Free Webinar: How to Drive Meaningful Engagement via Social Media

Last Autumn, an EyeforTravel survey of 550 travel brands found that 100% had a company Facebook profile and 75% had a Twitter profile, but I wonder how many of these brands can say that their social media presence is really working for them?  Are most of their social media efforts languishing unread?

In the 5 years that I have been charting the rise and rise of social media in travel space, I’ve come across a number of examples whereby travel brands have sought to tick the social media box, set up a profile and then have not fully worked out how to optimally engage their target audience.

And, this perhaps, is no surprise given 1) how difficult it can be to secure the budget to set up the right resources internally to continuously manage social media 2) how difficult brands seem to find it to talk to their customers via social media in the most optimal manner and 3) how fast social media is evolving.  Every couple of months there is a new ‘must-have’ social media platform and it can be confusing to try and work out what’s right for your brand’s target audience.

When done well however, social media has been proven to increase customer satisfaction, reduce PR costs (by as much as 27%) and significantly increase brand awareness.  Quite a few travel brands have managed to achieve this (and they are not just the brands with big budgets!).  I’ve invited a number of them to present at EyeforTravel’s upcoming Online Marketing, Mobile & Social Media in Travel Summit, 3-4 October in Amsterdam.

I’ve also put together an hour long free webinar which will take place on Tuesday 10^th July at 3pm GMT.   The webinar will showcase best-practices and top tips for successful social media engagement including: -

•   How to implement content that works – tone, personality, timing, language
• Know when to take the opportunity to reach out to your customers
• Competitions, giveaways, special offers – what works?
•  Internal structure - How do you manage who represents your brand voice?
•  Hear the top social media mistakes to avoid

All registrants will be able to tune in on the day and also download the full webinar video to listen back to at their leisure.  The webinar will feature 3 insightful case studies from:

• Lara Solomon, Head of Communications, Responsibletravel.com
•  Frederick Buhr, VP e-Commerce, RailEurope
• Dirk Singer, Head Rabbit, The Rabbit Agency

We will also be carrying out a number of live polls along with plenty of time for Q&A.

You can register for the webinar via this link - https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/821174382

How to use social media to humanize your business

By Gina Baillie

There are a number of key opportunities to engage customers via social media which many travel brands seem to miss.  Why is this?

In a recently spoke to Josiah MacKenzie, he explained that offering exceptional service via is the cornerstone of social media success.   This sounds good in theory but how does it work in practice? How do you reach out to the customer in the most appropriate way?   How can you create a remarkable customer experience?

He explained that remarkable social media engagement doesn’t have to be hugely original.  A simple recognition of a customers’ intent to stay at your hotel or intent to travel with your airline can add real value to the customer experience and perception of your brand.   

Actively listening and responding to customers via social media is essential.  It can however be complicated to organise internally.  Encouraging support from top executives along with putting the right processes in place to ensure that staff know where, when and how to respond is vital. 

For Josiah, it’s a question of sifting through the noise to find the music.  For more details, listen to the 10 minute podcast below*

*I apologise that the sound quality is a little poor but if you turn the volume to maximum, you should be able to hear Josiah adequately.