For an increasing number of tourists, sharing their experiences via social media isn’t just an aspect of travel, it’s the reason they travel. Sue van Winsen speaks to tourist attractions to find out how they are integrating social media into their offering to enhance the visitor experience.

Today,  it is simply a given that tourist attractions will be active on social media and many potential, current and previous visitors are likely to use social media as their primary channel to get the information they require.

Judiet Barnes, Marketing Manager of Cape Point, says: “A quote I once saw said ‘whether you are on social media or not, they will talk about you’ and in my experience in tourism attractions, this couldn’t be more true. It is up to you as an attraction to engage, share, praise and turn every tale, picture and video into your voice to get your stories and relevancy out there.”

She says, on a basic level, many clients use social media to ask about the weather, facility offerings, trip recommendations, what to expect and fee enquiries. “People see social media as an additional contact point and I believe it should be treated as such, similar to a reliable noticeboard direct from the source where you know you will get fast, accurate and useful information, guidance, facts about your surroundings, special offers and where you can share experience and discuss whether your expectations were or were not met,” she says.

However, tourist attractions that are only using social media as a means of responding to visitor queries are missing out on valuable opportunities for free marketing, says Dirk Coetzee, Project Manager and Curator of The Big Hole in Kimberley. “Social media can be a powerful marketing tool if used correctly. The responses we’re getting from our friends and fans are very positive and our visitor numbers are showing a steady growth while other establishments are complaining about declines and, as we’re doing very little other marketing, one can assume that this form of interaction is having a positive outcome.”

Some of the most innovative uses of social media by tourist attractions have come from the Western Cape. For example, Cape Point ran a ‘CapePointScenicBeauty’ competition, where it encouraged visitors to share selfies of their greatest moments at the site on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Visitors who bought a funicular ticket were given individual selfie frames that could be used to capture special moments at locations within Cape Point and share these on social media to stand a chance of winning a getaway. There were also ‘groupie’ frames around the funicular restaurant, as well in the funicular windows. 

Barnes says Cape Point’s campaigns have had fantastic engagements and kept the conversation flowing. “I can confidently say that followers engaged in a very positive manner – asking questions relating to certain products or services, informing us that post-campaign they would be purchasing the product or using the service, as the competition communicated an aspect they didn’t know of before. On the other hand, some campaigns drew less direct engagement but delivered amazing content to share with our followers – effectively serving its purpose in a slightly different way,” she adds.

Also tapping into the selfie trend, Table Mountain erected giant yellow picture frames in various locations throughout Cape Town, including Signal Hill and V&A Waterfront, providing the perfect vantage points for visitors to compose photographs of themselves, friends and family with Table Mountain as the backdrop. The campaign tied in with Table Mountain being named one of the New7Wonders of Nature, and the 2014 World Design Capital Project.

Added to this, Table Mountain is active on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TripAdvisor and YouTube. “With every blog post, newsletter, print ad and broadcast media publicised, we encourage visitors to follow us for the latest Cableway news and to share their experience with us,” says Collette Van Aswegen, Marketing Manager of Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Co. She says introducing free WiFi at the top cable station has also played a huge role in driving engagement and interactions as visitors now have the option of sharing their images, tweets and comments instantly.

For the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre (HESC), social media is a means of developing an active community of conservationists who help to drive awareness around various causes, such as rhino poaching and cheetah conservation. Mari Theunissen, HESC Marketing Manager, says: “We use social media as a way of keeping the stories that have touched past guests alive in their hearts and minds – especially through our orphaned rhinos and live cheetah cams – and in turn, they share and engage.”

But social media is not necessarily the panacea for all marketing and communication needs. Nicholas Wolpe, CEO of Liliesleaf, says while social media is valuable in terms of reaching a wide audience, it doesn’t necessarily help to build awareness and understanding of attractions’ offerings on a deeper level. “For ‘sites of memory’ that offer a snapshot view and experience into the past, we must first assume that the tourist has an appreciation, understanding and interest in the past. The dilemma we face is, how does one, within the confines of social media, communicate and explain what we mean and offer, and why they should visit?”

Having said that, he does believe that social media has an important role in terms of providing broader access to archival material, interviews and documentation online. “We are also looking at developing a Liliesleaf App so that schools that cannot come through to Liliesleaf can download a virtual tour, making the experience more accessible,” says Wolpe.