By: Marie McNulty Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere
It is impossible to understand the world of travel and tourism without the opinion of bloggers; what they say on Facebook, twitter and other social networks matters. Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere recently worked with a travel blogger Watch Me See to promote ‘Biosphere Experiences’.
There is a travel blogger for every consumer type. A very important detail when you consider that the profile of travellers is increasingly segmented, and the competitiveness of destinations depends on an ability to develop and market specific tourism products.
Choosing the right Travel Blogger
First thoughts were to approach a ‘macro-influencer’ with a large following but after seeking advice we decided on a ‘micro-influencer’ with smaller, more targeted followers.
Kathi at Watch Me See fitted perfectly. Kathi’s ability to create engaging content, great photographic images and achieve our goal, to inspire travel to our Biosphere and to raise awareness of eco-tourism and sustainable travel worked well. Kathi’s brand personality and values matched very much with our sustainable values as a Biosphere.
Developing the Brief
A three day ‘Biosphere Experience’ was developed for Kathi linking in sustainable travel, nature, water based and a darkness and star gazing experiences. The brief requirement was what is referred to as a ‘Destination’ piece. Travel Bloggers like working to briefs but also need to be allowed a degree of flexibility to be creative and consider the article target audience.
Was it worth it?
Working with travel bloggers is a great way to reach new audiences on a personal level and convey an authentic point of view through creative and engaging content. Bloggers are the new media, and some say the journalists of the new century with specific characteristics such as freshness, immediacy, interactivity, and personality. Kathi from Watch Me See fulfilled all those specific characteristics and more.
Here is Kathi’s travel blog post and her filmed experience on You Tube.
SHAPE is a three-year Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme (NPA) project promoting the development of ecotourism initiatives. Follow us on Facebook or Twitter.