5 Social Media Techniques to Market your Travel
Business
The travel industry has been transformed by social media. Brands that welcome the change are poised to profit. KLM airlines, for example, has over 9 million Facebook likes. Delta has over a million Twitter followers. Virgin America’s safety video has been watched over 10 million times on YouTube.
But not only travel industry giants can take advantage of social media. To market your travel business, adopt these techniques:
1. Share like you speak
Be personable, be human – engage and connect. Do not post things on social media with newspaper-like headings. Remember, real people are reading what you write and they want to connect with real people – not faceless corporations. Serena Hotels does it right with tweets like this:
Or check out this tweet from Travel Africa mags:
PaperJet uses humor to attract favorites and retweets:
72% of American adults are social media users, but only 33% follow brands on social networks. This tells us that social media users like to connect with people, not with companies.
Give your business a more personal voice in order to succeed on social media.
2. Put the “social” in social media
Magazine ads were for speaking to the traveler. Social media is the platform to speak with the traveler. Encourage participation, invite comments, and always respond to feedback. Check out this Facebook post from Ethiopian Airlines. In it, they respond to the fans who comment:
As travel operators, we aim to appeal to the traveler’s appetite for fun and adventure. Aim for that emotion in your posts. It will subconsciously work to associate your brand with fun travel in the minds of your fans and followers.
3. Visual posts say a thousand words
90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual. According to eMarketer, photos are shared more than any other type of post on Facebook.
KLM capitalized on this with an image of a 747-400 plane and the caption “Big bird.” It earned them over 40,000 likes.
4. Create a contest
By giving something of value away for free, a social media contest can be a great lead generator that captures travelers’ interested in your offer. A Facebook contest from Adventure Canada generated nearly 8,000 leads:
Airbnb also created a contest which served them well:
The results were:
· 240 entrants acted as Airbnb brand advocates
· Each link shared on Facebook, Twitter, or email got 16 clicks on average
· 10,299 votes were cast in one month
5. Share it forward
When real travelers share their images, video, or opinions, share it forward on social channels, like this post by Tucan Travel:
The key to social media marketing for travel businesses
When using social media, travel businesses must shift their thinking. Social marketing can no longer be only about publishing special deals. Instead, the focus needs to be on conversations, interesting visual posts, and shareability. By making those the pillars of your social strategy, your brand will capitalize on the trends that are shaking up the travel industry all over the world.
About the Author:
Kate Gathii is the Marketing Manager for 3G Direct Pay Limited. 3G Direct Pay provides global e-commerce and online payments solutions for the travel and related industries. She has vast experience in the fields of e-commerce, online marketing, travel and payments, in East Africa.
