Social Media Strategies Travel 2008 SpecialWeb 2.0 and social media represent a new dynamic in communication by allowing consumers to drive the content.

Published: 03 Apr 2008

Social Media Strategies Travel 2008 Special

Web 2.0 and social media represent a new dynamic in communication by allowing consumers to drive the content.

According to Max Starkov, Hospitality eBusiness Strategies, no one can question the important role, relevancy, and impact of such social network sites as YouTube, MySpace, and in the travel space sites like TripAdvisor, Yahoo Travel Planner, Igougo, HotelChatter, and many more.

"So what about Web 2.0 and the search engines? Are these new and old Internet media formats in synergy, or are they at war with each other? Are search engines slowly becoming obsolete, especially as consumer-generated media appears to increasingly dominate online behavior?," questions Starkov.

"In our view, search engines thrive on new content. Web 2.0 is a huge generator of new content and search engines index Web 2.0 sites with great fervor. Google, Yahoo, Windows Live all include Web 2.0 content (text, video, consumer reviews, blog entries, etc.) in their search results. In other words, Web 2.0 and the search engines are in a symbiotic relationship," he told EyeforTravel.com's Ritesh Gupta. "Furthermore, we call this symbiotic relationship between search and social media "Web 2.0 Search" as in most of the cases search engines and social media content are intertwined in a symbiotic, inseparable way."

According to Starkov, who was one of the speakers during EyeforTravel's Social Media Strategies Travel 2008 Conference in San Francisco, shares that for most travel companies, the lack of fresh online content about their products and services is their main weakness.

"Search engines love fresh content. Travel suppliers have to become "producers of fresh online content" –both "official" content (supplier websites, online brochures, marketing pieces), as well as "unofficial " content via supplier-sponsored Web 2.0 applications and social media initiatives," he said.

According to Starkov, travel suppliers can take full advantage of the symbiotic relationship between search and social media in several ways:

· Create the framework to generate social media content (on the supplier website and in social networks), which will then be picked up by the traditional search engines and delivered to relevant searchers

· Generate "fresh" content (textual and visual) on the supplier website using Web 2.0 applications:

--Share your vacation photo experience

--User voting system

--Top ten lists generated by website users

--Expert blogs

--Etc

· Use of traditional search engines to target specific blogs or sites (e.g. YouTube via Google)

· Use RSS as a new content dissemination tool

· Use of Web 2.0 search engines (e.g. technorati.com)

· Use content-tagging services (digg.com, http://del.icio.us/ etc)

· Create your corporate profile on the leading social media sites: MySpace.com, Facebook.com, Wikipedia.com, etc

· Upload rich media (photos and videos) on social media sites

· Generate buzz about your product/services via contests and sweepstakes on social media networks and supplier sites

· Launch paid search marketing on travel-related social media sites: TripAdvisor, VirtualTourist, HotelChatter, etc