Building A Travel Social Brand 2012

BUILDING A TRAVEL SOCIAL BRAND
What you need to know as you plan for 2013
37 case studies
13 vital questions to ask to your business
19 Travel brands benchmarked
18 trends identified
By Julius Duncan – Marketing Director | Headstream
and Tom Chapman – Head of Innovation | Lawton Communications Group
www . h eadstrea m . co m | S e p te m ber 2 0 1 2

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contents
3 Executive Summary
5 Travel sector background
7 Travel sector – Social Brands 100 insights
13 Travel sector – Current challenges and case studies
26 Travel sector – Future of social media
31 Conclusion and getting started
32 How can Headstream help?
33 Sources
C ontents
www . h eadstrea m . co m

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1 • Executive Summary
This white paper has been created by Headstream to assist travel sector
marketers as they plan their strategies and budgets for 2013. It provides
timely information, case studies, insights, trend predictions, and practical
advice to assist travel brands as they consider how social media can support
their business goals.
The paper has five main sections:
• an overview of the broader backdrop within the travel sector,
• what we can learn about the current social media performance of travel
brands from Headstream’s 2012 Social Brands 100 ranking,
• current consumer behaviour and case studies illustrating how travel brands
are responding to the challenges and opportunities presented by social
media,
• seven future trends that the travel sector should be aware of and planning
for, and
• conclusions and how to ‘Get Started’ with the planning process.
Look out for our ‘Key Questions’ sections throughout. These summarise the
questions marketing teams should pose as they integrate social into their
strategy, and how Headstream can help.
The summary below identifies the key findings and insights from
the white paper.
• UK travel and tourism businesses continue to operate against a backdrop
of uncertainty caused by the UK’s double-dip recession, and the Euro-zone
crisis
• There is evidence that inbound visitors from stronger economies e.g.
Russia, China, are increasingly selecting the UK as a preferred destination
• Consumers globally are increasingly turning to the Internet, and peer-
to-peer recommendation on social networks, to inform travel purchase
decisions
• Travel brands should be using video and image-based content more
effectively to create engagement with their products and services, and the
experiences unlocked by them
• The customer journey has moved on from the traditional, linear ‘funnel
model’, to a more complex ‘customer decision journey’ where consumers
are influenced by multiple touch points. Digital, and particularly social
media, has driven this change
e x e c u t i v e s u m m a r y
Consumers globally
are increasingly
turning to the Internet,
and peer-to-peer
recommendation on
social networks, to
inform travel purchase
decisions

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• Savvy brands are increasingly curating user content rather than pushing
brand messages
• Post travel, humans become sentimental. Brand utility can be used to
facilitate and tap into this sentimental activity in social media, providing
a platform for memories to be stored in the form of words, pictures and
video content
• We will see travel brands experiment more creatively to further empower
mobile users in an attempt to tap into their social networks
• As more ‘open data’ becomes available, travel decisions will be considerably
influenced by it. For example, crime data in-and-around hotel locations can
be placed alongside all customer reviews. This data will be an increasingly
important barometer to influence purchase decisions
e x e c u t i v e s u m m a r y

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2 • TRAVEL SECTOR BACKGROUND
The ongoing weakness of the UK economy continues to be the single largest
factor for the travel and tourism sector as fragile consumer confidence,
rising unemployment and higher propensity to save, hits travel spending by
consumers.
Adding to the challenge for travel and tourism operators in 2012 has been
a series of major events that fell across the key holiday booking period: the
Jubilee, UEFA Euro 2012, and most significantly the Olympics. These events,
combined with the latest increase in Air Passenger Duty, have made demand
even more difficult to gauge than usual.
However, there have been encouraging signs that the spotlight on the UK
from the Jubilee, and prospect of the Olympics, helped inbound tourism in
the twelve months to May 2012. Over this period incoming visitors to Britain
reached a record 12.3 million and visitor spend increased to £18.2 billion
(Source: ONS and VisitBritain)
So, while the spending power of the UK consumer remains limited the demand
to visit the UK is high in emerging markets, particularly Russia and China,
providing opportunities for airline and hotel brands in particular. According to
VisitBritain statistics, Russian inbound tourism peaked in 2005-6 with almost
a quarter of a million visits before falling to almost half that with 137,000 in
2009. A sharp rebound was noted in 2010 though with 170,000 visits and
that upward trend is continuing.
Online and social media will play a growing role in accessing these potential
visitors from fast growing markets such as the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and
China) countries. But increased Internet penetration, adoption of social media,
and ownership of tablets and smart-phones is influencing every aspect of
decision making amongst travel and tourism purchasers.
According to research from travel search site, Skyscanner, online transactions
continue to grow faster than any other distribution method, with air transport
purchases online growing at 7.7% in 2011 and predicted to grow by 5.2% in
2012.
travel sector bac k ground
While the spending
power of the UK
consumer remains
limited the demand
to visit the UK is high
in emerging markets,
particularly Russia
and China

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What is more significant is the consumer behaviour behind these figures,
which is driven in particular by social media. A Skyscanner survey found
that 34% of travellers say they decided to visit a destination suggested by
someone they only ‘know’ online, and that eight out of the people think travel
forums like Trip Advisor play an important role in travel recommendations.
How travel brands get involved in the conversations between virtual ‘friends’
that are directing these purchase decisions is the crucial question for all
travel marketers in 2013.
travel sector bac k ground

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3 • TRAVEL SECTOR – SOCIAL BRANDS 100 INSIGHTS
In order to understand how travel brands are currently performing in social
media relative to other sectors, we have taken an in-depth look into the
performance of travel brands in Headstream’s Social Brands 100 report.
Social Brands 100 (SB100) is a global ranking of those brands that are
leading the way in social media. Brands do not pay, or apply, to be considered
in the ranking. The only way to participate is through a crowd-sourced
nomination process on Twitter that establishes a long-list of brands. Analysing
the intensity of interactions between these brands and individuals on social
and digital platforms, and giving each one a Data Score establishes a shortlist
of 100 brands. The final ranking from one to one hundred is then established
by adding a score for each brand from an expert panel of judges.
The sectors featuring in the SB100 are – Automotive, Charity, Entertainment,
Fashion & Beauty, Financial Services, FMCG, Manufactured Goods, Media,
Retail, Services, Technology, Telecoms, Travel & Leisure.
For the purposes of this SB100 analysis we have separated out travel brands
from leisure brands within the Travel & Leisure sector to create a travel sub-
sector.
The following section outlines this travel sub-sector’s performance by
aggregating the Data Score from the nineteen travel brands that were
nominated for the long-list (including the ten brands that went forward to
appear in the final Social Brands 100). These brands are: BMI, British Airways,
Cardiff bus, Chiltern Railways, Delta, EasyJet, First Capital Connect, Gatwick
Airport, KLM, Mr & Mrs Smith, London Midland, Southwest Airlines, Torbay
Bus Routes, TransPennine Express, Trent Barton, Watergate Bay Hotel, Virgin
Atlantic, Virgin Trains and WestJet.
t r a v el se c t o r – so c i a l b r a nds 1 0 0 i ns i gh t s
For the full SB100 report:
www.socialbrands100.com

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SB100 ranked travel brands
There was a strong representation from travel brands in this year’s Social
Brands 100. The ranked travel brands were:
KLM (#19)
Trent Barton (#29)
Cardiff bus (#45)
WestJet (#55)
Chiltern Railways (#62)
Mr & Mrs Smith (#62)
Southwest Airlines (#62)
Virgin Atlantic (#71)
Delta (#80)
Virgin Trains (#81)
Social Brands 100 analysed the social performance of over 300 brands
in the period from January to March 2012. The full methodology can be
found here (http://blog.headstream.com/2012/05/22/social-brands-100-
methodology-in-detail/) and the report can be downloaded here (http://www.
socialbrands100.com/).

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FACEBOOK
The travel sub-sector scored better overall on Facebook than any other
SB100 sector, outpointing its closest competitor, the Services sector,
by a significant margin. Within this overall Facebook result travel brands
score particularly well for ‘Fan Post Engagement’, a measure of how much
interaction there is from the community when Fans post content, which
indicates that there is a strong peer-to-peer spirit in these Facebook
communities. Travel brands are also good at responding to fan posts directly,
coming third out of all sectors on this measure and with Trent Barton, Cardiff
bus and Chiltern Railways all appearing in the top ten for this metric across all
SB100 brands.
Looking at areas for improvement, the weakest measure for the travel brands
was ‘Brand Post Engagement’, which measures the intensity of response from
the community when the brand posts content.
Our wider analysis indicates that this score could be improved by the
introduction of more photo and video content on travel brands’ Facebook
pages. Our research has shown that on Facebook, photos are most likely to
generate comments from the community, and video most likely to promote
shares.
YOUTUBE
Travel brands aren’t using YouTube effectively to create engagement. Overall
the travel brands score less than half of the points of the top-ranked sector,
Automotive, and only the Retail and Services sectors score lower. This
performance suggests travel brands are falling behind in terms of quality of
video content generated, and the interaction that creates.

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TWITTER
Travel brands are outperforming on Twitter when it comes to the speed at
which they respond to followers, and the number of times that third party
@accounts are mentioned on their feeds. This shows that travel brands
are generally playing to Twitter’s strengths as a platform that allows timely
and authentic conversation between brand and individuals. Top performing
brands on Twitter were WestJet, Virgin Trains and Chiltern Railways, which all
appeared in the overall SB100 top ten of brands for frequency of mentioning
third party @accounts on their own Twitter feed.
However, the overall Twitter ranking for travel places it only seventh amongst
thirteen sectors as the sector’s conversational ability is tempered by a weaker
performance on content. Looking at both frequency of retweets from the @
brand accounts, and for the extent of @brand mentions (which measures a
brand’s success in creating content that is shared) travel brands were below
average compared to others. This suggests a greater focus on content
strategies is needed, and creating content that is valued by the community
would be a profitable area of focus for travel brands.
GOOGLE+
Travel brands have not generally moved quickly to build community and
engagement on Google+. Overall the sector ranks ninth out of thirteen,
reflecting a below average performance in generating shares, comments or
‘+1’s’ via the Google+ platform.
FOURSQUARE
You might expect travel brands that are in the business of taking passengers
from destination to destination to be enthusiastic users of a geo-location
service like foursquare. However, patchy adoption of the platform means that
the overall ranking for travel was fifth amongst our thirteen sectors. There are
however some top performers on this platform, like KLM, that appeared in the
SB100 overall top ten for effective engagement via foursquare.

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travel sector - current c h allenges and case studies
The biggest area of
weakness for travel
brands is YouTube
SUMMARY
Overall, the travel brands ranked ninth amongst our thirteen SB100 sectors
a below average showing. So what is the recipe to improve social brand
performance?
While each brand is individual in terms of its objectives and what constitutes
a successful set of social media outputs, there are some general conclusions
we can draw.
Facebook is a clear area of strength. The travel sub-sector’s leading position
is built on vibrant communities where fans both post regularly and converse
with each other, and then the brands’ willingness to join the conversation.
This existing strong performance could be built on further by creating brand
content that provides high levels of value to the community, increasing levels
of engagement via likes, comments and shares.
The situation with Twitter is similar, where the content created by travel
brands isn’t reaching as far, or being retweeted as often as in other sectors.
This does not detract however from the focus on conversation and timely
response, which has created strong communities that can be built on further.
The biggest area of weakness for travel brands is YouTube where only two
sectors score lower for the amount of views and comments generated. With
video an increasingly popular format amongst Internet users (particularly on
mobile devices like smart-phones and tablets) travel brands are risking losing
out if their video content remains as ineffectual as it is currently.

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KEY QUESTIONS
• What proportion of your content created for Facebook is video or
photography based?
. Does your content fit into a broader content strategy that is founded on
business goals?
• Do you have monitoring in place to assess what content receives the
highest level of interaction?
• What is your strategy for YouTube, how can video be a more effective part
of your content strategy?
• Are you able to benchmark social performance regularly and use this
knowledge to optimise activity?
HOW HEADSTREAM CAN HELP
• Providing regular social media performance benchmarking using the Social
Brands 100 methodology
• Audits and social analytics
• Content, channel and community strategies and execution
?
!

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4 • TRAVEL SECTOR – CURRENT CHALLENGES AND CASE STUDIES
To put the current challenges for travel brands in context we have examined
two areas:
• the changes in the way that consumers make buying decisions, created by
the influence of the social web, and,
• the trends and case studies demonstrating current best practice, and an
effective response to these changes.
HOW TRAVEL BRANDS ARE EVOLVING TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA
WITHIN THE CONSUMER DECISION JOURNEY
In classic marketing, the customer acquisition process is thought of as
a purchase funnel. Cold prospects are dumped at the top of the funnel
through awareness campaigns and squeezed down via qualifying actions e.g.
product brochures, sales calls, product demonstrations, and emails. Those
prospects that were hot for your product went on to purchase, becoming
a customer and then added to the CRM database. If the process was
successful, marketers placed it on a rinse and repeat cycle. It was relatively
straightforward.
Unfortunately the purchase funnel no longer applies. In today’s world, media
fragmentation and the proliferation of digital has resulted in an increase in the
number of brands under consideration for consumers. As a result, the entire
purchasing cycle has shifted. To respond to this shift, the funnel has been
replaced by what McKinsey has termed the ‘consumer decision journey’.
In today’s world,
media fragmentation
and the proliferation
of digital has resulted
in an increase in the
number of brands
under consideration for
consumers
Source: Consumer Decision Journey. McKinsey Solution 2010.
AWARENESS
FAMILIARITY
CONSIDERATION
PURCHASE
LOYALTY
THEN: THE PURCHASE FUNNEL NOW: THE CONSUMER DECISION JOURNEY
EVALUATE
COMMIT
EXPERIENCE
INTEREST
TRIGGER
DECISION
TRIGGER
CONSIDER
BUY

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The consumer decision journey as illustrated on page 11 is largely influenced
by digital - more specifically the social web – underpinned by social media.
Social media has fundamentally affected the travel purchasing landscape and
buying behaviour as consumers look toward reviews and recommendations
rather than a brand’s own messages.
In response to these changes, successful travel brands have re-aligned
their marketing to adapt to the new consumer decision journey. Brands are
frequently using social media to create more targeted and contextualized
experiences when consumers are researching travel products and services,
not only to remain competitive in the marketplace, but also to ensure they are
delivering the right experiences at the right time for consumers.
We have examined the social media marketing communication activity of
travel brands globally over the past 12 months.
To provide structure to the travel social media activity explored, we have
segmented the examples featured into three key phases of the consumer
decision journey:
• Initial consideration – Trigger
• Active evaluation – Information gathering, shopping and buying
• Post purchase experience and advocacy

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Initial consideration – Trigger
Social media plays an important role in the initial consideration stage. Here
marketers have an opportunity to deliver value in the form of information and
entertainment. The purpose of valuable content or ‘social currency’ during
this phase is to generate earned media for a brand, achieving cut through in a
crowded marketplace, thus reaching as wide an audience as possible.
Images & Video content
When in research mode travellers are looking for one of two things, an escape
or new experiences. The challenge for travel marketers is to effectively
inspire, educate, and motivate consumers triggering desire that ultimately
leads to action. High-quality rich content such as video and images creates a
lasting impression and forms an important part of travel marketing strategy.
• As part of its destination marketing campaign, Swedish tourist board
VisitSweden (http://pinterest.com/source/visitsweden.com/) uses Pinterest,
a content sharing platform. The tourist board provided beautiful photo
content for others to pin on their ‘favourite destinations I want to visit’
boards boosting earned media for the brand.
• Destination marketplace Airbnb (https://www.airbnb.co.uk/) borrowed the
visual-based design of Pinterest and created its own Wish Lists on the
platform to help navigate its photo content more easily. Allowing members
to curate their own Wish Lists, and view and share other community
member Wish Lists, stimulates earned media.
• British airline Bmibaby (http://blog.bmibaby.com/mylondon-instameet-
and-photo-tour/) tapped into the photo sharing site Instagram and its
‘Instameet’ service. Instameets are local meet ups for instagram users,
during which users partake on a photo walk around a city whilst taking
photos and posting their experiences from the day, enabling live sharing
with other members of the network. Bmibaby flew Instragramers from
Holland to London to meet fellow London Instagramers so they could
participate in a photo walk of London. The aim of the walk was to capture
beautiful sights of London from individual perspectives using Instagram and
the hashtag #mylondon. The content was then used as a visual destination
guide on Bmibaby’s blog. The London meet-up was part of an ongoing
exchange programme bmibaby ran with Instagramer groups throughout
Europe.
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• Flash Mob videos are now an extremely common form of teaser campaign
to raise awareness and encourage word of mouth activity, but they are still
being executed with great effect. Dubai’s International Airport (http://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=_yXy4YGOyvU), executed a flash mob in their duty
free area featuring travellers and bystanders dancing to a medley of songs.
The Flash Mob was sponsored by United Arab Emirates and the video which
was seeded onto YouTube received over half a million views and become
one of the ‘most shared’ and ‘most viewed’ videos for that week.
• Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) produced a video content promotion ‘Couple
Up To Buckle Up’ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXUbq-3h2HE). The
activity was a 2-for-1 promotional campaign that specifically targeted
couples. To get busy couples to connect, SAS split the campaign video in
half and asked couples to scan two unique QR codes simultaneously on
their smart phones in order to play the video. The two smart phones had to
be touching side-by-side for the video to make sense and for the complete
promotional code to be seen.
• Tourism Queensland’s 2009 campaign ‘The Best Job in The World’ (http://
www.islandreefjob.com) is one of the most cited examples for driving
awareness of a tourist destination globally using social media (http://www.
islandreefjob.com) in particular video content. The campaign was based
on a global recruitment drive to find an Island caretaker of the Great
Barrier Reef’s Islands. The successful applicant would receive a six-month
contract based on Hamilton Island with rent-free accommodation and a
salary of $150,000 (£70,000). Those interested were required to upload a
60-second video application to islandreefjob.com, which was simultaneously
placed on YouTube. The selection process comprised of online voting
and formal interview in Queensland Australia for the final 16 from which a
winner was eventually selected.
• Outdoor adventure company EpicQuest (http://blog.epicquest.com/tag/
video/) provided camera equipment to their heli-ski guests who were then
encouraged to film their own experiences. The footage was then shared
across various social brand outposts for a chance to a win a free heli-ski
trip.
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Branded Entertainment
Branded entertainment is simply communication that plays on people’s
emotions. If the content provides value in the form of entertainment then it
will generate conversations and earned media. For marketers the advantage
of branded entertainment is that you do not need huge budgets to reach an
audience of millions if the content delivers true value. Multi-channel branded
entertainment that incorporates social media and engages an audience on a
deeper level helps build a brand in the mind of the consumer.
• To promote its new bag-tracking mobile app, US airline Delta produced a
video called ‘A Day in the Life of a Checked Bag’ (http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=ocbxS5aWUSo). The video highlighted what happens to luggage
as it moves from check-in conveyor belt to carousel pickup, giving a behind
the scenes glimpse into the adventure of a suitcase.
• US airline JetBlue produced an online game show ‘Get Away With It’ (http://
www.jetbluegetawayspresentsgetawaywithit.com/) that was streamed five
times a day for five days live from a New York studio. The series used
gamification to engage consumers and promote its vacation packages with
new media integration. The game show featured mobile and social media
elements such as Buzzfeed, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and new app
Viggle, and allowed viewers to check-in and earn points for watching.
• Tourism Australia supported the New Zealand television series, ‘Judy
Bailey’s Australia’ (http://tvnz.co.nz/judy-baileys-australia/index-
group-4899838). The show encouraged New Zealand travellers on
Facebook and Twitter to share their own travel experiences. The series
achieved its objective of igniting positive conversations in the form of
earned media amongst New Zealand travellers in the social media space.
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Active evaluation – Information gathering, shopping and buying
Travel planning is both a critical and enjoyable process in which consumers
become deeply engrossed. While in research and planning mode, consumers
frequently read, gather and share travel-related content that has been created
and influenced by peers rather than travel service providers themselves. User
generated reviews help others learn about a travel destination, product or
service, help them evaluate alternatives, help them avoid places they would
not enjoy and also provide them with ideas. In a recent study by Lab42, 77%
of travellers read hotel reviews and 62% read attraction/activity review. For
travel marketers, the opportunity is to understand what motivates people
to take action on reviews, influence the consumer’s information gathering
process and provide utility in travel planning.
Curated & Filtered Content
With 81% of travellers finding reviews by other travellers more helpful
(source: Lab42), it is little wonder that sites based on public reviews such as
TripAdvisor (http://www.tripadvisor.com) are so popular and influential. For
brands with a business model not solely focused on user generated content,
but on high quality professionally produced content, the benefits of giving up
editorial control of this content and encouraging the public to filter and curate
brand owned content can produce valuable earned media.
• Swedish tourist board VisitSweden developed a Twitter campaign called
Curators of Sweden. (http://curatorsofsweden.com/) The Curators of
Sweden program lets ordinary citizens from Sweden take control of the
official @sweden Twitter account for one week at a time. Each curator
shares their own thoughts, stories and information to arouse curiosity and
interest in Sweden. In less than six weeks the official Twitter feed grew to
26,000 followers from 120 countries and other countries tourist boards
have emulated the campaign.
• In a similar campaign to the Curators of Sweden, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel
Company hosted Twitter ‘Global Guest Days’. Every Friday, the hotel
handed over its Twitter account to a guest tweeter from an individual hotel
or resort to get a local perspective from its global properties.
• KLM Dutch airline turned to social media to launch its 4 new flight
destinations in Latin America. The campaign ‘How Latin Are You?’ (http://
www.klm.com/travel/eu_en/about/news_press/travel_news/how_latin_are_
you.htm) used Facebook as a platform and tapped into a local resident at
each destination who shared information and local knowledge with people
wanting to travel there.
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• VIP travel site Jetsetter developed a promotion for users to become a
curator on the site. Using Pinterest as the platform, fans had to pin content
from Jetsetter onto their own pin boards based on travel categories such
as Escape, Adventure. (http://www.jetsetter.com/promo/pinterest). The
boards were judged and prizes were given to the curator with the most
followers and re-pins on Pinterest.
Influencers
Social media has a huge influence on travel plans and ultimately bookings.
Research conducted by travel site Where Are You Now (http://www.wayn.
com), found that of those who used social media to research travel plans, only
48% stuck with their original travel plans. In more detail - 33% changed their
hotel, 7% changed their destination, 10% changed resorts, and 5% changed
airlines.
Word of mouth activity in the form of reviews and recommendations (trusted
sources) was cited as the primary reason for customers changing their minds.
92% of consumers say they trust earned media, such as word of mouth,
above advertising. These trusted sources are being tapped indirectly via
influencer outreach programs, encouraging influencers to produce content
to be shared amongst their social network, helping influence others in their
selection and purchasing decisions.
• The San Juan Marriott Resort developed an influencer program ‘vloggers
in Paradise’. Influential video bloggers were invited to create a short film
in just 48 hours to highlight both the resort and Puerto Rico. Each video
produced was screened at a dedicated film festival, where one winner was
selected. All content was hosted on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/
SanJuanMarriott?sk=videos).
• Luxury hotel and resort ‘Marquis Los Cabos’ maximised the popular
‘Traveller’s Night In’ (http://www.zipsetgo.com/travelers-night) weekly
Twitter chat by hosting a tweet-up involving influencers. The tweet-up
leveraged top influencers around the theme of ‘Mini-Indulgences’ to
engage tweeting travellers. The 90-minute event based on the hashtag
#TNI generated close to 4,500 tweets and more than 1.4 million unique
impressions.
• Palms Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas introduced the ‘Klout Club’. High
ranking social media influencers who visited the hotel received access to
additional amenities during their stay, simply based on their Klout score.
The campaign also encouraged influencers to share their unique VIP
experiences at the Hotel and Casino on their social media profiles.
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Brand Utility – Travel Planning
People with similar travel tastes can meet by using smart services that mix
social, location and demographic data to match profiles. Travel brands are
frequently developing applications in the form of brand utility, looking at
member’s profiles both on their site and across the social graph, and linking
people together based on interests, needs and location.
Social Pairing
• Dutch airline KLM’s Meet & Seat (https://www.klm.com/travel/gb_en/
prepare_for_travel/on_board/Your_seat_on_board/meet_and_seat.htm)
service encourages passengers at the time of online booking to share their
Facebook or LinkedIn profile with others. Customers can then browse the
profiles of those who have made their profile open for the same flight, and
then select a seat next to the individual they find most interesting.
• Invite for a Bite (http://inviteforabite.com/) is a social network offering
women travelling alone all around the world the possibility of dining
together instead of eating alone. Both business and pleasure travellers can
create an invitation sharing where they are, when they are available and
what type of food they would like to eat.
Friend data
• German airline Germanwings developed ‘FriendFlight’ (https://www.
facebook.com/germanwings/app_166113983493709) a Facebook social
booking application that enables users to find the lowest GermanWings
airfares to visit their Facebook friends around Europe.
• iPad travel guide JetPac (https://www.jetpac.com/) is an app that lets users
browse their friends’ public Facebook travel photos to provide inspiration
for future trips.
• Wenzani (http://www.wenzani.com/) from Lonely Planet is an iOS app that
allows users to access reviews and recommendations from a number of
well-known travel publishers, as well as friends, in real-time. Wenzani taps
into the recommendations of publications such as Time Out New York,
Lonely Planet editors and friends on Facebook and Twitter and filters this
content by a series of categories including entertainment and restaurants.
• Facebook application ‘Uptake’ (http://www.uptake.com/) is a utility that taps
into your social travel network on Facebook. If you are looking to find out
more information about a travel destination, the tool helps identify those
friends that have been to the destination you are researching and allows
you to ask for recommendations and tips from those you trust.

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• Hyper personalisation trip planning site GoGoBot (http://www.gogobot.com)
allows users to link to their Facebook and Twitter accounts. When users
are planning a trip or require a recommendation, questions can be posted
to the Gogobot community and at the same time to Facebook friends and
Twitter followers.
• Similar to Gogobot, Trippy (http://www.trippy.com/) assists in planning
trips by pulling friend and community data together to form a detailed and
customised travel itinerary. The application features a map that allows users
to see where others have visited in the area, as well as checking out reviews
and pictures.
Personal data
• Netherlands Board of Tourism and Conventions (in conjunction with airlines
KLM, Air France, and Atout France) developed the Facebook application
‘What’s Your City Self?’ (https://www.facebook.com/AirFranceUSA/
app_142225982540503). Facebook fans took part in a quiz to see if
they are better suited to Paris or Amsterdam. Based on the results,
they received detailed itineraries for that destination as well as pricing
information.
• US airline JetBlue developed ‘Getaways Granter’ (https://www.facebook.
com/JetBlue/app_262509457134634) a Facebook app, it encouraged
workers to use up their holiday time. Workers typed in their days off and
chose from four different destination themes for their getaway. A custom
video could then be sent to the user’s line manager for the getaway
approval.
Social Commerce
Social commerce delivers the opportunity for travel marketers to look beyond
just the sale and focus on both customer experience and transaction. As
more and more consumers spend time on social networks and forums to
search for travel related content, social commerce is being used by brands to
maximise social media programmes at the same time as increasing revenue.
• Dutch airline KLM set up a dedicated Twitter feed @KLMfares (http://
twitter.com/klmfares) for its customers to help find out the lowest available
prices on KLM flights. Prospective customers tweet their destination and
dates. In response to each tweet, KLM replies with a link to the latest deals.
• Groupon the group buying ecommerce platform, partnered with travel
site Expedia to form ‘Getaways’ (http://www.groupon.com/ch/getaways/
subscriptions/new) a daily deals service. The platform enables hotels and
tour operators to offer daily discounts with the ability to make a large
margin on the number of customers buying each specific deal.
casestudiescasestudiescasestudies

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• JetSetter (http://www.jetsetter.com) a member’s only travel discount
site provides private consultations with its network of 200 travel writers.
Consultants are paired with members based on the compatibility of
interests and personality. Consultants will draft itineraries and make
bookings on behalf of their clients.
• Latvian based tech company Reach.ly (http://reach.ly/) filters Twitter
traffic to connect potential Twitter guests with hotels. Using the platform,
hotels can send potential guests a tweet, provide travel information for a
particular destination and send discounts and offers.
• Similarly, TweetAFlight (http://tweetaflight.com/) enables airlines to sell
tickets via Twitter, offering an alternative solution to the go-to flight
websites. The self contained, automated sales channel allows passengers
to purchase tickets by replying to airline tweets with the command ‘buy’.
Post purchase experience and advocacy
More frequently travel consumers use social media such as forums and social
networks to share and validate their purchases. 46% of travellers to hotels
and resorts posted reviews of their experience. What is more interesting is
that 72% of tourists post photos on a social network whilst on holiday, 46%
check-in to a location whilst on holiday, and 70% update their Facebook status
while on holiday (source: Lab42), indicating that the post purchase experience
stage provides an opportunity to join in the conversation. This not only allows
travel marketers to provide contextually relevant content at the time of
update, but by providing an after-sales experience that inspires loyalty, they
encourage repeat purchases and keep competitor products and services at
bay.
travel sector - t h e f uture o f social m edia
casestudies

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Customer Service
To establish long-term relationships and increase the lifetime value of each
and every customer, marketers are looking more toward social media as a
method of following up with customers beyond direct mail and telephone call
centres.
• Dutch airline KLM gathered some of its crew members together to
promote its new 24/7 personal service ‘Live Reply’ (http://blog.klm.com/
live-reply/2562/) via social media. For a day they acted the part of a human
alphabet, spelling out live replies to questions asked by their customers on
Facebook and Twitter.
• Social Brand 100 ranked Chiltern Railways (http://twitter.com/
chilternrailway) uses Twitter on a daily basis as a customer service tool.
However it also recognises and rewards its customers on other social
outposts. Using foursquare they identified the Mayor of Marylebone
Station, Chiltern Railways’ London terminus, and rewarded him with
switching on the Christmas lights at the station, publically recognising him
as a valued customer.
• Fairmont Hotels & Resorts (http://www.fairmont.com/) shared a Facebook
and Twitter fans and followers only coupon in support of ‘Social Media Day’
to provide a discount on services with their community.
Advocacy – Travel Experiences & Storytelling
Post travel, we humans become socially sentimental – 76% of travellers
posted holiday photos to their Facebook page and 55% liked a Facebook
page related specifically to their trip (source: Lab42). Brand utility can be
used to facilitate and tap into this sentimental activity, providing a platform
for memories to be stored in the form of words, pictures and video content.
Brand utilities not only assist in building stronger relationships between
brands and consumers, but develop a community of like minds and a
repository of storytelling content used to target prospective consumers.
• Luxury cruise line P&O developed Postcard Memories (https://www.
facebook.com/pandocruises/app_158519420948155), a Facebook
application that encouraged its community to submit their P&O memories
accompanied by a postcard picture. Each memory was inserted onto
a bespoke timeline building up a journal of user generated stories.
(Disclaimer: P&O Postcard Memories was a project created by Headstream)

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Crowdsourcing & Collaboration
Customer loyalty is predominantly dependent on trust. To develop trust
within relationships, the key is to be open and honest, which in business boils
down to transparency.
Our networked world fuelled by social media has led to like minds connecting
on topics of interest. For savvy marketers, tapping into the thoughts and
knowledge of like minded communities has helped with current and future
product development. On some occasions this has delivered tremendous
competitive advantage.
• Finnish airline Finnair developed ‘Quality Hunters’ (http://qualityhunters2.
com/) in conjunction with Helsinki Airport. As part of the programme,
the airline recruited ‘real people’ via social channels to help evaluate the
airline and offer suggestions on how to improve its service. The activity has
reached more than 15 million people, one of the travel industry’s largest
crowd sourcing campaigns.
casestudies

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summary
The complexity of the consumer decision journey forces brands to adopt new
ways of marketing and this in turn will influence marketing expenditure.
Rather than focus purely on the awareness phase, consideration now needs
to be given to the whole process, ensuring that everything from information
gathering, to post-purchase experiences and support are of consideration.
For the travel sector particular attention needs to be paid to the role
that peer-to-peer recommendation is playing in the purchasing, customer
experience and reviews process. Travel purchases are particularly keenly
researched and the brand needs to be on hand when a prospect or customer
seeks to validate their decisions via social media.
key questions
• Does your social strategy deliver the right content, at the right time,
in the right format for customers?
• Does your marketing provide value of different kinds to customers e.g.
utility, monetary, exclusive information, rather than simply
pushing messages?
• Do you monitor social media effectively, with the intention of joining
conversations at appropriate times?
• Are you listening to your customers’ post-purchase conversations, and
facilitating sharing and customer care where appropriate?
how headstream can help
• Content, channel and community strategy development
• Insights from social media monitoring
• Creative campaigns
• Community management
• Social media training to up-skill in house teams
?
!
Travel purchases are
particularly keenly
researched

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5 • Travel sector - The future of social media
So what is coming next in social media that will be of particular relevance to
travel brands?
The relationship between the travel and tourism industry with technology will
grow ever closer.
Social media, already an integral part of travel marketer’s tool kit, will become
ever more important in the process of promoting services and developing
more intimate relationships with customers.
areas for further study and consideration
To further continue the evolution of social media and create even greater
value for brands, we at Headstream are looking into future developments
within social media and the travel and tourism sectors. The following areas of
research represent more promising possibilities:
always-on marketing
Media fragmentation, connected consumers, and the blurring lines between
advertising and PR led Headstream to develop the Paid, Owned, Earned,
Network and Borrowed media framework (http://blog.stevesponder.com/paid-
owned-network-borrowed-and-earned-media). This framework allowed us to
help plan our client’s content distribution in order to generate earned media.
For brands to be relevant and influence the initial consideration and active
evaluation stage of consumers, content itself can be planned in an ‘always-
on’ strategy (http://www.fivebyfiveuk.com/2012/03/arriving-at-a-definition-
for-always-on-marketing/). As opposed to just focussing on the BIG idea,
marketers should be looking to focus on the LONG idea as coined by
strategist Gareth Kay. Consideration is given to taking the consumer on
a longer journey of engagement and loyalty over time, this is achieved via
valuable pieces of content that stitch together to form a more compelling
campaign.

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Influencers and the Interest Graph
Pinterest’s meteoric rise threw ‘interest networks’ into the spotlight and we
will see more interest-based networks springing up. The life-blood running
through them all will be Facebook and/or Twitter, so that users can achieve
‘look at me’, showing off to their social network when they discover ‘this is me’
content via their interest graph.
Planning and creating content taking into account the interest graph and
influencers will increasingly form part of a travel marketer’s activity. This is
to ensure that the right content reaches the right consumer at the right time
rather than a one-size fits all approach.
Influencers, like most travellers, frequently update their social networks
such as Facebook and Twitter. More consideration will be given to providing
influencers with context rich content that will encourage them to share
content when they are at airports, hotels and resorts, tapping into their social
graph.
Mobile
We will see travel brands experiment more creatively to further empower
mobile users in an attempt to tap into their social networks.
Brands will continue to capture and share postcard moments by serving
them up contextually relevant content that encourages the sharing of images,
status updates and videos amongst social networks increasing word of mouth
activity.
Developments in mobile tech; for example using NFC (near field
communication) and mobile as an authentication device for ticketing and to
gain entrance to events and at the same time checking users in via social
networks, is another consideration. People check in at an airport to receive
their boarding pass and then move into the departure lounge and check in via
Twitter, Facebook and foursquare. This process can be reviewed to achieve
both actions at the same time.
Social data, such as one’s own travel footstep map, can be shared with
others using mobile and GPS adding richer content to travel resource and
information sites/applications.

p age 2 8
Interactive technology
Exciting developments are happening on a daily basis in the areas of touch,
gesture recognition, voice, face detection, eye tracking, thought and smell.
All of these available interactions will have a profound impact on the way
people interact with technology, so much so that in the not too-distant future,
we will interact with technology in the same way we interact with each other –
naturally.
Voice activated search and auto-translation services will become more natural,
allowing us to search for information by voice and translate customer reviews
more effectively.
Rather than using web based search tools for travel bookings you can use
voice to search and retrieve data, similar to asking a travel agent in person.
For example using voice commands you could ask “I’d like to go on a holiday
to Greece between 12th-17th July, budget is £2000” and then context
relevant results would be retrieved.
Thinking beyond a mobile handheld device, Google’s Project Glass (https://
plus.google.com/111626127367496192147/posts) and Microsoft’s
rumoured ‘Fortaleza’ Kinect glasses (http://kotaku.com/fortaleza/) represent
a world of possibility where digital data can be augmented in front of your
eyes. Not only could the glasses help you navigate a tourist attraction, but
automatically display user reviews, price comparisons and allow you to collect
virtual gifts that could be shared with your social network.
Augmented reality
According to Victoria University of Wellington, in Tokyo 30% of bookings are
carried out on the day of arrival via mobile phone.
In the future when we point our mobile phone camera at the hotel, data will
be automatically augmented on screen, for example pricing and customer
reviews, without the need for time consuming search via customer review
sites.
Furthermore augmented content will be considered for all travel related
collateral, for example brochures, tour guides and print ads. In the future
users will be able to point their phone at an ad or image and receive
immersive video and split narrative content delivering a deeper experience
that can be shared or scanned to purchase immediately.

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Connected TV and Apps
Next generation TV known as ‘Connected TV’ leverages the power of the
web. Going forward Connected TVs will offer travel brands a platform to
develop applications such as branded entertainment and utility, allowing users
to access content direct from the sofa in lean back mode. Branded content
such as videos can be enjoyed and shared via social networks on a larger
screen rather than limited to mobile and tablet screens.
Data and the Open Web
As more and more data becomes available, travel decisions will be
considerably influenced by it. For example, crime data in-and-around hotel
locations can be placed alongside hotel reviews. Virus and disease data can
also be used to quantify risk for particular destinations. Transport reliability
data for locations as well as airport delays or train delays for specific routes.
All customer reviews and recommendations that are public can be used as a
barometer that will influence purchase decisions.
The ‘quantified self’ is a movement to incorporate technology into data
acquisition on aspects of a person’s daily life in terms of inputs e.g. food,
travel. The more a consumer opens up privacy in terms of personal data,
the more targeted context relevant content can be. Those travellers who
record all their flight and travel information will have more tailored or custom
experiences based on their ‘taste graph’ so that content on sites can be
served up to them. Customers who open up their profiles can be more easily
targeted with offers and information via geo-fencing and targeting.
Cross sharing of data between travel and other industries will also be
important to find commonalities. For example an automotive company can
share exactly what holidays or destinations a customer has been on and
vice versa thus building a more detailed taste graph. Hunch (http://hunch.
com/) already has an API test tool to allow users and companies to further
understand the taste graph.

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key questions
• How informed, and agile, is your social media team to respond to
new opportunities?
• How does each marketing activity fit into a compelling ‘LONG idea’ for
your brand?
• How are your digital world and real world customer experiences being
coordinated to create a cohesive experience for the customer?
• Do you have a landscape of the relevant interest graphs for your brand?
how headstream can help
• Education and training to keep ahead of latest trends
• Content, channel and community strategy and execution
• Insights from social media monitoring
?
!

p age 3 1
conclusion
Conversation around travel and tourism experiences is a powerful behaviour
amongst humans. This is because these are some of the biggest ticket items
purchased by any consumer, and because holiday and leisure is a precious
time when emotions are heightened.
Now that these conversations are proliferated and made public via social
networks the challenge for travel and tourism brands is to become an
authentic part of the conversation in order to raise awareness, prompt
consideration, and improve customer experience.
With such a wealth of conversation and content being created by the
community everyday savvy brands are realising that the route to success
is increasingly through curating user content, rather than pushing brand
messages.
getting started
To make the most of these opportunities brands should consider:
• making social media an integral and leading part of the marketing strategy,
not an afterthought,
• co-ordinating social media strategy and activity across departments
that may traditionally have been separate e.g. marketing, customer
services, technology,
• introducing real-time social media monitoring,
• creating a 24/7 capability to social engagement via content creation and
community management.
While these developments require significant time investment they will create
a socially enabled retail organisation that is ready to face into the dynamic,
highly informed and smart consumer of the social age.
Talk to Headstream
Twitter: @headstream
Web: www.headstream.com
conclusion and getting started
The challenge for travel
and tourism brands is
to become an authentic
part of the conversation

p age 3 2
how can headstream help?
Headstream is helping marketers across diverse sectors move beyond
funnel-inspired push marketing towards engagement, and building win-win
relationships with prospects and customers. We can help in the
following ways:
education
We offer a broad range of training options, from simple best practice papers
and briefing sessions to in-depth bespoke education programmes. We have
experience of working with senior management on a 1to1 basis through to
sales, marketing, customer service and HR teams.
benchmarking
Using our leading Social Brands 100 methodology we can provide regular
social media performance benchmarking against your key competitors.
planning
We can help you get your thinking straight and work out how you’ll prove ROI.
This is valuable before embarking on any activity or developing your social
media strategy
• audits and social analytics
• insights from social media monitoring
• content , channel and community strategy
• influencer identification
execution
With seven years experience of rolling out successful social activity for
national and global brands we know how to get cut through and build lasting
communities:
• creative campaigns
• influencer outreach
• community management
• content calendars
h eadstrea m

p age 3 3
about headstream
Headstream is a specialist social agency and part of the Lawton
Communications Group. For the past six years we’ve been helping brands
like the BBC, Activision, and McLaren Automotive become more successful
by embedding social into their marketing communications. Headstream is
also the agency behind the influential Social Brands 100 ranking of high
performing social brands. Find out more at www.socialbrands100.com.
we believe
• Social is making marketing exciting again
• Social brings brands closer to customers
• Social should be simple
• When we have fun with our clients, we do better work.
www.headstream.com, or follow us on Twitter @headstream
h eadstrea m

p age 3 4
sources
http://media.visitbritain.com/News-Releases/NEW-INBOUND-TOURISM-
FIGURES-SHOW-PROMISE-AT-KEY-TIME-9f83.aspx
http://www.skyscanner.net/news/Skyscanner Travel Trends 2012.pdf
http://www.inc.com/business-travel-2011/how-social-media-has-changed-
business-travel.html
http://www.travelandleisure.com/smittys
http://www.business2community.com/social-media/social-media-mobile-in-
travel-industry-video-0171437
http://www.stikkymedia.com/articles/2012-social-media-and-tourism-industry-
statistics
http://www.wimdu.it/social-travel-vs-normal-travel.html
http://www.tnooz.com/2012/07/02/news/impact-of-social-media-on-the-
travel-industry-infographic/
http://www.tnooz.com/2012/01/23/how-to/how-rich-visuals-generate-more-
travel-bookings/
http://lab42.com/infographics/techie-traveler
http://www.amadeus.com/sd/x217086.html
http://www.wtmlondon.com/files/news_global_trends_v3_lo.pdf
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/The_consumer_decision_journey_2373
the authors
Julius Duncan – julius.duncan@headstream.com
Tom Chapman – tom.chapman@headstream.com
for more information
Andrea Catt
andrea.catt@headstream.com
+44 (0)23 8082 8520
S ources | aut h ors | f or m ore in f or m ation

Building A Travel Social Brand 2012

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