Data showing that search engines now account for less traffic than social networks illustrates two things: search is changing forever and travel companies need to act fast.
Hitwise released an important set of data this afternoon: traffic to social networks in the UK such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounted for 11.88% of all traffic in the country in May 2010, passing the search engines with 11.33%.
[Some have questioned whether a site such as YouTube should be categorised as a social network - read Hitwise's response]
Such changes in online user behaviour are fascinating, but especially for the travel sector where search is such an important part of the discovery process.
First of all the data indicates how omnipresent social networks have become in everyday web use – in this case, Facebook takes a mammoth 55% share of all social networking traffic.
Now it would be interesting to see, as and when such data becomes available, if and how much consumers are using social networks for search.
As Facebook integrates such features as Facebook Questions then it would logical to presume that they will use social media for search even more. And Twitter, for example, can be a reasonably useful search engine for mentions about destinations or travel brands.
So what does this mean for travel?
- A social media strategy should be one of the most important areas in a marketing plan.
- Travel companies must create profiles on social networking sites, especially Facebook.
- Monitoring social media activity should be a requirement, not something that is done haphazardly.
- Companies must engage with users on social networks, understand where and what the conversation is.
- Every part of the marketing plan must be joined up – offline-to-online-to-social.
- Search engine optimisation and keyword buying should have a social element.
Completely agree with your interpretation of what this means for travel. These activities will have to become hardwired into any travel marketing effort. I also share the opinion of Hitwise about YouTube being more of a social network than a search engine.
@joe – I wonder how many people are using YouTube for travel search?
This is such a well received article, our small niche holiday letting agency in Lanzarote, is all about this, and getting to the end user with the right information through social media, and not waisting thousands on non-sustainable search engine marketing.
@fiona – can I ask how much you have shifted (if any) from SEM/SEO to social marketing?
although i believe a social media strategy is crucial and can play a major part in getting the word out, i still believe that the majority of travel research will be done through traditional search engines as long as your social circle cannot get better classified. people (especially the younger demographic) befriend too many irrelevant contacts which will ultimately water down results based on recommendations and connections.
looking at pure lanzarote, i think it’s safe to assume that fiona simply wanted to have her link here with 37 followers and 15 fb friends…
personally, i believe social mobile apps will be the way to go for travel.
travel will remain a product that is not bought as much on impulse like goods that have seen great success being marketed on social networks.
thanks for your feedback Martin. Apologies if our comment was felt to be in appropriate in this arena. We are a small start-up company whose experience lies more in brand building from a consumer product level. We are new to Travel and we are new to Social Media. However, we are learning and embracing, making mistakes everyday!
We are however, passionate about what we do. We offer our clients honest and accurate advise, in an approach, not dissimilar to Peter’s comment about how people turn to their friends for advice on travel, and we hope that building slowly and (hopefully) carefully we will be able to do the same in the online arena.
@fiona – all comments welcome here, don’t worry. I think Martin was assuming your only motivation was to get a link. No-follows anyway, so no juice for you.
@fiona, my comment wasn’t meant to sound condescending – i might have mistaken the part that you don’t “waste thousands on non-sustainable search engine marketing”.
everyone is starting out small and engaging here is definitely heading to the right direction.
Thank you for the article Kevin.
It is by now clear that travel companies engaging in SM strategies to essentially drive bookings should carefully plan the type of relationships they will build in online channels, and even develop SM guidelines (depending on whether the SM responsibility is spread across different staff members/departments).
I tend to think that when travelers look for recommendations on SM Networks, they turn to friends, while turning to travel companies for rates, deals, and to some extent, travel advice.
I also feel if travel companies can manage both of these roles effectively, providing honest recommendations (even when it does not result in conversions), while still selling their product through sharing deals, rates, etc, they can build an effective SM profile.
Interesting to see how social media influences purchase decisions. But it makes sense. When I want a recommendation for a hotel I will post to my wall for suggestions and then check out the suggestions on TripAdvisor. There is so much room for hotels to innovate on social networks in non-intrusive ways. Interesting to read this article after seeing PhoCusWright data from a few months ago. Report started Conversion rates on immediate referrals from Facebook far exceeded those from traveler review sites to both hotels and OTAs. AND, Only 16% of travelers who participate in a social network say they have used it to source information while traveling, and just 7% report following or friending a travel company on a social network or Twitter.
SEM is a dying art anyway since personalisation became the norm at Google HQ. And with GGL integrating twitter etc… into their search results, social media becomes ever more important.
Kevin you are spot on – travel companies beware of ignoring the strength of social media.
I like the social media dynamic for positive information sharing and the birth of referrals in a digital world. I still have reservations about abuse and online reputation management.
I think that individuals should have the power to influence buying decisions but how can we ensure legitimate usage and maintain an abuse-free system.
Seems like online personas will need to move from private/semi-private to “The Matrix” … where the plugged in you is also the real you… only not really real… right?