Gwen, you recently completed our 12-month Diploma in Social Media qualification. How have things changed for you since you started?
Excitingly I have my own private clients for whom I manage social media as well as starting a new company with my business partner Philippa. I have been able to do this thanks to the knowledge and confidence gained from doing the course.
I have contributed to a couple of website builds based on the knowledge I gained from the course about website optimisation – and I seem to be getting more of this project work to optimise websites going forward.
Tell me more about your new business?
Indian Experiences offers two products:
- Marketing consultancy to the Indian travel trade. We help travel Indian businesses and hotels develop optimised websites, learn how to manage their own ongoing social media and help them to develop digital advertising campaigns. We also help with their copywriting requirements, not only on websites but also blog posts and email newsletters.
- We offer handpicked, smaller experiential providers in India a place to showcase what they can do. Companies will include walking tours, cooking classes, treks, river rafting and more. We will promote these providers to the overseas travel industry (US, UK and Europe) by newsletter, social media and personal relationships.
Going forward we want to be able to showcase experiential hotels in the country too.
We are focused on presenting all that India has to offer to the travel industry outside of India to change the negative connotations that have developed about India and share our passion for the country.
Can you remember why you choose our course?
Yes, I can. I spent a year in India on a project opening a new hotel. We outsourced our social media management and copyright and I found there was a massive gap in the market. The social media company did not have a clue what was different about experiential hotels and I had to rewrite much of the copy that was provided. I felt that there was a gap between digital marketing and the experiential tourism market in India.
I selected the Concise Training course as I liked the fact that it was distance learning – so I could do it wherever I happened to be, but there was also built in contact with the trainers. The webinars were live and run by people – it wasn’t all video training. The course is all about the importance of engagement and it was essential to me that I could have direct engagement with the tutors.
So, what are your plans for 2018?
Currently, I’m home in Wales but will be returning to India soon to take part in some big travel trade events. During the heat of the summer, I’ll be back in the UK looking to have face to face conversations with UK and Europe travel agencies to build more awareness of Indian Experiences and change the way India is thought of as a travel destination. In October, it will be back to India to build links with amazing experiential hotels and providers.
Around all this, I will continue to manage social media for my clients and build the brand of Indian Experiences across the digital space.
You can contact Gwen
Email: media@indianexperiences.com
Skype: gwenii72
Tel: +44 (0)7861 427 648
Website: https://www.indianexperiences.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/indianexperiences/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Indianexperien1
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/indianexperiences/