Social media has become a platform that is easily accessible to anyone with internet access. Social media marketing refers to the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites. Role of social media has grown at a rapid pace in recent years and most of the companies are using it on an extensive basis to generate leads and converting them to customers.
The tourism industry was one of the sectors that benefitted the most from the internet and as a result Social media has become an integral part of tourism marketing.
Need of social media in tourism industry
The introduction of Social Media networks has revolutionized the industry. Now it is not only the “industry experts” that publish their reviews on travel related websites and channels but also the simple internet users that rate destinations, create content, write their reviews, exchange experiences, publish their videos and photos etc.
Moreover the social networks made it possible to spread the information even faster and with less cost. The word of mouth has been proven an effective way to promote businesses and several viral marketing techniques have been developed in order to engage the internet users.The social media networks are valuable tools for companies that belong to the travel industry because they can help them promote their services with less cost, attract user attention and above all generate buzz around their brands, services or travel destinations. With millions of internet sites, social networks, online booking engines and review sites, vacationers and visitors can now pick and chose where they want to stay, how they want to spend their vacations and find latest tourism pictures and videos that showcases the experience and real time view of the destinations.The internet and social networks have put word of mouth marketing on the forefront for tourism destinations and tourism businesses.