Social Media Expands Horizon for Travel and Hotel Companies

There’s an explosion of social media sites that are ready to assist the travel and hospitality industry reach out to both, their existing as well as potential customers. As users increasingly use forums, review sites and social networking sites to share their experience, seek answers to their queries and assist others in need, the popularity of these social media platforms is certainly on the rise.

While Facebook and Twitter are still the favourites for most of the travel and hotel companies, other niche sites like WAYN, LonelyPlanet, Virtual Tourist, etc. are making their presence felt as well. They are soon becoming an online destination for users to share their travel pictures, likes and dislikes, views and knowledge about a particular place, etc.

When it comes to social media marketing, every industry has to take a unique approach. For example, an industry like travel and hospitality could make use of niche sites as mentioned above, along with Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Travelistic, etc. On the other hand, an industry like technology/gadgets could leverage Twitter and Youtube to educate people in using the product. On some occasions, the social media promotion tactics depend upon the popularity of the brand itself. A highly popular brand like Apple, BMW, Microsoft, Amazon, etc. would obviously get ready fans on Facebook fanpage or increased followers on Twitter compared to a brand that is new in the industry.

However, when it comes to the travel and hospitality industry, even the small-operating or newly set-up firms could take part in the race and become a threat to the giants. In this case, it all depends on user opinions and reviews, where quality plays a key role. A bad review or opinion regarding your hotel can cause worries and help competing brands to capitalize on the opportunity. Hence, it is very important that travel and hotel companies track user movements on such sites on a regular basis and manage their online reputation.