Travel 2.0How the educational travel industry can profit from Web 2.0Tim O’Neill, Managing Directorwww.reactive.com

Web 2.0 can help you…

Reach your audience

Convert them into customers

Providing a better

experience

Build customer loyalty

And it can do this cheaply, and easily.

1. Reaching your audience

Start your own blog

- great for SEO- free blog software:

- Blogger- Typepad- Wordpress

- you need to be committed!

Personalise your blog

-redesign your blog to match your site-commercialise your blog traffic-integrate product offers & deals

Branded utilities

- widgets and gadgets- can help to create goodwill, and promote your brand

- can have a ‘viral’ effect- but need to stand out from the crowd

Customer review sites

- TripAdvisor, TravelPost, VibeAgent

- post an accurate listing- read what your customers are saying

- respond to negative comments, when appropriate

- constantly improve your products!

2. Converting into customers

Create a Flickr group

- upload photos of your hostel, happy customers, destinations etc

- encourage staff and customers to do the same

- show a real and personal side your business

Create a YouTube group

- encourage your staff, students and travellers to create and submit videos

- provide incentives or prizes- repurpose existing video- a very cost-effective way to include video in your site

Produce new video content

- well produced video can act as a great conversion tool

- www.mgmgrand.com - video is more cost-effective than ever

Mash-ups

- mash-ups with Google Maps are popular

- cost-effective: no need to create your own map functionality

- normally use an ‘API’ from a 3rd party

- Could you offer any APIs from your site?

Start Twittering

- twitter is ‘micro-blogging’ (140 characters or less)

- tour leaders could twitter while travelling

- give site visitors a real insight into what a trip is like

3. Maintaining loyalty & keeping in touch

Offer free tools

- STA Travel blogs gives travellers free blogging, photo and video tools

- uses software from Off Exploring

- great for maintaining loyalty- can offer personalised advertising based on habits / content

Create a Facebook Group

- if you offer group travel, encourage and foster a community

- this allows your customers to keep in contact, and hopefully repeat-book

- lead by example, have trip leaders post regularly

Mobile / SMS

- collect mobile numbers, keep in contact with SMS

- consider providing a mobile version of your site

- iPhone and BlackBerry offer Web browsers, customisation can be easy

Monitor the blogosphere

- see what people are blogging about your brand

- consider engaging with conversations

- don’t pretend to be someone you’re not!

Photo by Jake Wild

Web 3.0 and the Symantec Web

- create web pages that can be read by machines, not just people

- this allows any content to be ‘mashed-up’ in different ways

- E.g. doppler.com and hakia.com

tim.oneill@reactive.comwww.reactive.com

Contact us for a free appraisal of how Web 2.0 can benefit your business *

* Offer valid to BETA members only, for month of October 2008