media
• The real cost of social networking is your TIME
• The more time you invest, the more results you will see
• Build a following, identify people who are “influencers”
• Create ways for people to participate & “give a little”
• Be in the right places (TripAdvisor) with the right content; feed content to other sites
• Keep it fresh, updated and be responsive
Social Media and how Parks can benefit from it
David Lakins
www.keymultimedia.co.uk/seminars
Follow me: twitter.com/davidlakins