Twitter: For the Birds or Cat’s Meow?

Agents’ business experience with Facebook and Twitter varies dramatically from agency to agency. Some retailers told Travel Market Report that these social marketing sites are a waste of time. Others scent potential, but they noted that their own efforts are not producing significant sales yet. And a few are downright enthusiastic.

Here’s a report on the three perspectives.

Mark Seagle, Travel Leaders, High Point, North Carolina, said, “Personally, I’m on Facebook with a circle of 25 to 30 friends. Like me, a lot of them are in the travel business.” But in terms of business? “I don’t find it beneficial at all.”

Seagle continued: “I have some agents who are active with this, including one outside agent who is working it all the time. She says she gets something from  Facebook, but I haven’t seen it.”

Howard Moses, Cruise Authority, Marietta, Ga., said he sees some potential on social networking, particularly for theme cruises: “Say you’re doing a rock and roll theme cruise — word can travel quickly through those channels, particularly with younger demographics.”

But while he hears a lot about agents who actively peruse Facebook in search of business, he told TMR that he knows none who have successfully parlayed it into significant booking activity. And even with his own efforts, he’s skeptical of the results.

“We do a twitter for our theme cruise site. We have a couple hundred people who follow it. I wouldn’t say it’s any great thing — occasionally I get a note, but I don’t know if it has really been responsible for developing any business.”

Communicating Globally

On the other hand, Chuck Flagg, The Flagg Agency, a home-based operation also in Georgia, said: “Facebook and Twitter allow me to build relationships with individuals on a national basis, even a global basis, that I would never have known, never would have met.”

As one example, he credited building relationships via Twitter for allowing him to make a proposal to a large alumni travel group.

“I never would have made it to that first base if I wasn’t involved in Twitter,” he said.

Flagg focuses on niches. “The platform I use is called Tweetdeck,” he reports. “I look for people asking travel questions, and go in and answer them. I don’t try to sell them.”

Recently, he saw someone asking about a Disney Med cruise in 2011: “We replied, we just did a Med cruise, so it’s top of mind, so I sent her a question. ‘What would you like to know? I’d be happy to answer your question.’ She has gone on and spread the word that this travel agent knows his stuff; you should follow him, ” he noted.

He said that he emphasizes quality not quantity: “If people don’t follow me back [subscribe to his Tweeting], I unfollow them real quick. Don’t tweet out special deals. That’s a turn-off.”

There’s no $50,000 sales yet, but there is some actual money coming in: “What I have gotten is ancillary sales: shore excursions, travel insurance,” reported Flagg.

Targeted Advertising

Facebook represents a chance to market his expertise to a much bigger audience in a very cost effective way, Flagg said.

“Facebook allows me to advertise and really drill down and target people who I think might be interested in a certain vacation,” he reported. “I could send it out to all the people in the United States and do pay for click. That’s costly. Or I could send it to people who are, say, just ‘Fans of Italy,’ ‘Fans of Under the Tuscan Sun,’ or ‘Fans of the Vatican.’

You just want to have people who are fans of something or show an interest in it. It really brings down the numbers as to who is going to see your particular ad. Then you don’t have to pay as much,” he suggested.

And narrowing one’s focus can lead to other cost cutting. “I’m a home-based agent, I’m [typically] going out of my home to chamber functions, networking events, spending my time doing it,” Flagg pointed out. “With [social networking], I can spend my time as an expert at home without spending money for gas.”

He cautioned that he has to be consistent in his efforts and have a lot patience. He asks of traditional home-based agents, “Every time you go to a networking event, how long does it take for someone to see you before they buy a vacation? I had someone in my marketing efforts recently, and it took eighteen months before they were ready to buy. It’s that constant repetition.”

His advice for anyone stepping into online social networking is to, above all, remember that it’s business. “Don’t post personal things like, ‘It’s cold outside,’ or, ‘I had a great lunch,’” he said, “unless you’re trying to build a group vacation around those premises.”