Viral Marketing Idea Friday - Travel Industry
What does fuzzy handcuffs and the travel industry have to do with viral marketing idea Friday? Read on …
Chris and I have worked with a ton of travel industry professionals over the years and helping them with their online marketing needs. We have even spoke at travel industry conferences on SEO and Social Media. I feel I have a pretty grasp on the whole travel industry online scene and wanted to share a viral marketing idea that I was thinking about (because of my recent travels) that would probably go huge and make front page on every top social site out there. Also, because I have so many contacts, friends and people I know in the travel industry this is for you guys!
A week ago (about) I was at the Grand Canyon (south rim) and was staying in a Hotel suite in Flagstaff (about an hour away from the south rim (for those that don’t know). As the vacation was winding down, and we were getting ready to go home I did my usual walk through to make sure no items were left behind. Once I feel comfortable that nothing was left then we check out. I do this every time I stay at a Hotel and am kind of anal about it. During my latest trip to Tucson Arizona for a family reunion (for the first time ever) something was left at the Hotel. It was the power cord to my Daughters Nintendo DS.
It got me thinking.
Then this morning I hear on the radio something crazy that someone had left behind from a recent trip and the light went off. With the proper research you could do one of the funniest posts ever about “The 10 Weirdest Things Maids Found In A Hotel Room” or the “Funniest Things Ever Left By Accident In A Hotel Room” The reason I think this would do so well is because this morning when I was listening to some of the stuff it made me want to wet my pants it was so funny. The only thing I could think of that would make it better would be pictures of the items, or (even better) videos. Here was a list of some of the items left behind - a wooden leg, fake chest hair, fuzzy pretend hand cuffs (hmmm-wonder what that was for). This is what I want to know, how drunk do you have to be to leave your Hotel without your wooden leg? Don’t you think you would know you might be missing that???
All it would take is for you to talk to a maid for 5 minutes, and you would probably have some of the funniest viral opportunities on your hands ever!! They may even have some of the items on hand, and with a little bribing, may let you even snap some pictures.
If I were doing marketing for a travel industry website that was either affiliate, actual booking, reviews, or even one of the big dog travel websites, having a blog and running this kind of story would do so good in the social scene. It is also perfect because it relates to the industry perfectly. The key is to finding the stories and ideas that relate and grow them from there. Again, I can’t even take a vacation without thinking about viral marketing, but thats what I do and love! Enjoy!
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This is one of the best ideas I’ve read to date about Viral Marketing for Travel sites. It could get a little…what’s the word…risqué? but many times effective viral marketing has tones like that, or at least a bit suggestive even if the content is fine.
I plan to implement this soon on my Utah tourism website - which is a new work in progress.
Thanks for sharing the fun ideas.