THE DIGITAL ROADMAP:

1. The Attention Economy

2. The new connected consumer

3. The Website

4. Search

5. Mobile

6. Social

7. Measurement

8. Mapping your 2018 Digital Plan

WHAT’S YOUR DIGITAL

DIRECTION?

Online all the time

Source: https://blog.dscout.com/mobile-touches

Connected across demographics

we want them.

REVIEWS INFLUENCE PURCHASE DECISIONS

Sources: Convergys, Opinion Research Corporation, Gartner, Kelsey Grp, ComScore, icuc.social

84% of Americans say online

customer evaluations have an

influence on their purchase

decision

Gartner reported that negative

unaddressed comments lead to a 15%

increase in churn

The average consumer looks at 7.9

forms of digital media before they

make a decision about a product or

service

31 million people access local

content on their phone (up 51% in

one year)

One negative review one a

social media site can cost 30 new

customers

source: https://moz.com/local-search-ranking-factors

REVIEWS IMPACT SEARCH RANKING!

REVIEWS MATTER MORE THAN EVER BEFORE

Sources: Research by Kelly Mcquire Reviews, Ratings and Hotels – What research tells us (so far)

1. Reviews and price are the most important influencers of choice for travel consumers.

2. It’s not just Tripadvisor: Customers are talking about your brand across digital media channels

including: Tripadvisor, Google, Yelp, Booking.com, Expedia, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram +++

3. Negative reviews remove you from the choice set. Period. All reviews must be managed and

responded to.

4. Positive reviews impact revenue. Overall consumers still prefer a lower price. Understand

your brand’s position relative to your competition - both on reputation, and on price - in order to

take advantage of any pricing power associated with positive UGC and reviews.

SEARCH HAS CHANGED

image source: http://www.theceomagazine.com/business/google-has-changed-business-and-marketing-dramatically/

source: Think with Google 2017

CONSUMERS ARE USING MOBILE DEVICES

MOMENTS

We think in…

GOOGLE SEARCH MOMENTS

MOVE ACROSS MULTIPLE CHANNELS +

DEVICES

Source: Google Think Travel

If we can’t

find it -

FAST

We Search

again.

THE IMPACT

1. Customers are in charge.

2. Search platforms and algorithms impact business performance more

than ever before.

Your business must be positioned well in search today.

1. Consumer Reviews impact both decision making - and being found at all

by your target audiences.

2. A business profile on Google, Bing, Yelp and Facebook is no longer a

“nice to have”

3. Your business must be “always on” for in the moment customer.

SOCIAL MEDIA

WHAT WE DO ON SOCIAL MEDIA

➔ Like, Love, Pin

➔ Comment

➔ Share, Re-share

➔ Post comments, pics, videos

➔ Add/Read Reviews

➔ Watch Video

➔ Comment, Complain

➔ Click to Buy

➔ Message,Chat

➔ Go Live, Video Chat

source:https://blog.microfocus.com/how-much-data-is-created-on-the-internet-each-day/

WHY SOCIAL MEDIA IS A MUST

UGC AND MARKETING

Brand influencers and

brand fans who are

engaged with, and

sharing brand content

Those who are

rewarded with

interaction from the

brand - are more likely

to continue to create

content, share it and

endorse the brands who

appreciate them.

LEVERAGING UGC TO COMPLEMENT AND AMPLIFY

MARKETING - AND DRIVE CONSUMER ACTION

WHAT’S NEXT: FACEBOOK MESSENGER

AND CHAT

source: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/marketers-guide-facebook-messenger-bots/179028/

Social Trust is a

Must

88% of consumers trust online

reviews as much as personal

recommendations

Mobile and Local

Visibility

78% of mobile searches for local

business information results in a

purchase.

Search Influences

Purchase Intent

6.8 billion mobile devices are

enabling consumers to search

locally

TO SUM IT UP...

MAPPING THE DIGITAL PLAN

ALL ROADS LEAD TO THE WEBSITE

THE WEBSITE

EASY NAVIGATIONSTRONG VISUALS

BITE SIZED CONTENT

CONTACT AND CALL TO ACTION

MAPS + DIRECTIONS

STORIES

VIDEOCROWD SOURCED PHOTOSEVENT FEATURESFORMS OR DOWNLOADSSIGN UP

SHARE TO SOCIAL

• Click to Call

• Click for Directions

• Click for Google Maps

• Mobile Version a must

1. Mobile Access has changed consumer buying process, expectations, and even the way they

buy travel and travel related services.

2. Local and “near me searches” have changed the travel path to purchase with in-destination

or “in the moment” sales increasing year over year.

3. Consumers expect the “mobile first” user experience with easy access to contact information,

maps, directions and reviews. They expect accuracy in listing information, and immediate response

from brands in solving problems.

4. Within the online mobile experience, local listings, maps, and review sites are dominating

the points along the customer journey - and directly impacting revenue in the travel category,

more now than in the past with reviews integrated into the local and mobile search experience.

MOBILE: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

BE VISIBLE AT ALL MOMENTS

Over 40% of travelers say they bounce back and

forth between dreaming about and planning their

next trip—zooming in on the details for one

destination and then zooming out to reconsider

all the options again

What can you do?

1. Be there

2. Be useful

Source: Think with Google 2016/

Paid Ads

Google Map

Listings

Google Local

And Reviews

WEBSITE SEO

IS STILL

IMPORTANT

LOCAL & ORGANIC SEARCH ARE DIFFERENT

✓ Optimize URLs

✓ Reputation is buried

Organic Search

✓ Optimize Listings

✓ Reputation is front and center

Local Search

The foundation of ranking

well in local search results

begins with accurate and

optimized local business

listings.

The search engine results

landscape is now localized and

crowded - with limited visibility

of “Organic” listings.

Engines are prioritizing and

integrating various ranking

features:

● Local pages

(google,bing,yelp,facebook)

● Listings and reviews

● Social “signals” from

social channels like FB,

Instagram, Twitter

19%Local Social

26%Local SEO

51%Local Listing

Management

LOCAL SEARCH RANKING FACTORS

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

CLAIM GOOGLE MY BUSINESS

REVIEWS MATTER MORE THAN EVER BEFORE

Source: Research by Kelly Mcquire Reviews, Ratings and Hotels – What research tells us (so far)

1. Reviews and price are the most important influencers of choice. While consumers did pay attention to aggregate

ratings, TripAdvisor rank and to a lesser extent, brand, positive reviews contributed the most to consumer choice

behavior followed by lower price.

1. Negative reviews remove you from the choice set. Period. Lower price or higher ratings do not overcome the impact

of negative reviews. Consumers simply will not choose a hotel with negative reviews.

1. Consumers prefer to pay a lower price. While consumers would go for a higher-priced hotel when the reviews and

ratings were better than the alternatives, all things being equal, they will look for the lowest price

1. Consumers only notice high ratings and rankings. Results showed that consumers only notice ratings and rankings

when they are high as compared to other choices.

THE IMPACTBringing it all together - what this means to you

● Actively read/respond to reviews you find on Yelp, Google, Yahoo…

o Quick response turnaround is vital for reviewer to edit negative to positive

● Take advantage of positive reviews and using negative ones to improve operations

● Using a social media tool to brand monitor : Hootsuite, Engage121, even Google Alerts

● Create directory pages on Facebook. (3rd largest local search site in the world)

● Local listing management - map pins and location must be accurate.

● Do you have a way to currently track local and organic rankings?

o They’re your online heartbeat.

o Track local & organic rankings, to correlate how reputation, social, and listings impact your

rankings (both positive and negative).

REVIEWS DRIVE REACH AND REVENUE

Brand

engagements rise

by 28% when consumers are

exposed to both

professional content and

user-generated product

video. (comScore)

Sharing content through influencers increases conversion by at least a 3x-10x higher rate

65% of social media users from ages 18 to 24 consider information that's shared on social networks when

making a purchasing decision. (eMarketer)

84% of social media users report that UGC on company websites has at least some influence on what they

buy. (Bazaarvoice)

Brand Engagements

Rise by 28%when consumers are exposed

to both professional content

and user-generated product

video. (comScore)

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT ON CONSUMER

BEHAVIOUR

THE POWER OF USER GENERATED

CONTENT

What’s New With

➢A Boosted Post Strategy and Ad spend required.

➢Video content is popular and most engaging to users.

➢No Free Reach for ANY BRAND PAGE POST. EVER.

Facebook Live

POST EVENTS

➢ Create Events

➢ Follow stakeholders and partners

➢ Short, Snackable Content

➢ Boost videos and photos

➢ Try Facebook Live

➢ Top 10 Lists

➢ Locals Know Features

➢ Always link posts to places on the

Website

➢ HAVE BUDGET TO BOOST

POSTS

BOOSTING POSTS AND MEASURING SUCCESS

AUTHENTIC CONTENT AND LEVERAGING UGC

Image Source: eMarketer

WHAT CHANNELS? WHAT CONTENT?

• Go where your customers are.

• Photos, videos and UGC work well. Allocate time and

resources.

• Social Media is not FREE

• Do social well and leverage content beyond social

channels.

• Facebook zero organic, Facebook and Instagram stories

• Live Streaming Video:Facebook + Instagram Live +

Twitter Live

• Video: Live Streaming with 360-degree viewing features

(Youtube), plus VR and AR

• Snapchat further changing user behaviour

• Integrating Social or crowd sourced content into the

website and other marketing to tell authentic stories

1. IDENTIFY the most relevant influencers

2. LEVERAGE existing social army’s not yet discovered

2. GOALS: Determine the most appropriate strategies and channels – based on

goals beyond just brand awareness.

3. MEASURE the results via increases in Social referrals back to Website,

increases in campaign conversion ++

4. DRIVE Social down the sales Funnel – and take back control of your Social

Influence

TAKEAWAYS

It’s important! Your customers are spending 4+ Hours a day Sharing, Liking

and Snapping your brand.

Help them help you

WHAT TO MEASURE. HOW TO MEASURE

Step 1: Define target customer personas. Build

content to drive action from social to website.

Step 2: Define Conversion Goals (Click to Call, Book

now, Sign up, Contact, Click for Directions)

Step 3: Define KPI’s (ie. lower bounce rate, more

referral traffic from Facebook,Instagram to campaign

page, more pages per visit)

Step 4: Map customer journey from off the point of

conversion to sale/book/contact.

Step 5: Set up conversion goals

Step 6: Measure and Benchmark month over month,

year over year.

USE DATA TO OPTIMIZE CAMPAIGNS

LOOK FOR SPIKES IN TRAFFIC TO DEFINE

SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGNS AND CONTENT

BENCHMARKING SOCIAL REFERRALS

All Roads lead to

The Website

WORKING TOGETHER

thinkdigital.travel

Strategy in 2017 that focussed on engaging local visitation instead of GTA or Longer haul markets.

Highlights of Tourism Grey campaigns and results in increasing:

1. New visitation, who is coming to Grey?

2. Increased engagement, increased pages per visit, increase referrals to stakeholders

3. Key campaigns success

KEY KPI’S TO BENCHMARK AS A REGION

➢ Google organic and

local search are

critical.

➢ Positive Reviews

impact visibility in

search and are a

critical part of the

buying journey.

➢ A Social Strategy is a

Must Do. Content

needs to speak to the

new connected

consumer.

➢ Social media hits your

customer across

multiple places on the

buying journey. Be

visible everywhere.

➢ Drive customer

down the path to

purchase.

➢ All roads lead to

acquisition and

retention.

o Mobile First. Responsive Website is not enough.

o Ensure all website images are quick to download.

o Make website navigation easy and content purposeful. Tap targets, click to call etc

o Claim and optimize Google my business listing. Check map location

o Ensure Website is optimized for Search (SEO) Especially for local Search

o Encourage reviews on all channels: Google, Tripadvisor, Bing, Yelp, Facebook

o Map your customer journey in “Moments”

o Marketing Travel needs to evoke emotion. Ensure your marketing and

website content tell your brand story.

Measurement

o Use Google Analytics to measure Top referring sources of traffic, Social signals ++

Must Do’s for 2018

o Social Media – choose the channels where your audience is living and do it well.

o Listen and respond to “Review-us-here” and Social media. Be transparent.

o Reviews on Facebook impact your Local SEO.

Manage them like any other review channel

o Use Facebook boosted posts.

o Have a budget – there is no free reach on Facebook

o Instagram is a must do for Travel websites.

o Tag and share each other’s content on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

o Video content is engaging. Video on websites, on Youtube,

Facebook Live tells your stories.

Social Media Must Do’s for 2018

YOUR DIGITAL ROADMAP

WWW.IDEAHATCHING.COM

THANK YOU!