NB: This is a guest artlce by Karin Schmollgruber, an Austria-based communications consultant in travel and tourism who also writes at FastenYourSeatbelts.
Chile has been on the global public radar since 2010, when two massive tragedies hit the South American country.
In February of that year, an earthquake and tsunami devastated parts of the southern coastline. Six months later, 33 miners were trapped in a mine in the Atacama desert.
But while there was a happy ending in the desert (every one of the 33 emerged 69 days later, after a monumental rescue effort), the consequences of the natural disaster still linger.
However, 2010 also marked the year Chile’s DMO Sernatur developed and implemented its first online presence.
Eduardo Aresti, manager for digital strategy at Sernatur, joined the organisation in September 2010, when the country had no official travel presence on the web, let alone any kind of involvement in social media.
Despite no signifiant digital profile, Chile has been a well travelled destination for a long time.
In order to develop the digital strategy for Chile.travel, Sernatur started monitoring what other countries were doing, focussing on their social presence, the usability and look and feel, but also closely observing measurement tools such as their Alexa rankings.
Aresti says:
"We got very interested in this last metric, when we saw how other countries such as Australia, Norway, New Zealand and Spain among others evolved using this variable."
But it was Spain that caught his team’s attention. By the end of the UEFA Football World Cup in South Africa, Spain’s Alexa ranking reached its best metric ever.
Apparently everyone was searching online for information about Spain, when the country became the new world champion.
Likewise the Chilean miners’ incident aroused public interest in the country from around the globe.
Aresti believes the hunger for more online information about Chile might have been even larger than for Spain during the World Cup. But the country was lacking something essential: a strong online presence.
"No one could find us when they were looking for official travel information."
When devising the new online strategy Sernatur closely followed the POST methodology suggested by Forrester’s Josh Bernoff.
This resulted in putting the public first, objectives and strategy second, and technology last. Chile.travel features all of the common platforms known today.
The professional videos of international testimonials sets the strategy apart from other DMOs.
Furthermore, everyone at Sernatur understands that social media channels are a key aspect for providing the best customer service they can achieve, Aresti says.
Of course, language issues are always one of the main concerns for any DMO's online activity.
While Sernatur monitors every conversation about Chile, regardless of the language, in social media Chile.travel team communicates in English and Spanish only.
Aresti says:
"We are constantly broadcasting, answering and even listening to those who are not speaking directly to us. In this last case if we see that our interaction can add value, we do join the conversation."
While the main site is mobile-friendly, it does not offer a specific version for mobile platforms.
Aresti reckons the organisation is still researching the best mobile strategy.
The targets for tourism in Chile are big: Sernatur aims to double the income tourism generated in Chile per annum, with the new online strategy a key aspect for achieving this goal.
NB: Find the complete interview with Eduardo Aresti on FastenYourSeatbelts.at.
NB2: This is a guest artlce by Karin Schmollgruber, an Austria-based communications consultant in travel and tourism who also writes at FastenYourSeatbelts.