Facebook Into Your Travel Marketing Plan

In addition to your marketing Web site, your CVB or tourism bureau has the opportunity to be seen by more than 250 million people all over the world at any given time. This idea of increasing your Web traffic may seem complicated and time-consuming, but it is much easier than you may think.

According to Facebook's statistics, more than 120 million users log in each day, contributing to more than 5 billion minutes being spent each day worldwide on the site. Despite what you may think about Facebook being targeted for teens and young adults, the current fastest growing demographic is people ages 35 and older. Combine that with the Domestic Travel Market Report statistics that the average age of a domestic traveler is 46 (and that 75% of Americans travel for leisure) and you don't need another reason to join Facebook.

Other than the statistics, Facebook brings a lot to the table:

• A plethora of media devices at your fingertips. Uploading video, pictures, slideshows and easy posting makes sharing multimedia easy.
• The ability to generate discussions easily. Direct messaging capabilities, wall postings, group networking and creating fan pages give your CVB or tourism bureau a broad range of tourism and destination marketing tools at your fingertips.
• High SEO capabilities. Facebook can be placed high on Google results, especially if you customize your Facebook address (i.e. http://www.facebook.com/yourbusinesshere).
• High reachability. You have the ability to not only keep up with your clients, but give potential clients a taste of what they are missing. You have the ability to search for people who are interested in traveling, as well as the individual assets your destination has to offer, and you reach out to them directly.
• Networking. Become a fan of similar pages to gather a bigger following. In turn, they have the ability to link back to your site.

All of these capabilities for tourism advertising and destination branding are not just limited to your company's Web site. These services are available in addition to what you may already have in terms of Internet marketing.