SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING

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brake a Retreat to some extent. ... to find alternatives that won't brake ... track results so that you have an accurate
Where to market your Retreat

AMARA RETREAT 2018

SOCIAL MEDIA ADVERTISING

MISSION STATEMENT Since opening Amara Retreat in June last year we have had the pleasure of hosting more Retreats than we thought we would in our first year of operation. 

Social media plays a big part in this as well. Your guests will herald your Retreats to their friends if they had an outstanding time and they will certainly be posting on Social Media.

How did we do this? Well, social media advertising is definitely one of the most important factors we considered. Especially as the first step. The second step was to deliver authenticity and a stunning environment to our Retreat Facilitators. The venue can make or brake a Retreat to some extent. And, word of mouth will always be your best form of promotion.

It can be expensive to use paid social media advertising and only useful if you can keep a consistent campaign going. This report is here to help you to find alternatives that won't brake the bank.  

SANDRA RAMACHER Amara Retreat

Where to Market Your Retreat Online Many Retreat organisers who want to share their knowledge and inspire others unfortunately often don’t know the key factors behind running a successful Retreat that attracts good bookings and is also profitable. First priorities are considering the ‘why’ and ‘when’ of running your Retreat and how you will create an outstanding and meaningful experience for attendees. There’s a lot to know and do across months of advance planning and in an earlier report (click to link) we looked at the importance of pricing, finding a suitable Retreat venue, having terms and conditions; and of course marketing strategies and tactics that will attract enough attendees. In addition to your own online marketing program on leading platforms like Facebook and Instagram and your offline and local community-building activities, let’s additionally look at where you can market your Retreat online. 1. Retreat Listings Websites Internationally, the Retreat sector has a strong Internet presence and Googling ‘Retreats’ now brings up hundreds if not thousands of events, related sites and information from all over the world. How can your own Retreat stand out and most importantly - get bookings in this sea of competition? Firstly, there are a number of dedicated Retreat Listings websites available for organisers where you can add and promote your Retreat, reaching wider audiences than your own marketing efforts. We’ve listed leading sites online below that offer a varied range of free and paid promotional options to help you market your Retreat. Add a listing or run a promotion on one or more of these international listings sites, after comparing their options, audience reach and costs for paid promotions. (Remember to track results so that you have an accurate overview of which websites sent you inquiries and bookings. This is invaluable ‘return on investment’ data for your marketing spend and for any future Retreats to be promoted). The Retreat Company The Retreat Company is one of the longest running international retreat portals, operating since 1996 providing retreats and helping and support the retreat industry as a whole. Promotional options range from a free classified listing to an Au$63 one-off event listing, or up to an Au$120 annual package. www.theretreatcompany.com

Retreat Guru This industry site states ‘listing on Retreat Guru will always be free’. With deep roots in the Retreat sector over 20 years, the site has visitors from 128 countries. It promotes nearly 32,000 events, Retreats, teachers and centres and processes $65+ million by its booking system each year. https://retreat.guru/ Retreat Finder Leading site Retreat Finder offers a choice of promotional options from free to paid across three channels - directory listings, display ads and newsletter articles. The busy site receives over 65,000 listing views per month and 47,000+ visits per month (as of August 2017). www.retreatfinder.com Light Stays Guide This global directory site for Retreats and well-being events and classes offers paid listings that let you create a full-page profile for your Retreat. Listings costs start from US$97, with no free options offered. Offering wider audience reach, Light Stays claims to have the world’s largest social media following for a Retreat directory, with nearly 55,000 Facebook followers and thousands more on platforms Twitter and Instagram. www.lightstaysguide.com Retreat Place Retreat Place describes itself as a marketplace for wellness travel, where Retreat organisers and wellness teachers can list their Retreats. It runs social media profiles extending its exposure. It offers three ways to list from a Basic event page at US$39 up to an US$89 Pro package including a Facebook promotion and a feature placement in the Retreat Place newsletter. www.retreatplace.com Book Retreats Focused on wellness and yoga Retreats, Book Retreats offers a free listing, but takes a 14% commission on your booking. The site has been featured in media including CNN and The Washington Post. https://bookretreats.com Seek a Retreat A worldwide Directory operating since 2000 for Retreat Centres, Retreat leaders, events, venues and wellbeing/spiritual advisers. For Retreat events, its listings are date-specific and stay up until the event starts or is filled. Listings options start from a Basic listing at $20 a month up to a Priority listing at $30-50 monthly on the site’s home or category page. www.seekaretreat.com

2. Thinking outside of the box In addition to these specialist listings and directory sites above and their wider social media outreach, consider thinking outside the box to the wider travel and hospitality community. Mainstream travel bookings sites like Bookings.com, Airbnb.com and local Australian site Stayz.com.au also offer possibilities for listing your Retreat or venue and reaching their large visitor numbers. Is it worthwhile promoting yours through these popular travel hubs? It’s certainly worth looking at, as these ‘booking engine’ sites enable you to block out dates for the venue when not running a Retreat. So you’re not wasting time for yourself or for people making inquiries. Leading travel hub Tripadviser.com is another to visit and consider possibilities, with its huge visitor numbers and relevant listings options for either hotels or ‘Things to do’ covering location-specific attractions and activities. Meetup.com The popular community Meetup also offers promotional and networking potential. Meetup is a busy international portal that brings people together offline to create thriving communities and meet up ‘in real life’ with people who share your passions and interests. The site has thousands of members in cities and regions worldwide, who just choose their location and type their search keywords into ‘find a meetup’ to be shown nearby groups you can join and attend their events. Join a group and network, sharing what you do and letting members know about your upcoming Retreat. Talk to the group organisers and ask if they’re happy for you to make a posting about your Retreat, or suggest you host a meetup for them, give a presentation or participate in upcoming activities. It’s easy too to create your own Meetup and grow and host your own community of likeminded people. It just cost US$10 monthly to run your own group and set up regular or occasional events for your members to get together. You can also offer to sponsor a group, getting exposure short or long-term to its members. Or join the site’s paid Meetup Pro program starting at US$30p.m. (there’s a one month free trial), which allows you to start multiple groups, have a sponsor for your group, promote your network with a community hub, use a performance dashboard to contact members with targeted communications and track community interaction; and scale your events with event templates. www.Meetup.com

3. Join other Facebook Groups As well as setting up your own Facebook Group or Page for your Retreat, be active and involved in other relevant groups where you can network and promote yourself Tip – don’t be over-aggressive in placing marketing posts in other people’s groups, but do let members know what you do and that you have a Retreat coming up. Facebook makes it easy to search for topics, locations and other keywords. Search for groups and pages in your local region, or for wellbeing and yoga groups, women’s and entrepreneurs (or a combination of both), community groups and more. For example, for our Amara Retreat, we belong to the Noosa Community Facebook Group and we post our upcoming Retreats on this group, so that locals can join as well. Many entrepreneurs run their own pages or groups, so search for people by name to join their communities and participate in their discussions. There are literally hundreds of groups and you’ll quickly be able to see their follower/member numbers as shown on their overview results. Some large Facebook groups to check out to either join or spark your own ideas include Australian Entrepreneur, the League of Extraordinary Women, Women as Entrepreneurs, Wellbeing Australia magazine’s page, Natural Wellness Australia or Natural Therapy Pages. Australian Entrepreneur https://www.facebook.com/groups/364119323703756/about/ League of Extraordinary Women https://www.facebook.com/leagueofextraordinarywomen/?ref=br_rs Wellbeing Australia https://www.facebook.com/WellBeingMagazine/?ref=br_rs Natural Wellness Australia https://www.facebook.com/naturalwellnessaus/?ref=br_rs Natural Therapy Pages https://www.facebook.com/ntpages/ Facebook Health Groups You might also find this article interesting on promoting your business via Facebook: http://www.tfniche.com/facebook-groups-health-fitness-wellness-entrepreneurs/ Some other groups to consider: Yoga Retreat https://www.facebook.com/groups/yogaretreat/?ref=bookmarks Global Yoga Community https://www.facebook.com/groups/globalyogacommunity/ Tantra Yoga https://www.facebook.com/groups/tantrayogi/about/

Health Coach Peers - https://www.facebook.com/groups/healthcoachpeers/ 4. Conclusion We hope these suggestions give you more online channels and ideas to promote and fill your event and help build your community and wider business. Good luck with your Retreat!