Social media has changed the world of communication and advertising, and the travel and tourism industry is no exception. It didn’t take long for these platforms to enter this sector, and they have stayed for a long time. Tourism in l'Ametlla de Mar has clearly embraced the use of the Internet, specifically social media, to promote this seaside town in southern Catalonia to the world.

Why? The rise of social media has represented a great opportunity, allowing managers of tourism promotion in destinations with limited resources to promote our destinations and tourist assets with (almost) the same conditions as destinations with large promotional budgets.

Through social media, a medium-term benefit is achieved, and this does not only refer to economic terms and occupancy rates, but also to the improvement of reputation and the generation of trust in the brand we represent. The digital world is advancing rapidly, which is why we believe it is essential to train those who manage these platforms, to stay updated on the latest trends and changes and be able to take advantage of them and apply them in our daily activities.

How? (What is our daily routine on social media?) With a lot of activity, in fact, managing social media now takes up more and more of our workday.

In the morning, we choose the photo of the day from our followers on Instagram and post it across our other networks (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Instagram itself) to greet our followers. Then, we respond to all the comments we receive and schedule different posts on each social network with the hashtag #AmetlladeMar.

Mondays are the day we dedicate the most time to, as we organize the week's posts by theme (gastronomy, coves and beaches, routes, events...); by format (image, video, blog article...); by social network (timing for peak audience and the appropriate language for each platform). The power of images without neglecting the content.

Undoubtedly, images are the star of our posts, and among them, those referring to our coves and beaches are the most successful with our audience. They are the most shared and thus have the widest reach, whether in photo or video format.

Where? (Which networks are we on?) We have active accounts on several social media platforms, but the ones we focus on the most are Facebook and Instagram. We believe these are the two that help us best reach our target audience and interact with them. Additionally, they are highly visual platforms that allow us to convey our messages more effectively.

With whom? (The key element: our community) The first thing we did when we ventured into the exciting world of social media was to focus on our target audience and try to create an online community of followers around our brand.

Currently (and fortunately), we have a very active community. We are in constant contact with our followers, and there is not a day of the year that we don’t respond to their messages. We share their photos, organize contests to reward their loyalty, listen to their suggestions and opinions... They are the ones who help us spread our content with their comments and shares, allowing us to reach many more people.

There is nothing more rewarding than receiving visits at the Tourism Office from followers who come to greet us and meet us in person, because we must never forget that we are interacting with people.