Facebook Lead Yields Cruise Booking for 1,200

Not all travel sellers are convinced of the value of Facebook and other social media to generate business leads. After selling 1,200 people into 600 cabins on Carnival based on a Facebook lead, Robert Durant, president of WD World Travel in Vancouver, Canada, has no doubts.

Here’s what happened: A Facebook user saw an ad on the social media site for Cruise Canada Travels (one of WD World Travel’s companies), and noticed that a “friend” of hers was a “fan” of the agency. Based solely on that connection, she contacted Cruise Canada Travels to inquire about booking a group of about 100 people who wanted to sail on Carnival. The booking grew to include 1,200 people and 600 cabins.

And it just gets better. The client, who represents a religious television station in Toronto, was so pleased with the service Cruise Canada Travels provided on that booking that she signed a five-year contract with the agency and Carnival for a large-group sailing every year for the next five years.

Understandably, Durant said he is, “sold on all social networking.”

The happy outcome is not typical, Durant admits. “It’s one of those things that just doesn’t happen very often.” But the business would not have happened at all if Cruise Canada Travels did not have a strong presence on Facebook.

Durant has developed a presence on Facebook in stages. He launched a Facebook page for Canada Travels about a year and a half ago, and added Facebook advertising for that company and for Cruise Canada Travels about two months ago. Apart from the Carnival booking, “We’ve had a little bit of success with it, but not a lot,” Durant told Travel Market Report. The ads have primarily helped the two companies build fan numbers, he said; Canada Travels gathered 721 followers in the 18 months since its Facebook page was launched.

Lessons Learned
Durant, who also ventured into using Twitter about four months ago, said he has learned a thing or two from his involvement.

Be Patient, Be Persistent: “You have to wait it out, and you have to keep at it,” he told Travel Market Report.

Durant said he comes into the office every morning and spends time writing his tweets for the day. “You can’t start your page on Monday and then wait until the next Monday to post something. You’ve got to do it almost every day or every other day. You’ve got to update it because people are watching.”

As evidence Durant cited a recent Facebook post by a staffer promoting a $100 discount off a vacation package. Within three minutes, 600 followers had “liked” the post. “So we know people are following us,” Durant said.

Stick to Travel: “I don’t tweet about my dogs, I don’t write about Vancouver, I just write about travel,” Durant said. If he sees an article about travel to Croatia, he’ll post a link to the piece. He will also post links to travel specials that can be booked through Canada Travels or Cruise Canada Travels.

Invest in Facebook Ads: A Facebook page is free, and Facebook ads are very affordable – especially as compared with Google ads, Durant emphasized. Ideally, travel sellers should post a new ad every other day. If you don’t want to post a new ad, tweak the current one by changing the wording.

But before investing in advertising on Facebook, travel sellers should first build up their Facebook audience. If you just created your agency’s Facebook page, Durant recommends you get all your employees to “friend” it and recommend that their “friends” do the same. From there, he said, it will start to mushroom.