Social media gives the opportunity for two way communication between travelers and your destination. You can interact with people that love your destination and or are keen to visit in the future. The goal of your postings is to bond and to create a community of fans curious to learn more or being entertained by your destination.
Now that the corona virus has swept the planet and travel came to a standstill its time to help to keep your social community safe and help them to get through the crises, with encouragement, empathy, strength and entertainment to get through the lock down days.
Once there is an idea when people are allowed to travel, you can help the community again with the best inside travel tips and how to get the best out of their next destination.
To understand when people can travel to your destination you might want to create a scenario based on indicators that could sign early recovery and normalization. To indicate when the several phases :
1) Crisis
2) Re-open Domestic
3) Re-Open International Travel
4) Normalization of demand
will start and end.
Note that travel might normalize in a different form as we used to be, maybe more sustainable more luxury and with many travel products that have social distancing as the norm.
This article is about phase 1 : Crisis
Social Media Topics you can use during the corona virus crisis
What kind of topics can you post on during the corona virus, what are destinations all over the world doing.
A crisis situation leads to anxiety and stress, uncertainty of travelers that made bookings and maybe even stranded travelers looking to go back home.
People in anxiety are looking for trust able sources with facts they can act upon: postpone their holidays / cancel etc.
On top of that most people are now worried about their health, safety, kids’ education, jobs, businesses, having enough food in the house, and how long their savings will last.
During the corona crisis phase when people are encouraged to stay home and to keep social distance to save lives. You don't want to sell and ask travellers to come now.
Instead focus on dreamy content that creates awareness about your destination and inform them with updated facts about traveling to your destination.
Give your audience confidence that you will get through this crisis with them together, stay home, save lives, and travel tomorrow. And create trust your destination will keep them safe once they can come back.
Content to enjoy at home
Create content for travelers to enjoy at home without asking to come (now), act like a friend. We keep in touch but I don’t ask you to come over to our house now, but let's memories together, dream about our next holiday after the lockdown and let's play games together until then to kill the time and above all give each other support.
Summarized:
Help travelers, give them comfort, confidence and trust, entertain them to fight their boredom.
Stay in the hearts and minds of the traveler, with a positive helpful approach that is entertaining, authentic or heartwarming.
Social Media Post Ideas During Covid-19
Not only are people anxious and uncertain about the future, they are also getting bored and are looking for ways to keep themselves busy, energized and relaxed, some ideas to help travelers during covid-19.
Virtual tours & Experiences
- Re- edit, Videos, use photo collections and create virtual tours of existing materials your organisation has, combine them with other online tools like google maps, street view or google earth. Or give context to virtual tours made by others.
- Make a virtual tour in Instagram stories with your best photos of a destination.
- Create a virtual road trip or itinerary based on what Visit USA is doing.
Podcasts / audio-guides of the destination
- Guide your audience with inspiring stories through your destination.
Insight videos that explain or teach something
- Lessons : Cooking videos of local dishes, Meditation lessons, etc. Learning the language of your destination, if you can speak a few words of the local spoken language your experience in a destination becomes so much more fun. How can you help your audience to learn a few words in a fun and entertaining way.
- Health tips: Local tips that boost the immune system, while not claiming that it protects against covid-19. Recipes with local traditional drinks, meals, fruits that boost the immune system.
Promote the culture of your destination
- Best books, best movies, etc from your region or country.
Positive news from your destination
- Actions done by citizens & companies that give hope. Action by citizens give a hero feeling and is part empathy can and building strong connections with the people that love your destination.
- Four Seasons in Philadelphia - illuminates a heart with the lights of their hotel rooms.
Being Creative With Your Destination:
People are looking for ways to keep themselves busy, you can help.
- Things to do for at home, create “puzzles” and “coloring books” of highlights from your destination: color pages of famous landmarks that children can do an even make a competition.
- Let people draw or create something about your destinations and offer a price to the best contribution …
- Upload pictures in Google Deep Dream : https://deepdreamgenerator.com/ddream/5km576lmjgg and let the best one win.
- Offer backgrounds for zoom or other video conferencing apps
Quizzes & Riddles about your destination
Leading travel hashtags during covid-19
#stayhome
Companies and people worldwide are using the #stayhome to share ideas to keep yourself entertained while being at home.
#staystrong
#TravelTommorow
#TravelFromHome
#memories
lot of people are posting their travel memories under #memories
#neverstopdreaming
#withme
Is a popular trend of people showing things they are doing
During lockdown the hashtag #withme is developing in:
StayHomeWithMe
Go on a virtual tour through Bagan with me.
Cook traditional myanmar food with me
Learn about traditional cultures with me
Make Umbrellas with me
Some hashtags used by other dmo’s
#quarantinelife #quarantinelifehacks #coronavirus #covid19 #homewellness #athomeintheworld #athome
#paradiseonearth #doseofnature
Encourage travelers to ask questions and answer them in social media and on a faq on the website.
Encourage travelers to ask questions and answer them in social media and on a faq on the website.
Make sure you respond to all comments and remarks.
Create Virtual Tours - > Give people something to enjoy from home:
Thailand has a compilation of the best live streams from Thailand on a daily basis.
- There are actions on facebook with #WorldFromAWindow, a series of posts that celebrates the beauty of the views from our own homes and what we're grateful for in this time. - This is how people in your community can contribute to show how beautiful their area is.
In a later stage travelers will not only be concerned if your destination is virus free, but also about what kind of other people from what kind of destinations they might encounter, en route to your destinations.
Caption Ideas
Something amazing awaits you...
Scheduling
Making long term plannings is difficult in times of crisis, based on the topics you can draft ideas but be agile.
Make schedule for a week in advance - but don’t put them in the automated pipeline yet, because situations change so fast.
Instead decide every morning what is the most appropriate post from your drafts for today.
