Social Media Change The Travel Landscape

Not satisfied with running a straightforward corporate website, Air-Asia’s high profile owner Tony Fernandes supplements his company ’s digital output with his own personal blog and, most recently, a twitter account. With polls to gauge consumer opinion,as well as regularly updated opinion pieces from Fernandes, the airline’s CEO conveys a consistent and personal interest in his customers that few companies in Asia-Pacific can match.

While Fernades’ online activities may or may not play a part in AirAsia being one of the most successful travel brands in the region,they do show that to stay ahead of the competition — and be foremost in the consumer’s mind — a digital media presence can go a long way.

Recent research by Synovate across 10 global markets found that when choosing a hotel, the most popular method for potential travellers was to visit the hotel’s official website. Globally, 32 percent chose this option,while 18 per cent said they would visit an online hotel review site. This compares with just eight per cent who said they would go through a traditional travel agent.

“This means that hotels that have a visible and appealing website and generally strong online presence will be best positioned to convert general interest and intent into actual bookings,”says managing director of Synovate in Malaysia, Steve Murphy. “It will certainly not be the only platform for marketing and communications but it should probably now be the most important platform for a hotel group’s marketing activities.”

In digitally enabled countries such as Singapore or Australia one might naturally expect the majority of people to use the internet for their travel needs, but the same is also true for many developing markets.

Chris Ryan, managing director of wwwins Consulting Hong Kong, points out that even in China, which has a lower rate of penetration than more developed countries, a staggering 93 per cent of travel planning and research is done online. “Marketers are tapping into online because the brand experience is engaging,convenient,‘ always on’, and much more than a communication — it is a service channel too,”he says .

For Chris Axberg, sales director for Yahoo Southeast Asia, online is an integral part of travel marketing strategies because it captures the biggest travel audience and can target users in the act of searching for travel information.“ From reaching destinations to driving online travel bookings, the web delivers the best ROI for marketers seeking travel customers,” he says.

And while brand websites still have an important role to play, it is the rise of social media that is having the most tumultuous effect on the travel industry. In some cases,travel operators are struggling to keep up with their target markets as an increasing number of travellers opt outlets such as blogs, review sites and Facebook to report positively — and negatively — on their trip experiences.

“People trust human experiences more than advertisements, especially when it comes to travel,” says Carine Senft-Gouin, interactive director for Ruder Finn’s social media influence division. “A traveller review is more powerful than a sponsored link on a search engine or a banner on a website. It’s more trustworthy.” 

The Synovate study found that travel and hotel review sites, such as Trip Advisor,were by far the most popular method of searching for a hotel among its Japanese respondents, with 54 per cent of those surveyed using these sites over other digital and non-digital information sources.
 
“Again we see how vital an online presence is for hotels,” says Sheri Lambert,Synovate’s senior vice president for travel and leisure research. “Some of the larger hotel companies are now employing people to stay on top of important review sites. Even for smaller hotels,it cannot be ignored.”

Social media is clearly a straightforward medium to use if travel retailers want to get a price offer out to the market — by SMS, email or on twitter. In the last few weeks,for example, online travel portal Zuji has made use of Twitter, Facebook and Hong Kong-based social network Alive Not Dead as live platforms for a series of online price promotions.

“Consumers are making travel reservations and purchases online more and more these days,” says Zuji’s general manager Sean Seah. “Social media is a compliment to everthing elsee we do.We simply want to connect with our customers wherever they are.”

But social media is not just about one-off activations. Michelle Wong, practice lead, consultancy for Ogilvy- One Worldwide in Singapore, says that the depth of engagement online can offer for brands with their customers means social media represents a landmark shift in how people connect with each other and has huge implications for marketers.

For that reason, she argues, digital should be at the core of an integrated communications plan as it can play a variety of roles for brands depending on what stage of the trip the travellers are at, from planning their trip, to making a purchase and organising a customised itineary.

“Then, once the person has returned, it can then provide them with an avenue for sharing their experiences with friends,”adds Wong. 

But getting in deep with digital needs serious investment. And one potential danger for marketers is the common perception that social media is a good option simply because it is “free”, a perception especially prevalent in the current economic downturn.

According to Ryan, however, the opposite is true, and both brands and marketers need to realise it takes time and investment to build an online prescence and to get right. 

Kim Raicevich, group business director for Carat Australia, agrees. “Typically when you go into more engaged areas they do tend to cost a bit more because it requires extra resources or extra content and production money,”she says.“Once you start  building your relationship you can’t end it and that focus requires money from clients.You don’t go in and out. You are there for the long haul.”

This is a lesson that some brands have already picked up. Oliver Eriksson, head of digital strategy for XM Asia-Pacific, points to online properties that have got it right, such as the website for Tourism New Zealand, which includes links to the tourism board’s own YouTube, Flickr and Facebook pages.

“They have embraced social media to include a mobile video recording studio to collect travellers thoughts and experiences of New Zealand,” says Erikson.

“They make use of social media by pulling it to their site as well as pushing it out so they don’t rely on the website itself completely. For example, downloadable maps and images specifically created for inclusion on blogs and websites make it easy for advocates to share information.”

The site also also aggregates blogger content through its‘Your Words’ sectio, where travellers to New Zealand, as well as residents, can submit their own blogs for inclusion. This has created a rich bank of real experiences,and, crucially,this comes from the voices of fellow travellers, rather from a corporate marketing department.

For some in the travel industry,two-way interactive sites of this nature will very soon become the norm, whether used by high-end travellers who want to book their favourite room at a boutique hotel or backpackers sharing experiences of a recent trek.

“The corporate website will die in the coming years,”concludes Ruder Finn’s Senft-Gouin. “It will be replaced by social corporate platforms where travel destinations will mix both official information, user generated content — travellers reviews, personal pictures, personal video — and network capacity — putting travellers in touch.”

SOCIAL MEDIA HOW TO USE IT

1  Look at what the perceptions of your brand are online. Get a feel for what people are saying; the overall sentiment , and identify where your target audience is spending their time online. In this way, you will get some valuable information that should be able to inform your overall social media strategy. 2  Tell a story. Don’t push promotional messages. Ensure there is content, news or information of value to people and refresh it regularly. Make sure it can be easily shared so people can take content with them and share your 'brand' with others. 3   Get your audience engaged. Good customers can lower your commitment and your costs and when they add to the social presence, they will bring more people. 4   Social media success has to be embedded in honesty and trust by playing to the brand’s core values and ideals. Pretending to be one of the ‘punters’ in the discussion room, commenting on a blog without saying who you are, or misleading influencers, is not on. 5   Bring social content in. Open up your site to content that is available free from travel information aggregators like Trip Advisor. User reviews are important in the travel decision-making process and people will seek them out so make them available in some form.   6   Accept that you may receive negative comments.Answer them online. Be transparent. Show your customers you care about their feedback positive or not. 7   Ensure you have the staff to manage the social presence – as it grows, it will take more time. Plan for full-time appropriately trained staff or for your agency to provide a guardian role until you reach an appropriate presence. Realise that this is a long-term commitment.   8   Track your success and learn how to improve. Do this via audience feedback and tracking of traffic by measuring areas such as volume, engagement, contribution, nature of contribution and regularity of visit. Look at metrics such as tools to track 'viral spread' and sentiment towards a brand in forums/blogs.