Travel Tweets Trends Whitepaper

8/3/2019 Travel Tweets Trends Whitepaper

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Travel, Tweets & Trends

Socia l Med ia Usage Patterns AmongTrave l Tour Operators

The Fu l l Report

S e p t e m b e r 2 3 , 2 0 1 0

With observations and commentary from Jay Baer,social media strategist from Convince & Convert


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TRAVEL, TWEETS & TRENDS - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Social Media Usage Patterns Among Travel Tour Operators Page | 1

Established in 1990, the Seattle-based ATTA (www.adventuretravel.biz) is a

global membership organization dedicated to unifying, networking,

professionalizing, promoting and responsibly growing the adventure travel

market.

ATTA members include tour operators, destination marketing organizations,

tourism boards, specialty travel agents, guides, accommodations, media and

service providers.

Host of the annual Adventure Travel World Summit trade conferences

(www.adventuretravelworldsummit.com), the ATTA also makes possible

www.Adventure.Travel, the travelers hub of physical, cultural and nature-based

adventure travel and guide to trusted tour operators from around the globe.

ATTA uses Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and runs its own social network called

The HUB via a Ning online community site.


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Founded in 2005, Resmark Systems offers comprehensive tour operator

software created by tour operators with years of experience.

Resmark Systems software is designed to manage all functions of the tour

operator business from online reservations and marketing to finances and

accounting. Resmark provides proven cost savings, comprehensive tracking and

reporting, plus unparalleled lead conversion.

In addition, Resmark Systems is one of the only solutions seriously focused on

helping tour operators save time and labor costs by automating social media

engagement via email, blogs, Facebook and Twitter.

Resmark clients range from 2 to 50+ users and include companies such as

Nantahala Outdoor Center, Long Point Eco Adventures, Sandals & Beaches

Resorts, and Western River Expeditions.

Visit www.resmarksystems.com to view complimentary webinars, read client

success stories and request a live demonstration.


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Convince & Convert is a social media strategy consultancy that works with

corporate clients and public relations firms on maximizing the impact of social

media participation.

The firm is led by Jay Baer, one of the worlds most popular social media authors

and speakers. He is the co-author of the book The Now Revolution, to be

published in early 2011 by John Wiley & Sons.

A founder of five companies, Baer has worked with more than 700 businesses on

digital marketing and social media strategy, including Nike, Proctor & Gamble,

Cadbury, Arizona Cardinals, Marriott, and more than 25 of the Fortune 1000.

His Convince & Convert blog (www.convinceandconvert.com) is ranked as one of

the Top 25 marketing blogs in the world by AdAge Magazine. He can be found on

Twitter at @jaybaer .

Review Panel:

This group of tour operator marketing professionals assisted in the design of this

research survey and the determination of optimal questions:

Kevin Johnson- Deluxe Digital Media Alexia Nestora- Lasso Communications Kathy Dragon- TravelDragon Jason Reckers- Adventure Travel Trade Association Christina Heyniger- Xola Consulting Chris Noble- World Nomads


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Table of Contents:Overview.......................................................................................................................... 5

Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 7

9 Key Questions.............................................................................................................. 9

This study poses 9 Key Questions that help identify opportunities, concerns, and bestpractices about social media usage within the tour operator industry.

Current Practices.......................................................................................................... 10

Read case studies that provide examples of how tour operators are using Facebook

and alternative social media channels.

Case Study:Sacred Rides......................................................................................... 11

Blogging ...................................................................................................................... 13

Case Study:International Expeditions ....................................................................... 13

Beyond the Basics........................................................................................................ 15

How are tour operators moving beyond using social media as only a headline news

distribution vehicle?

Case Study:Western River Expeditions .................................................................... 16

Special Offers and Twitter........................................................................................... 20

Case Study:Northern Outdoors................................................................................. 20

Social Media & Customer Service............................................................................... 21

Social Media Listening ................................................................................................ 22

Social Media & Marketing Research........................................................................... 23

Business Impact ........................................................................................................... 24

How important are social media efforts to the success of tour operator businesses,

and how do various social media channels contribute to this effort?

YouTube and Review Sites......................................................................................... 25

Effectiveness................................................................................................................. 27

With the exception of email, tour operators are not convinced that specific tactics are

effective. How do tour operators rate the effectiveness of different social media tools?

Behavior Tracking ....................................................................................................... 29

Cost & Budget............................................................................................................... 31

On the whole, personnel and budgetary commitment to social media is modest at this

time. How much time are tour operators spending on social media?

Social Media Budget Growth....................................................................................... 34

9 Key Answers .............................................................................................................. 35

How do we interpret the results of this study and the information in this report?

Answers to the 9 Key Questions will provide you guidance for your social media

strategy planning.


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OverviewThis study uncovered many insights about the tactical, marketing, and

operational realities of social media usage.

North American companies are using social media more frequently overallthan companies from other regions.

In North America, social media offers are more popular. Outside NorthAmerica, social media listening is more prevalent.

Facebook is the dominant social media tactic, with more companies nowusing Facebook than email newsletters.

Twitter and YouTube are also being widely used by tour operators.

Despite its widespread usage, just 43% of companies say social media isquite or extremely important to their business success.

Just 13% of companies cite social media as generating 10% or more oftheir revenue. As the examples demonstrate, the effectiveness of social

media usage may be improved by better strategy and tactics.

The majority (74%) of companies have 3 or fewer employees involved intheir social media efforts, and 29% of companies have just one employee

doing all social media.


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TRAVEL, TWEETS & TRENDS - EXECUTIVE SUMMARYSocial Media Usage Patterns Among Travel Tour Operators Page | 6

69% of companies are spending 10 hours per week or less on their socialmedia programs.

Budgets for social media are very small. 67% of companies are spendingless than $5,000 per year, including labor.


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Introduction

of North American travel tour operators participate in social

media on a daily basis, and 77% participate in social media at least weekly.

The pervasiveness of social media is a major finding of this survey of 225

companies, commissioned by tour operator software company RESMARK

Systems and the Adventure Travel Trade Association.

The research was conducted by Convince & Convert, a social media consultancy

led by Jay Baer; one of the worlds most accomplished social media experts.

Responses from the 23-question online survey were gathered from five

continents, and from small businesses to global organizations with tours in

multiple locations.

This research represents the most current and comprehensive study yet

conducted on the how, ways and whys of social media usage within the travel

and tour operator community.

Study participants represented a wide swath of the tour operator industry in terms

of location and size.


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51% of respondents were located in North America (35% in the United States).

All corners of the globe were represented, with the exception of Antarctica.

Figure 1 Location of Respondents (Where is your company based?)

Companies of all sizes participated, with 58% of all respondents having 10 or

fewer employees, and 28% of respondents having 25 or more employees.

Figure 2 Number of Employees

1.3%2.2%

4.0%4.0%

5.3%7.1%7.1%

8.9%10.2%

14.7%35.1%

Middle EastNorth America - Mexico

AsiaCentral America

Europe - non-UKAustralia

Europe - UKAfrica

South AmericaNorth America - Canada

North America - United States

38.0%

20.8%13.6%

12.7%

7.7% 7.2% # of Employees1-55-1010-2525-5050-100100+


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9 Key QuestionsThis study identifies opportunities, concerns, and best practices about social

media usage within the tour operator industry. The study addresses these

questions and others:

1. What is the appropriate role of Facebook in a social media strategy?2. What other social media outposts beyond Facebook should be

considered?

3. Is a blog a worthwhile social media endeavor?4. Is social medias impact being measured appropriately?5. How much are tour operators spending on social media efforts?6. Is social media more effective than other online tactics like email

marketing?

7. What are the key objectives of social media participation?8. How important is video and YouTube?9. How many people in a company should be involved with social media?


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Current PracticesTour operators are perhaps too focused on Facebook, when other forms of

social engagement might produce superior results, as seen in case study

examples.

Facebook is used at least weekly by 67% of the companies responding to this

survey. This dwarfs all other forms of social media, as Twitter follows with 47%

weekly usage.

Top Rated Daily or Weekly Use Tools

Facebook 67%

Twitter 47%

Company Blog 33%

Monitoring/responding on rating sites like TripAdvisor.com 27%

Youtube 18%

Flickr or other photo sharing site 17%

Email newsletters 17%

Figure 3 Social media tactics used most frequently

Facebook usage is the most popular tactic among companies of all sizes. 86% of

companies with five or more employees working on social media use Facebook

weekly. Further, 52% of companies with only one employee active in social

media use Facebook weekly.


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Facebook can indeed be a successful component of tour operators social media

strategy, and the ease-of-use and huge audience (more than 500 million global

members) is attractive.

Case StudySacred Rides is a global operator of mountain bike tours. On each adventure,participants support a community project during the trip, such as building a

structure to house a village weaving program in Peru. This commitment creates a

never-ending string of stories and memories, which Sacred Rides is chronicling

to rich effect on Facebook and elsewhere in social media.

With more than 4,000 likes on Facebook, Sacred Rides is engaged with a large

number of customers and prospective customers. Wisely, the company doesnt

just promote itself and its trips in this venue, but engages fans by asking them to

participate in a variety of contests, promotions, and special features.

When Sacred Rides uploaded their proposed new mountain bike jersey to

Facebook and asked for comments, more than 100 were posted from fans. Since

then, more than 50 jerseys have been pre-ordered. This is an easy and seamlessprocess, as Sacred Rides has linked their website store to their Facebook fan

page. This is a winning idea, as e-commerce directly or indirectly (in Sacred

Rides case) through Facebook is a rapidly growing trend.


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Sacred Rides is also exemplary in the way they welcome Facebook users to their

page. They have set a custom landing tab (easy to do in Facebook fan page

settings). This custom tab is seen first by anyone visiting Sacred Rides on

Facebook who is not yet a fan. The tab lets first-timers sign up for the Sacred

Rides email newsletter, and encourages a click on the like button. Smart.

Figure 4 - Sacred Rides custom Facebook landing tab. (http://facebook.com/sacredridesmtb)


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Sacred Rides founder Mike Brcic also encourages his guides to connect directly

with future guests on Facebook and Twitter, providing interaction that isn t solely

company-focused.

Facebook should be a part of the social media playbook for all tour operatorsexcept in the cases of certain countries where a different social network is the

dominant player (i.e. Orkut being the dominant player in Brazil and with China still

blocking Facebook usage). However, tour operators reliance upon Facebook

appears to be at the expense of other social initiatives that could reap dividends.

Blogging

One tool tour operators are perhaps not embracing with sufficient vigor is

blogging. Only 53% of companies have a blog today. Clearly, posting information

to Facebook is faster than doing so via a blog. However, the inherent

permanence and searchability of blog content makes it a critically important

tactic. Within the next 12 months, 71% of responding companies plan to have a

blog, making it the tactic most likely to grow in the coming year. Lets hope for the

industrys sake that adoption indeed occurs.

Case Study Nature and conservation focused tour company International Expeditions has

been active in social media for the past two years. According to Creative

Services Manager Emily Harley, the lynchpin of the companys social program is

its blog.

Ms. Harley writes two or three posts weekly, and the blog is now sending more

than 1,000 visitors monthly to the main International Expeditions website.

Wisely, the blog posts are rarely about International Expeditions, which can make

customers feel that a blog is just another marketing ploy. Rather, they are about

the companys guests, destinations, and the interesting cultures they encounter


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on their journey, telling powerful stories. The example below shows a post

covering new ceremonial items unearthed in Perus Machu Picchu, with related

posts from the International Expeditions blog archives that include Peru travel

tips, and a parade of cows! This kind of information draws people in and keeps

them coming back.

International Expeditions is also using the Facebook like button for each blog

post. If readers click that button, it will show up in their Facebook news feed for

all their friends to see. This is a best practice, and is relatively easy to accomplish

with straightforward Web or blog programming.

Figure 5 International Expeditions blog (http://ietravel.com/blog)


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Beyond the BasicsTour operators are doing a good job of connecting with current customers

via social media, and some are moving beyond use of social media as a

headline news distribution vehicle.

70% of companies are using social media to connect with their existing

customers. This is the second highest objective for social media participation,

behind awareness building at 83%.

Figure 6 Social media objectives

As companiescommitment to social media grows, their usage of social media to

connect with customers becomes even more likely. 83% of companies with five

or more employees participating in social media interact with customers,

compared to 61% of all companies.

82.9%

70.1%

61.1%

57.3%

31.8%

29.9%

26.1%

We are using social media to growawareness of our company

We are using social media to connect with

our existing customers to drive repeatbusiness

We are using social media to connect withour upcoming customers

We are using social media to promote special

offers and discounts

We are using social media to providecustomer service

We are using social media to solicit new

ideas from our customers

We are using social media to connect withmedia (reporters and the press)


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This isnt surprising. One of the great fallacies of social media is that it s

inexpensive. Its not inexpensive, its different expensive. Capital outlay and

advertising expense is replaced by time. Labor is by far the biggest social media

expenditure. These findings indicate that once companies have the basics

covered (primarily awareness building, per the survey results), they move into theeven more time-intensive social media tactics, such as interacting with customers

on a near 1:1 basis, (were back to the basics of human interaction) and social

media listening.

Case StudyWestern River Expeditions, with its home office in Salt Lake City, Utah, has been

offering trips in Grand Canyon, Utah and Idaho for the past 50 years.

In 2005, Western River began to look for a better way to create more

personalized emails and marketing. Finding none, they teamed up with a group

of developers and helped create Resmark Systems, the co-sponsor of this study.

Today, Resmark not only provides a reservation system, but also a sophisticated,

integrated marketing program that allows Western to automatically email guests

and customers at key times:

After a potential customer inquires about a trip After a guest makes a reservation Before and after a guest participates in a trip

The triggered emails invite them to engage with the company in social media and

in email conversations with reservation staff. Because of the database nature ofResmark, the emails are customized to the guests profile and history. This way,

if someone wants to travel to Utah, they get an email about Utah and not about

Idaho.


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Brandon Lake, Vice President of Western River Expeditions, explains how it

works. For me, marketing today is about engagement. It s about human

interaction. Ironically, its these automated emails, sent at just the right time in the

customers buying cycle, that engage a human conversation with us. Each email

is dynamically crafted to address their exact need according to their inquiry.

In the past, we could never start conversations like these by sending a catalog,

placing some ads, and blasting out a monthly newsletter. Resmark s triggered

emails and the use of social media have revolutionized the way we interact with

our potential customers. Since starting this program, Westerns booking rate of

potential guests that inquire about the company has more than doubled.

In addition to emails sent to potential guests, Western also triggers emails to

those who have just made a reservation or returned from a trip. These emails

encourage interaction with Westerns Facebook page. This allows conversations

to continue between fans, which have grown to nearly 6,000 in less than a year.

If you look at the companys Facebook page, note that most of the interaction is

occurring between fans, helping build credibility and community among

prospective and former guests.


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Figure 7 Western River Facebook interactions

In addition, Western River uses a triggered email to help guests post their trip

review and story in the companys blog.

Once the trip is complete, Resmark triggers an email asking them to review their

experience with Western. Amazingly, nearly half of Westerns guests contribute a

review. This information is automatically added to the Western River blog,

Twitter, and Facebook, creating more social media content and engagement.

After the guests story is posted, Resmark sends another automated email asking

them to share their story with their friends. Guests then promote their story on

Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere, increasing visibility for Western River, and

triggering a viral interest effect.


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Figure 8 Western River Share Your Story Email

More than 1,100 guests have shared their stories online since the program was

launched in spring, 2010.

In addition to the excellent closed loop automation and terrific success, this

program is noteworthy because it turns customers into marketers. Too often,

companies fall into the trap of thinking that social media is another way to tell

their story. When in reality, a better use of social media is as a vehicle to turn

customers into advocates. By using database-driven marketing through Resmark

Systems, Western River is allowing guests to tell their own stories.


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Special Offers and Twitter

In terms of using social media to promote

special offers, 57% of total respondents are

engaged in this tactic. The usage of this

approach differs by geography, however. In

North America, 70% of companies are

promoting special offers in social media. In the

rest of the world, just 43% of companies are

participating in this way. This is largely due to

the prevalence of Twitter in North America, as

Twitter-based special offers are a common

occurrence.

56% of North American survey participants use Twitter at least weekly, compared

to just 35% in the rest of the world.

Case Study Maines oldest rafting outfitter, Northern Outdoors has an active Twitter program

(@maineoutdoors) where the goal is to support Maine travel and tourism news

and organizations. The company also has a robust Facebook presence, and the

Northern Outdoors blog is updated eight to 10 times monthly.

To gauge the effectiveness of their social media outposts in a direct sales

environment, Julie Thorner, President of Willow Works - Northern Outdoors

marketing partner - developed a test.

Northern Outdoors promoted a last-minute rafting trip on the Kennebec River. No

discounts were offered, just notification of the impending deadline for the special,

high water trip. Within one week, Northern Outdoors had received more than 60

reservations for the trip.


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In social media, we want to do just a few things, but do them well, concentrating

on the places with the largest user base, says Ms. Thorner.

Figure 9 Northern Outdoors on Twitter (http://twitter.com/maineadventures)

Social Media & Customer Service

Somewhat mysteriously, relatively few tour

operators are using social media as a customer

service opportunity. Just 32% are doing so

today. Perhaps its because using Twitter to ask

a company a question can be difficult when

youre on a Peruvian mountain bike ride, but

many businesses are using Twitter (primarily)

and Facebook as outgrowths of their existing

telephone and email customer service

mechanisms.

As a comparison, Microsofts Xbox division uses its @Xboxsupport account on

Twitter to reduce customer service costs while satisfying customers. In fact, they

were recently awarded with a Guinness World Record as the most responsive


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brand on Twitter, after responding to more than 5,000 questions in an average

response time of two minutes, forty-two seconds.

McKenzie Eakin, the Sky Captain of the Xbox Elite Twitter Fleet, notes that the

type of engagement happening between the company and its customers wouldrarely reach a call center. The team is constantly monitoring for mentions of Xbox

on Twitter, and then sends Twitter messages solving the problem before a phone

call (which is expensive for the company to field) is ever placed.

To accomplish this, the Elite Twitter Fleet at Xbox includes 10 full-time support

representatives, each monitoring Twitter and other social outposts for mentions

of the brand and related keywords. This is of course a sizable corporatecommitment, but Ms. Eakin reports that customer satisfaction and issue

resolution rates for people helped on Twitter are through the roof. Proactive

customer serviceis a really magical experience, and I think that in particular

drives our customer satisfaction, she says.

Although tour operators dont field technical support issues, companies may want

to consider a social monitoring tool to respond to both positive and negative

mentions about their brand.

Social Media Listening

Only 27% of companies monitor and/or respond to reviews about them on travel

ratings and reviews sites like Tripadvisor.com. This is an unsettling finding, as

customers taking the time to write a review (positive or negative) merit immediate

and constant attention.

In an interesting geographical note, companies located outside of North America

are more prone to be monitoring Tripadvisor.com and similar sites, with 31% of

tour operators doing so weekly or more, compared to 24% in North America.


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Business ImpactDespite widespread usage of social media, tour operators are largely

uncertain about its impacts on their business.

Only 43% of respondents cite social media as being quite or extremely important

to the success of their businesses, and 18% do not know yet whether social

media has an impact.

This indicates the adoption of social media is relatively new and immature among

tour operators, many of whom view social media as experimental at this time.

Q: How important are social media efforts to the success of your business?

Figure 10 Impact of social media on business

There is a correlation between how often companies use social media, and how

much of an impact they believe its had. Of the companies that deemed social

media to be extremely important to their business, 91% of them use Facebook

15.3%

27.5%

20.3%

15.8%

3.2%

18.0%

Extremely important

Quite important

Moderately important

Somewhat important

Not at all important

Don't know yet


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at least weekly. This compares to the 67% of all companies that use Facebook at

least weekly.

We do not believe Facebook to be the magic tactic that leads to business

impact, but social media participation appears to be somewhat of a self-fulfillingprophecy. The more you use it, the more it works. So you use it even more. And

it works better. This could be a matter of perception, or a byproduct of greater

social media time investment paying off in results, or both.

YouTube and Review Sites

Beyond Facebook, there are also interesting ties between companies use of

YouTube and their monitoring of ratings/reviews sites (like Tripadvisor.com), and

social media impact.

Among companies that say social media is extremely important to their business

success, 34% use YouTube weekly or more. Among companies that say social

media is quite important to their business success, 21% use YouTube weekly or

more. Among companies that say social media is moderately important to their

business success, 14% use YouTube weekly or more. (meaning they post videos

weekly on YouTube).

Some tour operators are equipping guides with portable HD cameras (sometimes

even strapping them to mountain bike handlebars), and creating on-the-fly video

from exciting destinations.

Other companies focus on testimonials, and use documentary style footage of

guests to build credibility and comfort among prospective trip goers.

Among companies that say social media is extremely important to their

business success, 51% monitor Trip Advisor or similar sites weekly or more.

Among companies that say social media is quite important to their business

success, 32% monitor Trip Advisor or similar sites weekly or more. Among


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companies that say social media is moderately important to their business

success, 23% monitor Trip Advisor or similar sites weekly or more.

It is impossible to determine whether YouTube participation and review site

monitoring are causes of social media impact, or effects of social mediaenthusiasm. In either case, once companies determine that social media works

for them, they tend to move beyond Facebook and Twitter, and begin embracing

video uploading and monitoring review sites.


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EffectivenessWith the exception of email, tour operators are not convinced that specific

tactics are effective.

Q: Which of these social media tools has proven most effective (measured

generally by increased traffic, inquiries, and/or bookings) for your company?

(Not effective, Somewhat effective, Very effective, Don't know, N/A)

Top Rated Effective or Very Effective Tools

Email newsletters 54%

Facebook 38%

YouTube 28%

Monitoring/responding on rating sites like TripAdvisor.com 27%

Company Blog 25%

Twitter 17%

Commenting on other blogs 12%

Figure 11 Effectiveness of Social Media Tactics

Email newsletters are viewed as effective or

very effective by 54% of companies. Facebook

is the highest-rated social media tactic at 38%,

with no other tactic cracking the 30% mark. This

is interesting because many companies are still

using batch and blast email newsletters, where

all subscribers receive the same message, at

the same time. Personalized and customized


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email programs (like that employed by Western River) would likely improve email

results even further.

In a related finding, 57% of survey respondents believe the returns on social

media are unclear, and 35% view social media as an experiment.

Figure 12 Attitudes About Social Media

Its very interesting to note that while more than half of companies are unclear

about social medias returns, only 13.5% have a specific set of success metrics

used to measure social media success.

This gap between measurement and perceived outcomes is a major recurring

theme throughout this study, and is a common occurrence among companies

with relatively nascent social media efforts.

15.7%

6.3%

8.1%

13.5%

23.8%

27.4%

28.3%

31.4%

35.4%

57.0%

Other, please specify

We're not ready to get involved yet

I feel like this is a fad or trend

We have a specific set of metrics to measure

our social media success

We are using social media because ourcompetitors are using it

Social media efforts have helped us grow ourbusiness

Our social media efforts help us understand

our customers

Social media is a critically important part ofour marketing and customer service

We currently view social media as anexperiment

The returns on social media and marketing

are unclear so far


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Unfortunately, the low start-up costs for social

media make it quite reasonable to dive in

experimentally, just to see what happens. But

without determining at the outset why the

company is involved, and how it will measurethe success of that involvement, social media

participants often find themselves spending time

with no scoreboard to justify that expenditure.

The best practice is to select social media

success metrics (usually three or so) that either

directly or indirectly benefit the company, andrigorously measure progress against those

objectives.

Superior metrics are those that generate

revenue, or measure behavior that leads to

revenue (or customer retention). Certainly, direct sales via social media is a

fantastic metric, and Sacred Rides selling of mountain bike jerseys on Facebook

is a good example.

Behavior Tracking

In addition to measuring direct sales via social media, savvy companies are

studying how social media outposts impact visits to their website and other

revenue-generating components.

International Expeditions Facebook page generates more than 80 brochure

requests per week. This doesnt produce revenue per se, but certainly creates

important classically measurable customer behavior that leads to revenue.


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Companies that are just getting started with social media are primarily relying

upon the obvious, public success metrics like number of followers on Twitter, and

number of likes on Facebook, as the chart below indicates.

Among companies that deemed social media as extremely important to theirbusiness, 53% are tracking visits to social media destinations. Only 34% of all

respondents are doing so.

Figure 13 Social Media Measurement Schemes

In a companion finding to the fact that relatively few companies (especially in

North America) are monitoring ratings/review sites, only 24% of respondents use

the number of user reviews of their company as social media success metric.

Since these consumers are motivated enough to write a review, we recommend

that more attention be paid to this metric.

7.9%15.9%17.8%18.7%

24.3%29.9%

33.6%34.6%

44.9%72.9%

Other (please specify)Participation in social media contests or

promotions

Number of blog or forum or message board

posts

We don't currently track these effortsNumber of user reviews

Direct sales from social media destinations

Visits to your various social media

destinations

Unique visits (per month) to your socialmedia destinations

Number of subscribers to blog and/or emailNumber of followers or fans


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Cost & BudgetOn the whole, operational (e.g., personnel, budgetary, etc.) commitment to

social media is modest at this time.

62% of all companies have between zero and

two employees involved in social media in some

fashion, and just 14% have five or more team

members participating.

Because very few companies have full-time

social media managers, the survey also included

a question about total hours devoted to social

engagement. 76% of companies are spending

between zero and 10 hours on social media

each week.

10 hours per week is not a particularly robust time allocation to social media, a

marketing and customer satisfaction method that is highly time intensive.

Perhaps one of the reasons social medias impact remains murky for many tour

operators is their relatively low level of commitment to social media and lack of

confidence in their methods.


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TRAVEL, TWEETS & TRENDS - EXECUTIVE SUMMARYSocial Media Usage Patterns Among Travel Tour Operators Page | 32

Q: About how many hours per week does your staff and company devote to

social media efforts?

Figure 14 Time Spent on Social Media

Examined from the opposite direction, however, even 10 hours per week at a

$40,000 per year average salary equates to $800 per month in social media labor

equivalency (before benefits), making even 10 hours per week a meaningful

participation for smaller companies. A separate ATTA survey in 2010 found that

nearly half of adventure tour operators have marketing budgets of $50,000 per

year or less.

At the opposite end of the respondent pool, fewer than 9% of companies are

setting aside even $25,000 per year as a social media budget. This no doubt is

influenced by the widespread perception that social media is free, although the

time needed to do social media well is not to be overlooked.

Not all social media successes need to be time intensive, however. The initial

set-up and integration of the Western River/RESMARK guest email and social

media program was significant. Now that the program is operational, however,

Western River spends just a few hours monthly approving guest emails. The rest

1.4%1.8%

5.4%8.6%

27.6%41.6%

6.8%

6.8%

40 or more hours30-40 hours20-30 hours10-20 hours5-10 hours1-5 hours

None

Not sure


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of the program runs automatically. Other tour companies can now take

advantage of this same process via RESMARK for much less than it would cost

in labor.

An examination of the companies that have the most financial gain from socialmedia bears this out. 13 respondents say they derive 20% or more of their

revenue from social media. Among them, 12 spend 10 hours per week or less on

social media.

These companies are either extraordinarily effective at creating special offers and

tying social media to revenue generation, or have gone the route of Western

River

s strategies and reached a level of social media participation whereinvesting in semi-automation is viable and profitable over the long term.


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Social Media Budget Growth75% of respondents indicate that their budgets for social media will increase in

the next 12 months.

But, 61% of companies will increase social media budgets 20% or less, and 48%

will increase budgets 10% or less. 13% of companies will increase social media

budgets by more than 20% next year.

Q: How much will your budget (including labor) for social media increase in the

next 12 months?

Figure 15 Projected Growth in Social Media Budgets

2.8%3.3%

1.4%5.7%

13.2%20.3%

28.3%25.0%

More than 50%40-50%30-40%20-30%10-20%5-10%1-5%None


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9 Key AnswersSo, how do we interpret the results of this study and the information in this

report? What should you be considering when planning your social media

strategies? The following are the answers to the 9 Key Questions proposed at

the beginning of this report.

1. What is the appropriate role of Facebook in a social media strategy?Facebook is being used by most tour operators, and the percentage of

survey respondents likely to be using Facebook by next year exceeds

90%. Facebooks large (and still growing) global audience is attractive, as

is its low cost and ease-of-use. However, the overwhelming use of

Facebook among tour operators (and other types of companies)

sometimes comes at the expense of other possible social participation.

Putting all social eggs in the Facebook basket could be considered a

limiting (and potentially dangerous) scenario.

2. What other social media outposts beyond Facebook should beconsidered?

In comparison to other tactics like Twitter and Facebook, not enough tour

operators are monitoring ratings and reviews sites like TripAdvisor.com

and Yelp.com, where their best (or most frustrated) customers may be

talking about the company.

Lastly, the research shows that companies that are most fully committed tosocial media are using video content (predominantly YouTube) on at least

a weekly basis.


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3. Is a blog a worthwhile social media endeavor?Fewer than half of the survey participants are blogging at this time. While it

can require substantial effort to create original content frequently, the

Western River case study (powered by Resmark) demonstrates that allblog content creation doesnt have to be manual.

More importantly, blog content has permanence, searchability, education,

and humanization qualities that other social tactics cannot match.

4. Is social medias impact being measured appropriately?Largely, no. Most tour operators (and companies in other industries, forthat matter) are using metrics such as number of Twitter followers and

number of Facebook likes as a key success metric.

There are two flaws in that approach. First, it presumes that following a

company on Twitter is a significant customer behavior, when in reality it

takes literally one click to follow.

Second, it presumes that amassing followers and likes is somehow tied to

business success. No tour operator is in the Twitter follower acquisition

business. At best, these metrics are trends that demonstrate greater

awareness of the brand. Remember, the goal isnt to be good at social

media, its to be good at business by using social media.

Survey respondents need to dig deeper mathematically, and begin tracking

website traffic, leads, and sales, as demonstrated by Sacred Rides and

Northern Outdoors.


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5. How much are tour operators spending on social media efforts?Hardly anything. The significant majority (90%+) are spending less than

$25,000 per year on social media, including labor costs.

There appears to be a situation within the tour operator community where

belief in the power of social media to impact the business is fairly strong,

but the ability to prove that impact and sizable monetary and personnel

commitments are mostly absent.

Based on the research, the current thinking about social media amongmost tour operators is: We like social media. Our customers seem to like

to interact with us there. We think it works, but were not really sure why, or

in what ways. Were not spending any money on it to speak of, but it

seems to be working okay as is.

But the companies that have most fully committed to social media, and are

spending more time and money on it, are also the companies that rate

social media as more impactful to their business, and are tracking social

media in a more efficient and scientific fashion.

Are companies that are more active in social media successful due to the

scope of their participation? Or, are they highly active because theyve

seen success? Its unclear at this time. However, in most other industries,

expansion of social media efforts often follows initial successes and

positive feedback.

Consequently, the tour operators that are unsure of social medias impact,

and participating in a minor way should first focus on measuring and


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proving the success of their current program, before worrying about how to

expand and enhance their efforts.

6. Is social media more effective than other online tactics like emailmarketing?Based on these findings, no. Email marketing is deemed to be the most

effective tactic, followed by Facebook. YouTube and blogging are next.

Twitter is viewed as effective or very effective by just 17% of survey

respondents.

Tour operators are largely uncertain (or even dubious) about the

effectiveness of particular social media tactics. However, whether this isdue to lack of rigor in results tracking, misguided strategy, or truly that

certain tactics simply do not perform for this industry, is unclear at this time.

7. What are the key objectives of social media participation?For the majority of tour operators, generating awareness is the top priority

(83%). Connecting with existing customers is next, followed by connecting

with current customers, and sending out special offers.

Awareness is valuable, but given the social media tactical mix of many tour

operators, this objective may be out of alignment. Facebook dominates the

social marketing approach of a significant majority of survey respondents.

Yet, Facebook (with the exception of Facebook ads), is not really

constructed to drive newfound awareness. Instead, Facebook often serves

the role of a post-modern email newsletter, enabling companies to connect

with current and prospective customers who already are aware of the

company, and are either seeking more input to reach a buying decision; or

are brand advocates that simply love interacting with and on behalf of the

company.


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Its a positive sign to see so many tour operators indicate that engaging

with current customers is a core objective, as that is an excellent rationale

to use Facebook. In fact, the tour operators that are most active in social

media in general are the ones most likely to engage with current

customers.

Special offer distribution is often associated with Twitter, and use of social

media for offers is much more likely among North American survey

participants than in the rest of the world. Given that Twitter is also more

likely to be used in North America, this makes sense, and is an appropriate

objective (although somewhat limiting). A better Twitter approach is to mix

offers and promotional content with broader, educational and interestinginformation, as demonstrated by Northern Outdoors.

8. How important is video and YouTube?Evidence is mixed. YouTube is deemed to be effective or very effective

by 28% of tour operators participating in this research. However, among

companies that are particularly active in social media, video participation is

much higher.

The consumption of video content is skyrocketing. 127 million Americans

watched at least one video online in December, 2009. And, as mobile

video becomes more prevalent, consumption will continue to rise,

especially in countries with faster mobile broadband (Asia, most notably).

Video has two key benefits that other forms of social media do not. It is

visceral, and can tell stories with power and nuance that blog posts and

photos dont possess. This is why television is popular, and why television

advertising is still a colossal industry.


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Second, video has exceptional search benefits. YouTube is the second

largest search engine in the U.S. Google (which not coincidentally owns

YouTube) very much wants to provide searchers with multi-media search

results that include photos, videos, tweets and more. Consequently (for

now at least) it is easier to get a Top 10 ranking in Google with a solid,search optimized video, than it is with a blog post or other piece of content

not to mention the other exposure via YouTube and other video sites.

The cost of video is minimal, and tour operators universally have stories to

tell with breathtaking scenery and interesting people. Every tour operator

needs to start thinking of their company as a TV station.

9. How many people in a company should be involved with socialmedia?

There is no right answer to this question, but today most tour operators are

devoting very few people to the social media effort. 57% of survey

respondents have one or two people involved in social media in some

capacity.

While centralizing certain social media chores such as Facebook updates,

blog management, etc. with one or two people makes operational sense,

the objective of social media is often to humanize the company to create

kinship between the brand and prospective customers.

Creating kinship is best achieved with a broad social media program, as it

puts more of your companys personality on display. While the

coordination can be somewhat challenging at first, the best social media

programs encourage all or nearly all employees to be active. This is

perhaps best demonstrated by Zappos.com the online retailer which

has more than 500 employees active on Twitter.


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The tour operator industry is perfect for this approach. The companies in

this category arent filled with uninteresting people working a desk job.

They are filled with adventurers, risk-takers, dreamers, poets, and people

that create memories.

Dont hide what makes this industry special. Encourage all guides and

other team members to blog, tweet, update Facebook, shoot video and

otherwise interact in social media. If they arent technical, train them. If

they are self-conscious, show them that it isnt a Hollywood production, its

YouTube.

Almost all tour operators are embracing social media in some way. Nowits time to take the next step.

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Travel Tweets Trends Whitepaper