Why is blog necessary if you work in tourism?

We already wrote about why the use of social media in tourism is important. But it is far less talked about why having a blog is an amazing way to attract new and keep the old customers. A great tourism blog is an useful tool for creating valuable engagement with your visitors and potential guests, whether you are a tourist board, tourist agency or someone who provides accommodation or any kind of  service for tourists.

So here are the 5 main reasons you should start writing your own blog:

#1 Attracting visitors to your website

Interesting blog posts about a particular tourist destination will attract a large number of internet users to the website. If the blog is regularly maintained and full of interesting articles, a certain database of people who are interested in these topics, will be created.

Blogs are also designed to attract a wider spectrum of people due to different categories. Another plus for blogs is their ”shareability”. They serve as an amazing content to share on social media, especially Facebook, which will help you attract even more new visitors to the web.

The blog attracts 55% more visitors to your website.

#2 Better Positioning on Search Engines

Writing a blog is a shortcut for better visibility on the Internet. When writing a blog in tourism it is important to note that regular publishing of content on a topic increases the expertise and relevance of the subject. Visitors recognize this and come back and this will also affect your position in the search rankings. Also, if we often use the same or similar keywords that match the content of the blog, this too will affect positively our position in the search rankings.

Position yourself on search engines through the blog.

#3 Specialization for a specific topic

The fact is that companies who write blogs 3 times per week achieve 5 times more traffic than those who do not have an official blog (Source: HubSpot). Potential guests will trust you more if you have dozens of useful and interesting articles on your own blog. Through those articles you can give your potential guests first-hand experience and provide them with all the answers to the topic that they are interested in. That way, you will present yourself as an expert for tourism or, even better, an expert in a specific area of tourism and build a trust with your future customers.

#4 Reliability

According to research conducted on the internet, the blog is considered one of the 5 most reliable sources of information that people trust. More than 70,000 new blogs are written every day, and every fifth blog is created for business purposes.

Once you create a database of users who will regularly track and read your blog, that number can only grow. Blogs are not just read by accidental visitors, but also by other bloggers, journalists and travel guides so the blog can easily turn into excellent PR when someone shares your article on their social media. That kind of marketing is invaluable.

An increasing number of people search for information on blogs.

#5 Getting to know your target audience

In efforts to reach your potential audience, first you need to find out who they are and what they want. Blog is a great tool for defining target users and their habits. You can find out what interests them the most, which are the most read articles, what are their social habits, how they spend their holidays and more interesting information.

When you are well acquainted with the target audience, you can recognize the so-called brand ambassadors who regularly follow you and who will recommend your blog to their friends as well. Writing a blog requires a lot of effort, but ultimately the result surpasses everything that is invested.

So now that you know the benefits of writing a blog in tourism, let’s see examples of a 3 creative Facebook campaigns in tourism. Because, there’s no point in having an amazing content on a blog if you don’t have an equally good social platform where you can share that content with the largest possible audience

Expedia

Expedia is a travel agency that has maximally included Facebook users with their Facebook campaign to create a tourist offer. “Find Your’s” campaign contained 100% of user content: videos, photos, and more. Users had the task of telling their travel story and inspire other people to travel to that destination too. The campaign also included an app with which the users created their perfect trip. The campaign proved to be a full hit, and Expedia took much of user given content and created a TV spot and a large number of mini-documentaries out of it.

Tell your story.

Ski Vermont

Vermont is one of the most popular ski resorts in the United States. They recognized the ”Check- in” option via Facebook and decided to use it as the main tool of their campaign. Their “Ski Vermont’s Check In to Win” campaign was based on the idea that skiers and visitors who are most “checked” receive prizes. The campaign was fun and dynamic, and included Foursquare and Twitter as the call to action channels. It’s important to say that this is one of the first campaigns of this kind and has caused a wide range of responses. Also, Ski Vermont resort received a Smitty award in 2013. for it.

Encourage the users and reward their activity.

See Australia

See Australia is one of the largest Facebook sites of tourist character that counts more than 8 million users, thanks to the quality content of the site, but also the users’ engagement. The site strategy is to include the content of users, primarily photos, into content that is published on a daily basis.

The best photos become part of a special album released once a week. This way of creating content creates a special feeling for the users, encouraging them to regularly follow the page, participate in creating content and sharing it. The idea is very simple and yet very effective.

Include user content.

We hope that we’ve explained well the benefits of blogging in tourism and why it is so important to constantly keep your audience engaged with a quality content. It’s not enough just to attract users to a Facebook page or a blog. You need to invest into creating a relationship with your existing and future customers by offering them interesting content, but most of all, involving them in any way possible.

Need help with a Facebook campaign and Facebook strategy development? Contact us.