Alright, I don't like too much Facebook. But it is true that is one of the most important vehicle of information and it's easier to keep conversations on it than Twitter (not than FriendFeed, but is not so diffused). And so it's easier to stimulate UGC among tourists and residents.
This morning I was watching different tourism organizations doing their "job" on Facebook: Wales (from Visit Wales), Spain (from Spain.info), Italia (perhaps from the tourism ministry, but absolutely not sure, there are no links what so ever) and Riviera delle Palme (from the Tourism promotion service of Savona). First difference that comes to the eye is the language: English for Wales ("of course!" somebody would say, but is not so obvious), English and Spanish for Spain (!), English and a bit of Italian for Italia, and just Italian for Riviera dell Palme that of course have a smaller organization, but not less important I would say. There's not much Welsh in the Wales page, there's a lot of Spanish but almost everything is in both languages in Spain and there's not much English in the Italia page, where seems that the most important thing is to catch fans and post pictures. And here comes another difference, definitely more interesting: contents.
Wales and Spain try to communicate with their "fans" (tourists, residents, lovers) not just telling them how nice is the country or what to do, but trying to generate contributes: a two ways communication, where the tourism organization listens to the stake holders and share their contribution. I really like it. I can see a nice picture and think "oh, I really want to go there" just like we all do when we see a travel agency window, or I can read what people say and think "I really like people from that country" and there, I think, I will go. Residents are one of the attractive factors for a touristic destination. There can be lots of shows, events fairs, but people make of a destination attractive. On both pages most of the pictures are from other people who not just comment but mainly contribute.
Italia has lots of pictures on its page, and as far as I've checked, there's no request of pictures, news, "what to do" to the followers, just "please add us as fan, and share it with your friends!", that sounds really "spammy".
Riviera delle palme is a small reality. The area that it represents is small compared to the others. But still is an area that could generate good flows of tourists and has lost attractiveness with foreign tourism. So publishing in english could be a good thing and definitely needs to focus more on the communication among tourists, more than advertise a single event like a new web site or the participation to a tourism fair.
Last difference that I'd like to mention is the connection trough the Facebook page and who manage it: Wales posts many links to their VisitWales blog or a specific VisitWales web page. Spain mainly to their website. Riviera delle palme sends its visitors to friends website, most of them related to events. I couldn't find any link in the Italia page.
Now: I know we have the most beautiful country in the world (as it's written 10 thousands times in the Facebook page) but what if nobody comes to visit it?! Just repeating it doesn't make attractive. Pictures are nice, but not lived. They don't show how nice can be to spend some time in Italy. Who has done it can.
Concluding: I really like Visit Wales work (not a big news!). I do like how Spain approaches the tourism web marketing. Riviera delle Palme needs to improve, but seems on the good way. Italia needs to show first who manages the Facebook page, then we can say what could be done.
A small example of how Social Network interaction works and could produce good results for your business or your business area.
I received an e-mail telling me that
Wales Watersports was following me on Twitter. All right, let's see what kind of things does Wales watersport I said to my self: I check their twitter account and I see that they are looking for bloggers. Sorry? Looking for bloggers? Why is that? Ok, let's check on their
website. Mmmhh, is a website for the promotion of watersports and marine leisure tourism in Wales, and the company Wales Watersport International Ltd is appointed by Visit Wales (
official website and a
previous post) as
its official marketing and promotional partner for the watersports and marine leisure tourism sector in Wales. They have a blog (still not very attractive, but I think they're working on it: change the address -
http://waleswatersports.blogspot.com/ - might be a good fist step) and a twitter account and what they're doing is just look for people that want to share their experience so to create good content on the blog and (generally speaking) on the web. Good web responses, a good presence of an area and the activities offered can stimulate the demand and the touristic flow, operating at first on the brand knowledge (a problem for Wales as I've seen in my year here). That's why actions to reduce the digital divide, to help people use internet and the social network to share their experience on the web are very important. The word of mouth power can be increased at the
nth degree (Visit Wales understood that when they've opened
Wales1000things, about three years ago).
