Wisconsin BTA Social Media Presentation

WHAT TRAVEL PAYMENT IS ALL ABOUT.

Social Media in Business Travel

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

Wisconsin Business Travel Association - January 13, 2010

What's all the "twitter" about?

Agenda

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

Definitions, stats and examples1. What is Social Media?

Sites relevant to business travel2. How to get involved

How to network in addition to these meetings3. Resources online

Fears, facts and the future4. Why get involved?

Thank you!

5. Q & A

Agenda






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:

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Source: The Wire…from AirPlus May 2009

Agenda






Thank you!

5. Q & A


Social Media platforms –

P. 11

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

2. Find networks/platforms that meet those goals then find pages, companies that are succeeding to use as role models

3. Dip your toe in – get online & build a profile, even if to just listen at first

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

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

Five tips to get started:


Common Social Media site in Business Travel

P. 12

Linkedin

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

Communities

Blogs

Others include – Plaxo, MySpace, Xing, etc…

Examples of sites most often – and most successfully – utilized:


“Professional” Networks- Linkedin and Plaxo

P. 13


Get involved in “Groups” & their discussions

P. 14


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

P. 15


Linkedin search for “Corporate Travel Manager” yields…

P. 16


Use Linkedin to connect in Milwaukee– Get introduced, recommended, and see who’s where!

P. 17


Wisconsin Business Travel Association on Linkedin

P. 18


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

P. 19


“Personal” Networks- Facebook/MySpace

P. 20


Examples of Some Biz Travel Industry Pages-Stay up to date on promos, sales and incentives!

P. 21


Twitter- follower number steadily grows, as do the “retweets!”

P. 22


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

P. 23


NBTA on Twitter

P. 24


TweetDeck- the value of Twitter is in the LISTENING!

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What should you tweet / write to update your status?

P. 26

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 positive and re-acting to negative!

Suggestions for Twitter, Linkedin & Facebook include:

Agenda






Thank you!

5. Q & A


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

P. 28


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

P. 29


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

P. 30


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. 31

http://www.airplus.com/

http://www.airpluscommunity.com/

http://www.acteconnect.org/


AirPlus Community- www.airpluscommunity.com

P. 32


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

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Creative Opportunities to leverage involvement- CSR activities

P. 34


YouTube- Interactive visual platform

P. 35

Agenda






Thank you!

5. Q & A


Fears -Common Arguments

P. 37

It takes too much time to get involved in all

Be picky, choose the site or two that is most beneficial/meets your goals

If the President of the United States sees value in it… if the leading brands worldwide are using it to expand and succeed, if the major news outlets now get their news tips by it… why not you?

After initial time investment to understand a platform’s features– it’s easy to maintain a presence with only 30 minutes a week!

My argument is - you can’t afford NOT to pay attention to what’s going on and there is no time like the present! You risk becoming irrelevant if not…

Eventually it becomes so much a part of your routine, you won’t remember how NOT to do it!


Fears -Common Arguments (2)

P. 38

I don’t care if someone just walked their dog or watered their flowers!

Streamline who you follow

Hide the updates you don’t want – they’ll never know!

I don’t know how to get started

Great bonding with the younger generation - ask anyone under the age of 30 (a relative – niece, nephew, son or daughter or even colleague or neighbor)

Google online video tips to get started & attend free webinars

Ask me for help! [email protected]


Fears - Common Arguments (3)

P. 39

My Company doesn’t allow me to go online during work hours

Be your company’s champion by addressing concerns with facts and logic, show success stories and reasons for becoming involved

I can’t control what people write and that makes me nervous

You shouldn’t try to control it – in turn, encourage open dialogue and involvement which will then provide you with full monitoring capability!

And in truth, you can’t control today what people say… so at least when they write it, you know for certain from whom it came, so to analyze/get to the root of the issue readily

But you can control WHO sees WHAT on your pages/profiles! An example is to group people on Facebook


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

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Fears -Common Arguments (4)

P. 41

Legal ramifications – the Internet is forever!

It’s extremely important for a company to give all employees a social media guideline – there are many examples online for review

A good rule of thumb is, if you question whether you should write it – then DON’T write it!

Or a more stringent approach is an old Churchill quote:

"Don't write anything you can phone. Don't phone anything you can talk {say in person}. Don't say anything you can smile. Don’t smile anything you can wink. And don‘t wink anything you can nod.“


Facts - Measuring social media success

P. 42

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…

Quality vs. Quantity is key!


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

P. 43

Interactive Virtual Tradeshow Floor


Future-Gain insight with Google Trends

P. 44


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

P. 45

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

http://www.askbte.com/

http://www.btn.com/

http://www.thetransnational.travel/

http://www.travelweekly.com/

Agenda






Thank you!

5. Q & A

WHAT TRAVEL PAYMENT IS ALL ABOUT.

P. 47

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

Wisconsin BTA Social Media Presentation