Guest Post:
When I arrive at work in the morning, the first thing I do is launch my Twitter deck. If your eyes are rolling, then you are not alone—many of my colleagues hear the chirp and twitter of my ‘tweets’ and also find themselves shaking their heads and rolling their eyes. Can this be work? I would emphatically say yes! In particular, in tourism and hospitality, social media lends itself to a naturally communicative tribe, or in twitter language, ‘twibe’. Some of the most engaging folks on Twitter are tourism bloggers and they are quickly gaining followers through their tweets that offer discounts, links to articles, last-minute specials, and helpful advice. Alternately, I’ve found great tourism and travel blogs after I’ve noticed valuable tips and article links on Twitter. (http://blog.brillianttrips.com)
If you are not familiar with Twitter, it is a micro-blogging social media tool that allows people to express what they are up to in 140 characters or less. At first I thought, who cares about someone I don’t know in Illinois eating cereal at their breakfast table? But then I started to follow as many Tourism centres in as many Canadian cities as I could find and a whole new world began to emerge. My vast country started to feel smaller, more familial, as I heard about what was going on in remote parts of the country, from Prince Edward Island (http://twitter.com/peitourism) to Vancouver Island (http://twitter.com/TourismVI). Some people or organizations have larger followings because they offer more relevant information, helpful tips, discounts, and increase their ‘worth’ as a Twitterer on the web. I am sure many people, both in tourism and hospitality, will say the following: it’s high season and you want me to tweet? Yes, high-season is precisely why you should be tweeting. Get the word out about your city, your destination, your hotel! If you are thinking, who reads this stuff? go to http://search.twitter.com/ and type in tourism or your hotel or your city. You’ll be instantly connected to a pool of people who really care about this ‘stuff’, namely your town, your service, your business. The potential visitor and guest are online right now looking for an easy way to reach you. By using social media tools you increase your chances of creating a path straight to where they want to be and where you can offer them ‘the greatest meal of their life’ or ‘the most romantic getaway’ or ‘the most thrilling whale-watching tour’. You get the idea.
Some of you might argue that you are in government. While this may present some obstacles, it shouldn’t prevent you from creating a profile on Twitter and talking professionally about what you do, what you have to offer, and adding value to your institution. For instance, I work in ‘government’ but as someone who needs to speak to a demographic between age 18-25 years of age I rely on social media to get my message heard and responded to. I also like to hear about what is happening in my industry and what innovations in communications are taking place. I am for instance, a big fan of the Fairmont Hotel tweets because I learn things. This is a critical piece in the social media mix. If you can offer a teachable moment, as Barack Obama like to say, to an audience, then you can develop a loyal following and we all know in tourism and hospitality networking is king!
I have found tremendous resources on Twitter such as jobs for my interns from following go2 (http://twitter.com/go2hr), breaking news before I heard it on CBC, and inside scoops on hotel and airline specials long before they appeared in the local newspaper. The best part about Twitter though, is finding out about my city, my province, and my country through talented writers passionate about tourism. One government website that is doing innovative things to engage their audience is Tourism British Columbia. The field reports are engaging, informative, and worth following (twitter language, you’ll get the hang of it soon enough) because the staff who film and write for the site are informative, funny, and reveal places in the province where I have lived all my life that I never even knew about! (I recommend following http://twitter.com/mikalat)
The key to making Twitter a resource worth investing in is to remember the 80/20 rule: Spend 80% of your time re-tweeting, talking about others, offering advice, providing helpful links, giving shout-outs to your industry. The other 20% you can politely, and professionally, tell the world about what you have to offer in less than 140 characters.
So if you are wondering whether to tweet or not to tweet, have a look at these articles and then decide:
7 tips for the perfect Twitter Profile by Jason Baer:
http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/22751.asp
10 Tips on Being a Good Twitterer by Chris Pirillo:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/26/pirillo.twitter.tips/index.html
The Tourism Twitter Project by Todd Lucier (a must-read blog):
http://www.tourismkeys.ca/blog/2008/04/the-tourism-twitter-project/
If you want to educate your team or company on using twitter I recommend paying the $20 and downloading this great video, Twitter In Plain English:
http://www.commoncraft.com/twitter
Finally, if you are wanting to test the waters on social media, here’s a few strategy tips from Bob Wheatley:
http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/23856.asp
I think you know where to find me when you start tweeting: @tourismstudents.
Margaret Doyle is the Internship and Industry Relations Coordinator for the School of Tourism and Hospitality at Royal Roads University and can also be found on Facebook.
