5 Tweets from #SoMeT15AU that Caught our Attention

While our team was busy at IAMAI’s eTailing and Travel Conference summit in New Delhi, some of us in the office were also keeping an eye on the final day’s proceedings at #SoMeT15AU, which was organized at the picturesque venue of Sunshine Coast, down-under. The Social Media Tourism Symposium, also known as SoMeT, is the only conference of its kind that provides an opportunity for destinations and tourism businesses to share ideas and learn how to leverage social media within the tourism industry. The event is held each year in Australia, Europe and the United States and is organized by Destination Think, a strategic consultancy and marketing agency.

Here are some of the top tweets from #SoMeT15AU.

#1 ROR over ROI

Effective use of #socialmedia should focus on ROR {return on relationships}, not ROI {that will follow over time} #SoMeT15AU

— Jen Evison (@JenEvison) July 22, 2015

Our Take: Quite often as marketers, we question the value of every dollar spent in the beginning of our marketing efforts. However, Social Media is as much about building relationships with your community as it is about drawing return on investments.

#2 The Thumb-rule of Destination Marketing

Over 73% of travellers decide on going to destinations from photos – Jessica Quinlan @TripAdvisor #SoMeT15AU

— Social Media Tourism (@SoMeTourism) July 22, 2015

Our Take: Travel is about inspiration and it comes as a no surprise that the best way to inspire is via engaging photographs of your destinations. People believe in a place so much more once they see real pictures telling them visual stories.

#3 Incentivizing your Traveller

Give travellers wifi and you will receive content. Simple effective advice from @ckjchambers #SoMeT15AU

— Ben Vadasz (@benvadasz) July 22, 2015

Our Take: Despite all the tech developments, the accessibility of WiFi across many destinations continues to be a challenge. Enabling seamless free WiFi would create many conversations about your place as today’s traveller is truly mobile and loves to use his smartphone for everything from doing a check-in to using periscope to share his live experience.

#4 What’s your Digital Marketing Budget

Tourism New Zealand's marketing budget is 90% digital. In some markets 100% digital. – Andrew Fraser #SoMeT15AU

— William Bakker (@wilhelmus) July 22, 2015

Our Take: Tourism NZ’s allocation of digital marketing spend is a classical lesson for Indian destinations and those in the SEA region. While there is a gradual increase in the overall digital marketing budgets, we are still quite far away from achieving the feats of Tourism New Zealand.

#5 Does you Destination have a Powerful Story?

"It's up to us as destinations to unlock powerful stories, bring them to a wider audience" – @CharelvanDam #SoMeT15AU

— Social Media Tourism (@SoMeTourism) July 21, 2015

Our Take: As they say, story or nothing If your destination doesn’t have a powerful story to tell then think about creating one.