Tourism is Back! How to Engage New Customers with Digital

With summer around the corner and tourism back, it's time to get a refresher on the best ways to engage with your customers and update your marketing methods for the season. Although people are getting more downtime and binging their favorite shows (and your TV ads!), they’re also spending a lot of time outdoors or traveling to their vacation destinations. Good news! Consumers are spending more and more time on their phones, so you'll still be able to reach them through digital channels. 

Mobile use is unmistakably growing and becoming an essential part of any successful marketing strategy. There are more than 5.22 billion mobile phone users — that's around 66.6% of the population! Also, 34% of consumers search for products using mobile search every day, and 25% do multiple times per week. 

Many marketers are already seeing its potential and putting it to use. As much as 71% believe mobile marketing is core to their business. Here's what you need to know about engaging new consumers through digital marketing during Summer. 

Social Media Engagement

Social media engagement can mean several things, depending on the platform you're using. Put simply, it is any interaction with your business on social media where users are actively communicating their interest with your posts and brand — i.e., likes, tweets/retweets, tags, shares, and comments.

It's important because it keeps you connected personally with current and potential customers while building a bond that leads to sales, loyalty, and referrals. 

More than 4.08 billion people are active mobile social media users worldwide. The sooner you start engaging with users, the sooner your brand will start making friends with the right customers at the right time.

Here are some ways to increase your social media engagement this summer:

• Take advantage of social engagement tools.
• Create content that elicits interactions — such as polls, surveys, debates, and questions.
• ALWAYS respond to comments!
• Generate user participation with contests, freebies, and giveaways.
• Add images and videos to your posts.
• Tweets that include images tend to gain 150% more retweets than tweets that don't include them.
• 69% of people prefer video over text when learning about a product or service.

Create a Hashtag

Hashtags are another excellent way to reach more consumers in your target audience using digital marketing tactics. It not only gets your posts in front of users you’re already friends with on social media but increases your visibility for any user searching through a given hashtag.

You'll never go wrong with summer hashtags like #summertime, #summervibes, #summervacation, #sun, #sunset, and #beach. 

Display Ads Based on Current Location/Check-Ins on Social

The great thing about targeting your audience on mobile during summer is that many consumers use their location technology, allowing you to take advantage of location-based advertising.

Eighty-seven percent of mobile marketers see success with location targeting with benefits including better response, higher engagement, and customer insights.

This means more accurate and relevant display ad targeting to customers that are in your tourism area (or will be soon!). This can be done either based on their current mobile location or with check-ins on social. 

With summer comes vacations and tourism, so you won't want to miss out on advertising your brand to the right people at the right time. Given they'll likely bounce around to the next hot spot, you'll want the timing to be just right, so they know exactly where to go while they're enjoying their highly anticipated summer vacation with friends and family. 

Google My Business

You'll also want to make sure you're signed up for Google My Business, so you show up in maps when people are looking for a restaurant in your area. This is especially important if they're tourists or visitors unfamiliar with your area.

The best part about it — IT'S FREE. You get to promote your business with a high-quality business profile and business website, and it doesn't cost you anything but your time to set up. 

This will allow you to engage with new and current customers with:

• Reviews
• Updated information on your business
• Easy access to your business website
• Ways to reach you via your phone number, messaging, etc.

You can also track how customers are engaging with your business and see if there are any areas where you can improve your Google My Business strategy. 

Digitize Your Summertime Marketing Strategy

Summer doesn't mean your target audience will be unreachable — in fact, it means they're more easily reached and readily available. It also means more people out doing more things, so you'll have to keep up with the latest summer tactics to capture their attention and direct them to your business. 

Social media engagement, hashtags, location-based display ads, and Google My Business are only a fraction of what your business should be doing this summer. Follow our FOX10 Gulf Coast Blog to see more marketing tips on staying relevant in the summer months.