Bouvard Cruises in Mandurah started their journey down the Social Media marketing road late last year by firstly creating a Facebook business page closely followed by a blog called “Mandurah’s Dolphin Blog”, a YouTube Channel and a Twitter account. The strategy was to use the blog to record sightings using photos and videos then use their Facebook and Twitter pages to share the information and drive traffic to their website.

The Rewards

10 months later and they are now seeing the rewards. Over the 10 month period the Dolphin Blog has become the highest referring website for sending visitors to the Bouvard Cruises website, followed by Experience Perth then their Facebook page. They have seen a 72% increase in visitors to their site since last year and it’s still climbing!

But it gets better!

Using Google Analytics to monitor traffic to their website we’ve seen in the last 3 months their Facebook page has overtaken the Dolphin Blog as their highest referring website, it actually referred 3 times as much traffic as their second referring website. In fact their Facebook page sent more visitors to their website in the last month than the combined total of their next 8 referring sites! As far as traffic sources go only Google is higher than their Facebook page!

So what does this tell us?

A social media strategy used effectively drives traffic to your website.
A Facebook page is a powerful marketing tool. Combine it with a blog for more power.
If you don’t have a Facebook page or a blog or a social media strategy… you are missing out.
If you have a Facebook page and a blog keep using it.
Make more postings, monitor them daily and interact with your customers who make posts and replies.
Make it part of your daily office marketing routine to check your Facebook page first thing every morning and again last thing in the afternoon. Make at least 1-2 post a week and make sure respond to yours fans posts and questions.
Most importantly stick at it!

This all this proves that a social media campaign involving a clear strategy is a very powerful marketing tool that drives customers to your website. Just ask Rod!

Day by day more and more people are discovering that posting free informative and creatively written articles on the net will help you sell online more than expensive advertisements or anything else. Many are beginning to wake up to the fact that the main currency on the net is free information and that any online marketing campaign that appreciates that fact is bound to reap untold riches and success.

This marketing tool is being made even more effective by the day as more and more web sites, that enjoy high traffic, choose to provide the facility for articles to be posted free.

However one of the industries that have been rather slow in waking up to this gold mine is the tourism sector. Those of us who may have been lucky enough to go for a holiday in some far off place recently, will know where they got their information. The Internet is naturally where millions of potential tourists and travelers hungrily seek information every day on where they are headed.

And tourism practitioners have a huge advantage when they choose to use articles. In which other industry can you lavishly describe your product, right up to the tiny details without losing your readers – especially on the net? Where else can you mention the name of your establishment, bang in the middle of the article and still retain its’ respectability as an informative, useful piece?

And you really don’t have to limit yourself to writing about your product. You can write about hundreds of other subjects that are closely related to it.

For example a small tourist camp in the middle of some game park in Africa where lions are found, can write a fascinating piece about the habits of these well-loved big cats. All they have to do is ensure that the call to action, usually at the bottom of the article, refers back to them. Mandurah’s Dolphin Blog is a great example of this principle in a local market. http://mandurahsdolphins.blogspot.com/

You can then offer either a regular ezine, refer people to your web site, or find another way to supply tons and tons of free information to people who are guaranteed to be hungry for it. There are scores of other directions your articles can take. From giving useful tips to historical information, coming events, to writing about the cuisine on offer. A piece can even be pegged on a current news item. The possibilities are really endless.

Even obscure unknown accommodation houses can post articles about their neighbourhood or the town where they are situated and dramatically change their fortunes.

The really exciting thing about the net is that it allows the small fry to compete and get the better of the big fish. So while all those other lavish destinations are spending millions advertising their destinations all over the world, the small guy can quietly post their articles on the net and get much better results with a budget that is next to zero.

The original article was written by Christopher Kyalo and I have altered it slightly to reflect local values.

About the author: Christopher Kyalo is a writer/marketing expert who makes money online only by posting free articles. Get his free course at bizboom at freeautobot.com and visit his blog http://big-online-story.blogspot.com. He can be reached at strongwallafrica at yahoo.com.

Aerial view of the Freeway - Photo: Southern Gateway Alliance

There has been a lot of talk over the past few months about the loss of tourists and trade coming through Mandurah now that the new freeway has been opened. What can be done to make people turn off the freeway and come into Mandurah and visit the Peel Region? Sure putting some tourist signs on the freeway at the turn off is a good start, but just a sign isn’t going to make a traveller suddenly decide then and there driving at 110kph to put on the brakes and say, “Hey let’s check out Mandurah”.

Most drivers have already decided on a destination for each day long before they actually get in the car and head off and trying to change their mind mid journey is nearly impossible. So what needs to be done is to get into the travellers decision making process when they are planing their journey so that when they see that sign at the turnoff the decision is a lot easier. How to do this? The internet is the largest reference tool used by travellers when planning a trip and tourism is now the largest industry on the internet. What Mandurah and the Peel region needs to do is build an online presence that is both informative and entertaining that will engage travellers and drive them (pun intended) to a website achieved though high organic search engine results.

By having a website that is constantly refreshed and updated with interesting content via a blog, then broadcasting this content on tourism related social media sites will ensure that Mandurah and the Peel region will rate high on search engine rankings. A website that is static and unchanging is just as effective as that sign at the turnoff, once you’ve seen it you know what it says so there is no point looking at it again next time you come across it. Creating exciting and interesting content on a website that is constantly refreshed will portray Mandruah and the Peel as an exciting and interesting place to visit. Events, festivals, attractions, deals, packages, people, lifestyle all of these and more can be used create new content and engage visitors.

Nobody else is going to sell Mandurah and the Peel, it’s up to everyone in the region to spread the word and the most effective selling tool available to small to medium businesses is word of mouth and social media is just that, digital word of mouth. Having a co-ordinated campaign to spread the word is the best way to get into potential visitors minds during the decision making process of their trip and getting them to turn off the freeway. If Mandurah and the Peel is marketed as an experience and not just a destination then half the work is done.

What do you think can be done to get people off the freeway? I’d love to hear your ideas.