The Travel Industry Steps into the Friend Zone

Many businesses today are working to become ‘friends’ with their customers. It’s what’s fuelling the social media presence of businesses across a variety of platforms online. It used to be that traditional customer service, like the friendly CSR at whatever business you called, was enough to satisfy the customer’s need for attention and contact. But not anymore. Today, customers expect an increasingly close and consistent level of customer service that can only be achieved through a medium like social media – where they can ‘check in’ on a business whenever and however often they chose.

And these social connections are going beyond just service and quality questions and answers. Businesses are banking on their availability through these mediums becoming a way to increase brand loyalty and build trust between themselves and customers as many market verticals become increasingly cluttered with competitors. The marketing challenges that businesses face include a complex product suite, a non-consumer audience, and longer sales cycle.

“There are business advantages on every platform. LinkedIn is not the only place to be a B2B,” says Lyndsey Patterson, Senior Manager, Social Media, Concur. This insight is directly related to how well its brand knows its customers on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

One article noted, “On moving towards other social media platforms, Concur is looking to connect with business travelers in the travel market through Instagram during their trips and leveraging video to respond to common user questions.”

Travel tech companies are more open about who they are as a brand and are spreading their company cultures via social media by connecting more with their developer community at Hackathons and industry conferences. As employees create more authentic content, more businesses will have a better sense of brands’ trustworthiness and expertise.

So share how you feel about getting social with businesses and in particular travel services companies on social media? Does it make you feel warm and fuzzy about a business to be able to Tweet them a question and quickly get a response? Share your feelings about this issue with us on Twitter @SmartCars1 and use hashtag #getsocial.

We’re social here at SMART Cars – Tweet with us @SmartCars1, find us on Facebook anytime (HINT- There is a special on Facebook right now for Facebook friends only – Like us to get it! And find us on LinkedIn!