Qube recently ran a benchmarking survey into Social Media use, attitudes and budget in the travel industry.

With nearly 100 key players in the industry taking part from travel organisations large and small, Qube has gathered key insights into how this sector views and engages with the challenges and benefits of Social Media.

Social Media Benchmarking

81% of marketeers and directors in the travel industry say they use Social Media due to pressure from customers. And despite the fact almost two thirds of respondents felt Social Media was important for the future of their business, nearly 50% still use non-expert staff to deliver Social Media marketing.

Platforms

Bebo and MySpace, perhaps unsurprisingly, were the least popular social networks for marketing activity within the travel industry, while Twitter is by far the most popular tool in use for this sector.

Setting Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

Whilst there are many ways to measure Social Media activity and quantify ROI, difficulty in measuring direct impact of sales was far and away the greatest reason cited for not engaging with Social Media marketing.

Interesting, a large proportion of respondents don’t actually set any Key Performance Indicators for any of their current digital marketing activity.

Round table event

Qube will be releasing and discussing the full benchmarking report at the Social Media for the travel industry round table we’re holding on the 17^th February.

This is a chance for people in the travel industry to discuss the findings of the report and talk to each other about the particular challenges travel companies face in this ever-evolving digital era.

If you work in the industry and would like to attend, you can find more details here.

We’ve written a new White Paper in our Social Media in Action series.

Download the Online Thought Leadership leads to Sales White Paper (pdf).

Read more information about the Social Media White Paper in the Social Media Reports section of our website.

I was reading a blog by Sandrine Plasseraud from we are social last week about Clients needing to be able to prove ROI in order to buy in to a Social Media idea. It was a really interesting blog post that centred on the fact that not all things need return on investment to be worthwhile, quoting the Scott Monty line “What’s the ROI of putting your pants on in the morning?”

I think a big point the article didn’t touch on, and one that a lot of people are failing to recognise right now is that not all returns need to be preceded by a £ sign. I understand that clients have accountability to their superiors and shareholders, and that they need to prove they are not throwing their money down the drain, but it is not the be all and end all.

Without customer feedback we never would have moved on from a sales led economy, where production was dictated by a higher force and the consumer just had to deal with what they got. We now, thank god, have customer support and feedback centres. They cost money to set up and to maintain, but can every piece of budget put into them be directly attributed to a sale?

I doubt it, but we now realise that it costs much more money to win a new customer than to keep an old one, so we know that by investing in a customer complaints procedure and process to deal with their problems, we are actually saving money in the long run.

The same goes for Social Media. You get so much out of it and even though not all of it counts towards sales, this doesn’t mean it isn’t having a positive effect on the success of your business. It is important to stop thinking in terms of cost, and instead start thinking about investment.

Buzz, sentiment, consumer engagement, awareness, and feedback can all be measured using Social Media. Do you not think that any of these count as returns on your investment?

The point I’m trying to make is that not everything can always have a monetary value placed on it that reflects what it is truly worth.  So before worrying about what Social Media can’t give you, have a little think about what it can.

I drew this diagram for a client today when we were discussing how building a community through social media could be a more cost effective approach than their existing event / campaign led approach to communications.

The basic premise being that a community (if managed properly) provides continuous access to a continually growing group of people who are interested in, and engaged with, your brand.  This effectively reduces the peak in investment that goes along with a traditional campaign approach, meaning you don’t have to start from scratch  to build an audience.   Not only that, but seeking out and encouraging advocates within these communities further boosts the investment made as they begin to spread your message and do your job for you!

This diagram then reminded me of one of the first things i learnt many years ago as a grad in a media agency – cumulative reach and frequency. The upshot of this theory for planners in advertising and media alike, was the importance of aligning and timing brand messages so you continually build your brand story.

I wonder how social media and branded communities fit into this traditional theory? Is it just another string to our communication bow to work in harmony with everything else? Or does social media, and more specifically branded communities, offer the ultimate remedy for the cumulative media planning challenge?

Interesting to hear what others think.    Aside from that theoretical side point, I think the diagram simply demonstrates that building communities is a more cost effective approach to communications.   The investment may be hard to justify up front but the ROI over a longer period of time is worth it.