Using Social MediaFor Travel Business

Presentation made at India TravelDistribution Summit : 2010

Hareesh Tibrewalahareesh@socialwavelength.com

Agenda

• What can Social Media be used for– Case studies

• Social Media Monitoring– In house study of the domestic airline brands

• Communication Approach• Social Media MegaTrends

What can Social Media be used for

• Brand Building• Generating Sales• Customer Service• Reputation Management• Co creating products• Creating B2B relationships

Manage PR Crisis

• South West Airlines– Autumn 2009

• Aircraft in W.Virginia had to make an emergency landing

• Customer service team kept a close watch on Twitter conversations

• Ready with message if anything about the emergency came up..and it sure did

• Even before mass media put the story out. South West was already there putting out facts and responding to customers

Discounts and Deals

• Farecompare.com– Operate about 160 Twitter

accounts– Accounts are segregated

airport wise– Tweet out latest offers for

outbound travel from that location

– Boon for bargain hunters

Building Online Community

• Virgin Atlantic– Vtravelled.com– Review site where visitors

write their reviews about places they have visited

– Share their pictures– Give recommendations

about where to stay, places to visit, things to do

• BA has now launched Metrotwin in India

Domestic AirlinesSample Conversations

In-house Project By Social Wavelength

Handling Social Media CommunicationHow Jet Blue Does It

• What happened– Flight attendant Slater choose to come down via the

air-chute instead of the normal aircraft exit ! Claims he was provoked to do so

• What Jet Blue did – It wouldn’t be fair for us to point out absurdities in

other corners of the industry without acknowledging when it’s about us….. ongoing investigation…. to recognize our 2,300 fantastic, awesome and professional Inflight crew

Handling Social Media CommunicationHow Jet Blue Does It

• What happened– Looks like Jet Blue’s legal dept is stifling social

media responses. And getting snippy. Not good PR or SM. http://ow.ly/2oqkv #jetblue

• What Jet Blue did – @kathybabb Not entirely. http://bit.ly/aAvnJQ

Handling Social Media CommunicationHow Jet Blue Does It

• What happened– Hey Jet Blue — am hearing that you are giving $100

vouchers to the passengers on Monday’s Flight 1052. True?”

• What Jet Blue did – @BrookebCNN it’s not uncommon to give vouchers

to customers that have an experience outside the norm – including things as simple as no TV!”

Communication Approach

• Social Media is not about shouting out loud. It is about quiet conversations

• You have to learn to listen, before you start talking

• It is about creating “shareable” content. Your users (consumers) are also your content distributors

Communication Approach

• It is not a ‘campaign’, it is a process that will eventually evolve into a culture

• Once you start, there is no going back. Therefore start with baby steps. But start you must

• Social Media is a part of integrated marketing communication…it has to align with your other communication channels

• “Rich content” is the king

Social Media Mega Trends

• Web 2.0 is bigger than Web 1.0• Carry your friends recommendation where ever

you go• Social Media will force us to be more honest• Role of Brand Manager will change : more like

a ATC• Corporate silos will vanish

Questions?

If you need a copy of this presentation, please leave your business card. We

will email it to you.

Hareesh TibrewalaJt. CEO, Social Wavelength.hareesh@socialwavelength.com

Company blog: blog.socialwavelength.comLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/hareeshtibrewala