Facebook is fast becoming an essential part of an effective online marketing strategy, especially in Tourism. As a tourism provider, your guests can now instantly share their experiences, photos and videos with their friends and family or use their network to get recommendations about where to stay. When you consider that virtually everyone they know is friends with them on Facebook and what they share has an amazing habit of ending up on your TripAdvisor page to boot, you can imagine the potential when compared with a traditional guest book that only existing customers get to see!

But we have no control over what people post so how can we actually use Facebook to our advantage?

Facebook is a great tool for business. It will help you connect with existing customers, attract new customers, promote upcoming events and even grow your very own fan base (don’t we all want fans?)

We have created a new tutorial designed to leverage Facebook for your business. We show you how to setup your Facebook account the RIGHT way (and you can go very wrong), detail the strengths and limitations of the business options available to you and ultimately demonstrate how to make the most of this increasingly powerful platform. We use a real tourism provider currently using Facebook to demonstrate the entire process.

What will I learn?

• What is Facebook?
• How can Facebook help my tourism business?
• What options are available to me?
• Who is each option aimed at and how is it limited?
• What should I know about each option before making a decision?
• How do I make optimum use of my chosen option?
• What common pitfalls and potential violations do I need to be aware of?
• What are the most important steps when setting up my fan page?
• How do I leverage my Events?

We’ve spoken with one business that amassed 5000+ friends only to have their Facebook Fan page CANCELLED because they violated Facebook’s terms and conditions. A year on they have not managed to get their fan base back to that level. Don’t let this happen to you!

Stop missing out on the plethora of opportunities available through Facebook. Connect and build trust with your customers, get feedback and comments, keep building that positive reputation and let the friends of your fans spread the word for you!

What’s next?

The next tutorial due for release is Twitter for Business. Also one of the top 10 most popular websites on the planet, Twitter is an excellent compliment to your reputation building strategy and this tutorial will take you through Twitter Step by Step, including understanding the Twitter language.

Did you know in 2009 the 55+ year old users of Facebook grew a massive 922.7%

Don’t forget our online marketing forums are open and available to all members providing you exclusive access to our team of web and search marketing professionals.

If you haven’t taken advantage of the discounted 5 month membership for $88 made available by the AusIndustry Small Business Online Program then I suggest you head over to UntangleMyWeb.com and register for the virtual workshop program today as time is running out!