Online Content Made Easy

We have created a group on LinkedIn.com that encourages tourism industry members to ask questions, share ideas, collaborate with others and learn together.

TheAustralian Tourism Marketing Group is available to all Australia tourism industry members and is facilitated by PBT Digital free of charge.

Unlike a traditional school room, we love noise, chatter, interaction and free thinking. We ask tourism members to join the group as early as possible to achieve greatest benefit from the program.

Over the course of the coming months, we will introduce guest speakers, subgroups, practical activities and more to help you put your business in front of more customers and generate more bookings.

Here are some links to get you started:

• Join LinkedIn
• Select Groups from the menu
• Type Australian Tourism Marketing in the search or click here to go directly to the group
• Select join this group

About LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the Worlds largest professional network, it is free to join and has 70 million members in over 200 countries.

PBT has chosen LinkedIn to run the Australian Tourism Marketing Group as it is a functional and professional social networking website.

To learn about the benefits of using groups: please visit this page

We feel Australian tourism industry members will benefit from joining LinkedIn in the following ways:

• Allow you to find past colleagues and business associates to build your contact database
• Find and be introduced to potential clients, service providers, and subject experts who come recommended
• Create groups for regional and local tourism and collaborate on projects, gather data, share files and solve problems
• Be found for business opportunities and find potential partners
• Gain new insights from discussions with likeminded professionals in private group settings

Source: LinkedIn – About Us

‘South Australia’s authentic experiences will be so compelling, it will be our visitors who spread the word about the amazing and memorable time they spent here.’ [1] South Australia Tourism.

‘With more than 8.2 million Australians using the Internet to research, plan and book their travel arrangements, it is crucial that Tasmania has a strong presence online. Social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter are experiencing incredible growth, with 6.5 million Australians part of an online social network in July 2009 (Nielsen Online).’ [2] Tourism Tasmania.

“People often say we’ve got some of the ‘best kept secrets’ in Tasmania, so whether it’s your favourite beach, mountain, walk, heritage location, or other tourism experience, now is the time to shout about it and show not just other Australians, but the world what we have to offer.” [3] Felicia Mariani, Chief Executive Officer for Tourism Tasmania.

‘Tourism Australia’s digital activities extend well beyond Australia.com. Digital solutions on major social networking sites such as Facebook, Bebo, MySpace and You Tube have enabled powerful word of mouth dialogue on Australia to be generated among hundreds and thousands of consumers.’ [4] Tourism Australia.

“Australians have demonstrated how passionate they are about promoting their country to the world by submitting thousands of images and stories of the many experiences travellers can have in Australia. It is terrific to see this level of support from communities across the country.” [5] Andrew McEvoy, Managing Director, Tourism Australia.

“The strategy and core positioning of the destination is encapsulated in the Northern Territory’s tagline – Share our Story.” [6] Tourism NT.

“Utilising social media and user generated content is an easy way for Victorian tourism operators to sell their attributes, ensuring the state’s diverse tourism offerings are well-represented.” [7] Tourism Victoria Chief Executive, Gregory Hywood.

“Social networking websites like YouTube, Flickr and Facebook are opening up huge opportunities for local tourism operators to market themselves to the on line community in a variety of different ways.” [8] Queensland Local Industry, Tourism Minister, Peter Lawlor.

“The use of the internet in today’s world is enormous. Social media networks have changed the way the world does business and the impact on the tourism industry is no different.” [8] Tourism Queensland Acting CEO, Steve McRoberts.

‘Digital marketing is often perceived to be merely about marketing through a website. And it’s true that this is a crucial aspect of marketing on the Internet, but there are many other forms to it. If you just rely on setting up a website and hoping for the best, then you may be waiting a long time to attract business.’ [9] Tourism Australia.

“To succeed and provide the NT with a substantial competitive edge, all operators must as an absolute minimum have web capacity that enables consumers to readily find them and to transact in real-time online, either direct or through a distribution partner.” [10] Tourism NT.

“No one would argue that the ways in which consumers learn about holiday destinations, make their choices and buy their holidays hasn’t changed immensely and often in the last 15 years. This means that the opportunities for tourism operators to market and distribute their products have also changed a great deal and if a tourism operator wasn’t an early adopter of technology to sell their product, then they have a lot of catching up to do to make the journey to being fully Internet enabled.” [11] Liz Ward, Chief Executive Officer of the ATDW.

1. South Australian Tourism Plan 2009–2014 | ‘The Online Phenomenon’ | pg 10

2. Tourism Tasmania Media Release | ‘New Tasmanian Experiences Website’

3. Tourism Tasmania Media Release | ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia – Tourism Australia’s New Marketing Campaign – and Tasmania’

4. Tourism Australia Website | Excerpt from page re Online Marketing Activity

5. Tourism Australia Media Release | 06.05.2010 | ‘Australian’s Share 15,000 Experiences’ Article about There’s Nothing Like Australia campaign’

6. Tourism NT | Excerpt from website in reference to Tourism NT ‘Brand Strategy’

7. Tourism Victoria Newsletter | Edition 52 | ‘There’s Nothing Like Sharing Your Victorian Tourism Experiences’

8. Tourism Queensland Media Release | ‘Moreton Bay Tourism Operators Improve Online Skills’

9. Tourism Australia | Australian Experiences Industry Toolkit | VOLUME 2 | Page 46 Section 4 | ‘Promoting Your Product as an Experience’

10. Tourism NT | ‘Five Year Tourism Strategic Plan: 2008 to 2012′

11. Australian Regional Tourism Network (ARTN News) Tourism Operators Meets Internet – ‘A How to Story with a Happy Ending’

The strategies and recommendations described in the Online Content Made Easy program are designed to show industry members new and innovative methods to market their destinations and their businesses.

If used effectively, these online marketing methods will increase the amount of useful and inspiring content available to consumers and improve access to your products, services and fulfillment channels.

The services described in the program have no physical purchase costs associated with them. However, like all useful marketing and branding techniques, industry members must recognise that a commitment of time is required to learn about online content and to incorporate the technique into your marketing plan.

We therefore encourage industry members to consider the following points as you review the weekly tutorials:

Online content vs current marketing activities:

• How does online marketing fit in with my current marketing plan and schedule?
• Which of my current traditional marketing activities can be made more efficient by taking them online?
• Which of my marketing and advertising activities can be made redundant if I employ online marketing techniques?
• Which of my current marketing and advertising techniques generate most of my sales enquiries and why?

What value do I place on activities which I undertake:

• that will increase enquiries and revenues to my business?
• that will increase my brand awareness?
• that will promote my location and my community?

Your costs and commitment:

• What amount of time can I dedicate each week to improving my online profile and marketing my destination?

By completing the Online Content Made Easy program and building the techniques into your marketing plan you will be able to identify current marketing and advertising activities that can be replaced or made more efficient and determine the time commitment you require to practice the new activities.