At EyeforTravel’s recent Social Media & Mobile in Travel
event in San Francisco, Lee McCabe from Facebook quoted Jim Abrahamson, CEO, Interstate Hotels &
Resorts - “We’re going to see the death of brand loyalty”
McCabe highlighted the fact that people are travelling more
than ever, income levels are rising and technology has enabled customers are
planning and sharing their travel ideas and experiences more and more,
inspiring others to travel. It should be
a great time for travel brands and yet in reality the travel space has become
more complicated and many execs are feeling the pressure.
Does brand loyalty exist in this hyper-competitive
space? What should travel brands be
prioritising to win customers and compete?
McCabe highlighted that brands should focus on building good
connections with their customers and work on turning them into influencers. He advised that taking the approach to build
connections on Facebook as quickly as possible through sweepstakes and
competitions, is not the right way. Instead brands need to invite their existing
customers to be fans on Facebook and encourage them in turn to influence those
in their network to also become fans.
With developments such as Facebook Graph Search, the
influence of a friend’s network with play a stronger role in their decision to
purchase. Encouraging customers to share
their travel experiences post their stay is often a forgotten tool in the
travel marketers armoury to help to further influence travellers at the
dreaming and planning stages.
It can certainly be said that the connections a brand has
will become more and more important in the near future. In addition, customising message and ensuring
consistent connectivity across multiple devices will play an important role in
influencing a customer’s decision to choose your brand.
Facebook will be sharing more insights into the above at
EyeforTravel’s TDS
Europe Summit in London, 23-24 May.
Feel free to drop any questions you may have to them to me (gina@eyefortravel.com).
