Digital media is ‘not just PR’

Travel companies need to stop thinking about social media in terms of ‘likes’ and start integrating it into all aspects of their companies to maximise the business outcome.
That’s the conclusion of a report by analysts Deloitte which says businesses have not kept up with the drastic evolution in technology.
“In 2013, digital media overtook television in the amount of time people spend using it. There hasn’t been a shift that seismic since TV overtook radio more
than 60 years ago,” said the report which was undertaken with Facebook.
The view that digital media is part of PR and marketing is limited - it should be integrated into a company’s overall marketing and operations strategy and become a ‘hard core’ marketing tool.
Although consumers see social media channels as fun and useful, they are actually “sophisticated media channels,” says Deloitte.
“Technology capabilities have evolved drastically, yet businesses have not kept up. The unique ability of digital channels to engage, measure, and create two-way dialogue is reason enough for businesses to take it seriously as a powerful tool.
“If travel companies move from “social media” to a more nuanced understanding of digital channels, the possibilities are endless. Digital media isn’t new anymore, but its reach and potential continues to evolve rapidly. The more quickly companies can adapt to these new technologies and integrate them with their core business strategies, the sooner they can transform their digital efforts from an expense to an investment,” it said.
A survey by Deloitte reported that 50% of travel executives believed their companies were behind the competition in their social media presence.
It says companies need to
 measure the business outcomes and not the social aspects;
 use the targeting ability that makes digital so powerful and
 be smart about where digital marketing sits in an organisation
In a Facebook survey of 10,500 social media users in 12 countries, “holidays” was the third most popular topic respondents reported seeing posts about on Facebook. Only friends, families, and news ranked higher.
The survey found digital channels ranked behind only “friends and family” and “word of mouth” as sources for travel ideas. About one-third said they started daydreaming about a new holiday while using a social site, or noticed a friend’s check-in and thought about going to the same place.
The most popular types of travel brands for consumers to “like” are hotels and airlines. What those brands need to evaluate is the value of a “like,” “share,” or “follow.”
After they return home, consumers use digital channels most often to share photos and videos from the trip. Others actively encourage friends to visit the destinations they just did.
Deloitte gives the example of Hilton which has extended it Twitter based concierge service to all travellers – not just those staying in their hotels. Holidaymakers can ask for local advice and an expert will tweet back.
“Traditional ads could never be anything but one-way channels. They offered no interaction, no window into the identity or mindset or behaviour of the buying audience, and only the most basic metrics. Today, digital channels offer all these advantages to the companies that know how to take advantage of them—and yet many haven’t been taking full advantage of their potential. Yes, you can use likes, follows and shares to build a large audience. But what will you do with it once you build it? it said.

No more Liesesster Square?

While we can all have a chortle at the way tourists pronounce place names in Britain the boot is on the foot when we want to visit Moscow or Tokyo and have to revert to a phonics lesson to stutter out the name of the place we want to visit.
This dilemma, and the mickey-taking of tourists as well, could soon be a thing of the past if Google decides to push ahead with one of its new inventions.
It has patented a piece of technology which would sit on Google maps and tell us how to pronounce places names.
Of course there already is a bit of tech which does something similar with its smartphone translation tool which immediately deciphers foreign text and now its real time conversation translator – the upgrade for Google translate which allows users to speak into their handset and get an instant, spoken translation.
But this goes one step further – it allows locals to record their own pronunciation of a place name and upload it as a sound file. Google would then mash them all together and come up with the most common pronunciation. This can then be put onto Google maps.
This means users do not have to rely on an American pronunciation of Leicester Square, Worcester or Greenwich which is usually the cause of some hilarity.
One wonders how it would cope with Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwll-llantysiliogogogoch or some of the more difficult Japanese place names?
Google says that although it has registered the patent it doesn’t mean that it will go ahead and produce the technology but it certainly seems like something that would be useful for travellers.
Certainly more useful than one of its more obscure patent applications which is for an automatic air freshener that emits fragrance when it senses that the wearer is engaged in physical activity. How to win friends and influence people?

Facebook adds travel tips to Newsfeed

Facebook has made it latest attempt to grab a bigger share of the geolocation market with the launch of Place Tips.

These nuggets of useful and relevant information and friends’ recommendations will now start to appear at the top of your Newsfeed while you are travelling. Clicking on a tip will bring up photos and posts from your friends about the place as well as posts from the location’s own business Page and menus for restaurants and event details for venues.

The service is currently being tested in the US and tips are current only available on Facebook for iPhone. Mike LeBeau, Facebook project manager, says, “Tapping on place tips won’t post on Facebook or show anyone where you are.”

On one level, your location is determined by Wi-Fi and GPS as you would normally. Facebook is testing this in New York’s Central park, Brooklyn Bridge, Times Square, the Statue of Liberty and JFK Airport.

Perhaps more interestingly, Facebook is also trialling the use of Bluetooth beacons in a number of places in New York: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dominique Ansel Bakery, the burger joint at Le Parker Meridien Hotel and the Big Gay Ice Cream Shop. These beacons (shown here) are given to businesses and use Bluetooth over a short range to send information to the Facebook app on your phone.

Bluetooth beacons looks set to become hugely important in the world of travel and several players are already looking at their use, including easyJet, which is trialling them at Luton, Gatwick and Paris CDG airports.

The new Facebook features come a few months after former geolocation darling Foursquare totally reimagined itself.
in May last year, Foursquare launched a free=standing app called Swarm which took on the check-in and location-sharing elements of Foursquare. In August, the latest version of the Foursquare app was launched and check-ins disappeared from it entirely, giving the app a new focus on local information and search.

The company says its services are used by 55 million people worldwide, who have checked in more than 6 billion times. By comparison, Facebook’s check-ins are now an integral part of the mobile experience. In its annual Year In Review round-up, the company now lists its 10 most checked-in locations in countries around the world, including the UK.

You can watch a video about Facebook’s new Place Tips feature here

Old media and new tricks: money rules

 
Recently, a blogger friend told me of a trip she will take in March to Africa. Nothing new there.

Except that the publication she is writing for (a very prestigious title) is being paid by the destination. She will get paid out of the fee received. The publication will run the copy as mainstream content.

There is a shift going on here. Historically, publishing companies would use freelances to write ‘advertorial’ features. That is to say, content produced separately to regular editorial features and clearly designated as such.

Advertorials were just that. Paid for content, approved by the destination, which appeared in print often with a different typeface to that used in the rest of the paper and magazine. Publishers always sought to separate their content from that which is paid for.

But in the face of declining circulations and new media, those barriers are disappearing. Now the paid-for blogger will find parity in print with that of the staff writer. Got any money? We’ll give you space, say publishers, with equal status. It’s called native advertising, whereby content is deliberately skewed to make it look as if it’s originated by the publication.

The shift was highlighted this week by Conde Nast. In an article from rival publication The Wall Street Journal, it was revealed that CN is creating a branded content division that will use its own staff to write advertorials.

“With all due respect to the players in the space, we don’t think the quality is particularly there. We think we can do better,” Edward Menicheschi, Condé’s chief marketing officer, is quoted in the article.

This is fundamental. While writing stories for CN, the same staffers will be producing advertising content. It’s already being done by Mail Online, says the article.

But not surprising. Publishers are under the cosh and old distinctions between ‘pure’ content and advertising are being lost as those same publishers seek to stay alive and use writing skills to make money in new ways.

What journalists think about it is not an issue. And for bloggers, it is another opportunity to establish credentials by showing off print CVs as well as their own blogs.

The blurring of lines continues apace. Travel companies should take note: you can now argue a case with established publishing companies to have your holidays featured in established editorial pages, for a price.

The days of journalists choosing which trips they would like to take, and have featured in the travel pages, is dwindling. Money rules.