Using blogs to accelerate word-of-mouth marketing

EFT Sales and Marketing in Travel USA SpecialRealTravel is continuing to build its travel planning functionality on the site to improve the user experience, as well as continuing to develop the mechanisms that enable it to partner with a growing n

Published: 01 May 2007

EFT Sales and Marketing in Travel USA Special

RealTravel is continuing to build its travel planning functionality on the site to improve the user experience, as well as continuing to develop the mechanisms that enable it to partner with a growing n

It was in November last year when RealTravel, a travel blogging and information site, and SideStep, Inc., announced a partnership to bring RealTravel’s top rated Travel Blog content to the travel search company.

Ken Leeder, CEO, RealTravel provided an update on the relationship and viewpoint on latest trends in an interview with EyeforTravel.com’s Ritesh Gupta. Excerpts from the interview:

With the explosion of video, social networking and user-generated content, how RealTravel, as a travel blogging and information site, is positioned to provide feature-rich online experiences?

RealTravel is in a great position. We have content on more than 5000 destinations and are now expanding the planning tool functionality of the site to make it an even more useful experience for people who are
planning a trip.

User-generated content is starting to transform the way users research, search and decide on their travel plans. What latest trends have you seen in this arena?

People have always relied on advice from other people when planning a trip - the Internet has just made it easier. The biggest trend we have seen is broader demographic adoption. The majority of the more than
half a million people that come to RealTravel each month to plan a trip are 40+ year old family’s with a household income of more than $100,000. The Internet is no longer for young males and early adopters.

Do consumers trust bloggers views more than traditional marketing? What is the key differentiator?

Absolutely. Research has shown that consumers trust other travelers opinions more than television, magazine, newspaper and radio marketing.

I think the biggest differentiators are trust and relevance. I can see who wrote a blog on RealTravel, I can see how old they are, I can see if they share my tastes and I can even contact them and ask them a question if I want to get more information.

UGC scores particularly highly with users when it offers a high level of relevancy to the kind of questions which the users are looking for advise on. How do you ensure this or encourage relevant UGC (making it easier for travelers to find content relevant for their needs, to submit every type of content and ways for travelers to participate on the site)?

RealTravel pays a lot of attention to this issue. Our in-house editorial team, technology and community review all of the content to ensure quality and categorise content in multiple ways so that the most
relevant content is easy to find by destination, interest, category or type.

A spate of travel planning tools are being introduced by online travel sites. What do you think is key to success of such tools? How has My Trip Planner enabled RealTravel to enrich the entire experience?

In a word - flexibility. People are taking more control of their travel planning online and any trip planning tool must provide the flexibility for people to do what they want.

RealTravel’s Trip Planner enables people to easily build their itinerary and collect travel guide information, advice from other travelers, links to other web sites and their own notes on each of these pieces of information in one place.

How is the deal, pertaining to providing RealTravel’s top rated Travel Blog content to SideStep.com, shaping up?

Our partnership with SideStep has been great. RealTravel was designed to partner with other sites from day one. We power travel blogging initiatives for sites like Canada Tourism, refer qualified leads to
booking partners like Priceline, Orbitz and Travelocity, and provide top rated content to sites like SideStep. We remain very open to creative partnerships and expect to be announcing several more shortly.

How to take care of bogus reviews posted on online travel sites? Amidst growing apprehension related to authenticity of such content, what can be done to retain incredibility of sites?

This is probably the part that people under estimate the most when they consider launching their own user generated offerings. An in-house editorial team and a technology platform that is designed to deal with these issues is the key.

The best way to retain credibility, in my view, is to partner with a company, such as RealTravel, that specialises in managing this type of information.

RealTravel, for example, enables its partners to offer free travel blogs to their customers and then feeds the best content back to our partners for display on their sites. Our partners don’t have to worry about the ongoing management of the information.

How will Travel 2.0 affect the way travelers can generate comments? What implications will this have for suppliers?

Travel 2.0 is making it easier for people to do what they have always done - to share travel advice with their friends and family. Suppliers can benefit tremendously by participating in this movement with their
customers. For example, by offering free RealTravel blogs to their customers many of our partners are accelerating their word-of-mouth marketing. Their customers are becoming their best marketers.

How can you utilise UGC sites as an advertising vehicle?

UGC sites are an ideal advertising vehicle. Sites like RealTravel provide an ideal opportunity to influence people as they are deciding where to go and what to do on their next vacation.

For more information Sales and Marketing in Travel USA 2007 (to be held in Miami on May 9-10) - www.eyefortravel.com/smusa2007/1

Related Reads

comments powered by Disqus