The true impact of social strategy: Phocuswright

The true impact of social strategy

This is a preview of the report Social Media Usage Approach in Travel

Phocuswright’s Social Media Usage Approach in Travel is part of a comprehensive consumer research study delving into the specifics of how social media platforms are used for travel.

By Madeline List

Madeline List
Senior analyst

Introduction

Once consisting of simple sites used to post life updates to family, friends and acquaintances, social media is now a thriving ecosystem of users, brands and influencers. Almost 17 years after Facebook first introduced advertising, social media marketing and social commerce's star continues to rise. Marketers have flocked to social media to be where their customers are, fiercely strategizing to pull prospective and existing customers into their funnel.

These platforms may chart a clear path for products with shorter and simpler paths to purchase: Categories like apparel and beauty have found tremendous success with their social marketing. But for travel, the waters remain murky. On the one hand, social content has played a big role in helping grow tourism in certain places - sometimes to the point where it's directly linked with overtourism. But in many cases, organizations struggle to measure the true impact of their social strategies. Understanding is clouded by the length of conversion periods, circuitous digital routes to booking, and lack of accurate attribution methods for social channels.

This research cuts past the mores of social marketing and behavior built for other sectors and delves specifically into the way the platforms are used for travel. It explores the platforms being used for specific components of the trip and how travelers think about which account types and platforms offer the best information. It also explores social media behaviors in travel - what travelers are looking for when they follow branded accounts, "like" content, post their own experiences, or even give formal tags and mentions to travel brands. Through a better understanding of demographics that embrace social media and the psychology of why people engage with the medium, brands can better position themselves and improve the effectiveness of their social marketing.

Key Terms

Travelers - Took at least one trip in the past six months that involved air travel, a car rental or rail trip over 75 miles from home, an overnight stay in an RV, or a paid lodging stay (including cruise) in an accommodation located at least 75 miles from a primary home.
Trip planning - Includes finding trip ideas, searching for general information, shopping/comparing prices, or making a booking.
Social media users (sometimes referred to as "users") - Travelers who used a social media platform (including YouTube) for either trip planning or sharing content about a personal trip.
Converters - We define converters broadly as social media users who made a visitation or travel purchase decision as a direct result of travel content viewed on social media.
Non-converters - Social media users whose travel decisions were not impacted by the social media content they viewed.
Sharers - Social media users who shared content about a personal trip.