THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING FOR TRAVEL INDUSTRY AND BUSINESSES - DIANE HENDERSON
"Social media can be a powerful motivator and influence when it comes to making travel related decisions - just think of the power of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)" explains JoAnna Haugen, founder of Rooted.
The top travel agencies in Ireland with a large social media following are Cassidy Travel, Trail Finders, Wallace Travel, Travel Counsellors, Sunway, Clickandgo.com, Falcon/TUI, Travel Department, Abbey Travel, Budget Travel, Go Hop.ie, Tour America & Top Flight.
Social media platforms help buyers choose destinations and majority are free tools avaliable to businesses to market themselves. Cassidy Travel and TUI for example have call to action buttons on their social media platforms helping their sales funnel and turning viewers into buyers. Visitors on their social media platform such as Facebook also takes appointments.
Cassidy Travel has a huge following on its social media platforms, with a whopping 237k followers on its facebook cassidy travel - Search Results | Facebook
The beauty of social media marketing is that it doesn't just help promote your business at the start of your visitors journey, it helps with taking bookings, takes appointments and also helps the visitor when then are abroad if you so wish to provide content to followers on attractions in certain cities etc.
Hey Diane, I agree with you about how social media capitalises on the concept of FOMO and for sure all the great social media images and videos do contribute to the brand image and identity of travl based businesses. The feature that allows to schedule an appointment in their FB page is a tool that adds value to the user experience and I have found some insructions on how to set it up, see here: https://www.facebook.com/help/233101683907312
ReplyDeleteI think tour agencies like the ones you mentioned should definitely look into implementing this kind of system as it enable social media users to convert in a shorter time.
Rory Dignam
Hey Diane, I certainly don't wont to lose out and I am sure others are same, be it businesses or individuals. So, I like the FOMO concept. You have pointed very valid benefits of marketing by travel businesses on social media and showed that the platforms can be used to encompass all aspects of buyer journey not just booking. From having conversation, social proof, shared experiences it has everything. Again the importance of staying in touch in the event of issues and queries is so vital and social media platform provide the mechanism for that. Getting back to the starting point businesses that are not making use of this platform will lose out. Comment By - Sultan Nazir
ReplyDeleteHey Diane. You have nicely explained the importance of Social Media Marketing for travel businesses. liked that you have mentioned the power of the FOMO (Fear of Missing out) in the intro of the post. Although the phrase is coined in the Social Media era, it exists for much much longer. But naturally, in today's Social Media era as you said real power over people. Because of the quality of up-to-date content nowadays that can show people 'what they are missing, for example in the travel industry marketers can use this tactic to make their service/product presented in the best possible way to make potential consumers 'envy' which will ultimately lead to purchase. Cool video as well, and it explains exactly that potential 'envy' and desire of the viewer to be there. So Social Media Marketing is of great benefit for any travel business and industry as a whole. Ivan B
ReplyDeleteHey Diane, I absolutely enjoyed reading your blog and loved the powerful quote you used to open up the blog, which explains about the importance of social media marketing in an accessible and one sentence way.
ReplyDeleteIt's great that you listed in the article the best travel companies in Ireland, it is always necessary to know your competitors, analyze them, follow trends and equal the best to reach heights in business development and be competitive.
I also agree with you about the fact that it is possible to collect bookings/conversions through social media platforms. For example Meta have a useful tool calls Destination catalogue, which is giving opportunity for customers to check the travel destinations they are interested in, select and order it directly through social media.
Thank you! Ksenija Karpezo
great post
ReplyDeletegreat tips and some excellent takeaways and food for thought.
Caitriona