Hints how to make travel agencies more engaged in social media

1. Donna Bryson DU-MKTG4287
Date: March 10, 2014

2. The focus of this presentation will be on traditional
agencies and how they need to embrace social media if
they want to grow their business and increase brand
awareness.
There are two kinds of travel agencies OTA’s (Online
Travel Agencies) and traditional bricks & mortar agencies.
Many traditional agencies have a foot in the cyber world
and the other in a traditional store front.
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3. Large travel companies such as Travelocity, Expedia and
Itravel2000 have significant digital budgets and a team of
employees or work with social media strategists to
implement their social media programs.
Smaller organizations and many agents believe adding a few
specials to their Facebook page is a social media presence.
The consensus was amongst the industry insiders is that
traditional travel agencies and their employees are not using
social media to its full potential.
They agreed that in order to succeed in today’s world travel
agents need to show their value by showcasing their
knowledge via social media tools. Social media provides a
platform to engage your audience and create brand
awareness.
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4. According to ACTA (The Association of Canadian Travel
Agents) there are approximately 4100 travel agencies in
Canada. The majority of these agencies are lagging in the in
the digital space.
The majority of agents in the industry are home based agents
where remuneration is based on commission. In order to make
money they need to sell. Previously word of mouth, past
sales and perhaps a poster in their store front window would
drive business. In past years many travel agencies and their
agents didn’t know what social media was let alone have a
strategy for it.
With the evolution of social media it is no longer a “nice to
have” but a necessity says Marco Pozzobon, Director of
Communications at ACTA.
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5. The goals of this project are:
•Determine which social media tools work best for individual
agents vs. larger travel companies (ex: Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram and blogs).
•Identify how social media tools can allow agents to identify
their audience, ensuring the content they provide is relevant,
engages their audience and ultimately helps convert into a
sale.
•Provide an outline how to create a personal brand through
social media tools.
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6. Gopi Kallayil, Chief Evangelist from Google recently spoke in
Dallas to employees at Travelocity. He said he believes that a
company can only ignite a message it is your audience that can
amplify that message in the digital world. Today’s your
audience has an option to tune you out but if provided a value
element they will engage. By providing an audience something
that entertains, educates or a useful utility, your message can
ignite.
How can agents ignite a message and have it amplified? This is
an opportunity for agents to share showcase their talents. They
have a stage where they can educate their audience about
destinations or supplier offers. They can also provide a useful
utility sharing apps or sites that can help travellers have a
smooth trip. Customers can benefit from an agent’s destination
knowledge, expert advice and personal attention.
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7. Social Media Tools
If you walked into a local travel agency and asked them about
their social media presence many will say “I have my own
Facebook page” but when asked if it is for business use only many
admit it their personal page where they post specials.
Facebook is the most popular social media tool for the travel
industry but not always used to its full potential. Travel agencies
sometimes think a Facebook page is all that is needed.
If you walked into a local travel agency and asked them about
their social media presence many will say “I have my own
Facebook page” but when asked if it is for business use only many
admit it their personal page where they post specials.
Facebook is the most popular social media tool for the travel
industry but not always used to its full potential. Travel agencies
sometimes think a Facebook page is all that is needed.
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8. Specializing in Content Marketing in the travel industry,
Big Ambitions goal is to make their audience “Content
Experts”. Based in South Africa Big Ambitions director
Natalia Rose said Facebook is the platform most travel
companies use but a presence on Pinterest, Instagram and
Twitter are also platforms where agencies can feature on.
She said Twitter seems to have developed a complaints
aspect to it but with the ability to retweet both the good
and bad it is tool that needs to be monitored frequently.
One tool that has not been mentioned often in the
industry is Google +. Big Ambitions believe Google+ a
must have, to help improve SEO. If your page doesn’t
show in search results how will people find you?
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9. Ultimately only take on what you can handle but you need
to make sure you are in the space that is right for you and
your audience. Ian Cleary of www.razorsocial.com made a
presentation to help travel bloggers use social media tools
to take advantage of social media tools.
The goal was to “create & optimize content”. His first
suggestion is to try one tool today. Taking one step at a
time, master a tool then incorporate other social media
tools.
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10. Agents need to consider how much engagement a social media tool
offers when deciding which platform to feature on. Some forms of
social media may perform better than others depending on the
type of company you are and your audience.
Sarah Kennedy Ellis of Sabre Labs made an interesting claim that
people are more engaged on Instagram with brands 40 times more
versus Twitter and 20 times more than they do on Facebook.
Leisure agents may want start test the waters with one or two
tools such as Facebook and Instagram. These tools allow agents to
easily share beautiful destination photos and share supplier
specials. A corporate travel agent whose clientele comprises of
business travellers may be more inclined to use blogging and
Twitter. With a blog restaurant suggestions in travellers usual
destinations could be shared along with tips on making best use of
time on the road or how to save on Wi-Fi when in some cities.
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11. TPI Home based Agent Carl
Henderson works hard in promoting
his Tahiti niche via Facebook. He
has had great success in promoting
himself as a Tahiti specialist on
Facebook with sharing images,
travel tips and special offers.
He conveys his followers the extent
of his knowledge. He has converted
likes into sales. He feels his
Facebook page provides better
engagement than Twitter.
He keeps his Facebook page
focused on business.
www.facebook.com/tahitibycarl. It
is strictly work related. Having
control of your social media
content is a must and you would
only want clients to see your
professional persona not your
personal comments and images.
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12. Another way to reach out to your audience is by blogging.
Sharing your travel experiences provides another avenue
to connect with your audience.
Blogging about your trip to Jordan, cruise through Greek
islands or a week long familiarization trip to Bali may
entice your customers to book their dream trip.
If your travel agent has been to a destination they are
viewed as knowledgeable and often trustworthy to direct a
traveller to best spots and avoid unpleasant surprises.
This could something like mentioning a small café that has
the best latte to the best place to exchange your cash at
the best prices.
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13. Once the decision has been made in what tools to use
the next step is to develop a cohesive plan that is
intertwined with the company’s goals. Should an agency
or an agent start to incorporate multiple social media
tools into their marketing plan, the use a tool such as
such as HootSuite can help manage online content as it
allows multiple posts on different tools and provide the
ability to monitor.
Big Ambitions believes agencies should expect to spend
approximately 3 hours a week on social media with it
being checked a few times a day to ensure inquiries are
responded to and news, offers etc., are being cascaded
through the social media channels. By scheduling time
to work on social media each week the likelihood of
falling behind on posting content is reduced.
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Managing Social Media

14. How agents can identify their audience with
social media tools?
Putting a huge amount of effort into social media can be
pointless if you are not providing content that is relevant
to your audience. The information shared on your social
media tools must be something your customers or readers
are likely to find useful, engaging and ensure it is
relevant.
Big Ambitions reminds agents that social media posts are
ultimately down to what your customer wants. She advised
“You cannot afford to be narcissistic and feed them info
on Dubai because you love Dubai when they have no
interest in the destination”. You need to do your
homework identifying who are your customers, what do
they want and how can that content convert into a sale.
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15. In order to provide
appropriate content,
researching your current client
base is a starting point. What
are you selling? What are they
calling for? Then use tools
such as google analytics,
measure other advertising
efforts and if possible use
outside firms to source
information.
An example would be using
information from a company
such as Environics. With Prizm
C2 Segmentation Environics
can provide demographics of
your audience with the
submission of a postal code.
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Demographics

16. By using the analytical tools provided by Twitter and
Facebook you can see who are those people liking your
Facebook page or follow you on Twitter.
If a company is able to support a Facebook contest a company
such as SuperLikers can also assist in identifying your fan
base. They can be used for a variety of different sized
campaigns. There are a few costing modes but for smaller
firms there is only a cost for the amount of users you acquire.
This type of program can not only be used for brand
awareness and customer loyalty but you can collect data form
the customized registration form contest entrants.
Perhaps engage in a contest where they need to sign up and
answer 3 or 4 questions to receive a voucher for $50 off their
next trip with you but limit of number of available coupons.
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17. Tools like www.Alexa.com or www.similarweb.com can provide
information on visitors to a particular site. Demographics,
time on page, and its ranking amongst other websites in
Canada.
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Sample results for
Travelocity.ca

18. Should Twitter be one of the social media avenues
pursued, TweetReach is a tool that can check past tweets
provide analytics on your Twitter account.
The site can check up to 1500 tweets in the past week
for a cost of $20US or if your organization wants to keep
on top of Twitter you can check current or future tweets
with an unlimited volume from $84US.
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19. How to Create a Brand with Social Media?
Travel agencies and their agents must look at what is
shared through social media as their online resume.
They need to sell themselves and their skills though
the content they provide.
Big Ambitions believe content is key. “Every photo,
update and tweet – has to speak to, to 'move' the
target audience so that they feel compelled to
engage” says Natalia Rosa. Social media is not a one
size fits all. Each market has its quirks and interests
therefore and a copy/paste strategy will not give the
results that a throughout well planned strategy would
have.
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20. Helen Cole, Account Executive at Tourism said the
tourist board’s top three goals in social media is
providing inspiring content, engage their audience and
provide informed content. With these goals they are
looking at their social media followers to become their
brand ambassadors.
These same goals can be used by a travel agency. Their
customers can amplify their message and become their
brand ambassadors sharing photos, travel advice and
promotional offers.
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21. When building brand keeping a consistent message is necessary
to ensure the audience understands what the company
represents. The most common way to build brand awareness
is through banner ads. There are some inexpensive options on
Facebook and options via other social media tools. The cost of
running ads needs to be part of the company’s marketing
budget.
Approaching suppliers such as tour operators and other
suppliers can help defer with cost with co-op marketing funds.
Present a plan, goals and how it will benefit the supplier by
partnering with you and it can often provide companies access
to additional marketing funds.
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22. Some would claim that blogs are passé. In the travel industry,
the blogs are an excellent way to showcase consultants’
knowledge and experience while creating brand. Susan Forint is
a blogger who turned a hobby into a part time job. Her love of
design and architecture was featured in her blog posts. The
quality of the content and her passion for design caught the
attention of CIL Paints. They offered her, the opportunity to
blog for their company.
Agents can turn their love of travel into a venue to share their
experience and expertise. To keep the posts fresh they can
reach out to their suppler partners or clients to be guest
bloggers sharing their experiences.
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23. It takes time to develop the persona of a brand over social media and the
most effective way to do this is slowly and organically says Natalia Rosa.
Presence in social media and buying a large number of likes will not benefit
a company if they are not the right followers and as a result it won’t
generate the sales leads. While content on social media needs to be
entertaining, useful and relevant, it also gives the audience the opportunity
to engage with the firm and if possible engage with each other.
When asked if social media helped in his personal branding travel agent
Carl Henderson responded with “definitely”. He has had some very positive
comments and emails from some followers. One follower saying she
doesn’t know Carl, but would never trust anyone else to book her Tahiti
trip when the time comes. It was all just from her following Carl’s
Facebook page.
Key components of keeping a plan once it is in place include execution. A
calendar of scheduled posts with content will keep an agency or agent on
track and ensure there is fresh content and ensure there is and ongoing
presence in social media. The travel industry changes on a dime requires
some flexibility in the post content or running additional posts.
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24. Support for Agents
Agents don’t have to look far for content. Suppliers such
airlines, hotel chains, tour operators, tourism boards, trade
associations like ACTA, have an immense amount of content
that travel agencies can then in turn use on their social media
feed.
They can help support an agent’s effort with trade specific
sites with great information on destinations, products and
toolkits. These companies create a large amount of content
that are shareable.
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25. The Association of Canadian Travel Agents (ACTA) uses Twitter,
Facebook and LinkedIn and believes that agents also on these
platforms can share the content created by ACTA.
This trade association promotes regulatory information, lobbying
initiatives and advocacy information. Director of Communications,
Marco Pozzobon advised they use Twitter typically to retweet or
share interesting media coverage and ACTA allied members to
keeping the travel agent community in tune with ACTA suppliers.
ACTA is creating the “Toolkit”. It is a collection of resources a
travel agent can use to promote their value to the consumer. This
includes print and digital resources like post cards, bag tags, ticket
jackets, banner ads, and a dedicated micro site to “promote the
value of the ACTA travel agent to the consumer”.
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26. Tourism Boards also create an incredible amount of content that
agents can share. Tourism boards post videos, links, blogs, must
see lists that can be used by agents to share in their social space.
On Facebook tourism boards utilize destination photos and
relevant travel experiences, this type of information that agents
are inclined to share with their customers.
Following airlines, tour operators, hotels, airports and news
agencies social media feeds will keep agents in the know. The
information sourced from these feeds will help social media
content fresh.
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Travel Trade Content

27. In conclusion, there are a number of cost effective social
media for agencies and agents to use. Looking beyond
Facebook, having a plan, focusing on a specific brand
message and using agents’ experience and knowledge
along with readily available resources will help in creating
a presence in social media.
Company’s need to keep at top of mind that a company
ignites an idea but an engaged audience in social media
are the ones who amplify it.
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28. References
McNamee, Julie McNamee. (November 7, 2013). Factoid
overload – Sixty things you should know about social media in
travel. Retrieved from http://www.tnooz.com/article/social-
media-tips-travel
McCleary, Ian. (September, 2013). Social Media Tools for
Travel Bloggers. Retrieved from
http://www.razorsocial.com/social-media-tools-for-travel-
bloggers/
Interviews
 (Susan Forint, personal communication, January 31, 2014)
(Natalia Rosa, personal communication, February 26, 2014)
(Marco Pozzobon, personal communication, February
24,2014)
(Carl Henderson, personal communication, February 23,
2014)
(Helen Cole, personal communication, February 15, 2014)
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