Travel Tweets Trends Whitepaper

Travel, Tweets & Trends
Social Media Usage Patterns Among Travel Tour Operators
The Full Report

September 23, 2010
With observations and commentary from Jay Baer, social media strategist from Convince & Convert
Established in 1990, the Seattle-based ATTA (www.adventuretravel.biz) is a global membership organization dedicated to unifying, networking, professionalizing, promoting and responsibly growing the adventure travel market.
ATTA members include tour operators, destination marketing organizations, tourism boards, specialty travel agents, guides, accommodations, media and service providers.
Host of the annual Adventure Travel World Summit trade conferences (www.adventuretravelworldsummit.com), the ATTA also makes possible www.Adventure.Travel, the traveler s hub of physical, cultural and nature-based adventure travel and guide to trusted tour operators from around the globe.
ATTA uses Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and runs its own social network called The HUB via a Ning online community site.
TRAVEL, TWEETS & TRENDS - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Social Media Usage Patterns Among Travel Tour Operators
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Founded in 2005, Resmark Systems offers comprehensive tour operator software created by tour operators with years of experience.
Resmark Systems software is designed to manage all functions of the tour operator business from online reservations and marketing to finances and accounting. Resmark provides proven cost savings, comprehensive tracking and reporting, plus unparalleled lead conversion.
In addition, Resmark Systems is one of the only solutions seriously focused on helping tour operators save time and labor costs by automating social media engagement via email, blogs, Facebook and Twitter.
Resmark clients range from 2 to 50+ users and include companies such as Nantahala Outdoor Center, Long Point Eco Adventures, Sandals & Beaches Resorts, and Western River Expeditions.
Visit www.resmarksystems.com to view complimentary webinars, read client success stories and request a live demonstration.
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Convince & Convert is a social media strategy consultancy that works with corporate clients and public relations firms on maximizing the impact of social media participation.
The firm is led by Jay Baer, one of the world s most popular social media authors and speakers. He is the co-author of the book The Now Revolution, to be published in early 2011 by John Wiley & Sons.
A founder of five companies, Baer has worked with more than 700 businesses on digital marketing and social media strategy, including Nike, Proctor & Gamble, Cadbury, Arizona Cardinals, Marriott, and more than 25 of the Fortune 1000.
His Convince & Convert blog (www.convinceandconvert.com) is ranked as one of the Top 25 marketing blogs in the world by AdAge Magazine. He can be found on Twitter at @jaybaer .
Review Panel:
This group of tour operator marketing professionals assisted in the design of this research survey and the determination of optimal questions: Kevin Johnson- Deluxe Digital Media Alexia Nestora- Lasso Communications Kathy Dragon- TravelDragon Jason Reckers- Adventure Travel Trade Association Christina Heyniger- Xola Consulting Chris Noble- World Nomads
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Table of Contents:
Overview .......................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 7 9 Key Questions.............................................................................................................. 9 This study poses 9 Key Questions that help identify opportunities, concerns, and best practices about social media usage within the tour operator industry. Current Practices .......................................................................................................... 10 Read case studies that provide examples of how tour operators are using Facebook and alternative social media channels. Case Study: Sacred Rides ......................................................................................... 11 Blogging ...................................................................................................................... 13 Case Study: International Expeditions ....................................................................... 13 Beyond the Basics........................................................................................................ 15 How are tour operators moving beyond using social media as only a headline news distribution vehicle? Case Study: Western River Expeditions .................................................................... 16 Special Offers and Twitter........................................................................................... 20 Case Study: Northern Outdoors................................................................................. 20 Social Media & Customer Service............................................................................... 21 Social Media Listening ................................................................................................ 22 Social Media & Marketing Research ........................................................................... 23 Business Impact ........................................................................................................... 24 How important are social media efforts to the success of tour operator businesses, and how do various social media channels contribute to this effort? YouTube and Review Sites ......................................................................................... 25 Effectiveness................................................................................................................. 27 With the exception of email, tour operators are not convinced that specific tactics are effective. How do tour operators rate the effectiveness of different social media tools? Behavior Tracking ....................................................................................................... 29 Cost & Budget ............................................................................................................... 31 On the whole, personnel and budgetary commitment to social media is modest at this time. How much time are tour operators spending on social media? Social Media Budget Growth....................................................................................... 34 9 Key Answers .............................................................................................................. 35 How do we interpret the results of this study and the information in this report? Answers to the 9 Key Questions will provide you guidance for your social media strategy planning.
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Overview
This study uncovered many insights about the tactical, marketing, and operational realities of social media usage. North American companies are using social media more frequently overall than companies from other regions.
In North America, social media offers are more popular. Outside North America, social media listening is more prevalent.
Facebook is the dominant social media tactic, with more companies now using Facebook than email newsletters.
Twitter and YouTube are also being widely used by tour operators.
Despite its widespread usage, just 43% of companies say social media is quite or extremely important to their business success.
Just 13% of companies cite social media as generating 10% or more of their revenue. As the examples demonstrate, the effectiveness of social media usage may be improved by better strategy and tactics.
The majority (74%) of companies have 3 or fewer employees involved in their social media efforts, and 29% of companies have just one employee doing all social media.
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69% of companies are spending 10 hours per week or less on their social media programs.
Budgets for social media are very small. 67% of companies are spending less than $5,000 per year, including labor.
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Introduction
of North American travel tour operators participate in social media on a daily basis, and 77% participate in social media at least weekly.
The pervasiveness of social media is a major finding of this survey of 225 companies, commissioned by tour operator software company RESMARK Systems and the Adventure Travel Trade Association.
The research was conducted by Convince & Convert, a social media consultancy led by Jay Baer; one of the world s most accomplished social media experts.
Responses from the 23-question online survey were gathered from five continents, and from small businesses to global organizations with tours in multiple locations.
This research represents the most current and comprehensive study yet conducted on the how, ways and whys of social media usage within the travel and tour operator community.
Study participants represented a wide swath of the tour operator industry in terms of location and size.
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51% of respondents were located in North America (35% in the United States). All corners of the globe were represented, with the exception of Antarctica.
North America - United States North America - Canada South America Africa Europe - UK Australia Europe - non-UK Central America Asia North America - Mexico Middle East 10.2% 8.9% 7.1% 7.1% 5.3% 4.0% 4.0% 2.2% 1.3% 14.7% 35.1%
Figure 1 Location of Respondents (Where is your company based?)
Companies of all sizes participated, with 58% of all respondents having 10 or fewer employees, and 28% of respondents having 25 or more employees.
7.2% 7.7%
# of Employees
1-5 5-10
12.7% 13.6% 20.8%
38.0%
10-25 25-50 50-100 100+
Figure 2 Number of Employees
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9 Key Questions
This study identifies opportunities, concerns, and best practices about social media usage within the tour operator industry. The study addresses these questions and others: 1. What is the appropriate role of Facebook in a social media strategy? 2. What other social media outposts beyond Facebook should be considered? 3. Is a blog a worthwhile social media endeavor? 4. Is social media s impact being measured appropriately? 5. How much are tour operators spending on social media efforts? 6. Is social media more effective than other online tactics like email marketing? 7. What are the key objectives of social media participation? 8. How important is video and YouTube? 9. How many people in a company should be involved with social media?
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Current Practices
Tour operators are perhaps too focused on Facebook, when other forms of social engagement might produce superior results, as seen in case study examples. Facebook is used at least weekly by 67% of the companies responding to this survey. This dwarfs all other forms of social media, as Twitter follows with 47% weekly usage.
Top Rated Daily or Weekly Use Tools

Facebook Twitter Company Blog Monitoring/responding on rating sites like TripAdvisor.com Youtube Flickr or other photo sharing site Email newsletters
Figure 3 Social media tactics used most frequently
67% 47% 33% 27% 18% 17% 17%
Facebook usage is the most popular tactic among companies of all sizes. 86% of companies with five or more employees working on social media use Facebook weekly. Further, 52% of companies with only one employee active in social media use Facebook weekly.
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Facebook can indeed be a successful component of tour operators social media strategy, and the ease-of-use and huge audience (more than 500 million global members) is attractive.
Case Study
Sacred Rides is a global operator of mountain bike tours. On each adventure, participants support a community project during the trip, such as building a structure to house a village weaving program in Peru. This commitment creates a never-ending string of stories and memories, which Sacred Rides is chronicling to rich effect on Facebook and elsewhere in social media.
With more than 4,000 likes on Facebook, Sacred Rides is engaged with a large number of customers and prospective customers. Wisely, the company doesn t just promote itself and its trips in this venue, but engages fans by asking them to participate in a variety of contests, promotions, and special features.
When Sacred Rides uploaded their proposed new mountain bike jersey to Facebook and asked for comments, more than 100 were posted from fans. Since then, more than 50 jerseys have been pre-ordered. This is an easy and seamless process, as Sacred Rides has linked their website store to their Facebook fan page. This is a winning idea, as e-commerce directly or indirectly (in Sacred Rides case) through Facebook is a rapidly growing trend.
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Sacred Rides is also exemplary in the way they welcome Facebook users to their page. They have set a custom landing tab (easy to do in Facebook fan page settings). This custom tab is seen first by anyone visiting Sacred Rides on Facebook who is not yet a fan. The tab lets first-timers sign up for the Sacred Rides email newsletter, and encourages a click on the like button. Smart.
Figure 4 - Sacred Rides custom Facebook landing tab. (http://facebook.com/sacredridesmtb)
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Sacred Rides founder Mike Brcic also encourages his guides to connect directly with future guests on Facebook and Twitter, providing interaction that isn t solely company-focused.
Facebook should be a part of the social media playbook for all tour operators except in the cases of certain countries where a different social network is the dominant player (i.e. Orkut being the dominant player in Brazil and with China still blocking Facebook usage). However, tour operators reliance upon Facebook appears to be at the expense of other social initiatives that could reap dividends.
Blogging
One tool tour operators are perhaps not embracing with sufficient vigor is blogging. Only 53% of companies have a blog today. Clearly, posting information to Facebook is faster than doing so via a blog. However, the inherent permanence and searchability of blog content makes it a critically important tactic. Within the next 12 months, 71% of responding companies plan to have a blog, making it the tactic most likely to grow in the coming year. Let s hope for the industry s sake that adoption indeed occurs.
Case Study
Nature and conservation focused tour company International Expeditions has been active in social media for the past two years. According to Creative Services Manager Emily Harley, the lynchpin of the company s social program is its blog.
Ms. Harley writes two or three posts weekly, and the blog is now sending more than 1,000 visitors monthly to the main International Expeditions website.
Wisely, the blog posts are rarely about International Expeditions, which can make customers feel that a blog is just another marketing ploy. Rather, they are about the company s guests, destinations, and the interesting cultures they encounter
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on their journey, telling powerful stories. The example below shows a post covering new ceremonial items unearthed in Peru s Machu Picchu, with related posts from the International Expeditions blog archives that include Peru travel tips, and a parade of cows! This kind of information draws people in and keeps them coming back.
International Expeditions is also using the Facebook like button for each blog post. If readers click that button, it will show up in their Facebook news feed for all their friends to see. This is a best practice, and is relatively easy to accomplish with straightforward Web or blog programming.
Figure 5 International Expeditions blog (http://ietravel.com/blog)
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Beyond the Basics

Tour operators are doing a good job of connecting with current customers via social media, and some are moving beyond use of social media as a headline news distribution vehicle. 70% of companies are using social media to connect with their existing customers. This is the second highest objective for social media participation, behind awareness building at 83%.
We are using social media to connect with media (reporters and the press) We are using social media to solicit new ideas from our customers We are using social media to provide customer service We are using social media to promote special offers and discounts We are using social media to connect with our upcoming customers We are using social media to connect with our existing customers to drive repeat business We are using social media to grow awareness of our company
Figure 6 Social media objectives
26.1% 29.9% 31.8% 57.3% 61.1% 70.1% 82.9%
As companies commitment to social media grows, their usage of social media to connect with customers becomes even more likely. 83% of companies with five or more employees participating in social media interact with customers, compared to 61% of all companies.
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This isn t surprising. One of the great fallacies of social media is that it s inexpensive. It s not inexpensive, it s different expensive . Capital outlay and advertising expense is replaced by time. Labor is by far the biggest social media expenditure. These findings indicate that once companies have the basics covered (primarily awareness building, per the survey results), they move into the even more time-intensive social media tactics, such as interacting with customers on a near 1:1 basis, (we re back to the basics of human interaction) and social media listening.
Case Study
Western River Expeditions, with its home office in Salt Lake City, Utah, has been offering trips in Grand Canyon, Utah and Idaho for the past 50 years.
In 2005, Western River began to look for a better way to create more personalized emails and marketing. Finding none, they teamed up with a group of developers and helped create Resmark Systems, the co-sponsor of this study. Today, Resmark not only provides a reservation system, but also a sophisticated, integrated marketing program that allows Western to automatically email guests and customers at key times:
After a potential customer inquires about a trip After a guest makes a reservation Before and after a guest participates in a trip
The triggered emails invite them to engage with the company in social media and in email conversations with reservation staff. Because of the database nature of Resmark, the emails are customized to the guests profile and history. This way, if someone wants to travel to Utah, they get an email about Utah and not about Idaho.
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Brandon Lake, Vice President of Western River Expeditions, explains how it works. For me, marketing today is about engagement. It s about human interaction. Ironically, it s these automated emails, sent at just the right time in the customer s buying cycle, that engage a human conversation with us. Each email is dynamically crafted to address their exact need according to their inquiry.
In the past, we could never start conversations like these by sending a catalog, placing some ads, and blasting out a monthly newsletter. Resmark s triggered emails and the use of social media have revolutionized the way we interact with our potential customers. Since starting this program, Western s booking rate of potential guests that inquire about the company has more than doubled.
In addition to emails sent to potential guests, Western also triggers emails to those who have just made a reservation or returned from a trip. These emails encourage interaction with Western s Facebook page. This allows conversations to continue between fans, which have grown to nearly 6,000 in less than a year. If you look at the company s Facebook page, note that most of the interaction is occurring between fans, helping build credibility and community among prospective and former guests.
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Figure 7 Western River Facebook interactions
In addition, Western River uses a triggered email to help guests post their trip review and story in the company s blog.
Once the trip is complete, Resmark triggers an email asking them to review their experience with Western. Amazingly, nearly half of Western s guests contribute a review. This information is automatically added to the Western River blog, Twitter, and Facebook, creating more social media content and engagement.
After the guest s story is posted, Resmark sends another automated email asking them to share their story with their friends. Guests then promote their story on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere, increasing visibility for Western River, and triggering a viral interest effect.
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Figure 8 Western River Share Your Story Email
More than 1,100 guests have shared their stories online since the program was launched in spring, 2010.
In addition to the excellent closed loop automation and terrific success, this program is noteworthy because it turns customers into marketers. Too often, companies fall into the trap of thinking that social media is another way to tell their story. When in reality, a better use of social media is as a vehicle to turn customers into advocates. By using database-driven marketing through Resmark Systems, Western River is allowing guests to tell their own stories.
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Special Offers and Twitter

In terms of using social media to promote special offers, 57% of total respondents are engaged in this tactic. The usage of this approach differs by geography, however. In North America, 70% of companies are
promoting special offers in social media. In the rest of the world, just 43% of companies are participating in this way. This is largely due to the prevalence of Twitter in North America, as Twitter-based special offers are a common occurrence.
56% of North American survey participants use Twitter at least weekly, compared to just 35% in the rest of the world.
Case Study
Maine s oldest rafting outfitter, Northern Outdoors has an active Twitter program (@maineoutdoors) where the goal is to support Maine travel and tourism news and organizations. The company also has a robust Facebook presence, and the Northern Outdoors blog is updated eight to 10 times monthly.
To gauge the effectiveness of their social media outposts in a direct sales environment, Julie Thorner, President of Willow Works - Northern Outdoors marketing partner - developed a test.
Northern Outdoors promoted a last-minute rafting trip on the Kennebec River. No discounts were offered, just notification of the impending deadline for the special, high water trip. Within one week, Northern Outdoors had received more than 60 reservations for the trip.
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In social media, we want to do just a few things, but do them well, concentrating on the places with the largest user base, says Ms. Thorner.
Figure 9 Northern Outdoors on Twitter (http://twitter.com/maineadventures)
Social Media & Customer Service

Somewhat mysteriously, relatively few tour operators are using social media as a customer service opportunity. Just 32% are doing so today. Perhaps it s because using Twitter to ask a company a question can be difficult when you re on a Peruvian mountain bike ride, but many businesses are using Twitter (primarily) and Facebook as outgrowths of their existing telephone and email customer service
mechanisms. As a comparison, Microsoft s Xbox division uses its @Xboxsupport account on Twitter to reduce customer service costs while satisfying customers. In fact, they were recently awarded with a Guinness World Record as the most responsive
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brand on Twitter, after responding to more than 5,000 questions in an average response time of two minutes, forty-two seconds.
McKenzie Eakin, the Sky Captain of the Xbox Elite Twitter Fleet, notes that the type of engagement happening between the company and its customers would rarely reach a call center. The team is constantly monitoring for mentions of Xbox on Twitter, and then sends Twitter messages solving the problem before a phone call (which is expensive for the company to field) is ever placed.
To accomplish this, the Elite Twitter Fleet at Xbox includes 10 full-time support representatives, each monitoring Twitter and other social outposts for mentions of the brand and related keywords. This is of course a sizable corporate commitment, but Ms. Eakin reports that customer satisfaction and issue resolution rates for people helped on Twitter are through the roof. Proactive customer serviceis a really magical experience, and I think that in particular drives our customer satisfaction, she says.
Although tour operators don t field technical support issues, companies may want to consider a social monitoring tool to respond to both positive and negative mentions about their brand.
Social Media Listening

Only 27% of companies monitor and/or respond to reviews about them on travel ratings and reviews sites like Tripadvisor.com. This is an unsettling finding, as customers taking the time to write a review (positive or negative) merit immediate and constant attention.
In an interesting geographical note, companies located outside of North America are more prone to be monitoring Tripadvisor.com and similar sites, with 31% of tour operators doing so weekly or more, compared to 24% in North America.
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For specific sites like Tripadvisor.com and Yelp.com, companies should be manually monitoring their brands for new reviews or enabling email notifications for each new review posted. For social listening in general, a wide variety of software options exist, both paid and free. The paid software (ranging from $25 per month to $600 per month) makes data sorting and reporting easier. Free software requires more manual data manipulation.
Recommended free options include socialmention.com and addictomatic.com. Professional, paid solutions include rowfeeder.com, viralheat.com, scoutlabs.com and radian6.com.
Social Media & Market Research

Using social media as a market research tool is another best practice that tour operators are often overlooking. Just 30% are soliciting ideas from customers via social media at this time.
This is especially important on Facebook, where current and former customers are the people most likely to engage with a business in that venue, asking these audiences for their opinions is an easy way to gather insightful data. It s essentially a living focus group that costs almost nothing to conduct.
Jay Baer, the social media consultant that conducted this research, used his blog and Facebook page to solicit ideas for the title of his new book in June, 2010. More than 300 people voted, or submitted alternate titles. Total cost? The time required to write one blog post. The final title of the book (The Now Revolution) was influenced by a user submission.
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Business Impact
Despite widespread usage of social media, tour operators are largely uncertain about its impacts on their business. Only 43% of respondents cite social media as being quite or extremely important to the success of their businesses, and 18% do not know yet whether social media has an impact.
This indicates the adoption of social media is relatively new and immature among tour operators, many of whom view social media as experimental at this time.
Q: How important are social media efforts to the success of your business?
Don't know yet
18.0%
Not at all important
3.2%
Somewhat important
15.8%
Moderately important
20.3%
Quite important
27.5%
Extremely important
15.3%
Figure 10 Impact of social media on business
There is a correlation between how often companies use social media, and how much of an impact they believe it s had. Of the companies that deemed social media to be extremely important to their business, 91% of them use Facebook
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at least weekly. This compares to the 67% of all companies that use Facebook at least weekly.
We do not believe Facebook to be the magic tactic that leads to business impact, but social media participation appears to be somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more you use it, the more it works. So you use it even more. And it works better. This could be a matter of perception, or a byproduct of greater social media time investment paying off in results, or both.
YouTube and Review Sites

Beyond Facebook, there are also interesting ties between companies use of YouTube and their monitoring of ratings/reviews sites (like Tripadvisor.com), and social media impact.
Among companies that say social media is extremely important to their business success, 34% use YouTube weekly or more. Among companies that say social media is quite important to their business success, 21% use YouTube weekly or more. Among companies that say social media is moderately important to their business success, 14% use YouTube weekly or more. (meaning they post videos weekly on YouTube).
Some tour operators are equipping guides with portable HD cameras (sometimes even strapping them to mountain bike handlebars), and creating on-the-fly video from exciting destinations.
Other companies focus on testimonials, and use documentary style footage of guests to build credibility and comfort among prospective trip goers. Among companies that say social media is extremely important to their business success, 51% monitor Trip Advisor or similar sites weekly or more. Among companies that say social media is quite important to their business success, 32% monitor Trip Advisor or similar sites weekly or more. Among
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companies that say social media is moderately important to their business success, 23% monitor Trip Advisor or similar sites weekly or more.
It is impossible to determine whether YouTube participation and review site monitoring are causes of social media impact, or effects of social media enthusiasm. In either case, once companies determine that social media works for them, they tend to move beyond Facebook and Twitter, and begin embracing video uploading and monitoring review sites.
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Effectiveness
With the exception of email, tour operators are not convinced that specific tactics are effective. Q: Which of these social media tools has proven most effective (measured generally by increased traffic, inquiries, and/or bookings) for your company?
(Not effective, Somewhat effective, Very effective, Don't know, N/A)
Top Rated Effective or Very Effective Tools

Email newsletters Facebook YouTube Monitoring/responding on rating sites like TripAdvisor.com Company Blog Twitter Commenting on other blogs
Figure 11 Effectiveness of Social Media Tactics
54% 38% 28% 27% 25% 17% 12%
Email newsletters are viewed as effective or very effective by 54% of companies. Facebook is the highest-rated social media tactic at 38%, with no other tactic cracking the 30% mark. This is interesting because many companies are still using batch and blast email newsletters, where all subscribers receive the same message, at the same time. Personalized and customized
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email programs (like that employed by Western River) would likely improve email results even further.
In a related finding, 57% of survey respondents believe the returns on social media are unclear, and 35% view social media as an experiment.
The returns on social media and marketing are unclear so far We currently view social media as an experiment Social media is a critically important part of our marketing and customer service Our social media efforts help us understand our customers Social media efforts have helped us grow our business We are using social media because our competitors are using it We have a specic set of metrics to measure our social media success I feel like this is a fad or trend We're not ready to get involved yet Other, please specify
Figure 12 Attitudes About Social Media
57.0% 35.4% 31.4% 28.3% 27.4% 23.8% 13.5% 8.1% 6.3% 15.7%
It s very interesting to note that while more than half of companies are unclear about social media s returns, only 13.5% have a specific set of success metrics used to measure social media success.
This gap between measurement and perceived outcomes is a major recurring theme throughout this study, and is a common occurrence among companies with relatively nascent social media efforts.
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Unfortunately, the low start-up costs for social media make it quite reasonable to dive in experimentally, just to see what happens. But without determining at the outset why the company is involved, and how it will measure the success of that involvement, social media participants often find themselves spending time with no scoreboard to justify that expenditure.
The best practice is to select social media success metrics (usually three or so) that either directly or indirectly benefit the company, and rigorously measure progress against those objectives.
Superior
metrics
are
those
that
generate
revenue, or measure behavior that leads to revenue (or customer retention). Certainly, direct sales via social media is a fantastic metric, and Sacred Rides selling of mountain bike jerseys on Facebook is a good example.
Behavior Tracking
In addition to measuring direct sales via social media, savvy companies are studying how social media outposts impact visits to their website and other revenue-generating components.
International Expeditions Facebook page generates more than 80 brochure requests per week. This doesn t produce revenue per se, but certainly creates important classically measurable customer behavior that leads to revenue.
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Companies that are just getting started with social media are primarily relying upon the obvious, public success metrics like number of followers on Twitter, and number of likes on Facebook, as the chart below indicates.
Among companies that deemed social media as extremely important to their business, 53% are tracking visits to social media destinations. Only 34% of all respondents are doing so.
Number of followers or fans Number of subscribers to blog and/or email Unique visits (per month) to your social media destinations Visits to your various social media destinations Direct sales from social media destinations Number of user reviews We don't currently track these efforts Number of blog or forum or message board posts Participation in social media contests or promotions Other (please specify)
Figure 13 Social Media Measurement Schemes
72.9% 44.9% 34.6% 33.6% 29.9% 24.3% 18.7% 17.8% 15.9% 7.9%
In a companion finding to the fact that relatively few companies (especially in North America) are monitoring ratings/review sites, only 24% of respondents use the number of user reviews of their company as social media success metric. Since these consumers are motivated enough to write a review, we recommend that more attention be paid to this metric.
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Cost & Budget

On the whole, operational (e.g., personnel, budgetary, etc.) commitment to social media is modest at this time. 62% of all companies have between zero and two employees involved in social media in some fashion, and just 14% have five or more team members participating.
Because very few companies have full-time social media managers, the survey also included a question about total hours devoted to social engagement. 76% of companies are spending between zero and 10 hours on social media each week.
10 hours per week is not a particularly robust time allocation to social media, a marketing and customer satisfaction method that is highly time intensive. Perhaps one of the reasons social media s impact remains murky for many tour operators is their relatively low level of commitment to social media and lack of confidence in their methods.
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Q: About how many hours per week does your staff and company devote to social media efforts?
Not sure None 1-5 hours 5-10 hours 10-20 hours 20-30 hours 30-40 hours 40 or more hours 8.6% 5.4% 1.8% 1.4% 27.6% 6.8% 6.8% 41.6%
Figure 14 Time Spent on Social Media
Examined from the opposite direction, however, even 10 hours per week at a $40,000 per year average salary equates to $800 per month in social media labor equivalency (before benefits), making even 10 hours per week a meaningful participation for smaller companies. A separate ATTA survey in 2010 found that nearly half of adventure tour operators have marketing budgets of $50,000 per year or less.
At the opposite end of the respondent pool, fewer than 9% of companies are setting aside even $25,000 per year as a social media budget. This no doubt is influenced by the widespread perception that social media is free, although the time needed to do social media well is not to be overlooked.
Not all social media successes need to be time intensive, however. The initial set-up and integration of the Western River/RESMARK guest email and social media program was significant. Now that the program is operational, however, Western River spends just a few hours monthly approving guest emails. The rest
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of the program runs automatically.
Other tour companies can now take
advantage of this same process via RESMARK for much less than it would cost in labor.
An examination of the companies that have the most financial gain from social media bears this out. 13 respondents say they derive 20% or more of their revenue from social media. Among them, 12 spend 10 hours per week or less on social media.
These companies are either extraordinarily effective at creating special offers and tying social media to revenue generation, or have gone the route of Western River s strategies and reached a level of social media participation where investing in semi-automation is viable and profitable over the long term.
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Social Media Budget Growth

75% of respondents indicate that their budgets for social media will increase in the next 12 months.
But, 61% of companies will increase social media budgets 20% or less, and 48% will increase budgets 10% or less. 13% of companies will increase social media budgets by more than 20% next year.
Q: How much will your budget (including labor) for social media increase in the next 12 months?
None 1-5% 5-10% 10-20% 20-30% 30-40% 40-50% More than 50% 1.4% 3.3% 2.8% 5.7% 13.2% 20.3% 25.0% 28.3%
Figure 15 Projected Growth in Social Media Budgets
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9 Key Answers
So, how do we interpret the results of this study and the information in this report? What should you be considering when planning your social media strategies? The following are the answers to the 9 Key Questions proposed at the beginning of this report. 1. What is the appropriate role of Facebook in a social media strategy? Facebook is being used by most tour operators, and the percentage of survey respondents likely to be using Facebook by next year exceeds 90%. Facebook s large (and still growing) global audience is attractive, as is it s low cost and ease-of-use. However, the overwhelming use of Facebook among tour operators (and other types of companies) sometimes comes at the expense of other possible social participation. Putting all social eggs in the Facebook basket could be considered a limiting (and potentially dangerous) scenario. 2. What other social media outposts beyond Facebook should be considered? In comparison to other tactics like Twitter and Facebook, not enough tour operators are monitoring ratings and reviews sites like TripAdvisor.com and Yelp.com, where their best (or most frustrated) customers may be talking about the company.
Lastly, the research shows that companies that are most fully committed to social media are using video content (predominantly YouTube) on at least a weekly basis.
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3.
Is a blog a worthwhile social media endeavor? Fewer than half of the survey participants are blogging at this time. While it can require substantial effort to create original content frequently, the Western River case study (powered by Resmark) demonstrates that all blog content creation doesn t have to be manual.
More importantly, blog content has permanence, searchability, education, and humanization qualities that other social tactics cannot match.
4.
Is social media s impact being measured appropriately? Largely, no. Most tour operators (and companies in other industries, for that matter) are using metrics such as number of Twitter followers and number of Facebook likes as a key success metric.
There are two flaws in that approach. First, it presumes that following a company on Twitter is a significant customer behavior, when in reality it takes literally one click to follow.
Second, it presumes that amassing followers and likes is somehow tied to business success. No tour operator is in the Twitter follower acquisition business. At best, these metrics are trends that demonstrate greater awareness of the brand. Remember, the goal isn t to be good at social media, it s to be good at business by using social media.
Survey respondents need to dig deeper mathematically, and begin tracking website traffic, leads, and sales, as demonstrated by Sacred Rides and Northern Outdoors.
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5.
How much are tour operators spending on social media efforts? Hardly anything. The significant majority (90%+) are spending less than $25,000 per year on social media, including labor costs.
There appears to be a situation within the tour operator community where belief in the power of social media to impact the business is fairly strong, but the ability to prove that impact and sizable monetary and personnel commitments are mostly absent.
Based on the research, the current thinking about social media among most tour operators is: We like social media. Our customers seem to like to interact with us there. We think it works, but we re not really sure why, or in what ways. We re not spending any money on it to speak of, but it seems to be working okay as is.
But the companies that have most fully committed to social media, and are spending more time and money on it, are also the companies that rate social media as more impactful to their business, and are tracking social media in a more efficient and scientific fashion.
Are companies that are more active in social media successful due to the scope of their participation? Or, are they highly active because they ve seen success? It s unclear at this time. However, in most other industries, expansion of social media efforts often follows initial successes and positive feedback.
Consequently, the tour operators that are unsure of social media s impact, and participating in a minor way should first focus on measuring and
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proving the success of their current program, before worrying about how to expand and enhance their efforts.
6.
Is social media more effective than other online tactics like email marketing? Based on these findings, no. Email marketing is deemed to be the most effective tactic, followed by Facebook. YouTube and blogging are next. Twitter is viewed as effective or very effective by just 17% of survey respondents.
Tour operators are largely uncertain (or even dubious) about the effectiveness of particular social media tactics. However, whether this is due to lack of rigor in results tracking, misguided strategy, or truly that certain tactics simply do not perform for this industry, is unclear at this time.
7.
What are the key objectives of social media participation? For the majority of tour operators, generating awareness is the top priority (83%). Connecting with existing customers is next, followed by connecting with current customers, and sending out special offers.
Awareness is valuable, but given the social media tactical mix of many tour operators, this objective may be out of alignment. Facebook dominates the social marketing approach of a significant majority of survey respondents. Yet, Facebook (with the exception of Facebook ads), is not really constructed to drive newfound awareness. Instead, Facebook often serves the role of a post-modern email newsletter, enabling companies to connect with current and prospective customers who already are aware of the company, and are either seeking more input to reach a buying decision; or are brand advocates that simply love interacting with and on behalf of the company.
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It s a positive sign to see so many tour operators indicate that engaging with current customers is a core objective, as that is an excellent rationale to use Facebook. In fact, the tour operators that are most active in social media in general are the ones most likely to engage with current customers.
Special offer distribution is often associated with Twitter, and use of social media for offers is much more likely among North American survey participants than in the rest of the world. Given that Twitter is also more likely to be used in North America, this makes sense, and is an appropriate objective (although somewhat limiting). A better Twitter approach is to mix offers and promotional content with broader, educational and interesting information, as demonstrated by Northern Outdoors.
8.
How important is video and YouTube? Evidence is mixed. YouTube is deemed to be effective or very effective by 28% of tour operators participating in this research. However, among companies that are particularly active in social media, video participation is much higher.
The consumption of video content is skyrocketing. 127 million Americans watched at least one video online in December, 2009. And, as mobile video becomes more prevalent, consumption will continue to rise, especially in countries with faster mobile broadband (Asia, most notably).
Video has two key benefits that other forms of social media do not. It is visceral, and can tell stories with power and nuance that blog posts and photos don t possess. This is why television is popular, and why television advertising is still a colossal industry.
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Second, video has exceptional search benefits. YouTube is the second largest search engine in the U.S. Google (which not coincidentally owns YouTube) very much wants to provide searchers with multi-media search results that include photos, videos, tweets and more. Consequently (for now at least) it is easier to get a Top 10 ranking in Google with a solid, search optimized video, than it is with a blog post or other piece of content not to mention the other exposure via YouTube and other video sites.
The cost of video is minimal, and tour operators universally have stories to tell with breathtaking scenery and interesting people. Every tour operator needs to start thinking of their company as a TV station.
9.
How many people in a company should be involved with social media? There is no right answer to this question, but today most tour operators are devoting very few people to the social media effort. 57% of survey respondents have one or two people involved in social media in some capacity.
While centralizing certain social media chores such as Facebook updates, blog management, etc. with one or two people makes operational sense, the objective of social media is often to humanize the company to create kinship between the brand and prospective customers.
Creating kinship is best achieved with a broad social media program, as it puts more of your company s personality on display. While the coordination can be somewhat challenging at first, the best social media programs encourage all or nearly all employees to be active. This is perhaps best demonstrated by Zappos.com the online retailer which has more than 500 employees active on Twitter.
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The tour operator industry is perfect for this approach. The companies in this category aren t filled with uninteresting people working a desk job. They are filled with adventurers, risk-takers, dreamers, poets, and people that create memories.
Don t hide what makes this industry special. Encourage all guides and other team members to blog, tweet, update Facebook, shoot video and otherwise interact in social media. If they aren t technical, train them. If they are self-conscious, show them that it isn t a Hollywood production, it s YouTube.
Almost all tour operators are embracing social media in some way. Now it s time to take the next step.
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Travel, Tweets & Trends

Social Media Usage Patterns Among Travel Tour Operators

The Full Report

Figure 1 Location of Respondents (Where is your company based?)

12.7% 13.6% 20.8%

10-25 25-50 50-100 100+

Figure 2 Number of Employees

Top Rated Daily or Weekly Use Tools

67% 47% 33% 27% 18% 17% 17%

Figure 4 - Sacred Rides custom Facebook landing tab. (http://facebook.com/sacredridesmtb)

Figure 5 International Expeditions blog (http://ietravel.com/blog)

Beyond the Basics

26.1% 29.9% 31.8% 57.3% 61.1% 70.1% 82.9%

Figure 7 Western River Facebook interactions

Figure 8 Western River Share Your Story Email

Special Offers and Twitter

Figure 9 Northern Outdoors on Twitter (http://twitter.com/maineadventures)

Social Media & Customer Service

Social Media Listening

Social Media & Market Research

Don't know yet

Not at all important

Figure 10 Impact of social media on business

YouTube and Review Sites

Top Rated Effective or Very Effective Tools

54% 38% 28% 27% 25% 17% 12%

Cost & Budget

Figure 14 Time Spent on Social Media

of the program runs automatically.

Other tour companies can now take

Social Media Budget Growth

Figure 15 Projected Growth in Social Media Budgets

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