ALL ABOUT YOU — BUSINESS ADVICE
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Active-holidays specialist Neilson has appointed Lindsay Dixon as business development
manager. Dixon started her career in reservations with Neilson Ski and also worked at Disney Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean Cruises, First Choice Holidays and Tui UK.
Holiday Extras has appointed Peter Smith as head of airline business development. Smith was previously UK head of sales at CarTrawler and has 18 years’ travel industry experience.
Tish Stewart- Inglis has joined Ethos Marketing and is tasked with promoting the Serena
Luxury Collection in Kenya and Tanzania. Stewart-Inglis has more than 20 years’ experience in tourism, including working for CCAfrica (now &Beyond).
Sustainable tourism expert Jamie Sweeting has been appointed president of Planeterra, the social and environmental support organisation, and vice-president of sustainability at G Adventures. Sweeting will continue to serve as chairman of the Board of Sustainable Travel International. He boasts more than 20 years in the tourism and conservation industries.
Most travel agents have a Facebook page or, at least, plan to have one. But how many agents use Facebook properly and generate extra income through it? It’s worth putting in the legwork with social media because it can reap returns for your business. Think of it as another shop window, but one that allows you to have more conversations with existing clients and potential customers in an informal way. Here, Ponders Travel managing director Clare Dudley offers tips to create Facebook pages to enhance your business and make the most of social media.
Manage it properly
rewriting it) and sent it to
many people we hadn’t seen for years: people we went to school with,
worked with in the past and friends of friends. We told them of our new venture and asked if they would like to be added to our regular email offers, and gained their email addresses. Suddenly we had a raft of potential clients to market to.
Give people a reason to come back
Once you have set up your agency’s Facebook page, nominate at least one person on your team to manage the page and keep it updated on a daily basis. This could mean using photographs of destinations or in-store events, staff comments from trips and clients’ feedback, and news on topical world events that affect travel. It is important to respond to people who post on your site – if you don’t they may doubt your ability to book their holiday.
Promote your business
Use your Facebook page to promote all your local events; ask your friends and family to share your posts and events; and ensure that your posts are placed in some of the Facebook groups that sell items in their local area. When we started, we personally wrote a message (copied and pasted it so we didn’t have to keep
54 •
travelweekly.co.uk — 11 September 2014 Advice from
Claire Dudley managing director,
Ponders Travel, Cambridgeshire
ponderstravel.co.uk
FACEBOOK
TO EARN MOREON
HOW
Why not have a competition on Facebook to test how many people are interested in your company? The feelgood factor when someone wins something as simple as a theatre ticket is super, and gives the company some good PR. If people know you are the type of business that does competitions or giveaways, they’re more likely to return to your site to see what you
have on offer. And the next time they might just book a holiday with you too.
Respond to comments on your page
If anyone you know on Facebook places a comment like “I need a holiday” make sure you react and respond with a “we can help” message, and immediately start up a conversation. This can work brilliantly and generate sales. If someone has booked with
you, and has posted a status about their holiday – either prior to their trip, while on holiday or afterwards – always respond with a comment along the lines of “we hope you have had/are having/ had a good time”, or something more specific and appropriate.
Customers will love the personal touch and it will help to strengthen repeat business.
MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS!
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