Engaging Tourists: Traveling Beyond the Branded Website
You can learn more about the panel and vote (give it a “thumbs up”) on the SXSW website
Featuring…
Peter Yesawich, Jr., travel/tourism consultant & smart guy
Krista Parry Director of Marketing & Communications at Park City Mountain Resort
Mo Sherifdeen Digital Brand Strategy at Travel Oregon
…and me, Stephen Landau
Description
Travelers use a wide variety of sources to obtain information about where to go and what to do. From Google, to TripAdvisor, to social networks, to branded websites, people research in multiple places to make travel decisions. How do we embrace the idea of creating “digital desire paths” between branded online destinations and where people are engaging online? More importantly, why is this important for an industry as diverse as travel and tourism, where destinations are selling experiences, not products?
Questions Answered
1. What is a “digital desire path” and why are they important in creating engagement?
2. How can an online/digital experience truly convey what an in-person experience is going to be?
3. Why is mobile engagement important in extending digital desire paths, both digitally and literally (via geolocation)?
4. How will digital desire paths strengthen and/or dilute the concept of branded content?
5. What does “brand” mean when we no longer control where, when, how and why people engage with content about destinations?
It’s that time again. The South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Conference is practically 7 months away, but the planning has just begun. Actually, the planning began a while ago when over 2,800 people submitted panel ideas for the event. And now the SXSW PanelPicker is live and waiting for you to click on some “thumbs up” icons.
This year, we’ve submitted a panel idea based on our experience in the travel and tourism industry, the challenges and opportunities the industry is facing, and the shift from one central point of information (a company’s branded website) to many points of interaction across the internet. In an industry where social networks, reviews, and comments are incredibly important in engaging with travelers, how can the travel/tourism industry adapt to all of the “other” places people can get information? Why are all of these channels important? How can a sense of place be conveyed via an electronic medium that makes people want to come visit? How are people engaged when they arrive at a destination? How do they engage with a destination once they return home?
Pete Blackshaw recently asked on AdAge, “Do We Still Need Websites?” As we’ve talked about previously, it’s not about building websites, it’s about building engagement. We’ve also talked about the idea of “digital desire paths” and where they lead people across the internet, connecting one piece of information to another. So yes, we still need websites. But we need to be engaging with travelers where they are, not where we hope they will be. We need to be engaging through relevant channels, with relevant information, at relevant times (more about relevancy on the Travel 2.0 blog). These are just a few of the things we’ll be discussing.
We would sincerely appreciate your thumbs up vote on our panel, and look forward to talking more about travel and tourism with all of you in March at SXSW.
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