Kiwi retailers have different approaches to their agent strategies with online social media, from using it in advertising campaigns and competitions to some who haven’t yet taken it up.

But retailers and brokers that Traveltrade spoke to agreed online social networking is increasingly important for agents.

One retailer using social media is Mondo Travel. All Mondo consultants must now have a Facebook page, so they can interact with consumers throughout a new promotion – the Mondo Bucket List (see story on page 4).

“We need agents to have a Facebook page so they can talk to the client on Facebook,” said Mondo marketing manager Gordon Bayne.

Mondo also has a Twitter run from head office which is more business orientated, Bayne said. Whereas with Facebook they want consultants to do it themselves, Bayne said. The strategy with social media is to “jump in full whole-heartedly,” he said.

Over at House of Travel (HOT), the biggest use of social media has been through Facebook.

HOT online marketing manager Tim Paulsen said the launch of Mix and Match used social media as a key element.

On Facebook, there was a competition that let clients “mix and match” their friends. Clients would get two friends from their page randomly chosen and a prize – if they liked the combination of friends and prize, they could enter the draw to win.

Prizes were trips in New Zealand, Australia as well as to longer-haul destinations.

“People spent hours on it,” Paulsen said. “It gained 10,000 Facebook fans the first time round and 7000 the second time.”

HOT has both a Mix n Match Facebook page and a House of Travel Facebook page – which is more to help support campaigns, Paulsen said.

For example, customers can ask questions there and are actually directed to the Facebook page to do so.

HOT also has two Twitter pages, one for Mix and Match and one for HOT.

It’s a way to post deals, to communicate and to get feedback from customers.

“We have found that we can find out about customers’ feedback quickly and easily on Twitter,” Paulsen said.

He said Facebook usage differs from store to store. Some agents have their own personal pages that they use to communicate with customers.

Some stores also want their own Facebook page, so HOT marketing helps with the set up, Paulsen said.

“We’re telling consultants to be very much aware of social media now and what tourism boards and airlines are doing with it,” Paulsen said.

“Sometimes we can find out more quickly what specials are out there and keep tabs on everything to see what they are doing and the impact on customers.”

For Flight Centre, spokesperson Marie Pilkington said they are “monitoring” what works for the different brands in the social media arena.

“We are monitoring what works for our various brands in each region and will be leveraging these successful strategies.”

Travelsmart managing director Derek Sullivan said they are not doing much yet in the social media scene – though they do have a Facebook page.

“Over time it will pick up. But the Travelsmart demographic is a bit older (baby boomers) than those who use Facebook and Twitter,” he said.

“It hasn’t been a priority yet. But I am aware that it will be,” he said.

In the future, Sullivan said it depends if they have any young franchisees who are really keen and want their own Facebook or Twitter page.

He said it will ultimately be an arena that agents can fit themselves into, particularly as a communication device to make people aware of the deals.

From a broker perspective, Travel Managers general manager Mike Southcombe said they are not doing anything at the moment but are about to as part of a website redevelopment.

He said online social media is another effective medium for brokers to get to customers and using Facebook is a way to get people to join their network.

“It enables you to market deals and from a broker perspective it will work well,” he said.

Southcombe said brokers’ customer base often tends to be more mature which can make the step into new technologies more of a challenge, but they will be encouraging their brokers to get into it.

-Chloe de Ridder