It’s been a while since the Austrian National Tourism Office announced embarking on a "joint venture" with MindShare MindTake to launch an Austrian Social Network for travellers. The first inofficial version of CoolAustria was launched in May . Austrian bloggers and many of my international readers were not really amused and had quite some helpful advice (see the assessments by Jens Traenhart, William Bakker and a few of the comments here). Now their second relaunch has gone online (via Tourismus Zukunft).
Unfortunately, the only thing that has been changed seems to be the colour scheme. Lets compare it with the social network GoSeeOregon which is a "joint venture" by Travel Oregon and the network specialist GoToSee Network.
GoSeeOregon was launched in late April. Its launch was announced in Travel Oregon’s blog in March. Which – by the way – is a very fine example of a blog for a DMO. Like most social networks the content of GoSeeOregon is only accessible for members. But on their first page they make sure to tell potential users what the membership is all about:
"What GoSeeOregon will do for you:
Tips for more than 300 destinations in Oregon and over 90,000 others worldwide
Connect with thousands of fellow travelers from all continents
Rate and review hotels, restaurants, attractions, and more
Search the database for members with similar interests
Customize your own passport page and track all your travel."
Yes, read again, this not only holds true to Oregon, but to 90,000 destinations worldwide. Why? Because one state alone is not enough to build a travel social network. The colour scheme is pleasant and there is no advertising on the site.
Lets have a look at CoolAustria.
What strikes me: There is no information on their first site explaining what this is all about, what my benefits upon joining are and what to expect. The large picture shows the Viennese City Hall next to the latest travel tip which praises a destination in Styria (not even close to Vienna). The colour scheme is very daring, to say the least. And an oversize banner looms obtrusively across the top.
I hope this is not the big relaunch that was announced at the tourism conference in Schönbrunn Palace three weeks ago. Why?
Lets put it this way: A touristic social network is not about a destination, but about travellers of that destination. Which in turn means, that a community cannot be established around a destination. It has to be created around the emotions, experiences, likes and dislikes of real people.
It’s all about people. It’s not about making money (at least do not concentrate on making money from the beginning). So do try to build credibility and trust first.
Find some of my suggestions and remarks here:
Travel 2.0 – More on Social media & corporate websites morphing
Social Web in Destination Marketing – tu felix Austria?
Social Web in Destination Marketing – tu felix Austria II?
Also read:
- Web 2.0 & Destination marketing – Holland.com leads the Way
- The Social Web in Destination Marketing – Canada & New Zealand relaunch
- Travel 2.0 & User Generated Content in Destination Marketing – Interview with William Bakker from Tourism British Columbia
This was my traditional English post on Monday. More to come in my English category. About me.
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Bonjour Karin,
I have an account with GoSeeOregon, they have some nice features or ideas:
GoSeeOregon Evangelists (8 peoples)
a “Trustiness” for each member
I can see they have more than 500 members (total) and 275 members for Portland city.
Well, about colour scheme and graphism for Cool Austria, my opinion :=(
Bonne journée
Claude
Claude, 500 members total? That is nothing.
Karin,
Public stats that user can see in the system.
Yes, not very strong since 6 month running this portal.
Danke für deine Meinung. Sie ist uns wichtig.
Wir sehen uns die Entwicklung mit unserem Partner mindtake bis Jahresende an und werden dann entscheiden wie es weitergeht.
Die Bedenken von Florian Bauhuber in tourismuszukunft.de sind durchaus berechtigt und wohl das wesentlichste Erfolgskriterium für social web Plattformen – sie müssen aus Sicht des Kunden gestaltet sein. Und nicht um touristische Angebote möglichst innovativ darzustellen um sie mit diesem “Schmäh” besser zu verkaufen. Entscheidend ist vielmehr, dass User, wenn sie auf eine Plattform gelangen, sofort den eigenen Nutzen erkennen. Nur dann wird er/sie bereit sein, Zeit in social networking zu investieren. Theoretisch wissen wir es – auf gut österreichisch – eh. Aber …
Hello Karin,
Thanks for your kind words about GoSeeOregon (which we built for Travel Oregon). I just want to point out a couple of things so there is no confusion about the concept of the site.
GoSeeOregon has a lot, lot, lot more than 500 users. The user statistics on the site do not show users that have opted to hide the city they live in by changing their privacy settings. Also we show the Top 10 cities but have a nice “long tail” of places where users live. Overall we have users from almost 200 countries on the GoSeeTell Network.
One other thing to remember is that GoSeeOregon complements TravelOregon.com (the official tourism website for the state of Oregon). Besides offering consumers a different perspective, the site also drives a lot of traffic as GoSeeOregon does extremely well in natural search. This allows Travel Oregon to address a different market segment.
And by being part of the GoSeeTell Network Oregon products and information can easily be found on various other portals we manage for other destinations, airlines, companies, organizations/associations and other interest groups.
We are in the process of launching several design changes on the site which will include a new release of the AlterEgoTrips tool. So stay tuned!
Servus nach Oesterreich!
Martin
(GoSeeTell Network)
als tourismusdirektor einer kleinen österreichischen destination verfolge ich das thema nun knapp ein jahr (danke übrigens für all die tipps die ich hier fand)
mein bisheriges fazit: wir sind überfordert. theoretisch glauben wir zu wissen was wir tun sollten aber es fehlt uns schlicht an fachwissen, zeit, strukturen und vieles mehr. wir brauchen natürlich unsere gäste aber auch unsere anbieter, die vielen hausfrauen, bäuerinnen, sennerinnen, hoteliers, skilehrer und pistenraupenfahrer die ihre geschichten erzählen. wann finden diese gastgeber die zeit zu schreiben? wie erzählen sie ihre geschichte? wer coacht sie dabei? es sind wahrscheinlich solche foren die zur lösung führen, gemeinsam werden wir schon einen weg schaffen, auch in unserem förderalistischen dmo system.
Lieber Herr Lanner, vielen Dank für Ihren Kommentar. Das Gefühl der Überforderung ist angesichts der neuen virtuellen Umwälzungen absolut verständlich.
Dennoch bin ich überzeugt, dass gerade die kleinen DMOs und familiengeführten Hotels und Betriebe von diesen profitieren können. Natürlich müssen sie das geschickt machen. Denn sie können am wenigsten ihre Ressourcen verschleudern.
Wer Ihre touristischen Partner coacht? Wie wäre es zB mit mir? Ich bin darauf spezialisiert. Und Sie werden es nicht glauben, welches Blogger-Talent in vielen Leuten schlummert. Man sehe sich nur http://www.winzerblog.at an.
Hi Martin, Thanks for your input. That’s really valuable. Please keep me informed.