By Dana Zificsak, CTIE, member of The Travel Institute’s Professional Educators Program (PEP).
We use marketing to bridge the gap between someone first encountering our brand and then convincing them that they can trust you to book a trip.
Social media videos are the trending form of marketing right now. They offer glimpses into other worlds and let audiences feel a personal connection to the person doing the posting.
Here are 5 reasons why you need to add video to your social media marketing strategy:
1. Clients out there are looking for connections. They’re looking for ways to see how we’re the same–which leads to trust. When you do a video from your office—talking to the camera about offers, destinations, etc. the audience can see your face, hear the tone of your voice. This all adds to the trust you’re building with your potential clients.
2. Video gets more reach and engagement. In fact, the Instagram algorithm increases the reach on short-form videos, Reels, for accounts with fewer than 500 followers. Right there, if you don’t have a lot of followers, Instagram will expose you to more people, and more people might start following you.
3. When clients see you on video, they have an expert telling them all about the things they need to do for their trip and offering first-person travel accounts. Clients are more likely to convert because they can’t get that with Travelocity, they can’t get that with Expedia. They get that with you, so you don’t have to worry about them price-checking you. They already have your trust.
4. You have at least 25 videos on your phone right now that you could use on social media. Your number might be closer to mine at about 700+, but you have the content. People want to see this content! Go through your phone and favorite five videos right now from recent trips.
5. Platforms are making it very easy to share video. Facebook and Instagram will prompt you to turn posts into reels. Canva has beautiful templates you can insert your videos into, and, in 10 minutes, you have a professional-looking video.
The biggest thing is to not overthink it. Be authentic and share what you have. Start by sharing a resort room tour or stateroom tour from a cruise ship. I have a feeling you have more than one room tour; pick out four and schedule one to post a week for the next four weeks. Then build on it from there.
About Dana Zificsak, CTIE
With a combination of 10 years’ experience in the industry and her background as a teacher, Dana takes sales and marketing strategy and breaks it down into doable steps that agents can use in their business through training programs at Guts Grit Goals and her free weekly classes in her agents-only Facebook group: Sales and Marketing Tips for Travel Agents.
