Carrie Finley-Bajak
I wonder what travel professionals think about the news that Expedia is buying Orbitz Worldwide for roughly $1.34 billion. To me, the deal, which comes in the wake of Expedia's purchase of Travelocity for $280 million, means that online travel agencies (OTAs) are a force to be reckoned with.
Although instinctively I knew that OTAs would be successful, when I was a travel agent my sales reps and business development managers told me otherwise. I was encouraged to ignore sites like Orbitz, Expedia and Travelocity on the grounds that they were not my competition. In fact, the mantra usually went something like this: "Focus on good customer service, and provide value to your customers, and you will gain a loyal following."
While I did have success managing existing clients, secretively I obsessed about how I could manage to get my share of leads from online booking sites. Technically, I understood the importance of search-engine optimization and how to buy ads online, but in the end there was no way that my cash flow could enable me to compete with OTAs. For this reason, I welcomed the arrival of social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook.
Six years ago social media was the playground for individuals wanting to connect with others. As a travel agent, I spent time building my digital footprint, which enabled me to gain traction before OTAs and suppliers came to the party. I saw social media as a great equalizer that gave me the opportunity to establish a presence.
Travel agents who spend time building an online presence might never win the title of largest online travel service in the world, but keeping a consistent presence on social media can be part of a successful marketing strategy.
Travel agents who want to excel at social marketing can use social networking channels to increase their brand's exposure while engaging their audience. In addition, a savvy social marketer will have the ability to exert influence within one's niche while building relationships with suppliers, consumers, prospects and clients. Travel agents will know that they have reached some level of success by their influence score as measured by sites like Klout.
The naysayers tell me that influence is an inflated popularity score that has no bearing on one's business. Lucky for me, I have discovered that they are wrong.
The Simon Business School at the University of Rochester recently published results of a study that found that airlines were more likely to respond to users on social media with a high number of followers. Assistant professor Huaxia Rui shared with me that their research found that Twitter users with a high number of followers are better positioned to influence others with their perceptions of a brand.
Professor Abraham Seidmann also revealed that their data showed how social media has changed customer service. "In the old days, customers used to complain in person at the service counter, by email or over the phone," he said. "As such, the communication has been kept private. Now, a customer complaint submitted by an individual over Twitter is more public and can tarnish the value of the brand almost instantaneously.
"For instance, think about the impact of a traveler complaining about bed bugs in a famous hotel or within the seats of an airline. As a result, increasingly more and more companies are shifting resources to listening and managing their perceptions on the various social media channels. Our research indicates that this shift will only accelerate over time."
Recently, while stuck at the gate because of a mechanical issue on a US Airways flight, I tweeted the airline and received a response within minutes. The communication with the brand put me at ease because I had a very tight connection for an international flight. I want to think that the airline responded quickly because they provide good customer service, but I can't help but wonder if my 20,000-plus followers on Twitter had anything to do with the fast turnaround. In any event, as others sat quietly in their seats for 45 minutes, I was tweeting back and forth trying to get a solution to an inevitable missed connection.
Airlines, hotels and cruise lines excel at using technology for customer service and as a tool to generate leads. As travel professionals, we must also make an earnest attempt to stay relevant by using technology to help with marketing, customer service, advertising and sales.
To help keep you motivated, keep the following tips in mind:
1) As far as where to post (don't try to be everywhere) choose a couple of preferred social media channels.
Travel agents should choose platforms that increase brand promotion and engagement. Findings from a survey conducted in September 2014 by the Pew Research Center found that Facebook remains by far the most popular social media site. However, multiplatform use is on the rise: 52% of online adults now use two or more social media sites, an increase since 2013, when it stood at 42% of Internet users. For most agents, this means spending time on Facebook plus one other channel like Instagram, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Tumblr, YouTube or Vine.
Be open to trying new social networking sites. For example, I have been enjoying Trippy, which is a question-and-answer site built by a community of travelers helping each other travel better.
2) When it comes to what to post, focus on creating actionable content. Post status updates and tweets that elicit responses in the form of likes and shares.
Photos perform very well on social media and can be customized quickly using sites like PicMonkey to create unique calls to action on top of images.
3) Building online influence starts with engagement. Here are some suggestions to increase and improve reach and engagement within online communities:
- Follow back people or brands that are taking an interest in you. At the least, make sure to recognize those who are mentioning you or your business.
- On Twitter, use the "Favorite" command. Favorites are most commonly used when users like a tweet. Favoriting a tweet can let the original poster know that you liked their tweet.
- Be of service. Offer help and don't be shy to answer questions or provide links to resources. Both behaviors help establish you as a trusted expert.
- Attend Twitter chats and online events to boost engagement opportunities. In fact, Travel Weekly's monthly Twitter chat is a great place to network with travel suppliers, Twitter influencers, other agents, travelers, social media experts and Travel Weekly editors.
- Use hashtags in your posts to get more traction and to reach a wider audience. Use general words or phrases to have your posts included with others or create your own unique hashtag to promote an event, offer or contest or to promote your brand.
- Use sites like Nimble to learn how to leverage the power of social media and your personal brand to become a trusted adviser. Nimble helps users build relationships within digital communities.
- Empower existing customers to share photos, videos, or opinions on your social media channels. Feature the best content on you blog or website. Pick a user-generated photo as your brand's Facebook cover page.