Technology is currently evolving at a rapid pace. Not everyone quite grasps the huge impact this will have on institutions, business and even government. But it will be a seismic shift.
These changes will eventually work their way in to everyday life, work and also behaviour. It will change the way people communicate and make decisions. We may well come to a point when behaviour and technology evolves at a faster pace than companies can handle. You only have to look at how many companies are struggling to come to terms with social media to see that things are changing.
Knowledge Gap?
In the travel industry I’ve also seen a gap between bloggers and DMO’s in their understanding and knowledge of technology/online marketing. DMOs have to be part of it to truly understand it or they may well be failing to adapt to consumer behavior and technological changes.
Perhaps the structure of such organisations need to adapt and change? Traditionally relied upon skills may need re-assessing to include a more technological slant in order to adapt, to see opportunities and understand behavioral change.
These changes moves beyond that of social media, smart phones, tablets, pinning things and checking in. It’s a fundamental change in the way businesses/institutions deal with customers. It is increasing becoming a two-way conversation where transparency plays a huge role.
Blogging Is Increasingly Important
It’s for these reasons that blogging is increasingly important, but it’s more than just the writing. Its
about being a relevant source, a trusted source and one that moves with the technological changes. It is about being part of that decision-making process in a real non-manufactured way.
This is why I’m a firm believer in trying to innovate in the online space. Many new bloggers focus on the writing, but it’s much more than this. I encourage bloggers to experiment, to develop beyond writing and to test new technologies and new ways of communicating what you do. Bloggers are in a unique position to bring transparency and to play a role in consumers decision-making in the future.
I was just thinking about this. With a travel book, I can’t complain when they truly screw up, and I think they know that. With a blogger however, it is this two way conversation. Good read, I am following you on twitter now.
Thanks Julio, It’s definitely shifting and already has to open communication and feedback. I think it’s a great thing but I’m not sure that everyone is ready for it and there is also opportunities for people who realise it before others. Thanks for the follow too!
🙂
Well, one of the reasons I started blogging was because I was reading a Lonely Planet one day about a place I knew well. Then I thought, “they don’t know what they are talking about, I can do better!” While that thought was a bit rash and LP will always have a niche in logistics and a general idea of things, I give a lot more weight to real experiences.
I think bloggers are much more careful sometimes because their popularity depends on it. I tend to check my work a million times because I want to be a popular blogger some day, and hope my work speaks for itself.
NP on the follow, I’ve actually seen your blog many times, just hadnt worked up to being a commentator until now :). If you have time, and enjoy world heritage sites, check out my page sometime.
I did check it out, quite a mission you’ve got planned there!
I think the distribution on information now is so much easier, hyper local blogging is a big deal and are becoming pretty trusted resources for people wanting to research a place. It’ll certainly be interesting to see things develop of the next 5-10 years.
I agree, there are certain blogs I check out before traveling anywhere. You not only get fresh information, but you can also learn about the more ‘out of the way’ places. As far as DMO’s are concerned we are in the digital age, learn to adapt or fade away.
Thanks Virgil S,
Things are definitely changing pretty rapidly. I don’t think people realise just how quick.
Your prediction reminds us a bit of the early predictions about the Internet in the beginning of 1990s, how it was going to revolutionise everything. From what we have seen, tourism industry develops slowly and it seems to be rather conservative.
Hey,
The tourism industry maybe slow, but once the consumers are working in a completely different manner they have no option but to play catch up. There will be a huge knowledge gap because they are moving so slowly right now.
There’s plenty of technological innovation in the travel industry. A good place to learn about it is Tnooz.com (whose motto is “talking about travel tech”).
I think Tourism Australia are leading the way when it comes to the industry understanding and using social media.
Thank for the comment Tracey, do you have any special examples from Tourism Australia? 🙂
Thanks!
I definitely agree that it will change big time Paul. I think that many travel companies have already realized this and that is why the power of a successful blog has increased also. Companies are looking into partnerships, now more than ever.
Hi Andy,
I think many are started to wake up and realise that they need content and coverage. Definitely interesting times!
Really nice article Paul, I agree completely and think DMO’s in particular have struggle with what their routes to market are.
For instance, they feel advertising is too risky so shy awy but how can you stimulate your audience without some brand positioning and more importantly aren’t aware of the cutting edge advertising techniques that can drive response, then they talk to bloggers/press etc. in completely the wrong way. I’ve been to so many DMO’s and all they give you is brochures, how much do they think i’m going to read? I certainly don’t live in a library 🙂
On the blog front, I think the days of long form content still hold a part to play but less so as social media has created this micro blogging environment where you trust your connections or connections of connections first and then perhaps go outside your circle of trust. Technology is driving the industry, people want information in the most concise, easy to consume way and I think blogs, sites, DMO’s that don’t develop easy to find content or information that can aid the user journey are going to suffer.
I don’t think I have the answer by the way, but I feel that without technology both indexing and making your content easy to consume the user loses out on the benefit of all the great work that is going on out there.
Anyway, rant over, hope all is well 🙂
There are so many ways to improve the way of sharing and selling products. There some Travel companies that are already mixing guest posts of bloggers, video footage and ticket sales with a modern search platform, but still, most of the competitors are way to much concentrated on the sales, rather than improvement of easy-to-use features for their customers.