Hi all! Hope you’ve all been well 🙂

This will be a short summary of my chosen individual project – a local travel blogger Hendric Tay, also better known as PohTeckToes.

Introduction

Hendric Tay is a travel blogger that had risen to fame due to his exotic travel content and fun personality. He had recently won the OMY Best Travel Blog in the Singapore Blog Awards 2015 and his blog boasts an average of 30,000 visitors per month. On top of that, he leverages on multiple social media platforms to reach out to audiences such as travel enthusiasts, tourists and couch surfers.

I will be focusing on his Facebook Page, PohTeckToes Blog and Instagram to provide recommendations for improvements.

Research Questions

Currently, his Facebook Page, PohTeckToes Blog and Instagram provide informative and creative content, rich in visual imagery, hash-tags and tips for travel. On each of his social media platforms, certain types of posts have been extremely popular and engaging, while others reflect a lack in engagement and interaction with audiences.

Hence, I have chosen the following research questions:

1. How effective are his three social media platforms, namely Facebook, the PohTeckToes blog and Instagram, in engaging his followers?
2. How can he create more creative content on each of the platforms to boost his reader loyalty and online engagement?

Data Collection

Through a one-month tracking period of his Facebook, PohTeckToes Blog and Instagram, from 25 January to 22 February 2016, it can be seen that PohTeckToes has enjoyed an increase in followers, likes and shares across all three social media platforms.

However, there is a lack of online engagement and interaction with audiences on each of his platforms. Hence, upon analysis of his social media platforms, there are two main objectives that he can aim towards to achieve reader loyalty and online engagement.

Objective 1 – Create more visual content for readers

Facebook

(a) Create infographics for his blog posts

His blog provides very detailed information, but readers prefer to gain information from smaller bite-sized visual mediums. Hence, he could design infographics such as the following to increase reader viewership.

(b) Design informative infographics

He could also design informative infographics based on religious differences amongst different countries and provide current world news.

Additionally, he could also produce timely editorial content by following current news from around the world and creating infographics based on these events. He could then warn travellers who are planning trips to these countries to take note of security alerts.

Instagram

(a) #1quote1day

In line with The Travel Intern Project, he could host an Instagram contest to ask interested sign-ups to design and share their very own quote that is relevant to travel. This would add greater personal flavor, and also encourage users to use their own creativity to design a quote. Under the new hash-tag #teckmeaway, Hendric can then choose his favorite 3 designs to be reposted on his accounts.

(b) Piking Around The World

He could host a 15 second video contest on Instagram, where he asks audiences to video down what dance routine should be next. To make the contest go viral, he could use the hashtag #pohlaroidreams, where each dance move would be as aesthetic as a polaroid moment.

Objective 2 – Create new travel content 

As PohTeckToes is already successful in producing content for exotic travel experiences in the aspect of fun and adventure, he could explore travelling for a social cause. His future travel destination could be impoverished countries that are least visited, receives the least help or are relatively less publicized about. By doing so, he can raise awareness about these areas and promote volunteerism there.

For his blog posts to stand out from other competitor bloggers, Hendric could start an initiative to make his posts go viral. Instead of simply blogging about his experience, donating money or buying the beneficiaries gifts, he could give someone in the country a potato, and then ask them to write/draw on it, take a photo with them and then post it on his Facebook and Instagram account.

To increase awareness of his actions, he could also use the #shareapohtecktoe hashtag to link those interested in travel volunteerism together.

Conclusion

PohTeckToes is an incredibly talented travel blogger, and he should leverage on his skills more to appeal to audiences. By increasing visual appeal and creating more new content on his Facebook, Blog and Instagram, he will be able to reach out to even more audiences, establish reader loyalty and increase online engagement.

P.S. The Travel Intern Project has opened once again and I applied for it this time round! I actually did some of the recommendations I suggested it was really effective in increasing online engagement (in terms of likes and shares)! Hope good news awaits 🙂