Social media, itself has had a significant impact on all aspects of human lives, this technological development has changed the way we consume and disburse information. It has significantly affected businesses mainly through enabling new marketing strategies in reaching their audience. Tourism, being one of the most vibrant sectors in both Ghana’s domestic and international economy, is undeniably a part of all these.
Merging social media and tourism marketing has led to excellent optimization of destinations, changing the negative narratives which have distorted the image of various destinations, yielding positive results for business and as well as Xperience Ghana. Here are some, importance of social media in tourism marketing.
Social media itself is seen as a way to share information (Personal or Corporate) and in Tourism, the impact of social media is seen in the ways people research before going on a trip. As humans, it is in our nature to share our experiences, whether good or bad. Now social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube are encouraging people to share their travel experiences, be it a tourism agency or a personal exploration. Through shared experiences, helps to transform the way people make decisions and also judge or build their trust towards a tourism agency based on the reviews of the others.
Customer service is an essential aspect of the tourism industry that has changed through the use of social media. Tourism Agencies and businesses can reach their customers directly through social media and vice versa. In times when Customers are unsatisfied with a tourism service, they can call onto the companies to account for the situation, which in turn allows the company to solve the problems of the customers in the kindest ways that avail to a better image and reputation of the company.
Social media with its implemented New Promote tool on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube enable tourism agencies or brands to reach new audiences. This feature enables brands to share their content in a way that individual user of the social media platform can see their content whether or not they follower or subscribe to the brands. This tool helps the brand to make the new audience potential customer of their products and services.
Social sharing might be the most significant factor that affected the tourism industry. Social media enables especially young people to share the most significant memories from their travels with a vast audience. For example, the Travel, Share and Win Hashtags and Campaign by the Ghana Tourism Authority has shown a massive attraction to travellers both (Elderly and Millennials) to share their experience and discover destinations nationwide. This strategy is more than just a simple advertisement and encourages people to share their real experiences online.
The rise of social media has led to the development of direct communication between agencies and customers and customers to customers. To elevate your brand and experience this impact of social media on the tourism industry, optimizing social media would play a dynamic key for a tourism agency.
Social media has transformed the ways to build a reliable brand for the tourism industry, the age of brochures and billboards are over. The key to business success is to collect shared social experience through hashtags, positive user reviews, customer satisfaction on social media or social media campaigns.
