Social Media

I had a chance meeting with Rene Looper  this week he is known as a the Tourism Guru in the North of Scotland. We did some work together when he started his destination management project in 2007

He is a great guy to meet, really full of passion and enthusiasum for his subject. We were talked about his latest project which is a new site and blog to support the tourism indusrty and help them recognise the importance of Social Media and Web 2.0 there is a training event on the 8th October

I have been convinced of the benefits of social media for sometime, however I have only recently engaged with it by writing this blog and the market-that.com web site. It is interesting as many of the large marketing consultancies have taken on the concept of Social Media offering the sevice to their client. Many have missed the point and have been trying to use the media as an advertising space and of course it fails.

This always comes back to how we communicate, social media gives us the power to comment in an informal manor and it gives our customers the right and opportunity to reply. It is not about saying me me me, it is about telling stories, giving a sense of who you are and what you are about, if it is a business, it is about the core values. I ofen talk to clients about having a voice for the business that has consistant style of communication the customer comes to recognise and trust. ( Know Like & Trust)

Rene had a good social media story, he was staying at hotel and the asked if there were using the new social tools. Imagine the owners shock when Rene open an online travel log and found 5 bad reviews for the business.

So here is the rub you might not want to write a blog and have no inclination to join Face Book but you clients might and they could be talking about you.

This does not effect every Industry and your business may be immune. However it will effect where your target market is young and social media inclined or where there is lots of choice and free will in the market place.  Rene has seen the light early as the tourism industry is right at the cutting edge of this.