The importance of social medias in the marketing strategy of a travel company such as a tour operator or a travel agency is not to prove anymore. Steve Pike, author of “Destination Marketing”, underlines the fact that 81% of the travelers use internet to plan their vacation and that includes social media. A recent survey of April 2014 from the website Statista about travel planning show that 44% of the 18-34 year-old in the USA consulted social media when travel planning. People communicate online about everything: hotels, restaurants, activities, airlines and they review, report and rate all these services. On the contrary it can also be a B to C communication enabling the companies to establish a useful communication with the people. The company can build a good customer relationship, create brand awareness, improve their image and get loyal customers.
Travel companies can interact with the people in many different ways and travel is the most popular category on Facebook. Even without investing any money on these social medias you can use them as an important pillar in your marketing strategy. It is important to be active on not one but all social medias and make them inter-connected. Of course having your facebook page is important but the company must also be present and active on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, create a Google+ page and if possible also a blog. After creating your pages you must generate content in order to improve your SEO (visibility on Google) and you must create news and make people interact each other. A good way to make them communicate together is to create communities online.
Social medias are also a good way for travel companies to get more clients or more bookings with good promotions. But despite of the traditional last-minute offers and so on, Facebook or Twitter for example can provide you with unique opportunities to expand your brand awareness and get people involved on your company life. A new trend has appeared with the Facebook and Twitter online contests that you can start with a hundred of your followers which will spread it by re-tweeting or sharing it on Facebook to thousands of other people willing to be part of the competition. The type of contest promising you an ipad if you like or share the page is now old-fashioned. Companies are innovating and you can now see very insolite contests that get popular fast. Promoting your contest is also very important and you can do it via cross channel promotion and email marketing, some Facebook advertising and by contacting directly some partners. It is a perfect way to get brand awareness and many followers.
References
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Inversini, A., & Masiero, L. (2014.). Selling Rooms Online: The Use of Social Media and Online Travel Agents. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 26(2), pp.272 – 292. Retrieved February 23, 2015, from http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/21436/1/eDistribution_SocialMedia_OpenAccess.pdf
Pemberton, J. (2014). 2014 Top Social Media Trends for Travel Marketers. Retrieved February 25, 2015, from http://www.adventuretravelnews.com/2014-top-social-media-trends-for-travel-marketers
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Travel Industry News & Conferences - EyeforTravel. (2015, February 11). Retrieved February 25, 2015, from http://www.eyefortravel.com/social-media-and-marketing/forget-social-metrics-and-get-down-mobile-business-says-facebook
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Unknown. Growing importance of social media to tourism industry | Statistic. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2015, from http://www.statista.com/statistics/207049/future-importance-of-social-media-to-travel-industry/
Unknown. Social media | Digital Tourism Think Tank. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2015, from http://thinkdigital.travel/tag/social-media-2
Unknown. The 9 Best Facebook Contests of 2014 and How They Can Inspire You. (n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2015, from http://www.agorapulse.com/blog/best-facebook-contests-2014
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