SOCIAL MEDIA BY MARK FRARY
GOING SOCIAL
CAN SOCIAL MEDIA BE A POSITIVE
PART OF BOTH YOUR BUSINESS AND YOUR TRAVEL PROGRAMME?
WHAT IS THE POINT OF TWITTER? What is the return-on-investment (ROI ) of using Facebook? These are questions often levelled at social networks by those who do not use them – particu- larly business-to-business (B2B) com- panies and organisations, who see such fripperies as something that should be restricted to the world of consumers. Yet a growing number of organisations
are waking up to the potential of social media for both internal use and for market- ing in the B2B world. What’s driving those B2B brands’ interest in social media is that companies are recognising that buying de- cisions can be influenced in the same way that business-to-consumer (B2C) decisions are. Many companies in the information and communications technology sector, for example, have developed strong presences on social channels to allow them to engage with technology buyers. Traditional hierarchies within companies
are being broken down, too. At the recent Guild of Travel Management Companies conference in Marrakech, Simon Walker, founder of online coaching system My360plus, opened his presentation on the role of social media in business with a story about one of his clients. A troubled CEO had approached him to say that, following
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
making an email announcement to all staff regarding the disposal of a business unit, a young employee had contacted him directly to tell him why it was a stupid idea. In the old, hierarchical world, the idea of directly communicating with the boss would never have been entertained by the employee. Now that individuals feel empowered by social media to interact with celebrities, politicians and busi- nesses – even if those interactions are not reciprocated – then employees feel no qualms about approaching the top dog with an opinion. In fact, this point is becoming critical in
the recruitment and retention of employ- ees. A recent report by Pricewaterhouse Coopers into B2B social media said: “Environments that do not provide for genuine employee engagement, and where the opportunities for staff to collaborate to solve common problems do not exist, are leading to dissatisfaction, recruitment challenges and employee attrition.”
HEADS IN THE CLOUD Travel is the most commonly shared activity on social networks. One compa- ny often reported to be a leader in inter- nal social networking is cloud comput- ing firm
Salesforce.com. As reported at
various travel conferences, Salesforce has embodied the very meaning of ‘cloud’ by creating a corporate environment built around social, mobile and open tech- nologies. In the past four years there has been a dramatic paradigm shift in the area of workplace technologies. Couple the convergence of technologies with the Millennials, aka Gen Y, and you have the perfect incubator for social networking. Salesforce’s travel and expense teams
are reported to use group communication tool Chatter to create travel communities, not only internally, but also externally for customers. The Salesforce commu- nity is more than just a travel news site – it is said 60 per cent of the postings are now by road warriors and not the travel team. In less than two years, the Sales- force community is believed to amount to some 3,500 road warriors, and now is thought to rank among the company's top five Chatter sites. Their recipe for success? The ‘secret
sauce’ that keeps the road warrior com- munity coming back for more is providing one-third corporate messaging, one-third travel industry messaging, and one-third fun. It hosts ‘deals of the week’, supplier giveaways and regular competitions to its global travel community. The travel and
BBT JULY/AUGUST 2014 55
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