Learning & Events

As the world changes daily, we want to empower our indigenous tourism partners across Alberta to stay strong by pivoting.

Social Media will continue to grow as an influential channel in the weeks and months to come. Indigenous Tourism Alberta suggests some minor tweaks to your current strategy in order to remain valuable to your wider audience.

Get involved

Since physical promotions or services might be off the table, we suggest highlighting ways to stay connected: Youtube, Facebook Live, Instagram Live videos or Zoom interactive meet-ups are great ways to create conversations and remain top of mind with your clients. Get in the conversation of other partners and organizations doing the same to boost your visibility. Ask questions, be engaging!

Start sharing

Share alternatives to travelling to join you in person – favourite recipes from your kitchen, favourite music playlists or new books/podcasts. Get creative with ways you can highlight the experiences that your business offers – think “5 things to forage in the Foothills,” “Indigenous crafting inspiration” or “create an at-home getaway”.

Turn engagements into opportunities

Any engagement touch-point can enhance your business’ online visibility and strengthen brand trust. Make sure to monitor all comments and messages, and respond to everything (even if it’s just a thank you). Make your audience feel heard. Keep the lines of communication open – this will support and grow your following for the future. Whether the comment is positive or negative, we can help you develop guidelines for your social media manager to follow – even in a crisis!

Drive purchases

Consider offering re-booking opportunities, credit and/or gift certificates that can be redeemable at a later date – vs. refunds. The key is not to put too restrictive a time period on redeeming as small operators may not be able to handle demand if all credit is redeemable within a calendar year for example.

Consider continuing to accept reservations for the months ahead with a zero risk – zero hassle prepayment policy that allows guests to pay for their reservation just a few days before arrival. We understand that it is hard to make long term commitments right now, but it is worth evaluating the situation on a weekly basis in terms of travel warnings and restrictions and flight availability and continue to communicate openly with your customers and guests in terms of the probabilities of their travel plans coming through.

Or offer delivery of your products to drive sales. Online purchasing funnels can be daunting, let us help you figure that out if support is needed!

Highlight heroes

Share stories of heroes on your team or in your community. This is a great time to put the focus on the unsung heroes that are keeping us safe and healthy every day, not just in these trying times. This supports the personality of your operation, again strengthening brand trust for the future.

Be real

Being vulnerable can cultivate trust. We all know what is happening in the world, so there is no point in avoiding it. Promote solutions, be positive – don’t get hung up on the problems. Be a thought leader!