The Challenge of Marketing Your Travel Practice on Facebook | Travel Research Online

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The Challenge of Marketing Your Travel Practice on Facebook

You probably know that fewer than 10% of your followers on Facebook are going to see any of your business page posts. The organic reach on Facebook continues to decline. The Facebook algorithms are getting more restrictive yet many business page owners are surprised by their low engagement rates. The surprise partly stems from their experience with their personal Facebook profile which always generates commentary and “Likes”. However, the algorithms controlling the visibility of personal posts are completely different from those controlling business pages.

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Nothing about the decline of Facebook’s organic reach should really surprise us. Early adopters to Facebook had a free ride for a long time and now we have to pay to dance. Using Facebook as a marketing vehicle requires you to actually participate in the marketing effort.  Merely having good content on your Facebook page is not enough because without boosting your posts nobody will see your great content.
As a marketer seeking client engagement, you have to ensure your viewers see your content and visibility typically requires a marketing investment.One of the best things about Facebook, however, is how cost effective your marketing can be. An investment of $20 or less can yield tremendous results with the proper tactics.
Here is an article I recently wrote on the topic: Give Your Facebook Marketing a Boost.

With regard to your travel practice, here are a few more tips to getting the exposure you need as cost efficiently as possible:
  • Design strong posts with inspiring photography or video. The Voyager Content Library is filled with memes, images of travel quotations and videos. We have tested each of these and found them effective.
  • Your posting strategy might be to drive leads to your site or to grow your base. Therefore, consider these tactics which will be different depending on your goals:
    • If your goal is traffic to your site, first type in the URL of your site landing page: http://www.yourdomain.com. THEN, upload the image. Videos are best not used to drive traffic to your site unless your video is hosted on a page of your site.  When someone clicks on the image they will now be taken to your site. Make sure the page you choose as a landing page is attractive and exciting. Home pages work, especially if they convey something about you as a travel consultant. That is why this home page is one of my favorites.  The page is well-designed (it’s a Voyager site), the imagery is strong and bold and there is an “About us” paragraph right under the header image with a picture of the travel consultant: and that is your key marketing advantage. You are not Travelocity, you are a personal travel planner. Play to your strengths.
    • Boost your blog posts
    • If your goal is to increase your “Likes” to grow your audience, use video, great photography and look at Facebook’s Lead Ads. For example, generate leads by using a Facebook Lead Ad featuring one of the Incredible Free Offer white papers from the Voyager Content Library.
  • Regardless of your goals and tactics, however, you need to allocate some portion of your marketing dollars to Facebook. Do so in small measured doses: $5 or $10 can go a long way if you choose your audience well. Wanting to engage your existing clients and drive them to your site? Then when you boost your posts, target “People Who Like Your Page”. Want a larger group of followers? Create an audience using Interests such as Conde Nast Traveler, Travel+Leisure, etc. Then, consider restricting your geography to your home town or area unless you truly have a national market. 
  • Study social media marketingDon’t overlook Facebook’s own materials, which are excellent.


Having built large audiences on three separate Facebook business pages, I am convinced the investment will pay off for travel consultants who study the options and choose wisely.

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