The phrase "social media strategy" can be intimidating, a little like diving into unknown waters, but all it really means is finding a way of utilising your social media platforms to elevate your online presence and get new customers. This can be a subject as deep and wide as the ocean but luckily for you, I’ve fished through the kelp forests on your behalf and narrowed this down to 3 core components that will help make a splash when it comes to social media strategy for travel businesses.
Social media strategies exist to help strengthen your online presence, grow an online community and assist in achieving your business goals. We’re going to take a discovery dive into these three essentials:
🤿 Setting Your S.M.A.R.T Goals
🤿 Identifying and Getting To Know Your Audience
🤿 Establishing a Tone Of Voice and Caption Style
Sound fin-tastic? Get your flippers on and let's dive!
Setting your S M A R T goals
The first island on our social media strategy for travel business tours is about S.M.A.R.T goals. Goal setting is an essential prerequisite for goal achievement, and studies have found that people who have written, structured goals in a format like S.M.A.R.T are much more likely to be successful than those who don’t. Mapping out your journey and placing stepping stones for getting there is the foundation of goal setting.
Of course, we all want to shoot for the stars in life and business, but much like becoming a pro surfer, it takes time and consistency. S.M.A.R.T goals can be thought of a little like ‘sub goals’, and are an excellent solution to achieving long and short-term goals in your social media marketing.
I love S.M.A.R.T goals because they;
Help build a clear vision of what you want to achieve - no hazy horizons here!
Make your goals achievable
Remind you of your development strategy
Keep you focused
For those of you unfamiliar with S.M.A.R.T goals, the acronym stands for;
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Relevant
Time-bound
The key is that your goals should be all of these things, as well as being aligned with your business mission and vision. If you’re unfamiliar or need a refresher, this article is really useful: "S.M.A.R.T Goals For Business Owners".
Once you start implementing S.M.A.R.T goals you’re well on your way to riding the wave of a successful social media strategy for travel businesses.
Identifying and Getting To Know Your Audience
Next up, your travel business needs to have established who to talk to in the marketing. If you haven’t done this, forming a social media strategy is going to feel like swimming against the tide. By focusing on your niche, doing your research and looking at your current social media insights, you should be able to identify who you would ideally like to be speaking to and, in turn, the type of audience you want to attract.
If your travel offerings are for once-in-a-lifetime exotic safaris, your content and marketing strategy will look very different than if you are selling budget-friendly package deals in Europe. It’ll be smooth sailing once you’ve nailed your customer profile, which in turn increases productivity and consistency - shell yeah!
Establishing a Tone Of Voice and Caption Style
It makes me whale-y happy when I see travel businesses adopting a unique tone of voice that really suits them, giving me (and the rest of their audience) a true sense of who they are. This is so important because it helps us as potential customers decide whether we want to book a trip through that particular company.
Tones of voice can take lots of different forms; they can be characterised by being warm, corporate, informal or formal, humorous…the list goes on and there is no one-size-fits-all! The trick is to be authentic and give your audience the right feeling, communicating the experience they will have if they book with you.
To demonstrate how effective and different a distinct tone of voice can be, let’s take a look at a couple of big travel brands making a splash with this.
Ryanair
Ryanair has become notorious for their humorous, self-deprecating content that reflects what their audience might already be thinking. Their captions appear blase and low-effort, and the content speaks for itself.
This is in fact very intentionally done to represent the company’s cheap and cheerful prices, and reputation for being budget-friendly and definitely not a luxury experience!
Audley Travel
Contrast this with Audley Travel, who paint a very different picture. Their style of posting is minimalistic and informative, aiming to share experiences and sell destinations through their evocative imagery.
They aim to attract a different market and do so effectively as you can see in this particular post for example.
These are both fin-tastic examples of knowing your audience and working with it.
The message?
"Own who you are as a brand for a successful social media strategy for travel businesses"
What Next?
Now we’ve visited all three islands and you have an idea of the elements that make up a good social media strategy, it’s time to put the sails up and make some progress with the actual content you’ll be publishing. To help take your content to the next level, check out my Content Ideas For Travel Businesses and my list of Faceless Reels Ideas.
To explore the seven seas of social media strategy for travel businesses a little more, take a look at this article all about Social Media Marketing For The Travel Industry.
If you need some focused 1-2-1 support, book a strategy session with me - I can promise you enthusiasm, actionable advice and renewed energy for your socials! Ready to float into calmer seas?
Let’s get to it, islanders.
Yasmin 🌺
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