Welcome to the

ITB Academy Webinar “Engaging Content,

Engaging Customers

- Storytelling, Social

Media and Blogger

Cooperation”

Daniel Noll & Audrey Scott, Uncornered Market

UncorneredMarket.com

facebook.com/UncorneredMarket

@umarket

Roadmap

Storytelling: philosophy and

approach

Social Media storytelling

techniques and tools

Bloggers as storytelling agents

Finding the right blogger

Effective blogger cooperation

Tweetable? @uMarket #ITBBerlin

What Business Are We In?

Travel business?

Experience business?

Inspiration business?

Differentiation business?

Backdrop: Too many messages

Prospect, 6000 messages. Japan photo Too many messages…! Your average prospective customer is enduring more than 6000 advertising messages every day

Storytelling: Why?

Cuts through noise helps customers retain message

Impressions Depth of impression

Commodity Differentiator

Goals:

Plant the seed

Change minds/Shift perception

Story Trust Take action

Storytelling: What it is NOT

A bullet list of sites, activites,

amenities, statistics

A mass distribution press

release

Fiction, making things up

What is Story?

Story:

An account, a telling of an

experience

Does not need to be long form

If experience is the new currency in

travel….

then storytelling is your bank

Storytelling Components &

Techniques Show, don’t tell

Involve characters

Crux and conflict

Emotional connection

Back story

Multi-dimensional, taps multiple senses

Communicates: what, but how and why

Why use social media?

Social Media:

Changing Minds

Social Media Toolbox

Do not link your Twitter & Facebook feeds!!

Managing Twitter feeds: Tweetdeck / Hootsuite

Following keywords/hashtags: Hashtracking.com or

Tweetreach.com

Set up Twitter searches for your company & website

Leveraging Social Media Content

Storytelling Agents

You can tell your own story…

Or, you can enlist the help of agents

Customers

Traditional print

Travel bloggers

Ask Customers to Tell Your Story

Why: People trust people

Make it easy.

Make it fun.

Make it interactive.

Make customers part of

your story.

Bloggers: Who, What, Why

Storytellers

Content creators

Social media mavens

Marketers

Advocates

Business people

Travel Lifecycle

Where do bloggers fit?

Why Are Bloggers Effective?

Personal voice and tone

Real experiences

Independent

High trust

Exposure: Immediate & Long Term

Multi-platform, versatile

Authority

“People don’t trust entities.

People trust people.”

- Tim Ferriss, author of

The 4-Hour Workweek

Your Goals, Finding the Right Blogger

What are you are looking for to promote

your brand/product/service?

Target audience/demographics

Travel style

Content style and tone

Niche

Qualitative Factors

Quality of content

Engagement quality

Trust of audience

Other media outlets

Professional footprint

A Look at Numbers:

Where to Find Them

Unique Visitors

Pageviews & time on page

Demographics (country, gender,

age)

RSS/newsletter

Twitter/Facebook community

“Not everything that can be

counted counts, and not

everything that counts can be

counted.” - Albert Einstein

A Dose of Skepticism

A pageview does not necessarily

equal an impression. Take a look at

amount of time spent on site.

Beware of echo chambers. Are you

really reaching your target

audience?

Professional Travel Bloggers

Association

http://travelbloggersassociation.com

TBEX Connect (Coming Soon)

http://tbexconnect.com

iambassador

http://iambassador.net

Face to Face

Working with Bloggers: Pre-Trip

Itinerary and input

Dimensions and experiences

Plan early: excitement & audience involvement

Set expectations of both parties

Working with Bloggers: During

Tools: Internet, mobile data plan

Give time/flexibility

Two-way feedback/communication

Co-promotion

Have fun!

Co-Promotion of Content: Best

Practices

Short-term / Immediate Benefits

Digital storytelling

Immediate exposure via social media

Real-time interaction

Continue communications, develop relationship

Offer information or help, if needed for stories

Ask for report of activities and metrics

Invite blogger to events – real and virtual

Let blogger know of new campaigns that blogger can

participate in (e.g., photo competition, giveaways)

Working with Bloggers: After

Long Term Benefits of Working with

Travel Bloggers

Content: long life, SEO

Varied: photo essays, videos, panoramas

Other outlet coverage (articles, interviews)

Destination ambassadors, evangelists

Relationship!

Case Study: Additional

Exposure

Measuring Results: Metrics

Blog analytics

Engagement

Reach of Tweets

Promo codes

Click-throughs

NO BLUEPRINT FOR

BLOGGER

COOPERATION

EXPERIMENT!

Upshot & Take-aways Story is a differentiator, go beyond the lists

Build depth of impression

Use social media as a storytelling platform

Partner with bloggers as storytelling agents

Select bloggers based on qualitative, not just quantitative data

Build content with multiple lives

This is a human exercise

Have fun!

Thank You!

Let’s continue the conversation. Connect with us on:

UncorneredMarket.com

Twitter: @UMarket

Facebook: /UncorneredMarket

Instagram: Instagram.com/uncornered_market

Google + Uncornered Market

Uncornered Market on Pinterest

ITB Academy:

Jessica Varga

Product Manager

Tel.: +49 30 – 30 38 25 28

Email: varga@messe-

berlin.de