Creating a marketing strategy using your Web Site and Social Media platforms

3/17/2020 1:30:57 PM

Developing a marketing strategy is one of the best ways to provide travel guidance to your customers, web followers and visitors and especially effective on your Social Media platforms. A consistent use of all mediums available to you (your web site, social media platforms and BLOG's) to promote your marketing strategy allows you to reach more people simultaneously.

The great news is that Signature has done most all of the work for you. It is just a matter of knowing where those resources are and how to deploy those through your development of a marketing strategy.

After reviewing all these available tools I suggest taking some time to write down your marketing plan. Make it so that you can revise and change it as you are developing it and include days to launch the elements of your plan either by day, by week or by month. Once you create your first marketing plan and implement it through completion, you should see a return from contacts from new and existing customers, engagement through request, contact and quote forms and calls into your agency. Make sure that you keep track of all the engagements you get from your marketing plan so that you can use it again after tweaking it for the next engagement marketing campaign. The more results that you see, the more you will want to develop new marketing strategies for the future and the better future marketing campaigns are created and implemented.

So let's get started.

Signature Digital Travel Magazines

Signature publishes two travel magazines on a regular basis. Taking the time to view both travel magazines lets you see what Destinations, Suppliers, Markets and Hotels & Resorts are currently being promoted by Signature. You can access your Travel Magazine links by clicking on your RESOURCES tab on your web site and then selecting "The Travel Magazine" links. This will open to the Signature page that launches both Travel Magazines; the Travel Magazine Online and the Ultimate Experience Magazine. Each magazines home page contains targeted travel categories that contain an introduction, some have videos, a featured travel partner and links to their travel promotions. Links to Signature micro sites allows you and your viewers to visit the branded micro sites for your agency.

Signature also makes all the articles in each issue available to you in WORD documents so that you can open specific articles and then customize them for your BLOG and Social Media platforms. Creating a short, rich paragraph is highly recommended when posting to these platforms.

Our Knowledge Base article "Getting Blog Content from SigNet" gives you step-by-step instructions on how to access these Word documents to adapt to your marketing strategy and across your Blog and Social Media platforms.
Click Here.

For example, from either magazine I can develop a marketing strategy from only one article! From the Travel Magazine Online's current issue there is an page created for Mexico's Coastal Escapes. Here you will find a short paragraph, Club Med as the featured supplier promoting specific properties and then a link to the specific promotions available from Club Med. From there you can create a BLOG with your own paragraph featuring the topic and supplier. Then create exclusive offers on your site through your CMS using the specific OFFER ID's contained in the specials offered in the magazine article. Then those Exclusive Offer links can be placed in your BLOG.

If you do not have a BLOG, use the paragraph as a post on your Social Media Platforms and then use the same Exclusive Offer links to send them back to your site to view the offer and then engage with you. You can also push those offers through SigNet to your Social Media platforms which then creates the post and links to a Signature agency branded page for that promotion. This Knowledge Base article tells you exactly how this option can be promoted.
What can I promote on Facebook and Twitter via SigNet?

You can also continue to build on your BLOG and Social Media posts on a daily or weekly basis by adding additional Exclusive Offers through your CMS for that supplier or destination by adding additional short posts with those links or by pushing those same promotions through SigNet pushing to Facebook and Twitter using the article above. The more you post, the more chances that viewers will engage and also share your posts to their friends, family and co-workers. Social Media reaches more viewers than any other medium on the Internet.

Create the Marketing Strategy

With all the information available from Signature through your SigNet account, you can easily come up with a something to promote on your Social Media for that weeks marketing strategy. Start with seeing what is already going out to your clients via the E-marketing Center. Compare that with what the supplier is promoting in Signature Promotions. See what is available from those promotions that is destination specific, micro-site specific, etc. Make a 7 day Social Media posting plan leading up to either the promotion itself or the E-marketing piece that is available. Don't forget to add color to your posts from your licensed image library!

Using Signature eMarketing Campaigns

If you are participating in Signature eMarketing, you can view all eMarketing campaigns by logging into SigNet; go to MARKETING >> eMarketing Calendar. Here you will find all campaigns that are scheduled and find more topics for your Marketing campaign. Example: From the current eMarketing calendar you will find several great topics that have either been delivered or will be going out soon. These include: Travel with Confidence, Important Update on COVID-19, Insight Vacations, Delta Vacations, etc. There you will find great resources for engaging with your viewers. You can do the following:

1. Email the campaign to specific clients
2. Promote on Facebook and Twitter
3. Add Facebook and Instagram banner ads to your platforms

You can also view sent campaigns to see what the results of those campaigns were after they were sent including who viewed them, how they clicked through, etc. Following up with an email to the subscriber is an effective way to engage with your clients and to help further their interest in what they viewed. Whether it be a new booking or a booking down the road,; engaging with your subscribers after a campaign goes out is a very effective way to remind them that you are there to help them with their future travel plans.

Social Media Tools for Facebook Marketing

Signature also offers a wide array of tools to assist you in

Signature offers a wide array of tools to assist you in promoting content on Face Book, Twitter or other social media. “Promote” or "Share" elements are available on most consumer content including:

• Cruise and Land Offers
• Signature Hotel Program
• Microsites
• E-marketing Campaigns
• The Travel Experience

CLICK HERE for printable PDF

What can I promote on Facebook and Twitter via SigNet?

Signature has a variety of content that can be pushed to your Facebook and Twitter pages very easily!

Your best practice is to plan out a marketing strategy and then determine what you can push over the course of a week from SigNet to your social media accounts.

What can be promoted

• Cruise and Land Offers
• Signature Hotels & Resorts
• Signature Micro-sites:
• Cruise
• Destinations
• Culinary
• River Cruises
• Family
• Groups
• Alaska
• Mexico
• Hawaii
• Family
• Celebrations
• Adventure
• E-marketing Campaigns
• The Travel Magazine Online

Once you access any of these Signature areas in SigNet you will then see the Facebook and Twitter icons (Promote Facebook, Tweet this). For Cruise and Vacation offers you will see the Social and Tweet commands on the top right of the results.

When promoting an offer you have the ability to change the title, description and if you want a thumbnail and your agency branding that is already set-up in your agency graphics. Once you have created the promotion you will be given a social media link for both Twitter and Facebook. Choose the one that works or both and drop the URL into your Facebook status or Twitter feed.

Whatever the Signature promotion or source, first look for the Facebook and Twitter icons which are quick access to the above.

Promote a Cruise Promotion on Social Media!

Signature offers a wide array of tools to assist you in promoting content on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media sites. "Promote” or “Share” elements are available on most consumer content including: Cruise and Land Offers, Signature Hotel Program,  Microsites,  E-marketing,  Campaigns,  The Travel Magazine Online and more!  This is a sample of what an E-marketing campaign for Princess Cruises looks like when promoted to Facebook:  Most E-Marketing Campaigns can be easily shared and tweeted!   To promote a special, hover over the Marketing menu item to reveal submenus OR Click the Marketing menu item to cascade and then select E-Marketing Calendar. You will then see the “Promote to Facebook” and “Tweet this” links at the end of the campaign details.  How to Guide - Signature's Social Media Tools (PDF)

Facebook Mini-Apps

These applications have been designed to be added to your Facebook page and allows your visitors to access different elements of your business. Three mini-apps are now available: 1) Cruise Search 2) Vacation Search 3) Sweepstakes & Email SIgn-Up. Links to set up the Facebook apps can be found in the marketing section of SigNet.

For the complete PDF set of instructions from Signature Click Here

Customize and Share: Themed Microsites

Signature’s Themed Microsites allow you to send your clients complete information on a specific type of vacation. Plus the microsites are branded with your agency information as well as your individual

Travel Consultant contact information.

This guide explains how to locate the various themed microsites on SigNet and email them to your clients.

Click on the following links for an overview and step by step instructions:

CLICK HERE for How to Guide - Themed Microsites (PDF)

Signature Digital Media Banners

Banners that you can add through your Content Management System.

Signature is offering banner ads for select suppliers and promotions that you can use and link to a specific landing page associated with the supplier promotion. These can easily be accessed on SigNet by going to Marketing >> Digital Media Banners.

Click on the title here to access Signature’s Digital Media Banner instructions:

You will be selecting the “Website” banner option. There are two sizes available. Pick the one the is at least or slightly larger than your CMS indicates. Do not select a banner that is smaller than your CMS dimensions or it will show up distorted on your site.

When you choose your banner, you will want to save it to your computer then load it into your banner library. Also open the “Landing Page” link for the promotion as this will become the link for your banner in the CMS.

Your Banner CMS allows for banners to be added that are already pre-populated with the text and call to action. Therefore, you will leave all these fields blank. Once you have uploaded the banner into your CMS library you can then determine the location (spots 1-5) where the banner will display and link. Once you are completed please check the banner and link on your live web site.

It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3!

1. Go to SigNet, Marketing >> Digital Media Toolkit. Select your banner, open the banner link and save the banner to your local device.
2. Open the Landing page link and leave that window open.
3. Open your CMS, upload the banner to your library through "HOME PAGE BANNER/OFFER" .
4. Make sure all fields are blank.
5. Copy the "Landing Page" link from the open Signature page and paste this in the Link/URL line.
6. Have the banner open in a New Window and then click UPDATE BANNER or SAVE CHANGES button depending on the CMS that you have.

Make sure that you test the banner(s) on your live web site.

You can also promote the same promotion on your Facebook and Instagram pages. Just follow the instructions provided by Signature.

Conclusion

How your business grows is dependent on what you do to promote it. Consumers need Travel Professionals to guide them through their travel processes more than in any time in our industry history. When you, as their travel professional, can easily engage with clients by providing answers to their questions, suggestions for their travel interests and other related travel information through you knowledge using the tools available to you through Signature, ADVAIA and your Social Media, you become the "ROCK STAR" to them. Trust me, they will engage with you often and refer their experience with you to their family, friends and associates.

GOOD LUCK!