Tourism under the impact of social media
Published on : Monday, April 2, 2018
Ally Pintucci stands as a new celebrity face for the tourism sector. These guys appear to live an immensely stylized life documented in gauzy, grainy images (depending on the Instagram filter used) to showcase an extremely desirable life which marketers call ‘aspirational’. In March, she wrapped up her flourishing #Staycation series in Whistler, hanging out at the new Evolution Whistler boutique hotel, “spa-ing” at Scandinave (where else?), along with snowmobiling with Canadian Wilderness Adventures, arresting it all on Instragram and racking up the “likes.”
Her exclusive social media gig was a newly one-month paid stay at the freshly launched Parc Vancouver hotel and casino. To secure the paid job, she had to defeat hundreds of bloggers from her province. Let’s just say that her coverage was awesomely positive.
Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Yelp, Snapchat and TripAdvisor, and other social media platforms have drastically moved the style in which tourism destinations and experiences are marketed. As digital billboards, silky double page magazine spreads and slick television advertisements sell the sizzle, the steak is more and more provided by the visitors, and the impact they apply on their followers.
Now, consumers have the chance to connect directly with companies by lodging a grievance on Twitter or becoming a “super reviewer” on Yelp or TripAdvisor.
The modification is so deep that Terry O’Reilly, the Canadian marketing guru tweaked the title of his immensely well-liked CBC podcast from The Age of Persuasion to Under the Influence. To quote O’Reilly in a podcast episode last summer: “A lot has changed in the world of marketing since we started our radio show back in 2005. We began the same year as YouTube. Back then, there was no podcasting, no iPhone, no Twitter, no Instagram, no Snapchat and no Pinterest. Facebook was just one year old. One of the reasons we retooled our show and changed the name was to reflect this upheaval in the marketing world—this shift from persuasion to influence.”
Tags: social media
Ally Pintucci stands as a new celebrity face for the tourism sector. These guys appear to live an immensely stylized life documented in gauzy, grainy images (depending on the Instagram filter used) to showcase an extremely desirable life which marketers call ‘aspirational’. In March, she wrapped up her flourishing #Staycation series in Whistler, hanging out at the new Evolution Whistler boutique hotel, “spa-ing” at Scandinave (where else?), along with snowmobiling with Canadian Wilderness Adventures, arresting it all on Instragram and racking up the “likes.”