FACT: 36% of UK consumers use some kind of social media to research locations, hotels, airlines and other purchases or decisions before booking their holiday.
When it comes to visiting a place, people’s decisions are guided by others’ experiences, whether good or bad. Increasingly, people are using social media to share these experiences – influencing many more potential visitors than a few family and friends.
Millions of individuals use social media every day, making it a very powerful tool for your business. It is quick and easy to build up relationships with your current and new customers and showcase the experiences you offer, and it is often free or low cost.
To maximise the opportunity this presents, you need to think about who your target audience is, what you want to convey and how much resource you can allocate.
It is often impossible for a small business to be active across all social media platforms, so choose what works well for you and your customers.
Be careful – high numbers of followers does not always mean a great, rewarding reach. It’s about engagement.
What tools can you use?
There are a great number of social media sites available to businesses, and as something that is constantly changing, we cannot mention them all.
Here is a list of the most popular social media sites for tourism businesses; the ones that you can quickly and easily utilise to help build relationships with your customers.
We have divided these sites into three main categories
- Social networks
- Twitter/X
- Facebook
- InstagramSites used to plan visits
- Content sharing sites
For further hints and tips look at the VisitEngland Business Hub
The good news is that you don’t have to be a technical guru to use them.
