Saturday, April 1, 2023, marked my three-year freelanciversary. After more than 15 years of working full-time for agencies and brands, it’s been a joy living out my dream of being a digital marketing consultant for travel destinations and tourism partners.
When I’m not managing digital advertising campaigns and developing social media strategies, I’m daydreaming about my next destination – usually inspired by a current project. Fancy a trip to the South Pacific?
In honor of this anniversary, I’m sharing three common questions that my tourism marketing clients ask me.
Am I Doing Social Media Right?
Social media is one of the most channeling digital mediums. With multiple channels that are constantly changing it can sometimes feel like a game of whac-a-mole. Because people use each channel differently comparing key performance indicators (KPIs) can make measuring performance even more daunting.
My Recommendation for Measuring Social Media KPIs
Here are two key steps I recommend for measuring the success of your social media content:
- Identify (realistic) social media goals and their correlating KPIs
- Audit your social media channels and benchmark KPIs for each platform
Once you’ve identified your KPI benchmarks, compare them to travel and tourism industry benchmarks. This will give you a good idea of social media content that is performing well and areas of opportunity.
Should I Be On TikTok?
TikTok entered the social media world and has successfully disrupted platform giants like Facebook and Instagram. Facebook is still the number one most popular social media platform based on active users, according to Statista’s January 2023 report.
However, TikTok has received a strong adoption rate, with its auto-on feed and savvy algorithm. It’s no surprise they average 30.8 million daily active global users. TikTok is especially loved by Generation Z, people born between 1997 and 2012. Sixty percent of TikTok’s global users are between the ages of 16 and 24 years old, according to Statista.
My Recommendation for TikTok
If your target audience skews younger or you want to build awareness among that demographic, I recommend that after you finish reading this blog post, you go and create a TikTok account for your destination, company or brand.
If your target audience skews 40 and above, I would keep an active eye on TikTok and platform trends. I especially love Later’s TikTok blog which includes highlights on weekly audio trends. Once you have the bandwidth to create content for an additional platform, develop a TikTok strategy and start testing content.
As we wait to hear TikTok’s fate in the United States and other countries, one thing is for certain – short-form video content is here to stay. Even if you’re not on TikTok yet or don’t plan to join the platform in 2023, develop a content strategy for a short-form video. And at the bare minimum, begin posting at least one Instagram Reel per week.
How Do I Measure Conversions?
Measuring conversions can be especially difficult for destination management organizations (DMOs) and national tourism offices (NTOs).
While there are several phenomenal tools to measure visits and lodging bookings (stay tuned for a future blog post on that!), for DMOs or NTOs with mid-sized or smaller budgets, those tools aren’t usually a cost-effective option.
My Recommendation for Conversions
My recommendation to measure conversions, especially for destinations, starts with identifying the actions that visitors take right before they are most likely to book their trip.
Example conversions can include:
- Downloading or interacting with a sample itinerary
- Clicks on ‘Book Now’ buttons
- Newsletter subscriptions
As you measure metrics on your digital channels, compare that data to monthly or annual booking or visitor stats for your destination. Although you can’t directly attribute actions on your website or social media channels, you should see a correlation between digital activity and downstream metrics.
Have a question I didn’t answer? Or an additional thought to share? Comment below or drop me a line, I’d love to connect.
