Eurostar boosts Chinese sales through Sina Weibo campaign

On 6th Septembre 2014, Eurostar launched a campaign on Sina Weibo, one of the most popular social media. This campaign aimed at build brand awareness of Eurostar with Chinese. The first social media campaign has obtained over 50 million viewers’ attention, and the direct sales for Eurostar on Chinese market have doubled.

By the videos and the official campaign website showed on the Eurostar official Weibo account, the Weibo users who are living in London or Paris are invited to upload a short video presenting their favorite spot in the city. In 1/2 final round, Eurostar provided a professional shooting group for players who can film their dream city as a director. The winner who got the most votes will receive a luxury Eurostar trip.

Eurostar noticed the growth of Chinese independent travelers who will bring a great sales opportunity for the company. They use the social media tool to do the marketing and get prepared for welcoming more and more Chinese customer on broad Eurostar.

Thanks to the Information communication technologies, the Europstar can embody the intangible product and service such as the transport and the hospitality by the video. After watching the video, the potential customer can easily get an image of the travel experience which may rouse their desire to choose the same product and services.

The appearance and the development of social media give a platform for Eurostar to promote their product and services to a great number of people within a click time. As social media has the character of UGC (user generated content) and crowd sourcing, more active interactions can be realized between social media users and the company. Comparing traditional marketing activities, the users are now no longer an information receiver but real participants who help the company complete the campaign.

Although the social media marketing can attract users’ attention and reducing certain marketing budget, the company still needs to well considerate the side effect of social media marketing. For instance, the company needs to guarantee that their products and the services are always with the same quality as what they have showed on social media.

For the company which considers the social media marketing, they need to understand how to convey the right and correct information and how to manage social media users’ expectation. The answer is important, because it will link closely to brand image and customers satisfaction.

In addition, they always have some discount information provide to the Chinese audience via weibo. Like this the Eurostar Company provides 28 thousand special seats return ticket from Paris to Brussels only cost 69 pounds.

Source:  http://www.breakingtravelnews.com/news/article/eurostar-boosts-chinese-sales-through-sina-weibo-campaign/

Picture:  http://www.weibo.com/eurostarchina

Yi DONG & Zhen JIA