By EFT Correspondent in Munich A regional airline in Europe, participating in EyeforTravel's TDS Europe held in London this year, disclosed that it witnessed "limited results" from its campaigns on YouTube, MySpace, Bebo and eBay in comparison with the ones on information-based sites.

Published: 15 Oct 2008

By EFT Correspondent in Munich

A regional airline in Europe, participating in EyeforTravel's TDS Europe held in London this year, disclosed that it witnessed "limited results" from its campaigns on YouTube, MySpace, Bebo and eBay in comparison with the ones on information-based sites.

In fact, the airline stated that it is yet to see results that would indicate that it should invest heavily in this area.

This viewpoint shares the current dilemma of the majority of travel suppliers when it comes to allocating budgets for their activity on independent social networking sites, measuring ROI and even setting out objectives as they plan their campaigns.

Assessing the situation, Vicky Brock, TrackingTourism.com author Co-Founder, Highland Business Research, says, the success of activity has to be measured entirely in terms of the context of the goals.

"There's a big difference between using a social network for straight display advertising and using it for education, community building, retention or research," said Brock, a speaker during the Social Media Strategies Conference, held as a part of Sales and Marketing in Travel Summit Europe 2008 in Munich.

Elaborating further, she said, "So, if the goal of the activity is purely as an online display advertising campaign, then I would judge success based on marketing ROI, looking ultimately to ensure that the revenue return from the campaign referral exceeds the expenditure and ranking that performance. After all, if it's straight up online advertising that is running, it doesn't matter whether it is placed on Bebo or the New York Times…not any kind of social network engagement and it can be judged accordingly."

"However, when the goals are different, the success metrics has to reflect that. Costa Cruises, for example, have had considerable success using Second Life – not in terms of display or consumer acquisition, but by using it as a low cost alternative for training and familiarisation. Success is being judged in terms of the revenues saved in case that same activity had delivered face to face."

"Hello BC are using Flickr and user generated content extensively to develop a community of past travelers and BC residents to assist new visitors to plan their vacations to British Columbia over time. Success in these terms has to be at two levels – community development and participation on one hand (growth, upload of materials, repeat visits, ratio of contributing members) and on the other impact on visitor conversions. Is the activity driving tourism actions – eg bookings, uplift in days per stay. If there is integration between the web analytics data and the reservations data, those answers are there," she added.

Another area, which the travel industry is actively getting involved in is social media monitoring, tracking and analysing all forms of social media. People are talking about organisations online. The question is whether the companies are listening.

"The tools offer the opportunity to hear those conversations," says Brock. "But like any tool, they require attention, analysis and action on the part of the organisation or they are meaningless. My personal view is that tools are often purchased in the assumption that they contain the answer. No answer, buy another tool. But of course, it is the people in the organisation who have the answers."

Ritesh Gupta
EyeforTravel.com