Have You Secured Your Facebook URL?

More and more Scottish hospitality businesses are setting up Facebook Fan pages to allow their business to build their relationships with their clients further. Whether you are a hotel, golf course, restaurant or visitor attraaction you cannot simply ignore distribution channels such as Facebook and apply the "Manana Principle" to them.

The potential benefits of using social media distribution channels are clear. For sure they won't work without effort but with time, clear marketing focus and commitment to testing the parameters of the medium they can reduce costs, increase revenues and thereby hit the target of ensuring positive ROI.

Over the coming weeks Tourism Matters blog will focus on small things that can make big differences to your online marketing. Where possible we'll answer your queries and always try to make the end objective improved business communciations and conversion.


Facebook URL's

If you currently use Facebook for your business you may not be aware that you can secure your own URL. We set up a new account for The Tartan Army a couple of weeks ago; once it had secured enough followers it was allowed to register its own URL - the Facebook pages can now be found at www.facebook.com/TheTartanArmy instead of the old line of digits and letters such as  "id=482942674."

It's now simple to register your own business name - go to http://www.facebook.com/username/ and simply follow the instructions. Two minute job.

Once you've got your URL you can use it on all your on and off line marketing. Print up tent cards for your tables, use it on letterheading, bills, room packs, on the foot of your emails, site wide on your site, your blog, in fact promote it everywhere you can. Use the pages to build your following through promotions, offers and giveaways.

Your Facebook page is not an alternative to your website or email marketing or blog it is complementary to it and should be used as just another one of your positive distribution channels.