Tourism British Columbia was one of the first destinations to include blogs and User Generated Content in their online marketing strategy. The process started in 2005 with a blog written by their staff to share insider information with website users. In 2006 Tourism British Columbia expanded the number of internal bloggers by asking the staff of their over 110 Visitor Centres all over British Columbia to join in. This expanded the content of the site beyond Vancouver and Victoria, where Tourism British Columbia’s offices are located.

This year the next logical step was extendind the scope of writers  on HelloBC.com to residents and past travelers. Users are asked to share their BC Great Finds. These tips are posted as regular blog entries. But every entry is also categorized with a location and an activity. I interviewed William Bakker, Director E-Business at Tourism British Columbia, on the process of integrating UCG and their recent launch.   

William, why did you introduce the blog in 2005?
Our website users keep asking us for ‘insider information’. They like the official information on our website, but they also like to know tips and things only local people know. Our idea was that blogs would provide a way to communicate this information in an informal way. By individual staff members, because it aligns with what the communication people are used to when they talk about travel. HelloBCBlogs was launched as an experiment and it proved its value almost immediately.

Were the Visitor Centre staff happy to blog or did you have to convince them?
We started with just one unit. Most jumped at the opportunity, but some weren’t comfortable with it. But after we started with this small group, staff from throughout the organization asked if they could participate and it snowballed quickly. The Visitor Centres were a bit more reserved. But a few early adopters encouraged others to follow.

Which feedback did you get since installing phase III in February?
We have received positive feedback from consumers and our industry. Traffic volumes are healthy and most important, our blog readers are loyal and most are from our key markets. We’re working on some qualitative research and I’m planning to share some of the results on my blog in the future.

Do you get many "great finds"?
We’re approaching 300 and it continues to grow. The finds are from all over our province and cover many of the tourism experiences. It’s very diverse and the quality of the entries have exceeded our expectations. So far, I’m very pleased with the results.

Is there a return on investment?
The main value is content. User generated content alongside the official information is a valuable way to add credibility and insider information and tips. We’re also building consumer loyalty, with the group that submits entries and with our blog readers. Over time, we hope to foster a community of passionate British Columbia travelers who assist other travelers.

We also receive a lot of exposure through Flickr, so far over 15,000 image views, and this a huge awareness generator. A user from Flickr can be exposed to our province for the first time by searching the Flickr library. Some of the images we receive are amazing so it’s an easy sell.

Do you have many feed subscribers?
All things considered, it’s pretty good. The numbers aren’t huge but it will grow as more users become aware of the benefits of RSS and feed readers. It’s an investment for the future and we’re learning a lot. I believe that one day we will pay more attention to the number of RSS subscribers than the size of our consumer marketing database.

What’s your view on travel 2.0, the Social Web and User Generated Content in destination marketing?
Web 2.0 technologies have created a cultural change. As a marketer, you’re dealing with a different consumer. Internet users are becoming familiar with a much more informal, transparent and collaborative forms of communication. The volume of this information also teaches consumers to filter the information they receive and be skeptic about what they see and read.

Tripadvisor is an excellent example. Users verify official information provided by Hotels with reviews. These reviews are verified against other reviews to filter fake or irrelevant reviews. And after a stay, users participate by posting their own review. This model proves to work very well. As a hotel, your brand is now also in the consumers hands.

You can no longer control the message and have to rethink strategies and tactics.

Do you think all tourism boards should embrace the power of User Generated Content & Web 2.0?
Word-of-mouth has always been the biggest awareness generator in travel. People love to share their travel experiences. Travel 2.0 allows people to share on a global scale. There are two areas tourism boards should consider incorporating this into their strategies. The first area is external websites where information about your destination is published. The second are ways to incorporate UGC in your own communication vehicles.

Read more about the different stages of introducing User Generated Content in British Columbia’s destination website in Bakker’s blog. William has traveled in Europe recently. His final overvations are:

Based on own Easter European trip planning experience, destination
websites suck, social websites are good, paper guidebooks are very
helpful, mapping services, transportation and accommodation metasearch
websites rule.

I highly recommend reading his posts about preparing the trip online:
Anecdotal learning, part 2
Anecdotal learning, part 1, pre-trip planning.

This was my traditional weekly English post. If you liked it, please check out my recent English articles:

• Hotels & the Social Web – Some suggestions for Yotel
• Fake Travel Reviews are no Issue – Interview with Ian Rumgay from Tripadvisor continued
• About Hotel 2.0 & Travel 2.0 – Interview with Ian Rumgay from TripAdvisor
• Hotel 2.0 – Interview with Opus Hotel CEO Blogger Daniel Craig
• Travel planning today – Greetings from the Easter Island III
• Marketing manifesto for the travel industry – Interpretation of Jeff Jarvis

More to come at English category.

For my German language savvy readers: please check out my Travel 2.0 category.