Rural communities and farm-based businesses should embrace the internet to help spread their message, a Travel Alberta consultant told a rural tourism conference.
Nancy Smith said the internet is not just for kids and it offers plenty of marketing opportunities.
“On-line is critical to your success,” Smith told more than 200 people at the Growing Rural Tourism Conference in Camrose last week.
With satellite and more high-speed services, rural communities are no longer shut out of internet marketing because of slow dial-up service.
The internet is a way rural businesses can attract tourists without breaking the bank, she said in outlining various forms to use.
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Smith said not everyone is a keen user of technology. Some people are cautious about having so much personal information publicly posted or are intimidated by the technology.
Smith suggested playing with the technology or visiting sites like the iWalk Dublin site to become comfortable with it.
- Travel blogs have replaced e-mail and postcards from travellers. One of the most popular blogs is TravelBlog. Travelers can post comments about their trip, a bad restaurant meal or an amazing farm stay.
Smith showed a recent site on TravelBlog where two German travellers documented their trip to Calgary and Edmonton. Another talked about her trip to Alberta tourist sites with her grandchild.
“You cannot pay for testimonials like this,” said Smith.
Not only good reviews are posted on blogs. Reports of poor service or bad food can stay on a blog for months.
Rural businesses can create their own blogs to generate buzz about their business. Smith showed a well-read blog written by a passionate Alberta fly fisherman. It included news updates, suggestions on finding guides and current fish hatches in the province.
“He’s got a good readership.”
- RSS or Real Simple Syndication allows consumers to stay current on websites that interest them. Instead of continually revisiting favorite websites for updates, the RSS feed automatically sends updates.
If you’re a destination and regularly post events, having an RSS link to a Travel Alberta or similar travel website would be a great opportunity, she said. RSS feeds don’t go to the e-mail, but a separate RSS reader to prevent e-mail clutter.
- Podcasts – Rarely does Smith listen to the radio anymore. Instead she listens to podcasts she’s downloaded to her iPod or MP3 player from the internet.
Travel destinations are ideal for podcasts. Instead of running hourly tours of a museum or a walking tour of an historic downtown location, Smith suggested creating a podcast tourists could listen to as they walk through an area.
“If you have a microphone and a computer, you can create a podcast.”
- On-line video – Smith predicts on-line videos will become a growing trend because of larger bandwidths now offered.
Already tourist areas like the joint Banff and Lake Louise tourist association have 44 promotional videos posted on Youtube. This video campaign features regular people telling stories about their community.
Locals talking about the curling club are on Curling Like a Rock Star. A fisherman talks about fly fishing in the area while tying a fly in How to Tie a Man in The Yellow Hat. A local celebrity gives a quick tour in Crazy Larry Tour of Banff.
“It’s not traditional marketing. It’s subtle stories come through the characters.
“It gets the conversation going,” said Smith, who believes any community could create similar short snippets.
“You could get some of the youth in your community engaged in creating creative video for you.”
- Facebook – The free social networking site has great tourism and marketing opportunities for anyone with a computer.
Vulcan, the southern Alberta community that has embraced its Star Trek identity, has used Facebook to lobby for the premiere of the upcoming Star Trek movie to be shown in the small town.
Besides a long list of media that have picked up the story, 944 people are Facebook friends of the Vulcan tourist group that launched the campaign.
Friends have even posted messages on The Wall, the virtual public notice board saying if the premiere is shown in Vulcan, they’ll rent a limo and bring friends.
Friends of the Banff Lake Louise Facebook site were offered $39 a night room rate just because of their Facebook connection.
