Social media has transformed how consumers research and purchase travel. Travel companies must embrace social media, influence programs, and content marketing to engage customers at every stage of their journey. Metrics like share of voice, engagement rate, reach, sentiment, and referral traffic can help companies understand the ROI of their social media strategies. Traditional marketing yields limited results, so companies should use platforms like Pinterest, Instagram, and mobile to share experiences and influence potential travelers.

1. Social Media for
Travel
Afour-stepguide

2. www.bloomworldwide.com
Keytakeouts
! The way consumers buy travel has changed for
good. Travel brands need to respond by changing
the way they market and engage with
consumers.
! Traditional marketing practices will yield limited
results in this new world. To beat the
competition you need to embrace influence &
advocacy programmes and content marketing.
! Social media can deliver sales and reach new
previously untapped audiences if done right.

3. www.bloomworldwide.com
Contents
! Step 1: INSIGHT – 10 useful social media
statistics for travel companies
! Step 2: PLANNING – 5 ways social media
influences purchase decisions for travel
products
! Step 3: ENGAGEMENT – 5 innovative examples
of travel companies using social media
! Step 4: EVALUATION – The 5 best metrics for
travel companies to use to understand the ROI
of social media

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Step 1: INSIGHT
10 useful social media
statistics for travel
companies

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Jetbluehasthebiggestaccount,
withover2.1Mfollowers
AmericanAirlineshasthebiggest
Kloutscore(95)andisthemost
active–435,000tweets
KLMisthemostlikedon
Facebookwithalmost4Mlikes
Thereareover200
airlinesactiveon
Twitter.
Source:
ski,.com

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WynnLasVegashasthebiggest
twitteraccount,withahalf-million
followers
TheCosmopolitanismostactive
withover36Ktweets
HotelUrbanoinMiamihasmore
than7.6MlikesonFacebook
MGMGrandHotelhasthebiggest
Kloutscore-87
Most active hotels
in social media
Source:
ski,.com

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Airlines
in
social
media
by
numbers
Source:
mediamosaic.com

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Hotels
in
social
media
by
numbers
Source:
mediamosaic.com

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Hotelsinsocialmediabynumbers
Source:
mediamosaic.com
Cruisers
in
social
media
by
numbers

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65% of leisure travellers
begin researching online
before they have decided
where or how to travel
Source:
Google/
Ipsos
MediaCT

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92% of UK travellers say
reviews are influential
when choosing where to
book
Source:
TripAdvisor
Insights
2014

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Comparedtototaltravellers,
Hotelbuyersare2xmorelikelyto
searchfortravelimagesinthe
weekbeforepurchase
Imagesearchersare62%more
likelytovisitDestinationsites,
93%morelikelytosearchfor
travelinformation
Source:
TripAdvisor
Insights
2013

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44% of travellers use their
smartphone to research
travel while they’re
travelling
Source:
Jwire
Report

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72% of travellers say the
ability to book via mobile
devices is useful
25% of travel businesses
are engaging with their
guests via mobile devices
Source:
TripAdvisor
Insights
2013

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! Trail-blazingtravelcompaniesareleveragingsocial
mediaatscaletomeetsalesandmarketing
objectives.
! Thisisn’tjustaboutsoftobjectiveslikereachand
wordofmouth.Socialmediacandeliveronhard
objectiveslikesalesandrevenuewhichiswhytravel
companiesareinvestingheavily.
Scale social media to deliver
revenue

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! Itisn’tjustaboutsocialmediaanymore.Travel
companiesshouldbeembeddingandusingsocial
technologyinalltheirdigitalspacestoengageand
targetcustomersincludingratingandreviewing
technology.
Social is everywhere

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! Travelcompaniesshouldbeusingimage-related
socialmediaasakeystrategictoolforengaginglikely
buyers.
! Pinterestandinstagramshouldnowformacorepart
ofyoursocialmediaactivationplan.
Use Pinterest & Instagram

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! Mobile,andinparticularsocialmobile,shouldbea
majorfocus.
! Ifyou’renotusingsocialmobileaspartofyourdigital
strategy,youwillbemissingoutonsales.
If you’re not mobile enabled
you will miss out on sales

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Step 2: PLANNING
5 ways social media
influences purchase
decisions for travel products

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Theconsumerdecisionjourney
haschanged
Socialmediahas
transformedthewaywe
purchasetravelproducts.
Ourpurchasinghabitscan
nolongerbedepictedasa
funnel.Insteaditisa
dynamicjourneywhereour
‘reallife’experiences,when
sharedonline,significantly
impactthepurchasinghabits
ofothersatEVERYstageof
thejourney.
Share
Evaluate
Buy
Experience
Consider

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Thenew‘momentoftruth’for
travelbusinesses
Peoplearemostlikelytosharetheirexperiences(goodorbad)onsocialmedia
whiledirectlyexperiencingtheirpurchasei.e.onholiday.
Inturn,thesepublicallysharedexperiencessignificantlyinfluencethosewho
areatconsideration,evaluationorbuyphases.
Shared
Experience
Consider
Evaluate
Buy

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Sharinghasthepowertodramatically
influencepurchasedecisions
Travellersthemselveshave
becomethekeyinfluencers
inthepurchasedecision
cycleassocialtoolshave
enabledthemtosharetheir
experiencescreativelyat
scaletoahighnumberof
people.Theevolutionof
socialtechnologynow
meanssocialiseverywhere
withratingsandreviews
infiltratingalmostevery
consumerevaluation
process.
Shared
Experiences
Shared
Experiences
Shared
Experiences
Consider
Evaluate
Buy

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Animageisworth1000words
Socialtechnologyhasmeantwe’veallbecomecitizenjournalistsabletotellour
storiesandconveyexperiencesinhighlyemotiveways.
Imagesareprovingincreasinglyimportantininfluencingpeopleatthe
considerationandevaluationstages.Image-basedsocialmediashouldnowform
akeypartofyourstrategy.

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Mobile is critical
Mobileisnowakeytouchpointforpeopleattheevaluationandsharingstage.
Theyusemobiletoexploreandsearchforproductsonthego. Theythenuse
mobileastheyareexperiencingtosharethoseexperiencestotheirnetworks
whichwillimpacttheevaluators.
Consider
Evaluate
Buy
Experience
Share

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Step 3: ENGAGEMENT
5 innovative examples of
travel companies using social
media

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FourSeasons:Pin.Pack.Go.
! September 2013 saw Four Seasons
launch a Pinterest based service
connecting consumers with local
experts from the luxury hotel
group.
! To participate, Pinterest users
created a Pin. Pack. Go. Board,
tagged with the Four Seasons
property they’re visiting.
! A local Four Seasons expert will
then take a look at their mood
board, and create personalised
recommendations for their visit, or
generate a customised travel
itinerary.

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1888Hotel:Theworldsfirst
InstagramHotel
! Sydney’s 1888 Hotel caters to
smartphone photographers via
a range of instagram-related
facilities.
! The hotel welcomes instagram
users with extras including a
walking map with
recommended photo
opportunities; a room
designed to help guests take
interesting ‘selfies’; and a
reception area that displays
images from local social media
feeds.

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AmericanAirlines:Customers
withKlout
! 2013 saw Klout partner with
American Airlines on a scheme
allowing the social media
rankings analyst’s users with
scores over 55 to access the
airline’s Admiral Clubs for one
day.
! US-based users with a score of
less than 55 were entered into
a draw to win club access for
one year.

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TourismAustralia:User
GeneratedContent
! Fans create more than 95%
of content on this tourist
board’s profiles.
! By taking advantage of
digital media’s 24 hour time
loop and dedicated
interaction with its followers,
Tourism Australia has
inspired the contribution of
more than 1000 photos
every day across its social
media networks.

30. www.bloomworldwide.com
KLM:Socialiseverywhere
! KLM showed their customers
their dedication to customer
service by producing 1
minute customised videos
responding to each individual
tweet.
! KLM also ran a campaign that
involved monitoring
passengers social profiles
and discovering if there was
something that passenger
wanted to do or have on a
trip, and surprised them with
it when they reached their
destination.

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Step 4: EVALUATION
The 5 best metrics for travel
companies to use to
understand the ROI of social
media

32. www.bloomworldwide.com
Share
of
Voice
Engagement
Rate
Reach
SenNment
Traffic
! As a travel company, to get an accurate picture of the ROI you are
achieving from social media, you are best to track a range of key
metrics over time and in comparison to competitors.
! These are key metrics which are relatively straightforward to track but
which will give you a good overview of how you are performing in
terms of the number of people you are reaching, the impact you are
having on those people and what actions you are eliciting from them.
! Once you have referral traffic tracked through social media, you should
be able to tie this in with your on-site analytics and booking system to
evaluate the causual relationship between behaviour in social media
and the impact it has on sales.

33. www.bloomworldwide.com
! With social media, share of voice refers to the number of
conversations about your company versus your competitors/ market.
This is a useful comparative metric to benchmark performance.
! Segment brand mentions by social channel to uncover opportunities
for improvement. You may find that your efforts on one particular
channel are going unnoticed, but excelling on another channel.
! The formula for calculating SOV is simple: divide the number of
conversations or mentions of your brand by total number of
conversations or mentions about other brands in your market.
! To get your total number of conversations you can use a free tool such
as SocialMention or if you have the budget, a more robust tool such as
Radian6 has a widget that can calculate this metric for you.
Share
of
Voice
Engagement
Rate
Reach
SenNment
Traffic

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! Engagement rate is valuable for telling you how well your fans interact
with your content. This, in turn, is an indicator of the traction you are likely
to get with specific pieces of content across social channels. Here’s how we
calculate engagement rate .
! The Facebook post Engagement Rate Formula – This formula takes into
account Likes, Comments and Shares of the post to the total number of
fans at the time it has been posted. Then it gets multiplied by 100 to get
the final percentage that expresses how well your brand is doing in
engaging your fans!
! The Tweet Engagement Rate Formula – This formula takes into account
the Replies and Retweets of the Tweet to the total number of followers to
date. Then it’s multiplied by 100 as well to provide you with the
percentage of your Fan base that’s interacting with your tweet.
Share
of
Voice
Engagement
Rate
Reach
SenNment
Traffic

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! Reach measures the spread of a social media conversation. On its own,
reach can help you understand the context for your content. How far is
your content disseminating and how big is the audience for your
message? Reach is a measure of potential audience size.
! And of course, a large audience is good, but reach alone does not tell
you everything. Reach becomes very powerful when compared to
other engagement metrics. Use reach as the denominator in your
social media measurement equations.
! Pick important action or engagement numbers like clicks, retweets, or
replies (more on this in a second) and divide them by reach to calculate
an engagement percentage. Of the possible audience for your
campaign, how many people participated? Reach helps contextualise
other engagement metrics.
Share
of
Voice
Engagement
Rate
Reach
SenNment
Traffic

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! Automated sentiment analysis is imperfect at best, often ignoring the
human element of sarcasm or simple context. Using a social listening
tool, automated sentiment analysis will give you an accuracy level of
about 50-70%.
! To be completely accurate, you need to track this manually.
! Go through your mentions and tag them as positive, neutral or
negative. Add up the totals and measure over time. Are the good
mentions growing and the negative mentions decreasing?
! Social media consumer sentiment metrics can give a snapshot of
customer satisfaction without having to administer surveys or polls.
Your social consumers are essentially your biggest, most honest focus
group, so take advantage of it.
Share
of
Voice
Engagement
Rate
Reach
SenNment
Traffic

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! Referral traffic is a good indicator of the actions people are taking as a
result of your social media efforts.
! Google Analytics is a fantastic way to measure how much traffic is
being referred to your website from the various social channels.
! Under the Traffic Sources tab, click on the Referring Sites and then
type in your social network of choice to see how much traffic is being
referred. Set up goals based on the actions you want your visitors to
complete.
! For Twitter referrals, search both Twitter and t.co, which is the built-in
Twitter link shortener.
Share
of
Voice
Engagement
Rate
Reach
SenNment
Traffic

38. Get in touch for
more information
Thankyou
A Social SlideShare Presentation
www.bloomworldwide.com
@bloomworldwide
+44 (0) 1273 732 626
hello@bloomworldwide.com