Social Media ROI: Fact or Fiction?

Summary

The rise of social media has been meteoric. Its global impact is undeniable, in the past year contributing to uprisings in the Arab world, looting in the U.K. and relief efforts following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Outside these historymaking events, hundreds of millions of people worldwide now rely on social media daily to interact with family, friends, acquaintances, strangers and, yes, brands. Travelers are using social media to sound off on their travel experiences, broadcast kudos and complaints, and to research – and sometimes even book – travel products.

While travel companies have flocked to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media outlets en masse, results have varied wildly. Some struggle to drum up a handful of Facebook fans, while others make headlines with creative social campaigns. Even those who consider their efforts successful may find the results difficult to quantify. Just how important is social media to customer acquisition and retention for travel companies? What are the challenges of measuring social media’s impact? Why bother with social media in the first place? And, perhaps most importantly, what separates social media winners and losers?