Developing a successful tourism marketing strategy can be tricky. You have to attract new guests, thrill the current guests, and leave an impression on previous guests. A successful tourism marketing strategy provides positive memories to your customers.
Unfortunately, an oversight within a tourism marketing strategy is dealing with negative customers and reviews. If no plan is in place, the impact can damage your tourist destination’s reputation. With technology at hand, people are quick to share their experiences.
Tools And Complaints
Travelers could complain about pretty much anything on their vacation. There’s no way to pinpoint one particular type of complaint. Just remember Murphy’s Law – “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”
Within your tourism marketing strategy, you need to make room for social media management. Social media is your best tool when it comes to finding reviews on your services. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are the first places people turn to when constructing their post about their negative experience.
Negative news travels faster than positive news. So what can be done to limit travellers’ negative experiences?
The 3 Mandatory Conditions For With Dealing With Negativity
Professionalism
The first step in addressing customers in any way is to do so in a professional manner. The second you show any hostility, it can escalate out of control. Regaining that control can become nearly impossible, especially if the problem is taking place over an online medium.
The best way to handle a situation professionally is to acknowledge that a problem did occur. Show customers that you’re empathetic with their experience and work with them to find an appropriate solution. If there is a problem that is on social media, remember that it’s public. If the customer is acting irrational, but you handle the situation professionally, spectators see that you handled the situation appropriately. Customer satisfaction should already have its place in your tourism marketing strategy. Therefore, presenting yourself as a fair and empathetic service will boost your overall reputation.
Promptness
The most efficient way to deal with negativity is to deal with it as soon as possible. Social media is without a doubt built into your tourism marketing strategy. Unfortunately, social media is not only about what you are posting about your destinations. It’s also what about travellers are experiencing as well. Tourists are quick to post pretty well any experience they have to share with the folks back home. A social media manager should be scanning common hashtags and mentions for any negative content.
When a problem is left too long, it can fester and make a very bad impression to the traveller. If a problem is left unsolved, your company can be called out for not recognizing the problem. When you address and resolve concerns quickly, travellers might revoke their statement or praise your timely response.
Regulations
Set policies. Every experience will result in a slightly different solution. But it is best to have a set of guideline to follow for each possible problem. This guideline will limit problem-solving efforts and help you deal with the problem as quickly as it arises.
The execution of these three practices will result in positive resolution and will get your traveller’s back to enjoying his or her vacation. After all, a well-rounded tourism marketing strategy does not only include getting customers to your destination but showing them the good time, as promised.
If you are struggling with the use of social media in your tourism marketing strategy, contact Edkent Mediato discuss the possibilities of the type of content you should be putting forth to attract and satisfy future adventure seekers.
