360DigitalInfluence

In the middle of World Travel Market, the busiest week of the travel industry calendar, a pioneering event was staged. Travel Blog Camp offers bloggers, key members of the media, travel industry professionals and PRs a chance to discuss the impact of social and online media on the travel and tourism industry. Darren Cronian of Travel Rants (@travelrants) started the Travel Blog Camp last year, and last night he successfully presented this year’s get together.

The interesting thing about the camp itself is its informal nature. The camp is simply some of the industry’s key experts and thought leaders all gathered in a cosy room in a bar on the Southbank in London, voicing their opinions and shared experiences.

From the evening’s discussion it became apparent that the vast majority of people have embraced social media and are excited about the possibilities that this new trend offers. However, there are still those who are cynical of social media, people who are apprehensive of the online arena and those who do not see its worth in terms of driving sales. What surprises me most is that there is little recognition for what social media actually is - an online manifestation of something that has been happening offline for decades - word of mouth. WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) recently held a talk right here at Ogilvy Canary Wharf fronted by Emanuel Rosen, who explained that social media is a means of amplifying word of mouth, and word of mouth is widely recognised as the most effective means of marketing a product or service.

If a brand is serious about generating positive word of mouth and has good practices in place to deal with situations where something has gone awry, then I truly believe they have no reason to fear social media. If tools such as Twitter and Facebook allow a customer complaint to be seen by thousands as opposed to their ten nearest and dearest (as was previously the case), then surely as marketers we can use the same device to broadcast our proficiency in dealing with disgruntled customers? The question of whether a brand should engage publicly with criticism is one that was furiously debated one the evening in question, and will be for some time to come. But whilst the means of communication are changing the basic principle of customer service remains, and social media is another platform through which brands should listen and learn from their customers.