The influence of social media on travel behavior
According to a Google survey lead in August 2012, which goal was to study how travel impacts US inhabitants, 83% of leisure travellers and 76% of business travellers plan their trip on the Internet.The top 7 online travel planning activities for both leisure and business travellers in 2012 were:- Researched an upcoming trip
- Researched travel as a result of seeing an online ad
- Brainstormed or started thinking about a trip
- Read reviews from other travellers
- Requested more information related to an upcoming trip
- Watched a travel video
- Looked at travel content or reviews by my friends or family
In this context, social media have a role to play in
the travel decision-making process. The European Tourism Futures Institute
(ETFI) explains that the recent growth of social media platforms such as
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TripAdvisor, Instagram, etc. is becoming a key
factor for tourism consumers. Indeed, as part of their online travel planning
activities, travellers look for pictures, videos, reviews and opinions about
destinations, hotels, attractions and more, posted by other travellers. Thus,
the ETFI reports from a 2011 Google survey that “about 40% of travellers said
social network comments influenced their travel planning while 50% actually
based their travel plans on other people’s reviews and experiences”. In other
words, tourism consumers are looking for User-Generated Content (UGC) that
social media provide. This can be explained by the fact that consumers
tend to trust more recommendations from other travellers than traditional media
that are emotionless, says Beate Christin Gran, project manager for online
& new mediaat Innovation Norway Americas.
How the tourism industry can take advantage of the influence of social media on travel behavior?
How the tourism industry can take advantage of the influence of social media on travel behavior?
Knowing the importance of online research for
travellers’ decision-making process, social media could become a gold mine for
tourism companies through a direct and personal contact with customers 24/7. However,
there are some rules to follow in order to be successful. The most important
one for Beate Christin Gran is to know the audience you are
targeting. A lot of social media platforms are now available so depending on
your strategy you won’t use the same platform if your audiences are different.
As an example, if you target seniors, using Google+ might not be the most
appropriate tool to reach them, explains Beate Christin Gran.
Furthermore,
companies need to catch the attention of their customers and keep it. Indeed, competitors
are just one-click away and it is really easy for customers to switch from a brand
to another. Thus, incentives, contests, and giveaways are the most common tools
used to drive traffic on social media platforms. Yet, this should always be
done with an educational purpose, underlines Beate Christin Gran. She noticed
that at the end of the campaigns users are usually happy to have played and learnt
about the product/service at the same time. In the end, customers stay on the
platform and contribute to the community.
Finally, the
most difficult step is to engage customers into actual purchases. Using social media is not only about
giving information through texts, visuals or contests, it is also about
creating a “social customer service” (EFTI, 2013). By listening to the needs of
their customers and responding to their questions, companies can build a strong
relationship which can encourage purchasing. However, today, social media don’t
dispose of direct booking systems. Companies only refer to their own website
for reservations. Thus, using social media as actual distribution channels will
probably be the next challenge for the tourism industry.
For more information about social
media and travel behavior, ass. Professor Albert Postma, from the ETFI, will
present his four scenarios regarding social media in the travel industry in
2030 at the ITB 2013 - e-Travel lab on Thursday, March 7th 2013 from
15:30-16:00 (Hall 7.1c).
Key words: social media, travel behavior, decision-making process,
user-generated content
More information can be found
at:
http://knowledge.skema.edu/courses/TOURISMIT/document/Googlethe_2012_travelerUS.pdf?cidReq=TOURISMIT
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