By Li Sheng Dange

140 words, one picture, one location, click and send... Weibo (micro-blogging) is one of the hottest online communication platforms in recent years. On weibo, information can be transmitted to all over the world swiftly. Anyone can become the publisher and transmitter of information. For travel enthusiasts, weibo is like a little trumpet that calls for trips. The text of "10 islands that you must see before you die", plus a beautiful landscape picture can often arise in people the desire to backpack around the world.

Tourism weibos are attracting more and more followers. Many foreign and Chinese tourism agencies and resorts have adopted this new online marketing method. How to run a tourism weibo has become a topic worthy of discussion.

Small but powerful trumpet

Tourism weibo has become an important platform of travel information publishing, tourism marketing, and communication among travel fans. Some tourism weibos have attracted up to more than 300,000 followers. According to a recent study, 69 percent interviewees have followed tourism weibos, 25.6 percent have used them, and 43.4 percent are planning to use them.

Currently, tourism administrations and agencies in Shanghai, Sichuan, Beijing, Shandong, Guangxi, Fujian, Jilin, Shaanxi, Zhejiang, Anhui, Guizhou, Shanxi, Tianjin, and Liaoning have opened their official weibos. Besides, the National Tourism Administration of China, South Korea, Singapore and other counties have also registered their official weibos. The core functions of a tourism weibo are to publish travel information and provide viewers with information in such aspects as food, clothing, accommodation, travel, and shopping. Experts point out that publishing travel information in a timely manner is the most important function and advantage of a tourism weibo, and it is also an important reason why tourism agencies everywhere are contending over weibo tourism marketing.

The reporter learned that on March 19, the major tourism promotion event "Weibo Jiangxi?Picturesque Landscape" organized by Jiangxi Tourism Administration was launched in Nanchang. According to incomplete statistics from the provincial tourism administration, from 19 to 22, more than 40 weibo writers participating in the event sent out over 4,000 weibos about the unique tourism cultures of Jiangxi Province, and more than 200,000 weibo followers were directly involved in the event, attracting nearly 100 million fans to publish relevant weibos. Within only 4 days, the event attracted the attention of almost 100 million fans. It's an achievement that conventional promotion can't even dream of.

Luo Mengfan, a student of Southwest University, is a travel enthusiast. She said that: "Tourism weibos help me a lot in choosing my travel destinations. I can often learn about some new places and scenic spots that I did not know of before from the republished weibos of my friends. I would follow a tourism weibo when I am interested, and pay attention to information they publish, which may come in handy when I go there in the future". 

How to run a tourism weibo

Tourism weibos tend to do all kinds of tricks to attract the attention of internet users. For instance, the official weibo of Shandong Tourism Administration, titled "Hospitable Shandong", publishes a lot of pictures of inviting foods to introduce the unique cuisine of Shandong, giving full expression to the hospitality of Shandong people. The weibo of South Korea's tourism administration initiates a Korean Q&A contest. Internet users who answer the questions correctly may win Korean Tourism Guidebook and some nice Korean souvenirs. The weibo was republished 827 times and commented 633 times.   

Most tourism weibos, however, publish a lot of information, and the information they publish is not limited within its locality. Sometimes, they rebroadcast travel information of other regions or even some information that is irrelevant to tourism. Internet users may find there are too many updates on their home pages. They tend to view only a few pages and skip it.

Weibo marketing is not competitions in the traditional sense. Instead, it tries to generate directional dependence and demands in internet users through 140-word texts. In carrying out weibo marketing, tourism weibos need to present local resources, historic culture, folk customs, unique scenic spots, and high-quality service to weibo users, so as to project a tourism image and motivate internet users to travel. 

Internet users can get a lot of information from the internet, and they are more interested in how tourism weibo can better satisfy followers' requests. The most prominent feature of weibo is its interactivity. If an official tourism weibo doesn't give a reply in time, it will lose the attention of the internet users after some time.

Some weibos are not considerate enough in creating original information, selecting information, and updating information. If they publish a topic that attracts a lot of attention and questions and they don't reply to the questions properly, it may give rise to a series of problems.

In this regard, experts suggest that when official tourism agencies and tourist attractions register a weibo, they should designate personnel to maintain the weibo, update the status of the attractions, their activities, and routes in a timely manner, reply to followers' questions properly, maintain the authority and honesty of the attractions in an official manner, improve service quality, and establish an image of fair and transparent service.  

The main functions of a tourism weibo are to reply to internet users' questions, introduce local scenic spots and customs, and interact with online users.