Emergence of social media is transforming the way travel business (or any business) is carried out. Just a decade back, there were limited options for travel companies to connect with their potential customers across the world. Today, social media offers plenty of options to travel companies and travelers to connect with each other. For many travel companies, social media is playing a significant role in advertising their brand, enhancing communication with the customers, and growing the business.
Benefits of social media brand presence are many, even if the strategy is not straightforward. A brand which is not present on social media has more chances of losing opportunities to its competitors in the long run. Social media helps in building brand value and promoting products and services. It can also be used for recruitment, searching strategic business partners, and getting business intelligence. A recent study demonstrates that social media fans of a company spend more on company’s products than non-fans. There are many examples where small travel companies demonstrated their presence on social media and successfully attracted customers and business in a short span of time. Many brands completely revived their image, thanks to their well-planned social media campaigns.
Relationship-building through social media needs patience. Brands that know this art and stick to a strategy find it paying off in the long-term. Most travel brands need platform-focused tactics, rather than a strategy that aims to target every social media platform. Selecting the right social network to invest precious time and resources is a matter that sometimes puzzles even the most well-established brands. Each social media platform available today has created a unique identity for itself, thanks to its members that come from different age groups, regions, cultures, and communities. Some platforms are liked by the teenagers, some by young adults, and some by high-income group. Currently, some of the top social media networks include: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ and Instagram. Each platform offers different benefits, and a brand needs to know what benefits it’d be getting after working on a specific channel.
For choosing the right social network for your travel business, you need to focus on your target market, analyze who your customers are, where they live, their likings, lifestyles, and interests. It is important to analyze the demographics of each social network at granular level to decide which platform would be best for you. This simple task can help you a lot in targeted marketing for your business on social media.
Facebook is usually considered the best social media for brand marketing. This social platform is still the first choice of the young. About 73% of U.S. Internet users with annual income over US$75,000 are registered members of Facebook. Since 2012, there has been a 45% growth in Facebook members in the age group 45 – 54.
Twitter also has a good number of young users on its network. Almost 27% of 18 – 29 age group people in U.S. use Twitter. Twitter has left Facebook behind in terms of Fortune 500 registration rates. More Fortune 500 companies have active account on Twitter than Facebook. For many brands, Twitter has made it possible to expand their network. It offers you a platform to tell the world about your brand. It also helps you in searching your potential customers, and reach out to them in little time.
Instagram is highly popular among women. Many travel companies are now seriously focusing on Instagram to enhance interaction with their customers. Travel companies can post pictures of their tour packages, services they offer, etc, on Instagram. This not only helps customers see pictures of a trip, they also get a real sense of the trip, and what they are going to get on that trip.
Most users of LinkedIn are males. LinkedIn aims at professionals, and works as a great tool to build contacts internationally. Some brands acknowledge of having grabbed real business opportunities with the help of LinkedIn. Many entrepreneurs consider “recommendations” as one of the best features of this network. Through this feature, a person/company can recommend another company as a potential client, which greatly helps in boosting reputation and trust for the company.
Pinterest, a visual bookmarking website, boasts of having over 11 million unique visitors per month and has surpassed Google+ in daily visitors. Pinterest is very popular among tablet users. In U.S., it is more popular among women. Pinterest offers choice to set boards to private, allowing companies to share their ideas with customers. Customers can respond to ideas, and even share their own ideas. In this way, an effective communication can be established without the need for a phone call or emails.
Google+
Google+ is dominated by male users, with about 70% of its users being male.
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This social network is popular among teens and young adults. About eight percent of U.S. Internet users with annual income above US$75,000 use this social media platform.
Apart from these social platforms, there are other websites too that are getting popular and can drive traffic to your travel website. Gogobot and Tripbird recommend tourist destinations based on advice from network of Facebook friends. Airbnb connects travelers to suppliers in a social environment. Tripbod and VirtualTourist let users share their experiences on a trip. Then there are many sites that have started connecting travelers to locals or individual travel guides in cities or engaging members around some specific activities such s cruises, group adventures, etc.
In short, choosing the right social network for your business depends more on your objectives and the market you are attempting to target. Once you’ve have selected your preferred social media platforms and finalized your strategy, you just need to execute it properly to convert it into sales, and earn a big name for your brand.
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