By EFT Correspondent in MunichTravel companies are using social media monitoring solutions, which track and analyse all forms of social media, including blog sites, video-sharing sites and opinion review forums.

Published: 14 Oct 2008

By EFT Correspondent in Munich

Travel companies are using social media monitoring solutions, which track and analyse all forms of social media, including blog sites, video-sharing sites and opinion review forums.

Even as such solutions gain traction in the marketplace, a section of the industry is still referring to the significance of getting the "basics" rights. It is quite critical to adopt a judicious approach towards planning and execution of the social media strategy, especially in the context of using independent sites. For instance, while launching an application on Facebook, a thorough check is required for creative treatment, content, assessing the potential impact of negative comments posted etc.

Providing an insight into the same, Blaise Fiedler, Head of e-Business Consulting, Amadeus, a speaker during the inaugural session of Sales and Marketing in Travel Summit Europe 2008, being held in Munich, said "controlling the hype" is vital.

During his presentation, Fiedler referred to American Airlines' application on Facebook. Taking this an example, he talked about how miniscule is the total number of members considering the overall member base of the airline, negative remarks, and the importance of blending an organisation's strength be its brand, corporate identity etc with such initiatives.

For instance, with reference to an airline's widget, he shared feedback from a consumer, who had this to say: "The design sucks. It should allow the end user to control what shows on his/her profile page. Get rid of the goofy suitcase. It eats up about an inch of screen space and adds absolutely nothing to the user experience."

He said that a company needs to understand "social saviness" of the consumers. He categorised them under Creators (publish own web site, publish or maintain a blog, upload video content to YouTube or other sites); Critics (submit comments on blogs, submit evaluations or reviews); Collectors (Use RSS, Tag web page); Joiners (use a social networking site), Spectators (read blogs, watch videos created by contacts and listen to podcasts) and inactive consumers. Post this, companies need to take web 2.0 initiatives, which have the potential to make an impact.

"Analyse your web capabilities," recommended Fiedler.

On the importance of the company-owned websites, he said 73 percent of US online consumers use a portal as their home page. "30 percent cite the ability to customise content as an important reason why they use these sites," he said. He also referred to other tools such as Wikis, RSS aggregators and blogs. Finally, he stressed on the importance of tracking, analysing and improving such initiatives.

During the same session, Sarah Newman, regional VP, Commercial Director, Royal Caribbean Cruises International, said, consumers are spending a high proportion of their income on travel / holidays. "With an increasingly tough economic environment, they need to be confident of value / having a good time. And information from corporate / commercial sources is not enough. They want opinion from people similar to themselves. (Considering this), web 2.0 offers an excellent way to get personalised, ' honest' knowledge."

She concluded by saying, "We are novices yet, but social media is fundamentally important."

Ritesh Gupta
EyeforTravel.com