I’ve been watching & listening to the conversations of several small, independent travel agencies and curious to find out how they are using social media tools to interact with customers, potential clients and even, perhaps, each other. The competition between agents (and agencies) is becoming greater as the lines for how people can and want to book travel products blur. Smaller operations are building relationships faster than their larger adversaries because of their ability to connect with potential clients in a real-time, online environment.
With limited budgets for intensive field training and/or, the smaller guys and gals are actually sharing information and leveraging each others expertise. An open source travel agency, perhaps? Gone are the days of proprietary information. The knowledge and power is now in the hands of customer. They are focused, motivated and well learned on their specific destination, how to get there and what brand they want to travel with. How does one travel agent learn all there is to know about every nook and cranny destination in the world?
Mashable has compiled a pretty comprehensive list of tools that consumers use today in the social media space. Make sure you’re registered with each of these sites and explore them thoroughly so that when your customer refers to a particular site, you can access the information (and possibly connect with them) right along with them to make sure you’re talking about an apples to apples comparison. Invest some time into watching who’s doing it right. Follow Christopher Elliott’s Top 50 travel folks on Twitter or read on of his recommended Top 50 travel blogs from 2008.
How can you add value to differentiate yourself as a travel agent using social media tools? Make road trips exciting by suggesting high tech applications to use on their way. Put travelers in touch with other resources to help them make a decision faster about where they want to go. Check out user-generated tools such as Wikitravel or discussion boards such as Cruise Critic or Tripadvisor right along side (or online) your client to get 3rd party, ‘travelers like them’ opinions and/or reviews .
Do you have a Facebook fan page (linked to yours, of course) for your business so that others can tout your services to all of their friends? What about being a part of LinkedIn’s groups or being an active participant on their business travel conversation? These are great ways to learn from those you’ve already serviced. Conversations are public which also allows for prospective customers to see as well.
Happy Selling!
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