Leveraging Social Media for Tourist Guides: A Comprehensive Guide
Explore the fundamentals of utilizing social media platforms like YouTube and Facebook to enhance the online presence of tourist guides. Learn how to leverage these tools effectively to reach a wider audience, promote services, and engage with potential clients. Discover practical tips for creating engaging content and increasing visibility on search engines through strategic online marketing strategies.
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Presentation Transcript
Social Media for Tourist Guides The basics
Social Media we will explore Aim is to enable you to distinguish the different social media outputs, how they are different and why they can be useful to tourist guides.
Search Engines The top two 1. By far the largest search engine in the world capturing 49% of the world s online searches. 2. YouTube has more than 6 billion watches a month. 300 hours of video are uploaded every minute. If YouTube were a country it would be the third largest in the world after China and India! Your website already has a presence on Google. To increase your online profile I suggest you also get on to YouTube, then link to your video s to your website and vice versa, website to YouTube. It will make your website go higher in the search engines.
What is and how can Tourist Guides make use of it YouTube is a free video sharing website that makes it easy to watch online videos on just about anything from how to do diy; fix your car to watching video s a pranksters. But, it can be a tool for tourist guides You could create its own channel (like TV) and through that, share video s you have made. Sharing video s increases your online profile to the world, tour companies and direct customers YouTube is owned by Google. So if you link video to your website, when people search on google, your website appears higher in the searches, more exposure=more direct enquiries/bookings It s free.
WHO DO WE KNOW WHO ALREADY IS ON YOUTUBE? Fiona Maxwell Wales Tourist Guide Association Guild of Registered Tour Guides
Facebook is a social networking website. It works by you/your business having a page where you can post comments; add current news content; share pictures; video s and events related to your business; chat live and even show live video. Others can follow your page, every time you post a news item up they are notified that you have done so and can read it. (people who do not follow your page, do not get access to all your information, if you don t want). It s free, just need to register and make a small bio (called a profile) about yourself. You sign up for free and put some basic details about yourself, and preferably a photo and away you go. Free advertising.
How can be useful to tourist guides? How can be useful to tourist guides? See this as a free advertising tool, or a way to get yourself known. It costs nothing to set up, all you need to do is register. It is a platform for tourist guides to share information with each other about places in Scotland; new art gallery exhibitions, tours, what s on in Scotland, days castle is free entry etc, and make you the expert or the go-to contact for information about touring Scotland. Get found easily - People who have been on tour with you can keep in touch NEVER FORGET THE POWER OF REFERRAL: if they have a friend visiting Scotland, they will remember you and tell their friends about you. How do they find you They have a facebook page It saves people having to trawl phone books etc. to find you.
Advertise yourself show your personality in your writing Join groups e.g. STGA Closed group where guides can post travel updates, road closures, info they think is useful etc. Join groups you are interested in e.g Robert The Bruce, just need to search. This is called liking someone s page. Take bookings!
Some examples of Facebook pages: STGA Closed Group STGA Business Page
Open to the world, lots advertising and chat. You follow others, and others follow you. If you follow someone their posts will be given precedence over what you see. Each post gives you 140 characters, including spaces. Short quick information. It s free, just need to register and make a small bio (called a profile) about yourself. It is fast, each tweet can quickly be superseded by other people s tweets so to keep yourself known you have to use this social media platform more than Facebook.
How can be useful to tourist guides? How can be useful to tourist guides? Again, see this as a advertising tool, it costs nothing to set up, all you need to do is register. It is a platform for guides to share information and make you the expert contact for information about touring Scotland Get notified of breaking travel news e.g. Forth Bridge closure, Kingston Bridge traffic jam, ferry cancellations.
Visual based, take photos of places you visit and tweet them get known as the local expert, if your tweet is shared or retweeted, then more people see you = more followers = get more known free Get involved in #ScotlandHour. It s a once a month hour where questions are asked and you can reply. A chance to show off information, pics, experiences, and of course advertise. Follow relevant companies e.g. Visit Scotland, Whisky distilleries, galleries to ensure you have the current information. Take a video of places you visit; yourself on tour; anything you feel is relevant and engaging. It s all free advertising.
Examples of Twitter @STGAGuides @MiniKiltTours
This is a business to business social network You follow others, and others follow you. If you follow someone their posts will be given precedence over what you see. Networking contact people who might be of interest to you and could work/collaborate with in the future with georgraphy perhaps a problem, this way you can get to know each other, find out if you want to work with them etc.
How can be useful for tourist guides Networking - You follow companies and people you work with and keep up to date with what they are up to. Can post what you are up to, advertise your tours Quick direct contact e.g. whisky owners, you can contact them directly instead of searching for phone numbers, calling and leaving message. They can check out who you are from your profile and respond appropriately Ask for help e.g. looking for 16 seater coach for a city tour on (date). If anyone can help, please get in touch. , just need to register and make a small bio (called a profile) about yourself. Can advertise job vacancies on it.
Examples of LinkedIn profiles FEG Rabbies Travel
Social Media Policy Social Media Policy All members, whether using the closed Facebook group or members forum on the STGA website, are bound, as members of STGA, by the standards of performance and code of conduct. Any complaints received about a member s behaviour on social media will be dealt with through the current STGA complaints procedure 1. Internally focused social media 2. Externally focused social media
1. Internally focused social media 1. Internally focused social media The STGA Guides closed group on Facebook is for use by guides to share information that is relevant to guiding & our profession. This is a wonderful way to quickly share information for immediate use to the guiding group such as: changes to the group entrance facilities to Edinburgh Castle, road closures in Edinburgh for prolonged periods, Burrell Closure dates, new festivals links, one off events links and so on. At present, only about 1/3 of STGA guides are on the Facebook page, so you may wish to post any relevant material to the website forum as well to get it out to a wider audience. The forum on the new website offers a guides chat sections where longer posts and debates are perfectly suited for discussion in a digitally safe way. Please do not use social media to make complaints about venues, hotels, tour operators or any other service providers as it is unprofessional. If you wish to discuss concerns, you should do this with the organisation or business concerned. Please do not post anything to social media that you wouldn t want the general public to see. There are a number of examples where people and organisations reputations have been severely damaged by negative social media posts.
2. Externally focused social media 2. Externally focused social media The objective of the STGA s externally focused social media accounts is to drive awareness of STGA and what it does through building a community of people who are interested in Scotland, training to be a tourist guide or hiring an STGA qualified tourist guide. In order to build more of a following, we ask that where relevant, when posting to social media, where guides think that the content could be reposted by STGA, they mention @STGAGuides and use the following hastag: #scottishtouristguides As with internally focused social media, members should remain respectful, vanilla and apolitical at all times especially when mentioning STGA, qualified guides, clients, hotels, restaurants etc. All guides are reminded that if they wish to post photos of clients to any social media, they should ask for permission first from the clients in the photos. Any complaints received about a member s behaviour on social media will be dealt with through the current STGA complaints procedure.
What we should post / like / tweet / retweet about Photos of Scotland posted by STGA qualified guides or other members of the public (but not unqualified tour guides or tour companies) Posts by STGA guides Promoting Scottish craftspeople Scottish companies winning awards Events happening in Scotland News articles that are relevant e.g. Scotch whisky stats, opening of new Scottish venues Information relating to films / TV series etc filmed in Scotland Tourism organisations articles and links
What we should NOT post about Political & religious views News and posts that are not about Scotland Posts by unqualified tour guides or tour companies Negative views and opinions including those relating to the above. If you have any questions about the social media policy, please refer to STGA Board or Marketing Committee.
If you are interested in starting out on Social media . Decide which social media you think will be best for you and your business and start with one. I would suggest Facebook as a good starter, it s easy to use. There will be a workshop about this at end of summer season. Let STGA know you have a facebook page so we can connect to each other. Suggest groups for you to join etc. We are here to help. Thank you.
