The last few days have been full of good conversations and presentations about using social media in the travel industry.
Angie, Rosie, and Tim at EyeForTravel were able to assemble an interesting group of people to discuss what's changing in this area.
If you were following me on Twitter, you probably saw a new tweet every few minutes, but here are some of the concepts shared:
1. Biggest opportunity in social media is bringing the story back into travel – Doug Miller
2. When scarcity is removed, the value of (social) filtering increases – Leonard Brody
3. Impulse buy trend will be short lived – Cree Lawson (not everyone can hop on a plane and fly halfway around the world)
4. "I don't use Quora. I have work to do." – Yen Lee
5. If you have 50,000 Facebook fans, so what? – Yen Lee
6. We pass up opportunities to ask about customer intent all the time. Do you know what your guests want from your experience?
7. CRM is something software does. Engaging is something people do. – Leonard Brody
8. If relevance is the engine of the search era, then relationship is the engine of the social era. (via Andy Ellwood)
9. "Why do hotels charge me for WiFi? MacDonald's gives it to me for free!" – Shashank Nigam
10. Is it okay to use your blackberry now? Is it okay to whip out your crossword puzzle now? – Del Ross
11. People under 30 only use email to talk to people over 30 – Del Ross
12. My personal social media profiles work better for my business than my business social media profiles. – Sylvie Laitre
13. What is Gowalla? A social network that inspires people to share the places they go and discover the extraordinary in the world. (A good definition for location-based services in general)
14. People checking in via location-based services are giving their endorsement on the place. It becomes part of their story. – Andy Ellwood
15. If you want to act on social media insights, you must invest in infrastructure now. – Geoff Lewis
16. People are willing to share personal data if you show the value for them when you ask for it – Geoff Lewis
17. Consumers are going to use whatever social network they want. Your job isn't to promote a platform, but go where they are.
18. Location based services are a near-perfect convergence of customer intent and marketing opportunity – Susan Black
19. If [Groupon buyers] can't afford rack rate experience-post discount they won't return. As dealseekers, they seek new deals. – Michael Hraba
20. Stop marketing to people. Start loving them.
21. "Our goal is to create fans – not just guests, but also turning employees and communities into fans." – JDV Hotels
22. Allow your community to show off and show their personality in social media. – Lonely Planet
23. Paid search and sponsored social content can be helpful in gaining traction when launching campaigns – Tim Burger
24. Build social media marketing toolkits for local teams to use. This ensures brand consistency, eliminates need for agencies.
25. Use dedicated phone numbers to track social media promotions.
26. Cool, interesting social media is done by cool, interesting people. – Dwight Sholes
27. Treat every customer like a VIP – KLM Airlines
I enjoyed connecting with many of you there – both new and old friends – and look forward to continuing the
conversation.
www.hotelmarketingstrategies.com/eft-social-media-strategies-2011 About the author
This blog is written by Josiah Mackenzie, who enjoys exploring the relationship between emerging technology and the hospitality industry.
www.hotelmarketingstrategies.com 
