By Mark Carter
The travel sector, ever since I’ve worked in or been associated with it, is an arena where success comes through relationships, conversation and connection. It’s because of this that businesses in the travel sector are well placed to both embrace and maximize the concept of ‘social selling.’
Businesses with successful social selling usually have three things in common:
- Acceptance that ‘social’ and digital is now a part of the landscape
- Having an actual digital ‘strategy’, or road map, rather than just winging it
- Making sure your ‘social’ strategy blends and integrates with existing strengths and an end to end sales process — online to offline
Here are five pillars that my own digital collaborators have given me, that they use as their bible:
Be Found
Bolster your presence in places your audience/market are to be found. In the same way grandparents or kindergarten kids aren’t best candidates for a Contiki tour, target audiences within platforms that used by those you are aiming to reach.
Be Chosen
Identify the unique qualities of your product, service or brand. Then ask yourself honestly: is it clear? What would others perceive? Social isn’t a ‘product’ push. It’s a platform for storytelling and engagement. Great reviews from others also to help you be chosen.
Be Contacted
The best presence in the world becomes less relevant if there’s confusion or friction in being contacted once the intrigue kicks in. Are your calls to action clear? Make the process smooth for both initial contact and follow up.
Conversion
The best social strategy falls apart if the skills and real world presence in your business aren’t in place or aligned.
Track And Measure
You wouldn’t throw money away to relive the same terrible holiday time and time again. Make sure you can measure what’s working and what isn’t. Where are the dollars, percentages, numbers or time improvements coming from? If they’re not, rethink and rework the strategy.
In closing I’d say this: think about your digital presence the way you would that perfect destination you would revisit time and time again. Your digital presence is the equivalent of the perfectly located hotel within the surrounding city of your business, which ultimately delivers the total experience.
