SOCIAL MEDIA
travellers? Is your online presence set up to facilitate the nonstop flow of photos, videos, comments, reviews, shares and other tidbits that work together to show the world how awesome your business or destination truly is? Social Influence In the age of sharing, travellers are looking for a unique story to tell. Spent your vacation in an allinclusive bubble? Great. So did millions of others. Explored a remote island because a complete stranger on TripAdvisor told you it had better beaches, zero crime and fewer than a dozen tourists at any given time? Now there’s a story your friends will be talking about. Travellers naturally gravitate towards referrals and recommendations. They’re social creatures who want the most out of their trip and the most out of their money, and luckily, social media gives travellers the freedom to be flexible. Thanks to a tip from a stranger, a photo from a friend, a last-minute special, they’ll happily change their plans at a moment’s notice. In fact, World Travel Market found that of those who used social media to research their vacation, only 48 per cent stuck with their original travel plans. Thirty-three per cent changed their hotel, ten per cent switched resorts, eight per cent changed
112 I WTM Business 2012
agent/operator/website, seven per cent holidayed in a different country and five per cent switched airlines. If you’ve ever followed a friend’s travel updates on Facebook or wistfully scanned last-minute flight deals on Twitter, you know just how powerful social media can be. These revealing social media posts tell the story of the destination, heighten emotional decisionmaking and create something tangible to need or want. One minute you’re admiring a photo of a far-flung destination, and the next you’re caught up in an exciting Googling vortex that inevitably ends with a credit card and a call to your boss. But that’s just the thing: social media, like travel, is fun. Travellers look forward to hopping online and extending the life of their vacation, whether it’s through weeks of social pre-planning or reliving the moments years after all is said and done. And businesses get to watch their company shed its physical boundaries and grow into an online destination where user-generated content is king. But best of all, it’s free. Who wouldn’t want be a part of that? n Stikky Media is a digital marketing agency based in Victoria, British Columbia, providing social media marketing, search engine optimisation and other digital marketing services to clients worldwide.