I recently conducted a survey of over 500 APAC travel brands to find out what’s keeping social and mobile marketers up at night. The findings show that despite 68% of companies claiming to have deployed mobile and social media initiatives, more than half admit that they are unsure how to ‘define, achieve and measure success’
Despite recognising the benefits and potential of both of these enfants terribles in the online travel industry, marketers were frustrated by a lack of practical know-how, fear of failure and the diaspora of social and mobile channels, platforms and analytical tools to gauge success.
One respondent hits the nail right on the head:
‘For all its potential, social media keeps me up at night… It feels a little bit like jumping in at the deep-end without arm-bands and being expected to swim like Michael Phelps ’
And yet, some brands are making good gains and even ROI through such experimentation;
‘Airlines have already started driving distribution through social media - be it Delta selling tickets through Facebook or jetBlue clearing distressed inventory through flash-sales on @jetBlueCheeps. To sustain the growth in the number of fans and activity, airlines need to dedicate significant resources and execute well on the strategy, to make social media work for the business," says Shashank Nigam, CEO of SimpliFlying, a leading airline brand strategy firm.
It’s a similar story with mobile; 85% of respondents claimed that mobile is an essential strategic consideration in 2012, but in stark contrast only 24% had clear-cut strategic roadmaps and budgets in place. Lack of resources and knowing where to invest (apps, HTML5, Android vs. iOS, smartphone or Tablet?) were the most cited obstacles.
Whilst these results are perhaps unsurprising, what they do reveal is a fundamental gap in know-how and best practice. Companies realize the importance and potential benefits but are unsure how to deploy and execute ‘successful’ social and mobile campaigns.
So I’ve teamed up with leading industry experts from Malaysia Airlines, SimpliFlying and Abacus and will be conducting a free webinar on Wednesday the 23rd November to address precisely these challenges.
This 45 minute webinar; Drive Real Engagement and ROI from your Mobile & Social Strategies, will serve as a practical ‘how-to’ manual to launch and ensure successful mobile and social media campaigns for your travel brand.
The Webinar is completely free to join or download – Find out more and book your place here!
Use the hastag #tdsasia on Twitter.
Best,
Marco Saio