Searching Twitter for Tourists is Easy

Twitter has been a very interesting study for me. Like many of my clients, I have struggled to make sense of it. Most communications (Tweets) are so random it is hard imagine a viable business model.

If you look me up (touristtracker) you will see I am now well over a 1000 followers, most are industry specific. It has never been my goal to have a zillion followers. My interests are purely DMO and travel industry folks so I don't seek large numbers.

A DMO should have different goals. Tourism destinations need every follower they can get their cyber hooks into. People still go on vacation! Twitter has lots of people... The shotgun approach has value.

For the past month I have been experimenting with a more focused marketing approach. Twitter has search and it is fantastic.

These advanced options leave little doubt why Google offered them $500,000,000 last year. This tool will put heads in your beds. Go to twitter.search.com use advanced search options.

For the tourism destination marketing office this is a powerful tool. Twitter search allows you to seek and follow peple with an interest in activites and amenities in your area.

I typed in kayaking with a 100 mile range and was overloaded with potiential participants. These people are actively talking about kayaking. Who better to tell about your rivers and lakes than people who are talking about enjoying aquatic activities?

Next I searched music festivals (100 miles) again to be rewarded by active participants. Let me quote "One of my friends who goes to alot of music festivals knows their music". Can you work with leads like this?

Put in a zip code then select a distance. I got pages of people within 25 miles of Tampa. Apply this to an event. Suppose I wanted to bring people from Ocala, Orlando and Jacksonville to Daytona for a concert? Just go to the search engine and type in their zip codes. Follow them and your almost home. Add the word music in the words search option. This is great stuff!

Search out categories your offering to visitors and follow everyone. At least 60% of these people will follow you back just because! Start your Tweets with good topically driven content. Good Tweets will get you more followers. If you got it flaunt it - posh hotels, bike trails, beaches, shrimp festivals, horse shows whatever. Like a stone thrown in a lake your message will move out and reach interested parties.

Social Media is producing business for me and I have a very small and very specific client base. Tourism destinations should at least take a look at this. You have plenty of great things to offer and Twitter has people who want to know. I think it's a great match and in this economy the price is hard to beat too. Trust me twitter.search.com is for you...

Click here for link.