Does your tourism office or CVB use social media in your destination marketing plan? If not, what are you waiting for?

According to a recent study, 81 percent of all marketers surveyed said their social media efforts have generated exposure to their business, and 61 percent of marketers saw an increase in web traffic. If your destination isn’t keeping up with social media trends, your CVB or tourist office is losing money. Here are some ways to promote your travel agency using social media.

1. Search the interests of groups and individuals on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace to find out what people are saying about your destination.

2. Post your blog articles on Digg, Delicious, Reddit and other social bookmarking sites to generate a larger audience.

3. Constantly update your travel blog with new information, paying attention to Google keywords to improve your ranking in search engine results.

4. Make friends with tourists (past and future) to maintain relationships and keep them coming back.

5. Use photo sharing sites to link photos taken by tourists to create a community among people interested in your destination.

6. Twitter travel deals and packages, as well as updates on area construction, new businesses, events, and festivals.

7. Offer contests and promotions through social media to help grow your following.

8. Create custom URLs for Facebook and Twitter to provide another contact option for tourists. (for example, facebook.com/yourcvbahere)

9. Create a network or online community among all the businesses in your area to provide more information to your future tourists, as well as generate more traffic back to your profiles

10. Post videos on a YouTube account of different activities to participate in your destination.

Having an active presence on many social media platforms will not only bring more exposure to your CVB or tourist office, it will also redirect people to your website.