Here is a presentation about the contributions of integrating social geolocation services in the tourism industry. We explain what is social geolocation, why using it, how it works, and we give real examples to illustrate the interests of such services.
The contributions of social geolocation in tourism
1. International Tourism Symposium – September 19, 20 & 21, 2011 Zermatt, Switzerland « The contributions of social geolocation in tourism »
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Hello everyone, It’s a great pleasure to be here and a huge honor for me to be able to share my experience with you. I’d like to thank Gérald Imfeld for giving this great opportunity. As you probably can hear it from my terrible accent : I’m french ! And in France we have a joke about the fact that women can't read a map correctly, they can't find their way and they get lost easily. Thruth to be told, it's often true ! So, I beg you to forget for the next 10 minutes that I'm a girl, because my goal in this presentation about social geolocation is definitely not to loose you. Joke aside, I'll talk about the contributions of integrating social geolocation services in the tourism industry.
So, I assume you all understand the word "social" and the word "geolocation", but if you put them together, they don't mean anything anymore. And you get lost ! The good news is that it's not as complicated as it sounds. A simple definition of social geolocation would be « a web or mobile service based on the use of geographic data in the service of members as part of social interactions with their network and / or local players ». To illustrate all this in more concrete terms, just imagine a simple situation : you’re with your wife or husband at a concert and you post a notification on Facebook Place. At this point, you realize that one of your best friend is also there a few rows behind you, because he checked-in himself a few minutes before. This service allows you to find him after the concert for, let’s say, having a drink. If you had not done this, you will be surely missed a great opportunity to share a good time with him. So, the ingredients of the social geolocation are : Mobile + location + Real time + Status + Friends/a social community You may be thinking : « Well, it’s nice, but I have a phone, I know where I am and my wife/huby and my children knows where I am. So, what’s the point of using such a service ? »
The future of marketing is the personalization of the customer relationship. But if we look closer to what social geolocation allows, we realize that it essentially allows us to provide offers to the customers that affect them personally and directly, in a fun and non-aggressive way, unlike traditional advertising. It is a participative and non-intrusive way to market your services, your destination or your brand. Top 5 reasons to use social geolocation : 1. Growing segmentation, targeting and knowledge of consumption patterns of customers 2. Powerful tools for communication and promotion of a business or a destination 3. Opportunity to create an innovative marketing campaign with social shopping, couponning, incentive and viral operations, etc.. 4. Create exclusive and specific offers: Free for Mayors, discounts in exchange of check-in or tips, etc.. 5. Launch street marketing operations in real life : treasure hunt, etc.. And many more ! Now, you understand the interests of using social geolocation. But you may have a remaining question : how can I do that ?
Among all social media dedicated to geolocation, we can distinguish two types of tools depending on the uses and on your strategy. So you can find : - Directories like Google Hotpot, Dismoioù, Yelp and The YellowPages ; - Social gaming & shopping plateforms such as Facebook Place, Foursquare, Gowalla, Plyce (a french exception) and Scavenger. These 9 platforms are the most important right now in terms of number of users and traffic. Of course, Facebook Place is based on its 750 million members, Foursquare has 26 million users and this number is growing very fast since its launch in 2009.
As we are in Zermatt, I couldn’t resist to present you an example of a social geolocation use in a mountain resort. So here is a real case : Since winter 2009-2010, the american Group Vail Resorts has launched the web and mobile application: EpicMix™ This application is coupled with an RFID chip to share real-time information such as : calculation of the vertical drop and feet traveled by ski, type of tricks performed in the snowparks, dishes tasted in restaurants (with the possibility to leave qualitative comments and pictures), digital brochures (trail map, prices of the nearest spa, etc..), discount coupons (for instance: you can receive a push SMS with a special coupon generated instantly to have a discount on a hot chocolate at the nearest bar on the slopes), etc. If you’ve lost your friends on the slopes, you can set an alert to notify you when one of them is close to you, etc. For socio-professionals such as tourist offices or lift companies, this application has many advantages. It helps to put information online in real time such as the snow conditions and weather forecast reports, the latest updated offers, traffic conditions, and so on. The idea behind this EpicMix™ is simple : they think that traveling on ski areas and resorts must be easier and more convenient. But it must also help you to live and share a wealth of unique experiences ... and obviously generate maximum cash ! Because it is shared in real time on Facebook and Twitter, it’s also a way to turn customers into influencers. The system works by "opts-in". All information collected through EpicMix are subject to a strict privacy policy on the part of Vail Resorts Inc. Customers can always choose to disable the RFID chip of their lift ticket to prevent analysis. Children under 14 will automatically have limited functionalities and only their parents can choose whether or not sharing data with the Group. Here is a video of the new functionalities for winter 2011-2012 :
To briefly conclude this short presentation, I really think E-tourism is definitely dead in the way we use to consider it ! Now, thanks to social geolocation and many other tools, we are entering the area of digital tourism. If you should remember only one thing about digital tourism it would be that it is SoLoMo. It means Social, Local ans Mobile. - « Social » because m ost people share, spread and influence each other. So you have to pay attention to what they say about your brand, your products, your services or your destination - “ Local ” : - First of all because there’s nothing more logicalogical than locate yourself on a map when you’re traveling. - Second of all because in 2013, 50% of connections will be via the mobile web. 20% of Google searches are currently related to geolocation. So it’s a great opportunity for your business to stand out. - “Mobile” because people communicate more and more with others on the move. They don't wait to be returned home to speak with their relatives, they do it right away thanks to their smartphone. So, welcome to the web 3.0 !