I just had an amazing experience on Google, and I had to stop what I was doing to make this social media case study video.

While updating a website for a client, I did a search on Google for a specific Geographic location. I wanted to find someone to link to, when I did a search, the Google Search Results are turning up google + profiles.

It occurred to me that I’m logged in, and that is changing my search results for a town location. WOW that is powerful for google +

Then I scrolled down more and I found that my twitter connections were also showing up in my search results.

I’m following Kashabowie Outposts on Google + and, because they shared this link, it is turning up in my search results when I search for topics that match the information they have shared.

From these top results, five of the top in the first page of the search results were because of social sharing and not because of search engine optimization – I found it completely startling to see how the rankings were changing in google based on your social media connections.

It’s amazing now, what this means for tourism marketing – it influences what choices people have available to them, right at the beginning of their search.

Profound Significance For Tourism Marketing

I consider this to be an incredibly positive step forward for user experience on the web. The significance of this real world example is profound. Tourism marketing and travel planning well forever be changed by the social connections you establish with your guests.

Are you a tourism business wanting strategies for developing your social media?

Consider the long term impact of a single ‘Like’ or ‘Tweet’ - so long as that individual grows their social media network over the years, their entire network of connections will continue to be influenced by that recommendation – starting with the choices they are presented with when they begin a search.

Three Critical Take-Aways

Tagged as: case study, google, Online Marketing, search engine rankings, SEO Case Study, Social Media, social media case study, Tourism Marketing, twitter, twitter shares