By Julian Whittle

Published at 12:21, Monday, 05 November 2012

SMALL hotels and B&B establishments can use social media to steal a march on larger corporate competitors.

Huge impact: Zoë Dawes

That was the message from award-winning travel blogger Zoë Dawes who addressed the Eden Tourism Summit at Lowther Castle near Penrith.

She told The Cumberland News: “When you ask people if they have a Facebook page or a Twitter stream, probably 50 per cent have.

“But when you ask them how well they are using it, they shrug their shoulders.

“For a small investment in time they can have a huge impact.

“They can share their stories with customers and potential customers.”

Ms Dawes says that a rural B&B could post about squirrels in the grounds, the autumn colours, hens laying, the sort of detail that paints a vivid picture of what it is really like.

She added: “People in the hospitality industry tend to think in terms of media marketing and PR but telling a story like this can be more effective.

“It’s putting you on a world stage very quickly.”

Ms Dawes, who is based at Carnforth in north Lancashire, blogs as www.thequirkytraveller.com.

More than 70 tourism businesses from across Eden attended the Travel Summit.

Other speakers included David Edwards of Visit Britain, Ian Stephens of Cumbria Tourism and Alistair Kirkbride from the Lake District National Park.

Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk