By Tamara Ristevski
An estimated 29 per cent of all Australians participate in some form of regular online social media activity and are more inclined to take holidays, creating an interesting question for tourism advertisers.
The latest Roy Morgan research for the year ending March 2010 shows the most popular social media activity is visiting social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. Streamed videos such as YouTube were used by 13 per cent, online journals and blogs by eight per cent and online forums by six per cent over a typical four week period.
Further research undertaken by Roy Morgan indicates the amount of time spent per week on the internet has increased by 71 per cent over the past five years, compared to a decline of four per cent for television, mainly due to a change of media consumption habits by younger people.
Social media is the fastest growing medium this decade and provides a real opportunity for the Australian tourism industry. The growth of the internet for under 35s continues to be strong and there is now little difference between the amount of time spent watching television to the time spent on the internet.
Social media can provide an outlet for tourism businesses to build exposure to their brand and develop relationships with potential customers, in particular the Generation Y and Z markets. Marketing via online sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace is virtually free and can attract a wide audience. It also provides a forum for customer feedback and delivering fresh web content regularly.
Jane Ianniello, Director of Tourism at Travel & Leisure, said people participating in online social media are more likely than the average Australian to take holidays, both domestic and overseas. They are also more likely to provide advice to their friends and family about holiday and travel, so they are potentially useful advocates for a tourism destination.
The use of the web and internet can be a highly efficient and effective means of connecting, interacting and influencing customers and clients to visit your business or destination.
Should you be considering a greater social media presence in your marketing mix? Are you using the right medium to reach to your target market? Will television advertising be an effective form of advertising/promotion into the future? We’d love to hear your experiences.
