This was a presentation I delivered at the Travel Industry Expo in Sydney on the 16 July 2015. There is an opportunity for travel consultants to grow their reputation and position themselves as experts through using the social media tool Twitter. Being a travel agent is about developing relationships and having a deep knowledge or expertise in certain travel niches. Twitter can help you continue to expand your knowledge, as well as share and contribute your area of expertise and also develop and build on business relationships. Because Twitter is open and informal it allows you to be conversational and responsive to what is happening in real time. You can listen and contribute to conversations offering your first hand experience and expertise. We know that travellers use twitter for everything from finding deals and travel information to sharing experiences and giving recommendations. The Tweets travellers see and send make an impact to purchase decisions.

1. T W I T T E R F O R T R A V E L A G E N T S
T R A V E L I N D U S T R Y E X H I B I T I O N 2 0 1 5 # T I E 1 5

2. H O L L Y G A L B R A I T H
@ H O L L Y G A L B R A I T H
G O F U T U R E M E D I A . C O M
G O F U T U R E M E D I A

3. S O C I A L M E D I A A N D
T R A V E L
• Australians spend on average 37:44 per month
online
• 68% of Australians use social media and 49%
use social media every day
• 65% of leisure travellers are inspired by online
sources, most notably through social/video sites
and search
• 21% of leisure travellers use social media to plan
trips (and 25% of business travellers)
• Smartphones are often used for travel inspiration
in “snacking moments” before planning

4. S O C I A L M E D I A A N D
T R A V E L
• There are approx. 2.8 million twitter users
in Australia
• Half of Twitter users surveyed say Twitter
content is influential in their consideration
of a travel brand
• 27% of Twitter users say they’re most
interested in and travel ideas/stories
• Every second, on average, around 6,000
tweets are tweeted on Twitter, which
corresponds to 500 million tweets per day

5. T W I T T E R U S E R
( A U S T R A L I A )
“They seem to be in the 25 to 55 age
range, fairly affluent, well-educated,
urban users, what advertisers would call
the AB demographic,”
“…it might only be 2.8 million accounts,
but those accounts probably represent a
particularly influential slice of the
Australian population.”
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/twitter-28-million-users-
in-australia-20140804-1009op.html

6. T W I T T E R
Twitter is an online social networking service that enables users to
send and read short 140-character messages called "tweets"

8. P E O P L E D O B U S I N E S S W I T H
T H O S E T H E Y
K N O W , L I K E A N D T R U S T

9. P E O P L E A N D B R A N D S C A N U S E T W I T T E R
T O C R E A T E D E E P E R C O N N E C T I O N S W I T H
T R A V E L L E R S
T O P O S I T I O N T H E M S E L V E S A S A
C R E D I B L E A N D T R U S T E D S O U R C E O F
I N F O R M A T I O N A N D T O S H O W
P E R S O N A L I T Y

10. I T ’ S A B O U T B E I N G
C O N V E R S A T I O N A L
T W I T T E R F O R T R A V E L A G E N T S

11. C O N V E R S A T I O N S

12. C O N V E R S A T I O N S

13. C O N V E R S A T I O N S

14. C O N V E R S A T I O N S

15. TERMINOLOGY

16. ESSENTIALS

17. H A S H T A G
• A hashtag is any word or series of
letters or numbers with the ‘#’ hash
symbol in front of it
• A way to aggregate information online
• They are a useful way to listen to what
people are saying online
• They allow your content to be found by
people who are interested in your topic
making it easy for them to find, join in
and share relevant information

18. W H A T T O T W E E T
A B O U T
A N D W H O T O
F O L L O W
T W I T T E R F O R T R A V E L A G E N T S

19. “Twitter is the shortest thing between you and
what interests you most.”

20. • Trisha Foresman @tforesman - Virtuoso Manager,
Tour & Specialty
• Abercrombie Kent @AKTravel_AU - Travel
Wholesaler
• Huka Lodge @HukaLodge - Accommodation Provider
• Tourism Australia @TourismAus - The industry profile
• Laura Fairweather @lfairweather - Manager,
Corporate PR, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
• Luxe Tiffany @LuxeTiffany Global - luxury hotel
expert, USA Today & U.S. News Travel contributor,
luxury traveler, beach girl
• Chris Noble @WorldNomads - GM of
WorldNomads.com
• AFTA @AFTAOfficial - The official Twitter feed for the
Australian Federation of Travel Agents
A F E W N A M E S

21. G R O W I N G E N G A G E M E N T O N T W I T T E R
THE BEST WAY TO GROW
ENGAGEMENT IS TO ENGAGE

22. T W I T T E R T I P S
• You don't have to read every tweet
• Twitter is a conversation
• Use the search function
• Add images to your tweets (you can add upto 4)
• Have a filled out bio & profile picture
• Meet up in real life (tweetup)
• Reply & thank
• Be human, be polite
• Use Twitter lists
• Join in!

23. T R A V E L T W I T T E R
C H A T S
T W I T T E R F O R T R A V E L A G E N T S

24. T W I T T E R C H A T S
• #TravelSkills
• #TTOT
• #CruiseChat
• #TL_Chat
• #FoodTravelChat
• #RTTC

25. • #TRAVELSKILLS
• #TTOT

26. • #TRAVELSKILLS
• #TTOT

27. T O U R I S M T W E E T U P
# T O U R I S M T W E E T U P