Success factors in social media marketing.

What is Social Media Marketing ?

Social media marketing is a marketing answer to the internet user's behaviour change who has become in a few years the first producer of content in front of professional editors.

Social media marketing leans on participative strategies which differ from traditional practices of recommandations or traditional forms of advertisement. These new strategies put the internet user and consumer in the heart of the process and try to respond to his need in a useful and sincere way in order to make him become afterwards a purchasing advisor of a brand in his social networks or blogs for example.

The thesis and study "success factors in social media marketing - state of the art" shows that DMOs and tourism organizations still have to work on their social media marketing strategy, as it become increasingly important.

At the question Are you satisfied with your social media performance? 6 destinations out of 14 replied no.

Furthermore 5 destinations out of the 14 asked are using an experimental strategy and do not follow pre-defined strategies, they basically learn by doing. This shows the inegal success of social media marketing among tourism organizations as there are 3 different levels depending on the time invested in SMO and in which extent they call for agencies to set up strategies.

Social media controlling framework underlines that 2 data influence its succes : manageable success and external data beyond control of the management. Some tourist organizations have more knowledge about what can affect internally or externally their social media marketing.

The main success factors of social media marketing mentionned were "like" on facebook and twitter followers. Facebook is actually the first SOM platform used in front of Twitter and Youtube.

However nowadays the voice of the customer has to be taken more and more into account and companies using a strategy of social media marketing cannot take only quantitative data into account (traffic for example) but should ask customers if they are satisfied with their visit of the website, blog or page on facebook.

Online videos as a travel marketing tool for tourism organizations.

Online advertising video about my hometown Angers (France)  :


Films for Angers Loire Tourism - August 2010 /  UK version

This video has been realized by the tourist office of Angers to promote business tourism in Angers.

In my opinion, it leaves a very good impression about the city. It is very eye-catching. I think someone who watches the video and does not know the city is likely to think Angers is very much business tourism orientated city and that it is moreover quite big.

The video uses very well the assets of Angers concerning its economy (manufacturing lorries, computers companies and research in horticulture and bio technologies) as well as sustainable development. However the offer of business tourism infrastructure (convention halls, hotels...) is not very well-developed as Angers is only the 16th french city.

This example shows that online videos are a growing marketing tool for any tourism organization to promote the assets of a product, service, company, brand or place. It is much more easier for a consumer to memorize images and music than a simple text.

But consumers have to be careful. It is easy for travel and tourism organizations to make a video communicate whatever message or atmosphere they want to.

Consumers can also upload their own videos based on their travel experience ( videos realized with digital cameras for examples). These amateur videos are called user-generated videos and can be found everywhere on the web but they are mostly are the YouTube platform.

Whereas online professionnal videos are a marketing tool for tourism and hospitality organizations, user-generated videos are also very useful for them as they encourage eWOM among socials networks or other travel websites. Consumers promote themselves the destination and this is more valuable for the other consumers than the promotion of the destination by the tourism or travel organization itself. This is called viral marketing and professionals of the tourism industry lean more and more on it.

The eTourist - Focus on the use of smartphones.

A Smartphone characterizes a wireless telephone set with special computer-enabled features not previously associated with telephones. A smartphone nowadays brings together in one electronic device a laptop, digital camera, mp3 player, video camera, mobile phone and a GPS.

It is very likely that by 2011, smartphone sales will overtake PC's sales.

What is the link between tourism and smartphones ?

The main issue of all tourists when they arrive in an unfamiliar destination is to find what to do and once they decided, how to get there. A smartphone is a "perfect" tool to help tourists making decisions when they are in their consumption phase. Here is an example of a new smartphone application :

Dublin : the world's first city to provide a pointing technology-enabled smartphone application (app) http://www.eturbonews.com/18301/point-your-smartphone-building-and-get-information

 Some suppliers of the tourism industry also try to take advantage of the smartphone use increase : the hotel chain Holiday Inn thinks about making its customers use their own phones as a room-key so that they avoid stopping at the front desk. 

Holiday Inn to test smartphone as hotel-room key; some guests prefer to skip front desk http://travel.usatoday.com/hotels/post/2010/05/holiday-inn-to-test-smartphone-as-hotel-room-key-some-guests-prefer-to-skip-front-desk/93807/1

The trend of rising up smartphone use among tourists pushes tourism organizations to take it into account while making their marketing strategy.

Although smartphones represent an extraordinary step forward in new technologies, I do not feel confortable with their use. In my point of view new technologies change quicker and quicker and definitely too quick.

Although they are supposed to make communication easier between people, new technologies make it more complicated and even reduce it. Indeed, when a smartphone owner travels somewhere his first reflex is to check his phone to find his way (thanks to internet or a GPS) or to get some information whereas without it he could come to meet the local population.

Moreover some applications have been created to help the tourist, for example to find a good restaurant, just by simply taking a picture of it. In my opinion, this is going too far as taking risks is a very important part in travelling and it makes a travel experience a good one.

Photo Synth - Vienna

Pestsäule, Graben

Helden Platz