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They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But in the case of the travel industry, says The University of Western Australia Business School PhD student Sharifah Fatimah Syed-Ahmad, pictures could be worth considerably more.

The Malaysian student is currently finishing her thesis on the topic of ‘Social media as a marketing tool.' As part of her research, she has looked at word-of-mouth in the travel industry, and the ways in which businesses can create their own social media profiles.

‘I started my PhD because I wanted to see how people communicate generally,' explains Sharifah. ‘I worked in the public relations office back at my university in Malaysia, and there were so many audiences that we had to communicate with. My first degree was in marketing, so it seemed a natural progression.'

Sharifah began her research by conducting broad interviews on the topic of social media, and soon found a common thread ¬- most people enjoy looking at photos. ‘I also enjoy photography, so I followed through with this topic and zoomed in on the 22 Arab League countries,' explains Sharifah. ‘Usually what you see is on TV or in official brochures, but user-generated photos gave another channel for people to put up and view content.

‘Spain, Britain and Australia have all used campaigns incorporating user-generated photos. When you see something user-generated and think "this is nice," you believe its authenticity more than in a typical advertisement.'

Tourism Australia hoped to capture this authenticity when, in March this year, they replaced the ill-fated Bloody Hell campaign with There's Nothing Like Australia.

The new campaign invited Australians to send in their favourite photos from around Australia, complete with tagline, to be uploaded to an interactive map on the www.nothinglikeaustralia.com website.

‘For years Australians have seen and heard about Australia's tourism marketing and have been very passionate about how our country is promoted overseas,' said Andrew McEvoy, Managing Director, Tourism Australia. ‘In fact, our research shows that 81 per cent of Australians agree that every Australian can help promote our tourism industry. Now is their chance to get involved.'

Get involved they did, with over 129,000 photos pouring in from across the country.

But if user-generated content is effectively filtered by tourism promoters, will the photos still be seen as authentic?

‘Consumers won't be any more cynical than if a celebrity were to endorse a certain product,' argues Sharifah. ‘People enjoy that human touch, and tourism organisations can use the publicity that a competition or campaign creates to encourage more user-generated content.'

Yet while an authentic human touch can entice tourists, it can also be extremely risky. ‘Rather than seeing glossy images, internet users can see the reality,' says Sharifah. ‘Of course, viewers will also have their own take on the photos. This way you get to see it as it is; you can zoom in on what you like - different people have different interests. Every place has their official image, and users may not see the country as what's being projected.'

As part of her research, Sharifah studied nearly 600 Flickr photos depicting Arab locations. ‘Many of them contained Islamic images, especially mosques and headscarves,' she says. ‘The photos might just be general views of the place, or the Islamic themes might be because these are the images that people associate with the region.'

When destinations and companies make the leap into social media, branding becomes increasingly difficult to control. Professor Dick Mizerski teaches Marketing at The University of Western Australia Business School and has over 30 years experience in advertising, including 13 years as a consultant for the Federal Trade Commission in the United States. ‘Don't get involved in social media unless you know what you're getting in to,' he warns businesses.

‘Social media can be an important story telling tool. If you give consumers information, and an insight into the practices of the company, you can achieve a positive response.'

However, the dangers arise when companies fail to fully commit to social media. ‘Always monitor your social media streams constantly, especially if your business is operating - like most businesses nowadays - in a sensitive area,' he says.

Social media campaigns, such as those carried out on Facebook and MySpace, can be especially difficult for small businesses, admits Sharifah. ‘Small companies often do not have the manpower to maintain it,' she explains. ‘They need to train more staff or get younger people. My mother wouldn't know how to operate social media, let alone use it for marketing!'

Other common mistakes, she says, include allowing a company's profile to become static or failing to generate friends. Just as damagingly, failing to filter friends can result in others attempting to use your profile to sell their own (often dubious) products or posting negative comments to your profile.

‘Businesses see other business having it [social media]. Maybe they should see how it works first rather than just following others,' suggests Sharifah. ‘Businesses must remember that they have their own special image that they're trying to project. You don't want to be seen as something you're not.

‘Social media - it is not THE answer for a company's marketing but it's relatively cheap. If you don't have the knowledge and staff to maintain it then it's not going to help you at all.'

Tourism Australia, at least, is confident of its ability to harness the power of social media. ‘We have had a lot of success on our Facebook page, with 370,000 fans, making it the most successful destination site in the world,' said Mr McEvoy.

‘This kind of success proves that the digital space is where we can really make our mark and that marketing Australia is no longer about the traditional 30 second television commercial.'

Professor Mizerski, however, remains sceptical. ‘Social media is a huge thing that's going to come and go,' he predicts. ‘Radio didn't replace print advertising, and television didn't replace radio. Even now, the internet has a far greater reach than social media.'

Whatever the future of social media, one thing is certain - photos are becoming increasingly important to the marketing of travel destinations. ‘A lot of what has been out there in the past, in terms of user-generated content, has been text,' says Sharifah. ‘But photos can also be seen as word-of-mouth.'

With photos becoming increasingly significant, a picture may well be worth a thousand words. Or several dozen tweets.

Media references

Media Reference
Heather Merritt
Director, External Relations
UWA Business School
T: +618 6488 8171
E: [email protected]

Verity Chia
Communications Officer
UWA Business School
E: [email protected]