New England BTA Social Media Presentation

WHAT TRAVEL PAYMENT IS ALL ABOUT.

Social Media in Business Travel

By Rana Walker, PR/Marketing for AirPlus International, Inc.

New England Business Travel Association - January 14, 2010

What's all the "twitter" about?

Agenda

AIRPLUS. WHAT TRAVEL PAYMENT IS ALL ABOUT. P. 2

Definitions and Statistics1. What is Social Media?

Platforms such as Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter2. Sites relevant to our industry

How to network using social media in addition to these meetings3. Industry resources online

Measurements and free analysis4. Facts and the Future

Thank you!5. Q & A

Agenda




How to network using social media to supplement these meetings3. Industry resources online


Thank you!5. Q & A

AIRPLUS. WHAT TRAVEL PAYMENT IS ALL ABOUT.

Social Media – Viral communication at time-warp speed

P. 4


The Social Media conversation-Where are you?

P. 5


What is social media?

P. 6

Past (1.0): talking, selling, marketing

Now (2.0): listening, sharing, participating

The goal is a new Communication routing:

Content – Conversation – Experience – Relationship

It’s a viral and inter-connected network that removes barriers and provides an outlet for results-orientated, deep, quality interactions – all in real-time

Social media platforms are also commonly referred to as Web 2.0


A few stats to get us started…

P. 7

Twitter is the fastest growing site on the Internet- over 1300% year over year – but also slows on activity/retention of user after 60 days

Facebook shows a 276% growth year-over-year in the age group of 35-54 year olds

350 million active users with 65 million+ accessing the site through mobile devices

Translations offered in 70 different languages

93% of Americans believe a company should have a presence in social media and of that 85% feel that they should use it as an active communication vehicle* *2008 Cone Business Study


The Wire…from AirPlus –Survey of corp. travel managers on Social Media

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Surveyed Corporate Travel Managers said:

P. 9

Source: The Wire…from AirPlus May 2009

Agenda




How to network using social media in addition to these meetings3. Industry resources online

Measurements and free analysis 4. Facts and the Future

Thank you!5. Q & A


Common Social Media site in Business Travel

P. 11

Linkedin

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

Communities

Blogs

Others include – Plaxo, MySpace, Xing, etc…

Examples of sites with business applications for our industry:


“Professional” Networks- Linkedin and Plaxo

P. 12


Get involved in “Groups” & their discussions

P. 13


Connect by importing contacts, using suggestions, asking to be introduced

P. 14


“Corporate Travel Manager” on Linkedin yields 102,648

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Use Linkedin to connect in Greater Boston area – 2,903!Get introduced, recommended, and see who’s where!

P. 16


NBTA group – connect and network beyond the national conference & regional events

P. 17


Regional BTAs on Linkedin

P. 18


“Company Page” & “Company Buzz” on Linkedin – research your company’s news & your partners’

P. 19


“I have more friends on Facebook than I had in high school…”

P. 20


“Personal” Networks – MySpace/Facebook

P. 21


Examples of Some Biz Travel Industry Pages-Promos, newsletters, awards, sales and incentives!

P. 22


Use Facebook to promote your company’s CSR activities

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Create Lists to control “who” sees “what” on your page!

P. 24


Privacy Control measures - You have complete control over who sees what on your profile pages

P. 25


Twitter- a micro-blogging phenomenon

P. 26


Twitter- Follow to be followed, re-tweet and link to other platforms where relevant

P. 27


Airlines on Facebook &Twitter-Used for customer service, contests, service updates!

P. 28


Yesterday, Southwest Airlines celebrated One Million Twitter Followers with $10 off flights!


NBTA on Twitter

P. 30


TweetDeck- the value of Twitter is in the LISTENING!

P. 31


Making Social Media work for you!

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1. Define your goals for participation and create a baseline for growth analysis

2. Find networks/platforms that meet your goals and look at pages, companies that are succeeding – and that you like to watch - to use as role models

3. Develop a social media strategy for your company and distribute to employees – develop rules for engagement!

4. Dip your toe in – get online & build a profile, even if you just “listen” at first

5. Manage Expectations!!! Yours & your company/colleagues

6. Promote your presence – don’t wait for something to happen! The rule in these platforms is you GET as much as you GIVE

Six tips to get started:


What should you tweet/write to update your status?

P. 33

Links to interesting online articles and industry resources you value

Links to your own blog or other social media pages

Comments on current events

Observations on travel industry happenings

Share your personality – always be genuine as a fraud is easy to spot online!

Ask questions, answer questions – share your expertise and knowledge!

Invite to events & activities where you/your company will be present

Share promotional activities, contests, CSR efforts

React to all statements about your company, by re-tweeting the positive and being proactive with the negative!

Suggestions for Twitter, Linkedin & Facebook include:

Agenda




How to network using social media to supplement these meetings3. Industry resources online


Thank you!5. Q & A


NBTA’s pages are opportunities to connect -beyond the national conference & regional events

P. 35


ACTE’s pages offer the same opportunity-networking beyond the global events

P. 36


Utilize online industry resources-Find valuable research/whitepapers available for FREE!

P. 37


ACTE/AirPlus WhitepapersEmpowering the Corporate Travel Professional

ACTE in DC/ April 2009- Top 10 Tips for Corporate Travel Managers to bolster their role during a down economy

ACTE in Singapore/August 2009- Successful Travel Management in Asia-Pacific – Challenges and Solutions in a Fast Changing Region

International Travel Management Study/October 2009- Robust study full of global data from the 1,500 corporate travel managers surveyed

ACTE in Prague/October 2009- Post-Recession – Has the travel management landscape changed permanently?

Found online for free download: www.airplus.com, www.airpluscommunity.com, www.acteconnect.org

P. 38


AirPlus Community- www.airpluscommunity.com

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US Media embracing social media-The Beat blog – AirPlus blog by Richard Crum, US Pres.

P. 40


YouTube- Interactive visual platform

P. 41


NBTA has a YouTube channel – Subscribe athttp://www.youtube.com/user/NBTATV

P. 42


Creative Opportunities to leverage involvement- CSR activities

P. 43

Agenda




How to network using social media in addition to these meetings3. Resources online


Thank you!5. Q & A


Facts - Measuring social media success

P. 45

We use Google Analytics for our corporate website and our community.

Also track clicks through press release reporting and via emailing tool

Count the hits, fans, unique views, re-tweets, followers, votes, ratings, diggs, etc…


ROI – Quantitative AND Qualitative

Re-tweets by total exponential audience, rather than simply number of re-tweets

Success factors defined to raise brand awareness – for example, it’s part of our marketing strategy to be a leader in expertise and to share knowledge – our success has been the number of speaking invitations on the topic!

Leads – from events did sales send invites to connect? Did they make an additional connection to a prospect through a virtual introduction?

Internal Communication and Company morale improves through shared knowledge and improved networking

Etc….

Measurement defined on your goals – remember to benchmark!

P. 46


Future- Virtual Tradeshows will not replace face-to-face interaction, but supplement

P. 47

Interactive Virtual Tradeshow Floor Interactive Virtual Tradeshow Floor


Future - Gain insight with Google Trends

P. 48


Future - the future is now!Free industry news/ info delivered to your Inbox

P. 49

Google Alerts – search emails delivered to your inbox on any topic & frequency of your choosing

Examples: NBTA, Corporate Travel, AirPlus International

Free online travel newsletters/updates via e-mail and/or RSS feeds:

www.askbte.com (Redline news)

www.btn.com (eNewsletter)

www.thetransnational.travel

www.travelweekly.com

Agenda




How to network using social media in addition to these meetings3. Resources online

Measurement and free analysis4. Facts and the Future

Thank you!5. Q & A

WHAT TRAVEL PAYMENT IS ALL ABOUT.

P. 51

Rana Walker

PR/Marketing for AirPlus International, Inc.

[email protected]

Visit! www.airplus.com

Follow! www.twitter.com/airplus

Join! www.airpluscommunity.com

Watch! www.youtube.com/airplusintl

Fan! www.facebook.com/airplusinternational

Questions?

Thank you!

Documents

New England BTA Social Media Presentation