I’m just returning from Victoria, B. C. where I’ve been working with Royal Roads Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management developing an Internet Marketing strategy for Hatley Park – Castle and Gardens and online and on campus Education training programs. (If you are thinking of moving up the ranks in your tourism workplace, consider a degree from Royal Roads: online learning, flexible admissions, advanced learning, and a to-die-for campus.)

Yesterday, we were talking about the impact of social media to enhance sales. I’d like to share the story I used to illustrate my point that Word of Mouth, or the online version – Word of Mouse, might be the way your tourism business makes it’s next sale.

July 10: a user of Twitter from Aussie, fabierabbiosi from Untanglemyweb.com asks her Twitterverse for an SEO learning resource recommendation. I answer the question by proposing a visit to the Tourism Keys online lesson on SEO. Fabienne replies that she hopes to create some Screencasts and asks my opinion about a tool she’s used. I suggest a fantastic screencast product called Screenflow and she replies that she’ll download it and give it a try based on my recommendation.

At the same time I see a message from my brother in Ontario, where it’s 2 am, but Tom is online, so I invite him to join me for a Skype call where three important exchanges take place.

First, Tom tells me about his recent foray into making T-shirts and I read a blog post on the Clever Sheep Blog that features a photo of the shirts. I spend a few minutes thinking about it and arrange to have some T-shirts designed for our guests. I write a quick blog post about how the t-shirts could be a business card for conference planners and when the folks at Royal Roads hear about it, enthusiastic, animated conversation takes place in our meeting about how they can use the t-shirt as part of their student orientation gatherings.

Second, Tom mentions a short Hotel Nightmare video he has recorded after a nasty hotel stay. Of course, I request a copy of the video and share it with meeting attendees to reinforce the importance of Web sites like TripAdvisor to influence the travel buying decisions of other travellers.

Third, Tom asks if I’ve seen the video posts he’s been making on his blog with a cool new tool called Flip Video. He shows me the small, simple looking device on Skype Video and explains how simple it is to get video online. He excitedly explains how he posts videos promoting upcoming live music shows at Phog Lounge in downtown Windsor Ontario and how he gets over a hundred views within two hours of posting the video! He also tells me that the device has not been available in Canada until now and it is only available at one retail outlet (listen to the podcast to see where to buy Flip Video. The next morning, I take Nancy Arsenault, the dean of the faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management to see the device and we promptly purchase one, shoot a video and get it on Youtube within 30 minutes! Nancy is excited about using the simple simple video camera to capture video for marketing her offerings. Her staff are enthused too. And although I already have digital still and video cameras I am too excited to resist. I now want one too. This morning, Nancy purchased a second camera and I purchased one too.

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The use of Social media has made information exchanges about best tools and resources almost instantaneous and right before my own eyes I had examples of five valuable recommendations made possible by social marketing.

It is interesting to note that in each case, the end user of the technology had never even heard of the tool, thought about using it, or even gone looking for it. But the personal conversations were powerful influencers on the decision-making process. in 30 minutes of conversation, perhaps $1000 of business was immediately transacted over five different products and services.

Are you interested in fostering social marketing and word of mouth about your tourism enterprise? Find time to use the tools of social marketing and you might be surprised at what happens.