There is nothing more sour and sad than betrayal and
dishonesty. At some point of our lives we sadly experience it from a friend, a
work colleague, a boss or a relative but we can also experience it from a
destination.
I can certainly relate more than one case where a destination
has been disappointing and a total failure!
, the good news is that now you can do something about it and the good
news is that your voice can be heard through social media channels. Nevertheless,
social media channels can manipulate the posts and bury your negative comments somewhere, as Giles Crouch mentions on his latest post , monitoring becomes harder and harder from government
, institutions and companies about the negative digital WOM and its reputational
and economic impact. IT is so easy to post a picture of a dirty place, it is so
easy to videotape for few seconds an unpleasant experience of a restaurant, attraction,
museum, city…destination. Raw information delivered from the users is becoming
a powerful and “for some” out of control
voice for some destinations.
What should any destinations take into consideration so much
this type of channel when crafting its message? First of all, social media
channels are a great opportunity for learning and listening and stay away from
any ingenuous “overpromises” made “in-house”
because we “wannabe” that cool or nice…IT is good an aspirational target but “don’t
lie” about who you are because let me
tell you that in a nanosecond it will be crashed. Maybe you need to listen what
it has been “over delivered and posted” on social media channels in order to
understand what your target / visitors say about you. What could be a better
way to get insights for your “brand/promise
“ what you genuinely can get for free from your guests ? Which delivers “what”
is it the attention-grabbing point that you need to focus and will differentiate
from your competitors. It delivers “what” is the emotional bond that your
destination offers to the audience? Only following that type of listening and translating
it into statistics on your ROE –return on experience-- you can place the
foundation for a truthful message that won’t disappoint anyone.
There is nothing more disenchanting than arriving somewhere
that you had high hopes and expectations and being devastated by lies.
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