An NITB Masterclass has shown tourism businesses from across Northern Ireland how to make better use of social and digital media to drive growth. Held at the MAC in Belfast, the ICT Masterclass focused on social media trends and innovations, including social media dashboards, which let users streamline social media management. Targeted at tourism ventures already proficient in social and digital media, the latest NITB masterclass was delivered by Scottish social media scientist Allan Blair Beaton in Belfast. Allan provided hints and tips to help tourism ventures stay abreast of social and digital media promotion and maximise channels of engagement with customers. NITB Director of Business Support and Events Susie McCullough said: “The explosion of social media in recent years means it is vital that tourism providers stay informed on marketing their offering through the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare. This masterclass has made that possible.”

1. Allan Blair Beaton - Social Media Scientist
@ allanbbeaton
beaton
beaton
/allanbbeaton

2. Social Changes Everything in
2014
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Social Business
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Social Listening
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Social Measurement
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Social Collaboration
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Social Sharing
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Social Management

3. Organisation wide Collaboration
Containment
Messages and assignments and workflow
Content dissemination
Multi level permissions
Geo-Search posting
Geo-Search posting
Geo-Search posting
Geo-Search posting
Geo-Search posting
Geo-Search posting
Geo-Search posting
Geo-Search posting
Geo-Search posting
Geo-Search posting
Team reports and analytical
Centralised account management
Secure social profiles
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4. Social Business
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5. Social Listening
Listening
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Why listen?
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What do you listen for?
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When do you listen?
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Where do you listen?
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6. Social Measurement
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Audience Mapping
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Engagement Periods
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Click Throughs
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Website Traffic (conversions)
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Campaign KPIs
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7. Social Collaboration
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Stop shouting in a cave
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Involve partners for amplification (not just RTs and
likes)
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Engage local key influencers and brand ambassadors
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8. Social Sharing
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80% of what we share online is commercially related and most of that is
mobile based
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Identify opportunities for you to say Thanks! and promote cross platform
content
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A Social share is more valuable than a PPC
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Acknowledge your partners and key influencers
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9. Social Management
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Secure access and reliable
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Scalable
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Web-based and mobile
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Must be aligned with all other marketing
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10. Top Tips…
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Social was made for tourism
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Listen to what’s going on around you, not just about you!
content
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Understand who you are talking to and what content they
enjoy receiving from you
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Leverage the ‘real world’ online
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Community and managing expectations is key
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Involve as many peeps as possible in the conversation
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11. Stay in touch!
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www.allanbbeaton.com
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me@allanbbeaton.com
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@allanbbeaton
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/allanbbeaton