EMBRACING SOCIAL MEDIA
WEST Australian entrepreneur Sean Blocksidge is urging the tourism sector to embrace social media.
The Margaret River Discovery Company owner said digital media was simple and extremely effective.
“TripAdvisor has changed my life,” Mr Blocksidge said.
“I started my business in 2008 and nearly went bankrupt as I wasted tens of thousands (of dollars) in marketing and promotions before I realised the tourism industry was rapidly changing with review sites and social media taking over the digital marketplace.
“I taught myself about search engine optimisation and embracing social media.
“Those super easy to use tools have transformed the way I do business and resulted in a business that is sold out almost every day of the year.”
Mr Blocksidge is one of the keynote speakers at the News Corp Tourism Innovation conference in Cairns in November.
He said he was looking forward to sharing his personal experiences of how easy it was for tourism operators, both large and small, to embrace digital opportunities.
“I spend no more than 15 minutes a day working on promoting my business and the reach is massive,” Mr Blocksidge said.
“I’m astounded that more Australian tourism businesses haven’t fully embraced social media or have over-complicated the way they do use it.”
Mr Blocksidge said he loved his business and working life.
“Every day as I paddle my canoe down the Margaret River I think to myself: ‘ How can I ever do a normal job again?’,” he said.
“I’ve had some great roles as a hotel general manager and a winery operations manager, but my current job as selfemployed tour operator has messed with my head.
“Maybe one day I will get bored and look to expand the business or get a real job again, but at the moment I can confidently say I pinch myself every time I paddle in that canoe.”
Mr Blocksidge said Dubai Tourism was one of the great examples of innovation.
“Dubai is possibly the most hideous city on earth. A city of soulless concrete and sand desert in blistering 50C heat, built by modern-day slave labour,” he said.
“Yet their impressive and strategically clever tourism campaigns and investment in the industry positions them as one of the world’s great destinations.
“The real innovation will be if they can sustain it over the long term.”
Mr Blocksidge is the owner operator of the Margaret River Discovery Company.
In 2010 he won Western Australian Guide of the Year and his tours have been rated the No.1 thing to do in Australia on the TripAdvisor website for the past two years.
The Tourism Innovation Conference is in Cairns on November 6.