5 Easy Steps for Your Social Media Marketing Strategy: How Travel Agents Gain new Leads
Are you using a social media marketing strategy?
We live in a fast-paced, ever-changing, online world. People are moving their social lives onto social media platforms.
Phone calls, snail-mail, and in-person visits were the only way to meet people about 15 years ago. Now, in our day of texting and comments galore, people’s preferred way of communicating has changed. Did you know that 33% of your social media followers would rather message you than call you on the phone?
It’s important now more than ever to up your game on your social media strategy. For most travel agents, social media is a way to gain new leads and keep your name out there – plus, it’s free advertising.
But there’s more to social media than posting travel deals and advertising – you need a strategy. It’s essential to come up with a social media strategy for your travel business.
Here are a few steps to help you up your social media strategy game to accelerate your leads.
What are your social media marketing goals?
Social media marketing gets overwhelming sometimes. You worry about the number of likes or views you’re getting. You feel burned out from the constant pressure to post more content. You know you need to keep up a presence on social media, but you have no idea how to do it.
You need to set some social media marketing goals for your travel agency. How do you do this? Consider what you want your social media to do for you.
Do you want it to,
Build brand awareness?
Generate leads?
Broaden your audience?
Increase traffic on your website?
Improve your ROI?
People often set vague business goals. If something is vague, that means you can’t see it very well. If your travel agency has vague goals, your social media audience won’t know who or what you are. Your content will be disjointed and foggy.
Remember, your social media strategy goals are there to GROW your travel business. If your goal is to increase organic traffic on your website, start a blog. When you post a new blog, share it on Facebook or LinkedIn. Write a killer description of your blog post for your social media account and share the link.
More link clicks = more website traffic.
Make sure you set attainable goals for yourself. If you’re trying to broaden your audience, don’t try to gain a million Instagram followers in a year. Rather, focus on growing and nurturing your network through thoughtful, targeted posts.
And don’t try to stay present on all the social media platforms. Doing this creates the perfect recipe for burnout. Choose one where your ideal client hangs out and stick with it.
So… what exactly is an ideal client?
Find your ideal client to perfect your social media marketing strategy
Before you pursue a strong social media presence, you need to know WHO you’re writing to.
As a travel professional, you know the personalities you love working with. You also know the kinds of vacations you love planning. You know you’re capable of planning any vacation for any client, but it’s important to figure out what makes you excited to go to work every day.
Do you love planning luxury vacations in the Caribbean for high-end clients? Make it your specialty – your niche. Clearly state your niche on your website and social media platforms so your audience knows who you’re marketing to.
Niching down is helpful, but it’s more important to know what kind of client you enjoy working with. This is when you come up with a client avatar to help streamline your social media marketing strategy.
To find your ideal client, answer these questions about them,
What is their age?
What is their gender?
Married or single?
What are their goals?
What are their pain points and challenges?
What are their interests?
What are their objections? (not enough money or time, handicap, etc)
Once you’ve answered these questions, put them together into a sentence like this, “My ideal clients are married or unmarried couples looking to relax. They need to get away from their crazy 9-5 and want to unwind in luxury at an all-inclusive Caribbean resort. They love snorkeling and getting relaxing couple’s massages. It’s hard for them to mesh schedules since they both work full time, but getting away is a must for them.”
Know who your target audience is and write to them for a targeted social media marketing strategy.
Where does your ideal client spend their time?
For an effective social media marketing strategy, you need to know where your ideal client hangs out. Do they prefer Facebook? Instagram? Pinterest?
Don’t waste your energy by posting everywhere and trying to appeal to everyone. It doesn’t work. Before you know it, you’ll be all burnt out and exhausted with little to show for your efforts.
And this is when your ideal client avatar swoops in to save the day. Use it to narrow down your audience. Once you’ve narrowed it down, look at where your ideal client hangs out on social media.
This is where you’ll need to spice up your travel talents with a little old-fashioned sleuthing. Look around – where does your ideal client like to socialize? Do they hang out in travel groups on Facebook? Or do they all follow a certain hashtag on Instagram? Take some time to really get to know them and their patterns.
For instance, if you’re targeting a younger crowd, stick to Instagram. Older folks prefer Facebook.
Facebook and Instagram are the main platforms for travel businesses, but you can leverage Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube, or TikTok to your advantage too.
But don’t stretch yourself thin. All you need to do is find out which platforms your ideal client prefers and you’re all set! Now it’s time to plan your content for your brand new social media marketing strategy.
Plan the kind of content you want to post
You already know you need high-quality, well-written, shareable content to pique your audience’s interest.
That’s why you shouldn’t share only promotional material for your travel business. Your ideal client likes to hear about good deals, but not all the time. Find a balance of sharing promotions, personal travel stories, client stories/feedback, and informational topics.
And don’t forget to be present on social media. Share and like other peoples’ content too. People love to reciprocate when you’re kind to them by liking or sharing your content.
Try not to allow your personal preferences to cloud your posts. If you like reading long, wordy posts, but your ideal client doesn’t like them, don’t post that kind of content. Your travel account needs to focus on what your ideal client wants to hear.
Don’t forget to engage with your audience!
Social media is a modern form of the telephone or even the telegraph (haha). Your clients don’t go on social media to read, they go to interact. They love it when you take the time to reply to their comment on your post or their response to your story.
Sometimes it’s not possible to reply to or like every comment, but try to do so if you can. And when someone tags or mentions you, try to respond by resharing their post or story. Having a successful travel agency on social media is all about reciprocity.
Fun fact: Did you know that 71% of consumers on your social media accounts come back for more or recommend you to others if they liked you?
That’s why it’s essential to show you care about your audience. Their interests are your interests.
This is the most vital part of your social media marketing strategy.
If you’re still struggling with your social media game, shoot me a message. I’m always happy to give a fellow travel professional a leg up.
