The final installment of our series on building a digital presence for travel companies is all about planning, producing, and sharing content.
In Part One, we touched on the platforms where your clients expect to find you online. These are some of the places where your content will live and be shared.
Part Two covered the importance of great content, including images, video, and product write-ups, for your website.
Then, in Part Three, we talked about great content being the foundation of a successful social media profile and campaign.
So, a common thread supporting your digital presence is content. To build up your brand online, you need to factor certain aspects into your strategy for planning, producing, and sharing content. Doing this will help you engage, entertain, and inspire travelers, getting eyes on your travel product.
Every bit of content you create is another opportunity to connect with your audience online. Use this checklist to help you produce high-quality material consistently and show up for your digital community.
The golden rule for publishing content is to put your audience's needs first. Every single time you plan, produce or share anything, you should ask how it will serve your clients.
Is the material relevant and suitable to your ideal traveler?
Does it answer their potential pain points?
Does it help them achieve their dreams and goals?
Is the content effortless to consume, for example, an engaging blog post or inspiring video?
Is it accessible to the people who you want to see it? That is, is the content published on platforms where they hang out online? Is it searchable? Do you draw enough awareness to it?
In reality, if the material you share online doesn’t speak directly to your audience, you can’t expect engagement in return.
Travel businesses have cottoned onto the power of visually appealing travel content on the internet. That’s great, but it means that there is a lot of competition to differentiate your business from.
To stand out online, you need to go above and beyond the usual process of creation and sharing to become a travel storyteller.
Use your materials (videos, images, UGC, travel guides, online courses, promotional content, etc.) to paint pictures for your audience. Be as visual and descriptive as possible. Play a little to set yourself apart and tell your story.
Which online platforms can your audience find you on, or where are you visible? Is it social media, review platforms, tourism board websites, Facebook advertising, and so on?
Of those, what type of content is suited to each one?
For example, professionals and businesses use LinkedIn to network. Sharing results from an industry survey you compiled might work well here.
Your blog, on the other hand, is a place to publish your long-form travel or destination guides. It is the ideal space to leave educational material for website visitors.
Also, what are your goals for sharing, and what audience needs are you addressing?
Advertising on Facebook might expand your reach to travelers who don’t know you, while your audience prefers to receive your promotional material via email marketing to their inbox.
It's never a one-size-fits-all solution. Consider your why for putting content out there. Then, based on this, decide where it can have the most impact.
From there, publish and engage with intention.
The internet has become the go-to space for conducting travel research, especially now as the pandemic has forced everyone online.
This makes SEO all the more important. Have you optimized your website, blog, Google My Business, and YouTube content to give your brand better visibility online?
Although there is more to it, optimized content is ranked higher by search engines.
In turn, this gets your content in front of travelers who are searching for what you have to offer.
It’s a matter of doing keyword research to determine the language people use in search, then optimizing your online platforms and pages around it.
Your audience is likely using different devices to access your content. They may research from a mobile, switch to a desktop to compare deals, book from their desktop, and then switch back to mobile to read post-booking emails.
What this means for you is that you need to make your content compatible with different devices. It gives your audience a convenient way to engage with you, no matter where they are.
Planning and creating quality content for your blog and social media is great. Getting it out onto the internet where your audience can find it - even better!
But, when it comes to these types of posts, publishing regularly and consistently is the ultimate achievement. Your travel company can stay top of mind with your audience, plus they get a better chance at getting to know your brand than if you posted sporadically once every three months, for example.
For social media, it can help to use a tool like Hootsuite that automates publishing according to specified dates. On your blog, it's useful to put together a content calendar with article ideas and publishing dates to work from.
This brings us to the end of our series on building a digital presence for travel companies. The insights provided over the four parts are to help travel companies and professionals establish their digital footprint, elevate their brand online, and engage better with their clients.
Do these things right, and travelers will come across your business before they know your name and get to trust you before they make a reservation.
Want to know more about WeTravel and how we help travel companies be more proficient digitally? Watch the short video below: you’ll find out about our booking and payment solutions designed especially for group and multi-day travel companies, professionals, and retreat organizers.