Why Social Media Is A Great Tool For Travel

I've been meaning to write the post for awhile & will add on Instagram for that matter. Why are these tools so great when traveling? Let me tell you several great reasons. 

1. Pre-travel research has been made much more interactive. When googling certain places, you can also check out their social media feeds to find non-stock photos and (if they're smart) real images from recent guests! 
2. Geo-tags are phenomenal to find inspiration for activities, locations & trips as well. 
3. Hotels & airlines are embracing these as customer service channels and instead of sitting on a phone call angrily for 30 minutes, you can simply tweet them for assistance! A real life-saver. 
4. Finding great deals on social media! Many hospitality industry social channels are still figuring out how to prove these channels are worth monitoring constantly, so the offer deals only found via these channels -why not take advantage! 
5. Tips, tips,  tips. I frequently follow not only hotel & airlines I'm using, but their convention bureaus to find out about new activities & events

What other reasons do you use social media when traveling for? 

Omni-Channel Is Everything

Content strategy is important. Email marketing is important. So is your social media strategy. Your web & mobile strategy is too. BUT the newest and most important one is going to be your omni-channel marketing and strategy.

Omni-channel is important because the customer's experience needs to be seamless no matter what channel they're on, and it needs to make sense on various channels as well, whether their journey starts with a TV ad, a tweet, walking into your store or downloading your app. Customers are exploring multiple channels when they make decisions, I find this is extremely apparent when they're booking a vacation or searching something travel-related and it makes sense. 

Say you want to book a vacation, you don't know where. As a woman, I may start by searching on Pinterest for gorgeous vacation locations, where I find myself inspired by some photos, which I click on. I then travel to a blog talking about their favorite destinations, perhaps offering tips on which hotels to book, what restaurants to try. As a millennial, I then turn to twitter, where I tweet said vacation destination asking for tips and I also search those talking about it as well as hotel twitters and social media accounts to browse their photos... If those photos aren't engaging enough I may move on to the next hotel, if they are, I'll be clicking to their hotel website next - and if I don't find an engaging website on my tablet, it's over. 


Bottom line, there is a plethora of ways your potential customer can get to you, and you need to be prepared on all fronts, with a strategy on each channel that offers a similar experience that's going to make a positive influence on them.

Your Customers Are Pinning, Are You?

Who knew Pinterest was going to blow up like this? I suppose you did... if you've been pinning since the beginning days and knew how easily you could be sucked into the website for hours upon hours.  I think Pinterest is a great idea, especially for us Type A's who love organizing our thoughts, ideas, recipes, etc in a manageable fashion. Pinterest is such a great idea for so many types of businesses, both large and small and it's going to be interesting to see who realizes that their target audience is waiting for them here, and how they're going to interact with them in a positive way instead of driving them away. 

Since I work in the hospitality industry, I've been keeping a close eye on Pinterest and what it can do for hotels and have realized there are so many options if you're willing to put the time into it. There's something here for everyone, whether your customers are foodies, adventure junkies, newlyweds or family focused! Yes, there are a TON more women than men pinning away, but that's not a bad thing, is it? You customers are pinning at least a few times a week, for an average of 15 MINUTES.... but honestly, you know it's much longer than that. It's easy to break up what customers are interested in and the specific audiences that can be found here, and there are a few that just pop out to me as the most relevant audiences for the hospitality industry. 

1. Foodies

Spend 10 minutes on Pinterest and you'll notice that all your foodie friends are pinning recipes, favorite foods, favorite restaurants along with some incredibly appetizing photos! So give them what they want, you have at least 5-10 chefs staffed at the hotel each day, ask them to share some showstopper recipes and take a few great photos and throw them up there. If you already have fans of your hotel's restaurant, it won't be hard to get customers to pass those photos around and click through to your hotel's website/blog/Facebook/anything related to you. 

2. The Travel Obsessed

Ask your Concierge Team to list their favorite recommendations and create a board listing top 10 or 20 destinations in your area, both well known and off the beaten path. It's not hard to find other pinner's recommendations to share as well (Millennium Park, Central Park, Top Art Museum links, etc) so that you can not only feed customers what they want, but interact by repinning and making them feel special. 

3. The Wedding Planners

Most women dream about their weddings from the time they're just a little girl, so Pinterest is perfect for searching for EVERY aspect of their wedding and organizing it into simple boards instead of having to save each photo or link, bookmark them for later, print them out and add into a bulky binder and research intensely. Participate in their conversation and recommend your own venues, cakes, catering and who knows what you'll end up with. 

4. Family Focused 

Many mothers also find time to browse Pinterest searching for family friendly brands, activities, recipes and tips. Show off your hotel's family friendly side to them and you could find yourself booking reservations for them in no time! 

Yes, Pinterest could be labor-intensive for an employee and take up tons of time, but it's still so young that you don't really know where it could go, and you don't know how much it may potentially help your big or small business. Give it a try, see what happens and if it's not worth it you can always walk away. 

Hotels and Social Media: It's a Must

How many hotels have you seen on social media? Most hotels you stay at? I’ve seen a ton of hotels embracing twitter or Facebook, and a few on Foursquare and Youtube, but does that mean they’re doing it right?

I appreciate the fact that hotels are joining social media and some are joining in on their customer’s conversations, but it needs to be more than this. They need to work on incorporating it into their marketing plans, making their employees aware of their ongoing initiatives, and reward and respond to customers…. Customers expect this of hotels!

If hotels want to stay successful, they have to engage.  This may seem scary to various hotels, but social media presents a wider variety of opportunities for the hospitality industry.  Social media allows hotels to hear what customers want and whether they’re giving them what they need or not!  It’s also the best way to ensure customer service optimization by dealing with guest’s issues, complaints, and compliments both online and offline. It’s also another way to reach customers and better cater to their needs… and pick up on their personal needs and wants.

In other words, embrace social media because customers are already there spreading the good, bad and the ugly about EVERYTHING. 

Just Because You're Doing It, Doesn't Mean You're Doing It Well...

I know that I'm a big believer that all companies need to start getting into the social media world and testing it out. Customers are searching for you on Facebook and Twitter, and if you aren't there, they'll find someone else who is. Also, who wouldn't want to know what's being said about their companies... just because a customer isn't willing to make a comment to you directly, doesn't mean they aren't making it at all and if you can't capture what they're saying quickly enough, the damage will be done.

Now, just because you jump in and start a Facebook Page or a Twitter, doesn't mean you're doing it right. If you aren't willing to try out different methods, experiment with a variety of ideas, or engage with your customers on both positive and negative feedback, you're going to have problems.

One of the most frustrating things to deal with just may be customer feedback and how a company chooses to interact with them. I recently had a horrible experience with a hotel, where they EVENTUALLY responded to my complaint via twitter after I had made one to the hostess, but neither made a difference in my outcome and no one actually helped me. My angry tweets may have done more damage than they realized, as I conversed with my followers about what was going on, where I was, and why I was upset. All their tweet managed to do was confirm they didn't actually care about what was said online, or know what they were doing.

So, when you decide to move your company online, remember that customer service is just as important there as it is in your store or hotel. Customer service is everything.