5 Social Media Tips For Travel Agents
Do you find yourself posting content on your social media, but no one is engaging or responding to it? For many travel agents, social media can start to seem like a waste of time, because you don't see any real results from your efforts. But what if I told you that we could change that?
Social media could actually be hugely beneficial for your travel business IF we know what we are doing. What if I told you that by using these 5 basic social media tips, you will be one step closer to finding and engaging with your ideal travelers online?
I believe that we all share the same goal of wanting to grow our business with the right type of clients. The trick sometimes is finding those clients and being able to show them who we are and how our business can help them travel better.
The following 5 social media tips will get you one step closer to finding your best clients and have them be excited and interested in what you are posting.
1. Show up where your ideal clients are
In the same way we should be focusing on finding and developing a strong niche for our travel business, we need to focus on a niche for our social media efforts as well. Don’t try to be everywhere, instead figure out where you should show up and commit to being there.
The most important thing to consider when figuring out your social media niche comes from knowing who you are trying to talk to. To begin with, you should answer these preliminary demographic questions:
Are your clients primarily male or female?
What age range?
Are they likely to be married and have children?
What kind of purchasing power do they have?
Now that you have a general idea of who your people are, figure out where they are online. An easy tool to help with this in the beginning if you feel stuck is to see a breakdown of the demographics for each social media platform.
2. Create a pattern of consistency
In order to be effective on social media, you must show up consistently, and allow your followers to know what to expect from you, so you can always be top of mind.
Social media helps us do this by giving us a space to show up in the feed of our prospective clients each and every day, reminding them what we do, what makes us special and unique, and how we can help them. So my advice — no matter what the platform — is to post daily.
3. Provide Value
It’s our job to add value to their lives before then even become our clients. We are sharing who we are and what we do, from a perspective that actually helps them. That way they enjoy following us on social media, start to see us as the expert in our niche, and know all about how we can help them travel better.
What are you sharing that is GIVING insight, information, and entertainment to your audience? Most of us have a hard time figuring out what that should be. I encourage you to think about your client. Really hone in on what they are struggling with, what they are worried about, what their pain points are in life right now and how you can help!
4. Post engaging updates
Successful use of social media is about creating conversations. You must keep talking to them and keep them engaged in what they are interested in and what they want to hear from you.
Interacting with followers and potential followers is so powerful because this is what builds trust with people, and furthers the relationship.
Sales most commonly derive from a conversation (either in person or online), so how hard are you working at engaging and starting those conversations that can eventually lead to client relationships?
Tip: Do a social media assessment on the platforms you use, and start to see the pattern of what updates perform better and get more engagement from your audience.
5. Have a social media strategy
There is a big difference in being on social media and actually having a strategy on social media. The strategic element is what helps it be an effective marketing tool for your business.
An intentional social media strategy ultimately points people to your email list. You want to deepen your relationship off of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and wherever else you are connecting with your ideal clients and be able to talk to them directly in their inbox.
Once you are in their inbox, there are countless ways you can turn them into clients and continue to get them to know, like, and trust you.
Now that you have some great social media tips to get you moving in the right direction, I'd love to help you get more of the right type of people following your accounts. At the end of the day, we could all use more social media followers. Here are 16 Ways to get them.