Hey travel brands, what’s on your Twitter wish list?

Can Twitter do more and especially for small and medium enterprises? One socially savvy marketer thinks so and we’d like to hear from you too in the comments box

Just because you have more data, doesn’t mean you make better marketing decisions. This is a lesson that Singapore-based Blanca Menchaca, chief marketing officer and a partner at BeMyGuest, a provider of tours and activities, has learnt only too quickly.

“It’s really about having access to the right data at the right time and having the right tools and analytical skills to help you disseminate information from pure noise,” she says.

Much is said about the advantages of real-time data collection and Menchaca points out it is certainly useful for making decisions on a daily basis or even more often - usually the case for campaigns on search and display channels. However, more often than not digital campaigns are tweaked and optimised taking into account trends over time. So that requires more analysis using the right tools and competent people.

For small companies, building a tool in-house to create the right model(s) for the business is unlikely, so firms often end up relying on tools available in the market.

“And a tool is only as good as its user,” says Menchaca.

A tool is only as good as its user

Blanca Menchaca, Chief Marketing Officer, BeMyGuest

Twitter Tools used by BeMyGuest

Social Bakers – industry and country specific social ranking of all brands across multiple social platforms

Sprout Social – audience demographics, social listening and spotting influencers

Twitter Counter – competitor analysis, engagement trends (re-tweets, mentions, etc)

Twitter versus Facebook

The ability to download a Facebook insights report containing over 60 spreadsheets of detailed quantitative information about fans is all well and good but, says Menchaca, “if you try to analyse it manually you will probably manage through three or four and give up”.

That said, with Facebook, BeMyGuest is able to set specific targets that are not just based simply on the number of fans. We actively measure and optimise to achieve ‘X’ objectives for:

  • Engagement rate
  • Audience reach
  • Conversions
  • Demographic mix
  • Interactions with key messaging

When it comes to Twitter, on the other hand, there are limitations which include:

  • Qualifying leads: Finding the right conversations/ hashtags from the right audience at the right time and turning them into qualified leads.
  • Having enough money: Tools available in the market for social media listening require hefty upfront investments and, they depend on the limited data Twitter makes available to them.

Without access to analytics, there are plenty of blind spots

  • Access to the right analytics: This is probably the biggest challenge and Menchaca has this to say: “Unlike Facebook, analytics on Twitter are only available through their ads solutions. Self-service advertising tools are only available in US and some European countries; in Asia you have to qualify according to budget size or go through an agency. Most SMEs still don’t have access to this and rely on standard metrics like: growth of followers, retweets/ favourites, traffic to website, conversion rate from referrals and average time spent on site. Without access to analytics, there are plenty of blind spots including those related to demographics, geo-location, engagement rate, reach, competitor analysis and the list goes on.

So in the end, the firm uses the platform to identify real-time travellers looking for advice on ‘things to do’ in the destinations they are visiting. The aim is to climb the regional followers’ statistics ladder to become top travel brand in key target countries.

“Our marketing efforts on Twitter have focused on providing helpful advice to travellers and generating conversations about all the tours and activities available Asia, irrespective of whether it translates into sales or not,” says Menchaca

BeMyGuest’s Twitter Wishlist

  • DIY advertising tools that are readily available online and not through a vendor at high upfront investment
  • The ability to trace back to past tweets, because the real-time chatter is so immense that they are often missed. A tweet missed might be just what you are looking for, but you don’t know where to begin to find it
  • Twitter lists should offer a wider range of functions, such as the ability to talk to all at once and in one tweet
  • Better tools to filter tweets that help eliminate spam
  • Analytics and reporting dashboards directly from Twitter accounts and not just through their ads solution

Do you think Twitter, or Facebook for that matter, could do better? Have you discovered a useful Twitter tool 

Related Reads

comments powered by Disqus