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Content marketing can be a constant game of cat-and-mouse. Running around in circles for your audience’s attention. 

New customers must be pulled in, without alienating your brand loyalists. 

Now is a good time for tour operator businesses to focus on expanding their digital marketing efforts. And in order to expand you need to automate your campaigns.

BUT, the automating process isn’t as simple as cooking a ready meal. If you aren’t careful, your brand loyalists could find your content less than appetising.However, you needn’t worry about isolating your biggest fans if you follow these 3 tips to automation success!

Your software should be more than an AI-fueled robot. Your campaign is your baby, treat it like so…

• Keep a close eye on how your campaigns are doing. Use a CRM system that allows you to routinely check the “health” of your marketing campaigns. 
• Try segmenting your campaigns to pinpoint exactly where potential customers are falling out of your funnel.
• Reassess at regular intervals. If babies need much more attention, then so does your campaign. The shorter the campaign the more frequent it needs the check-up.

Make frequent changes. If you aren’t seeing the conversions coming in, tweaking your tactics could be the way forward. It could be something as small as a follow-up email being scheduled too late.

Tempting though it may be, I’m sure you already know the one-size-fits-all approach rarely works. Say NO to scripts. Spam messages are guaranteed to trash your email list. Likewise, overly personal emails can seem…creepy? Dare we say. 

Instead try this approach…

Use Avatars in a Drip Campaign. Use the basic information you have about your prospects, whether it be; job roles, social media or company to guess their pain points. Customising content based on roles avoids it getting a little too personal sometimes.

As you optimise your automation program, ask yourself these key questions:

• Am I publishing high-quality content on a consistent schedule? Automation is merely the delivery mechanism. Therefore, your content still needs to be impactful and engaging.
• Does my team know how to use automation tools? Automation systems are only as effective as the people using them. There are many useful online guides posted by marketing automation providers to make sure you’re clued up on the key features. If in need of further assistance, ask for an on-site tutorial.
• Am I measuring what matters? Remember even the conversion experts sometimes get it wrong. Sometimes, converting as little as 3% into their sales funnels. Optimising your conversion stats means measuring related stats too. Try checking email clicks and open rates at least once a month. Or, reaching out to loyalists to see how satisfied they are.

Always remember that just because you automate your campaigns, it doesn’t mean can can be entirely “hands-off”. 

Start with great content, customise it thoughtfully, give your team the knowledge they need to use the tools, and check back frequently.

For the full article read it here.

Are you already using automation to optimise your content and campaigns?

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Social media is an important tool to build brand awareness, strengthen customer relationships and drive leads to your website. However, algorithm updates often changes how we can use each platform effectively. It’s therefore crucial to always stay abreast of newly released tips and tricks by social experts. I provide some of these below.

Let’s get started.

Source: Fuel

Consumer sentiment has shifted tremendously over the last 6 months. We’ve seen people become afraid to travel, to being excited to travel, back to afraid to travel again. 

Yet the findings from 7 consumer sentiment studies all point to one thing. 

When the respondents were asked what would most likely persuade them to book a future vacation during the coronavirus outbreak, the #1 response in all 7 iterations of this study has been ‘flexibility to change my dates without penalty.’ 

Does your tour operator business have a flexible booking policy in place yet? If so, have you shared this message on social media?

Source: Travel Daily Media

Chinese tourists are amongst the world’s biggest spenders, but did you know that there are major differences in Chinese online behaviours? This article reveals them. 

For example, people from the west usually start their consumer journey from Google search. But that’s not the case for Chinese consumers. They search for inspiration on social media and often make decisions based on emotional connections.

Source: Travel Pulse

I know it is difficult to stay positive with everything going on, but optimism continues to abound in the travel industry. 

A recent survey by Flywire confirms that 93% of respondents believe that the travel industry will survive the pandemic, and 69% are ready to travel again when covid-19 is over. 

One group that is more likely to travel sooner is adventure travellers. Read the full article and let me know whether your tour operator business can benefit from this trend?

Source: Social Media Today

Are you looking for ways to increase engagement with your brand through Facebook ads? 

Then this article is definitely worth a read. It features an infographic summarising top tips for improving your Facebook campaigns. You’ll be surprised just how much small changes in your messaging can have a notable impact.

Source: Agora Pulse

Hashtags (if used right) can help your tour operator business increase its visibility and build community. This article will help you to develop an effective hashtag strategy for Instagram and Twitter. 

You will also learn about common hashtag mistakes and how to avoid them.  Read the full article and let me know if you plan to implement any of these tips.

Source: Business2Community

Increasing your social media engagement without ads can be tricky. I encourage you to follow the tips described in this article to help you achieve the best results. 

You will learn how to create compelling content and what factors to consider in order to increase your organic reach. Social media platforms can still be a useful resource to drive traffic organically if you take action from this article.

Instagram has 58 times more engagement per follower than Facebook. (SmallBizTrends)

Which social media platform are you getting the most engagement from?