I discovered this ingenious site when I was working and living in Japan last year. For me, it was the perfect tool. The site promised to help me plan my multi-stop trip around Asia and would automatically search for flights that matched my ideal itinerary. It meant I could go to Korea for a week, then head right to Micronesia without coming back to Japan in between—perfect!
Here’s an excerpt from the site:
“AirTreks.com is the worldwide leader in providing affordable, customized and efficient international air tickets through advanced technologies for complex multi-stop international journeys.
AirTreks.com enables travelers and travel agents to create customized itineraries -- with an unlimited number of destinations -- and receive instant online price estimates with one click.”
Today was the first day in a long time that I’d visited AirTreks.com and it had undergone some major changes. The company has been keeping up with the time and within the last year, embraced social media tactics. They now have a travel blog and an e-newsletter that people can subscribe to.
While these are good initial efforts to incorporate social media into every day business, I think the company could benefit from a higher dose of so
cial media. Let me elaborate.
I was reading a travel blog by Edward Hasbrouck called The Practical Nomad and he writes that advertisers use social media as a vehicle to push a company’s marketing message. While I agree with this, I think that social media benefits the communications department and the company as a whole. How? It pushes messages to the widest audience and, on the positive side, it’s budget-friendly for companies during this economic downturn. Additionally, it helps companies with their public relations and marketing efforts by increasing awareness and leveraging their brand(s). Take the example of the Disney World Moms Panel in one of my previous posts.
Social media may appear to be great, but where’s the proof?
There’s a great post about social media statistics on a blog called Social Media Today. Author and WebProNews Blog partner Michael Stelzner surveyed approximately 900 marketers and developed a report about social media use. Here are some interesting statistics from the report (taken from the blog post):
- 88 per cent indicated they were employing social media for marketing purposes
- 72 per cent have only been using social media marketing for a few months
- 64 per cent of marketers are using social media for 5 hours or more each week
- 39 per cent are using it for 10 hours a week
- 81 per cent say the number-one benefit is generating exposure, followed by increasing traffic and building new business relationships
- Over half saw a rise in search engine rankings
- Out of social media tools marketers most wanted to learn about, social bookmarking sites, such as Delicious ranked highest followed by Twitter
His post also examines what business owners want to know about social media and marketing. Most of them expressed an interest in measuring social media’s effectiveness and what tactics are the most successful.
The travel industry is definitely jumping on the social media bandwagon. Travel USA 2009 dedicated a whole conference to social media. The conference promises to give companies the tools to develop a social media strategy, generate leads, drive traffic and boost sales.
Social media is obviously still evolving and AirTreks.com has taken some preliminary efforts to incorporate it (the blog and e-newsletter). The blog discusses common travel topics such as airline travel, documenting your trip, etc. and website visitors can comment and engage in an active online discussion. While this is a great first step, I think they should sign up for a Twitter account to make the company’s online presence even more apparent. An online discussion board would also help them with customer service, as they could listen to and learn from their customers and make appropriate changes. The company could also benefit from social bookmarking.
While social has appeared to work for AirTreks.com thus far, it’s important to realize that not every company is going to find success through social media. As blogger Michael Stelzner writes, “That's one of the greatest appeals of the medium though. There are so many possibilities.”
Do you think AirTreks.com is taking the right approach to social media? What are some other companies that have been successful in their social media efforts?
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You've *completely* missed my point -- and in doing so, you have reinforced that point.
ReplyDeleteI didn't say, as you incorrectly paraphrase, that "social media is a vehicle to push a company’s marketing message". Rather, what I *complained* about was that marketers -- like you, apparently -- could only see it that way, in "To a hammer, everything looks like a nail" fashion. That should have been clear in the context of my remarks about the EyeForTravel conference (the same one mentioned in your post):
"To an advertiser, everything is a vehicle to use to "push" their marketing message. I had suggested to the organizers that they have a session on how travel companies can use blogs, bulletin boards, etc. as a feedback channel to listen to and learn from their customers, but got no response."
I should make clear that my comments are prompted by the substance of what you said, rather than your choice of Airtreks.com as an example. I worked for Airtreks.com form 1998-2006, and I'm glad you had a good experience with them. I left their staff before they started their current blog, and I'm no longer writing for their Web site. I have no direct role in their current marketing, although I remain a paid affiliate of Airtrek.com.
Thanks for your comment.
ReplyDeleteI understand the point you're making but think social media isn't simply a tool to drive marketing messages. If used correctly, it serves a bigger purpose and can benefit a whole company. In your post, you alluded to social media (such as blogs and discussion boards) helping, not hindering a company. They help companies determine customer feedback, etc. I think AirTreks.com is well on its way to integrating social media in an effective manner.