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THE YEAR OF THE
MOCALTRAVELERMobile and social media have now become
inseparable. Smart hospitality and travel
marketers can capitalize on this trend to
effectively increase sales.
Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality
The Year of the Mocal Traveler | Page 1Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality
Table of Contents
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
The Impact of Mobile
on Travel-Related Decisions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
The Impact of Social Media
on Travel Bookings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Impact of Mocal on Travel Bookings. . . . 6
Developing a Mocal Strategy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Some Helpful Tips for Creating
Your Own Mocal Campaigns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
But What About Local? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
Making Mocal Pay Off as Part
of an Integrated Strategy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
First we had the mobile traveler, and the
way we market travel changed. Then we
had the social traveler, and our marketing
tactics changed again. This year is all about
the mocal traveler. And yes, you guessed
it­—the way we market travel is changing
once more. This new trend will have major
implications for all travel-related decisions,
from hotel and airline bookings to sightseeing
activities to restaurant reservations, even
local transportation.
For those who haven’t yet encountered the
term, mocal (sometimes referred to as mocial
or so-lo-mo) denotes the convergence of
mobile device usage with social media—
specifically, accessing social media from a
mobile device. While both mobile and social
media have individually influenced travel
decisions over the past decade, this will be
the year the two trends converge to become
a single, highly powerful motivator. Used
appropriately, this anytime, anywhere access
to social media via smartphones and tablets
can have far-reaching consequences for
your travel business.
To truly understand the impact of the fusion
of these two trends, let’s first look at each
one separately.
The Year of the Mocal Traveler | Page 2Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality
What we refer to singly as mobile actually
includes multiple devices, with most travelers
moving between screens during the booking
process. Ericsson estimates there will be
more than 50 billion connected devices in
circulation by the year 2020. This includes
laptops, desktops, tablets, and smartphones—
and it means marketers must optimize their
messages for all these different formats.
But according to Ericsson, the really big news
happens in 2014. In North America, this year
will mark a major shift when more online
access takes place via mobile devices than
traditional desktops and laptops.
This shift is particularly notable to the travel
industry, as these mobile travelers represent
a highly desirable market. All consumers who
use mobile devices for travel services tend to
have higher-than-average incomes, and 32%
of all business travelers have booked travel on
mobile. In addition, mobile plays a particularly
strong role in last-minute bookings, with
more than 70% of reservations through
smartphones coming within a day of check-in.
Here’s what you need to know about each
mobile device in order to effectively target
its users:
The Smartphone
Smartphones have revolutionized the world,
but nowhere more so than in the area of
travel. Smartphones and their apps are
now regularly used to search for and book
transportation and hotel accommodations,
substitute for traditional paper boarding
passes, replace paper maps for navigating
a new destination, make dinner reservations,
and translate foreign words. But perhaps
most important to travel marketers, apps
on smartphones can help them hone their
marketing strategies by collecting valuable
location-based data on users.
The Tablet
Tablet adoption among travelers has
skyrocketed in the past few years, with more
than 44% of the population currently owning
one, and another 40% planning to purchase
one sometime during 2014 (PhoCusWright
Innovation Edition report). As a result,
travelers now split their travel planning
between both smartphones and tablets.
The Impact of Mobile on Travel-Related Decisions
MOBILETRAVEL
20% 37% 25%
Now that it accounts for 20% of all travel sales, hospitality marketers can no longer
afford to ignore mobile. In fact, 37% of consumers worldwide access the Internet
via their smartphones for travel purposes. And in 2013, a quarter of all travelers
used mobile to search, research, and purchase travel.
The Year of the Mocal Traveler | Page 3Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality
But it’s not just a matter of adding another
device into the marketing mix. It’s the way
travelers use tablets that has marketers
rethinking their strategies. Mobile Web
usage nearly doubles with the use of tablets,
suggesting that less travel planning is now
taking place on a desktop. In addition,
travelers are choosing tablets over
smartphones for destination selection,
shopping, and booking.
In conclusion, JiWire reports that all devices
are heavily used for booking travel with the
process typically beginning on one device and
concluding on another. While smartphones
and tablets are frequently used for research,
the device most often used for the actual
booking is still the laptop. This means laptops
will continue to play an important role in the
marketing process, and that marketers need
to consider all three screens when assessing
their strategies.
For those who hope to use social media
successfully, it’s important to understand the
dynamics involved in the traveler’s decision-
making process. Social media gives people
immediate access to an entire network of
friends, making it easy to seek trusted advice
on travel purchase decisions. After all, these
friends already know their likes and dislikes,
and are more likely to provide honest
feedback than marketers with an underlying
motive of trying to sell them something.
In addition, messages relayed from friends
are more likely to be remembered. Recent
research shows that ads shared through
social media generate 50% greater recall.
There’s also something particularly
comforting about having friends to consult
when confronting the unfamiliar aspects of
travel. Travel is an expensive and emotional
decision. Social media helps overcome a
traveler’s fear of the unknown. Even before
the decision of where to go is made, would-
be travelers are influenced by others posting
The Impact of Social Media on Travel Bookings
SOCIALTRAVEL 44% 75% 4/5
Compared to mobile, social media is a relative newcomer. Nonetheless, it has
become a ubiquitous part of our daily lives in a very short time. Penetration has
now reached 44% of the developed world. A recent survey of travel technology
professionals suggests that 75% consider establishing a presence on social media
networks “essential” to their business, and four out of five cite social media as their
most successful tool in attracting new clients.
The Year of the Mocal Traveler | Page 4Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality
comments and photos of their own travels.
They see something they like and think,
“I want to go there, too.” It’s immensely
reassuring to know that someone familiar
to them has been there before.
Instant dialogue via social media also makes
it possible to stand out from your competitors
by quickly addressing complaints before they
spiral out of control. Recent findings by
Edison Research show that 42% of consumers
posting a complaint on social media expect
a response within 60 minutes. To avoid
negative publicity, marketers must stay on
top of posts about their properties, and
respond quickly and appropriately to
criticism. Expedia keeps a multi-lingual team
available 24/7 to handle its customer queries
and complaints in real-time.
Another key trend in social media has been
the shift toward more visual content. This
seems to be true regardless of the platform,
but may explain the rapid rise of sites like
Pinterest and Instagram.
In general, how you use social media to
promote your property depends upon your
brand, your audience, and the message you
hope to convey. Here’s a look at some
popular social media channels with tips on
how to best utilize them for your purposes.
Although the proliferation of new social
networks has increased competition,
Facebook still reigns supreme in the social
media universe. According to the 2012 Social
Media Report from Nielsen, Facebook
received 152.2 million visitors via PC, 78.4
million via mobile apps, and 74.3 million via
mobile web.
Even more important, 42% of the stories
shared on Facebook were about travel. This
site’s high level of engagement and overall
market penetration make it a particularly
powerful medium for conveying inspirational
and aspirational content.
Twitter is all about immediacy and real-time
responsiveness. You can learn a lot about
your market by listening to travel-related
conversations and by monitoring mentions
of your brand. Consider the example of a
diner at a London Halkin Hotel who tweeted
a picture of her main course along with a
positive comment. Just minutes later, the
hotel’s manager came into the dining room to
personally thank her. This kind of spontaneous
interaction is where Twitter excels.
More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube
and over 6 billion hours of video are watched
every month. As a travel marketer, you can put
this popularity to work by posting high-
quality video content that showcases your
property or travel-related business. Consider
giving viewers a tour of your destination’s
most interesting aspects and encourage
them to post their own videos by offering
incentives or rewards.
Pinterest has rapidly gained a loyal following
since its public debut in 2010—making it well
worth a marketer’s time and investment to
capitalize on this visually dominant social
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Pinterest
The Year of the Mocal Traveler | Page 5Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality
media platform. Many travel brands now use
Pinterest for marketing tactics like posting
offer boards, encouraging customers to share
photos from their trips, and aiding future
guests in their trip-planning activities. To
make it easy for travel planners, businesses
need to ensure that their website content is
pinnable and create travel boards that
maximize the aspirational aspects of travel.
The use of photography has always played
an essential role in travel marketing. So it’s
no surprise that an app that focuses on photo
sharing would soon earn a place in the travel
marketer’s portfolio. What is surprising is the
phenomenal growth of Instagram.
New figures published by GlobalWebIndex
show that Instagram is the fastest-growing
social media site worldwide. Purchased by
Facebook, it has now followed in its owner’s
footsteps and begun selling ads through
sponsored content. To make the most of
the visual nature of Instagram, brands
should focus on high-quality, compelling
photo content.
For those targeting businesspeople, LinkedIn
remains the obvious choice. This social network
is geared to business professionals and one
of the few social networking sites favored
more by men than women. UK-based East
Coast Trains took advantage of the business
nature of LinkedIn to target commuters along
its mainline. As a result, it quickly increased
the number of followers from 700 to 4,000.
There’s no question that customer reviews
influence consumer buying behavior. In fact,
recent research suggests that consumers
overwhelmingly prefer reviews over
aggregate ratings when forming an opinion
about a potential purchase.
The uncertainty associated with travel makes
hotel reviews particularly influential. Favorable
reviews can go a long way in swaying potential
guests. Even bad reviews can be mitigated
with a quick and appropriate response, thus
demonstrating a high level of customer care.
Equally important, by monitoring reviews of
your competitors’ properties, you can glean
valuable information to help you successfully
market against them.
As of January 2014, 45 million people use
the mobile app, Foursquare, to “check in” to
businesses around the world. But Foursquare
goes well beyond the simple check-in feature.
It also provides personalized travel tips based
on other user recommendations. These user
recommendations are particularly helpful
because they’re provided by others, including
personal friends, who’ve actually been to the
same destination. One way businesses can
utilize Foursquare is by posting offers which
are buzzed to a user’s phone whenever they
check in to your location.
Although Google+ was slow to take off,
the network has quickly gained momentum.
Instagram
LinkedIn
Yelp
Foursquare
Google+
The Year of the Mocal Traveler | Page 6Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality
Google+ Communities, in particular, has
garnered a great deal of interest, with
key implications for the travel industry.
Communities are groups of G+ users with
similar interests.
Many of the G+ Communities trending in 2014
are travel themed. They range from general
topics like Places to See Before You Die to
niche categories like Family Travel and Budget
Travel, as well as geographic topics like Travel
South Africa and Miami and South Florida
Events. This well-defined segmentation
makes it easy for travel marketers to match
communities to their target demographic and
develop outreach efforts to effectively
address these communities.
Although TripAdvisor is more of a review site
than a true social media platform, it’s worth
mentioning here in terms of monitoring.
Online reputation management is an essential
element in any mocal strategy to make sure
negative reviews don’t derail your well-
planned marketing efforts.
TripAdvisor
The Impact of Mocal on Travel Bookings
MOCALTRAVEL
Now that we’ve explored these two powerhouses separately, let’s look at how
they work together. Mobile-originated content dominates social media. This
content is then shared by other mobile users, multiplying its reach exponentially.
Any shared content that mentions, tags, or hashtags the brand name becomes
linked to that brand’s identity, positively impacting conversation around the
brand as well as its discoverability and search rankings.
Think of mocal as sticking a microphone
(aka smartphone or tablet) into the hands
of the public and asking them to broadcast
their thoughts about your brand. It’s word-of-
mouth advertising at its most powerful. Every
comment has the potential to be broadcast
and heard around the globe—impacting a
brand either positively or negatively. Your
goal is to control the conversation and
make sure the broadcast has the desired
consequences. Whether a post is in the form
of video, photography, or micro-blogging,
these broadcasts need to be channeled into
your pre-approved marketing plan.
The Year of the Mocal Traveler | Page 7Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality
Marriott International Plays Games with Guests
To engage customers and attract a younger
audience, Marriott International has
developed a mobile travel game for iOS
devices. Xplor takes players on an adventure
through five major global cities as they
attempt to track down their missing Aunt
Sophia. In the process, they solve puzzles,
interact with characters, and explore each
city’s sights. “Social gaming is part of our
innovation strategy to engage customers and
attract the next generation of social, mobile
travelers and employees to Marriott,” says
David Rodriguez, chief human resources
officer for Marriott International.
British Airways Conquers Rome in a Day
British Airways recently capitalized on the
instant interaction of mocal when it sent a
travel blogger to Rome for a day. The
blogger, armed with a smartphone, explored
the city using only tips from followers on
Twitter. According to Kim Willis, British
Airways’ content strategy advisor, “Twelve
hours, 1,600 tweets and 13 locations later,
we’d found and shared parts of Rome that
most guidebooks never talk about, with many
followers contacting us to say it inspired
them to book.”
Four Seasons Melts Hearts with a Mobile Ice
Cream Social
Last July, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
hosted a digital ice cream social titled, “The
Summer of Ice Cream Love.” Hotel guests
and local residents were invited to events at
17 properties worldwide. The “Insta-Meets”
showcased the luxury chain’s culinary
prowess by featuring mouthwatering content
and encouraging guests to post photos via
Instagram. Felicia Yukich, manager of social
media marketing at Four Seasons Hotels and
Resorts, Toronto, says, “This initiative serves as
another way to create significant culinary buzz
for the brand within the social media realm,
keeping us in the ongoing food conversation.”
Developing a Mocal Strategy
TRAVELSTRATEGY
While both mobile and social media have reached the
radar of most travel marketers, few have learned to harness
the powerful combination of mocal. By integrating the two,
and treating them as one entity, brands can explore the full
range of possibilities inherent in this new medium.
How your destination utilizes mocal will largely depend on
your marketing goals and your budget. But here are some
examples of how other travel brands have successfully
employed mocal to achieve a wide range of objectives.
The Year of the Mocal Traveler | Page 8Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality
Holiday Inn Express Gets Edgy with Smart
Thinking Campaign
Many formerly conservative brands are now
looking to social media to establish their
brands among a younger, edgier audience.
As part of its “Smart Thinking” campaign,
Holiday Inn Express invites young travelers
to show how smart they are by posting
humorous advice on any topic via Vine,
YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. The chain
chose Daily Show comedian Jason Jones as
the spokesman for the campaign and enlists
websites such as CollegeHumor and
Buzzfeed to spread the content.
KLM Finds Mocal just the Ticket for Bookings
and More
With more than 5 million Facebook fans,
it’s not surprising that KLM Royal Dutch
Airlines is now allowing passengers to use
mocal for everything from booking flights
to seat selection, to arranging for extra
baggage. Now the airline has added
payments to the list. The airline sends a
link to customers through a private message
on Facebook or Twitter. The customer then
selects the preferred payment method to
complete the transaction. The airline also has
130 social media agents working around the
clock to answer the approximately 35,000
queries each week that arrive via Facebook
and Twitter.
East Coast Trains Employs Mocal to do
Damage Control
In addition to its use of LinkedIn to attract
commuters, East Coast Trains harnessed
the power of mocal to assuage passengers
during recent transportation delays. When
angry passengers posted complaints on
Twitter, the UK-based railway responded
by posting images of affected areas. Social
media manager Nick Wood explains, “People
are a lot more sympathetic to delays if they
can see what’s happening.”
The Year of the Mocal Traveler | Page 9Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality
There are many ways to increase bookings by using mocal. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
	 Target travelers within a 50-mile radius of
your property to increase last-minute bookings.
	 Share exclusive content, behind-the-scenes
information, and news about your property
specifically targeted to mobile behaviors
and situations.
	 Provide incentives to encourage user-
generated content (UGC) and the sharing
of content with others.
	 Use social networks to post updates
to your rewards and loyalty programs.
	 Urge guests to post live tweets while
staying at your property and to post about
their positive experiences on Facebook.
	 Invite guests to share photos of their visits on
Instagram using a campaign-specific hashtag.
Consider offering a prize, such as a free room
night, for the most intriguing photo. This tactic
also works well with posts and tweets.
	 Enlist guests in a scavenger hunt for
“treasures” around your property, and ask
them to post their findings on various social
media sites.
The most important thing to remember is
to engage your audience in a two-way
communication. Social media should promote
dialogue, not simply serve as a soapbox
to deliver your message. Encouraging a
conversation will be easy to do if you mine
the real-time location data you gain, and use
it to market to the specific tastes, needs, and
preferences of your audience. For example,
if a prospective customer is discovered at a
4-star restaurant, consider promoting your
hotel’s own gourmet menu.
Social media sites like Foursquare are ideal
for this purpose. Hotels can monitor when a
guest checks in via the app, and then review
the guest’s social media profile. By learning
more about guests, hotel staff can tailor the
guest experience to personal preferences.
Some Helpful Tips for Creating Your Own Mocal Campaign
TRAVELCAMPAIGN
As with any form of social media, it’s important to not focus on the short-term
direct sell. Instead, use mocal to create a loyal following and encourage user-
generated content (UGC). The goal is to keep your brand top-of-mind when
travel decisions are made. And remember, it’s equally important to listen, too.
By monitoring what people are saying about your brand, you’ll gain valuable
insight into how to better market your property to them.
The Year of the Mocal Traveler | Page 10Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality
We’ve already touched on some of the ways
this location-based data can help you hone
your marketing strategy in our infographic,
The Future of Proximity & Micro-Location
Marketing. For example, many forward-
thinking marketers are already providing
customized suggestions and targeted ads
based on a customer’s location and buying
habits. You’ll no doubt discover more ways
as you consider the specific needs of your
business or property. Just be sure to make
location-based data an integral part of your
planning process.
But What About Local?
LOCALTRAVEL
Although we’ve mostly focused on the social media and mobile aspects of mocal,
there’s a third component of the mix that shouldn’t be overlooked, and that’s the
“local” aspect. Thanks to GPS-enabled devices and apps like Foursquare, brands
can now use real-time location data to refine their communications. A recent article
in Inc. magazine suggests that companies will soon provide relevant information
personalized to what a customer needs, when they need it, wherever they are,
and without asking.
Making Mocal Pay Off as Part of an Integrated Strategy
Given how powerful mocal has become, you
may be tempted to forgo paid advertising
altogether. In a word, don’t. The best results
are obtained from a coordinated effort using
both paid and non-paid mocal efforts. Most
advertisers seem to understand this. Facebook
passed a major milestone, with 53% of its ad
revenue now generated from paid mobile
advertising.
Regardless of the ratio you assign to paid
vs. non-paid efforts, mocal has earned
a prominent place in a travel marketer’s
overall strategy. Look for creative ways to
incorporate this dynamic medium that are
unique to your brand. A knowledgeable
marketing partner can provide valuable
guidance. Most of all, don’t wait. The first to
recognize the potential of this powerful new
trend will move leaps and bounds ahead of
their competitors who choose to ignore it.
3500 NW Boca Raton Blvd. | Suite 601 | Boca Raton, FL 33431 | 561 338 7797 275 Madison Ave. | 14th Floor | New York, NY 10016 | 917 969 5370
Share this e-book!
If you would like to receive future MDG e-books, subscribe to the MDG blog, or contact MDG Advertising for a consultation
on how you can implement a mocal strategy, visit us at mdgadvertising.com or call 561 338 7797.
Travel marketing goes social
14 digital marketing trends to watch for in 2014
Top 10 Hospitality Trends for 2014
5 Travel Marketing Trends for 2014
The Smart Hotelier’s Guide to 2014 Digital Marketing
Budget Planning
Top 4 Travel Marketing Trends to Take Action in 2014
The Mobile Tourist: How Smartphones Are Shaking Up The
Travel Market
Price, reviews and ratings: How consumers evaluate a hotel
room purchase in a social world
Social media revealed as a top priority for travel technology
professionals
Laptop Computers now Roughly as Popular as Desktops
Travel Research and Booking Seen A Multi-Device Process
Social Media Report 2012: Social Media Comes of Age
10 Ways Travel Brands Can Use Pinterest
So Much For Facebook Ruining Instagram – It Just Hit 150
Million Monthly Active Users
How ‘Mocial’ Selling Will Transform Your Business
Marriott launches virtual traveling game Xplor of iOS
Holiday Inn Express, Marriott eye the younger traveler
Four Seasons unites consumers via mobile ice cream social
TTG Asia, Ask the Expert: Simrat Sawhney, client partner,
global marketing solutions at Facebook
(February 2014) By The Numbers: 116 Amazing Twitter
Statistics
Instagram Is the Fastest-Growing Social Site Globally,
Mobile Devices Rule Over PCs For Access
No Check In Required: Foursquare Starts Rolling Out
‘Proactive’ Push Recommendations on Android
KLM introduces payment via Twitter and Facebook
YouTube Statistics
Source Articles
(Article titles are clickable and will navigate to the Internet)

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E-book: The Year of the Mocal Traveler

  • 1. THE YEAR OF THE MOCALTRAVELERMobile and social media have now become inseparable. Smart hospitality and travel marketers can capitalize on this trend to effectively increase sales. Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality
  • 2. The Year of the Mocal Traveler | Page 1Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality Table of Contents Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 The Impact of Mobile on Travel-Related Decisions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The Impact of Social Media on Travel Bookings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The Impact of Mocal on Travel Bookings. . . . 6 Developing a Mocal Strategy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Some Helpful Tips for Creating Your Own Mocal Campaigns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 But What About Local? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Making Mocal Pay Off as Part of an Integrated Strategy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 First we had the mobile traveler, and the way we market travel changed. Then we had the social traveler, and our marketing tactics changed again. This year is all about the mocal traveler. And yes, you guessed it­—the way we market travel is changing once more. This new trend will have major implications for all travel-related decisions, from hotel and airline bookings to sightseeing activities to restaurant reservations, even local transportation. For those who haven’t yet encountered the term, mocal (sometimes referred to as mocial or so-lo-mo) denotes the convergence of mobile device usage with social media— specifically, accessing social media from a mobile device. While both mobile and social media have individually influenced travel decisions over the past decade, this will be the year the two trends converge to become a single, highly powerful motivator. Used appropriately, this anytime, anywhere access to social media via smartphones and tablets can have far-reaching consequences for your travel business. To truly understand the impact of the fusion of these two trends, let’s first look at each one separately.
  • 3. The Year of the Mocal Traveler | Page 2Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality What we refer to singly as mobile actually includes multiple devices, with most travelers moving between screens during the booking process. Ericsson estimates there will be more than 50 billion connected devices in circulation by the year 2020. This includes laptops, desktops, tablets, and smartphones— and it means marketers must optimize their messages for all these different formats. But according to Ericsson, the really big news happens in 2014. In North America, this year will mark a major shift when more online access takes place via mobile devices than traditional desktops and laptops. This shift is particularly notable to the travel industry, as these mobile travelers represent a highly desirable market. All consumers who use mobile devices for travel services tend to have higher-than-average incomes, and 32% of all business travelers have booked travel on mobile. In addition, mobile plays a particularly strong role in last-minute bookings, with more than 70% of reservations through smartphones coming within a day of check-in. Here’s what you need to know about each mobile device in order to effectively target its users: The Smartphone Smartphones have revolutionized the world, but nowhere more so than in the area of travel. Smartphones and their apps are now regularly used to search for and book transportation and hotel accommodations, substitute for traditional paper boarding passes, replace paper maps for navigating a new destination, make dinner reservations, and translate foreign words. But perhaps most important to travel marketers, apps on smartphones can help them hone their marketing strategies by collecting valuable location-based data on users. The Tablet Tablet adoption among travelers has skyrocketed in the past few years, with more than 44% of the population currently owning one, and another 40% planning to purchase one sometime during 2014 (PhoCusWright Innovation Edition report). As a result, travelers now split their travel planning between both smartphones and tablets. The Impact of Mobile on Travel-Related Decisions MOBILETRAVEL 20% 37% 25% Now that it accounts for 20% of all travel sales, hospitality marketers can no longer afford to ignore mobile. In fact, 37% of consumers worldwide access the Internet via their smartphones for travel purposes. And in 2013, a quarter of all travelers used mobile to search, research, and purchase travel.
  • 4. The Year of the Mocal Traveler | Page 3Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality But it’s not just a matter of adding another device into the marketing mix. It’s the way travelers use tablets that has marketers rethinking their strategies. Mobile Web usage nearly doubles with the use of tablets, suggesting that less travel planning is now taking place on a desktop. In addition, travelers are choosing tablets over smartphones for destination selection, shopping, and booking. In conclusion, JiWire reports that all devices are heavily used for booking travel with the process typically beginning on one device and concluding on another. While smartphones and tablets are frequently used for research, the device most often used for the actual booking is still the laptop. This means laptops will continue to play an important role in the marketing process, and that marketers need to consider all three screens when assessing their strategies. For those who hope to use social media successfully, it’s important to understand the dynamics involved in the traveler’s decision- making process. Social media gives people immediate access to an entire network of friends, making it easy to seek trusted advice on travel purchase decisions. After all, these friends already know their likes and dislikes, and are more likely to provide honest feedback than marketers with an underlying motive of trying to sell them something. In addition, messages relayed from friends are more likely to be remembered. Recent research shows that ads shared through social media generate 50% greater recall. There’s also something particularly comforting about having friends to consult when confronting the unfamiliar aspects of travel. Travel is an expensive and emotional decision. Social media helps overcome a traveler’s fear of the unknown. Even before the decision of where to go is made, would- be travelers are influenced by others posting The Impact of Social Media on Travel Bookings SOCIALTRAVEL 44% 75% 4/5 Compared to mobile, social media is a relative newcomer. Nonetheless, it has become a ubiquitous part of our daily lives in a very short time. Penetration has now reached 44% of the developed world. A recent survey of travel technology professionals suggests that 75% consider establishing a presence on social media networks “essential” to their business, and four out of five cite social media as their most successful tool in attracting new clients.
  • 5. The Year of the Mocal Traveler | Page 4Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality comments and photos of their own travels. They see something they like and think, “I want to go there, too.” It’s immensely reassuring to know that someone familiar to them has been there before. Instant dialogue via social media also makes it possible to stand out from your competitors by quickly addressing complaints before they spiral out of control. Recent findings by Edison Research show that 42% of consumers posting a complaint on social media expect a response within 60 minutes. To avoid negative publicity, marketers must stay on top of posts about their properties, and respond quickly and appropriately to criticism. Expedia keeps a multi-lingual team available 24/7 to handle its customer queries and complaints in real-time. Another key trend in social media has been the shift toward more visual content. This seems to be true regardless of the platform, but may explain the rapid rise of sites like Pinterest and Instagram. In general, how you use social media to promote your property depends upon your brand, your audience, and the message you hope to convey. Here’s a look at some popular social media channels with tips on how to best utilize them for your purposes. Although the proliferation of new social networks has increased competition, Facebook still reigns supreme in the social media universe. According to the 2012 Social Media Report from Nielsen, Facebook received 152.2 million visitors via PC, 78.4 million via mobile apps, and 74.3 million via mobile web. Even more important, 42% of the stories shared on Facebook were about travel. This site’s high level of engagement and overall market penetration make it a particularly powerful medium for conveying inspirational and aspirational content. Twitter is all about immediacy and real-time responsiveness. You can learn a lot about your market by listening to travel-related conversations and by monitoring mentions of your brand. Consider the example of a diner at a London Halkin Hotel who tweeted a picture of her main course along with a positive comment. Just minutes later, the hotel’s manager came into the dining room to personally thank her. This kind of spontaneous interaction is where Twitter excels. More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube and over 6 billion hours of video are watched every month. As a travel marketer, you can put this popularity to work by posting high- quality video content that showcases your property or travel-related business. Consider giving viewers a tour of your destination’s most interesting aspects and encourage them to post their own videos by offering incentives or rewards. Pinterest has rapidly gained a loyal following since its public debut in 2010—making it well worth a marketer’s time and investment to capitalize on this visually dominant social Facebook Twitter YouTube Pinterest
  • 6. The Year of the Mocal Traveler | Page 5Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality media platform. Many travel brands now use Pinterest for marketing tactics like posting offer boards, encouraging customers to share photos from their trips, and aiding future guests in their trip-planning activities. To make it easy for travel planners, businesses need to ensure that their website content is pinnable and create travel boards that maximize the aspirational aspects of travel. The use of photography has always played an essential role in travel marketing. So it’s no surprise that an app that focuses on photo sharing would soon earn a place in the travel marketer’s portfolio. What is surprising is the phenomenal growth of Instagram. New figures published by GlobalWebIndex show that Instagram is the fastest-growing social media site worldwide. Purchased by Facebook, it has now followed in its owner’s footsteps and begun selling ads through sponsored content. To make the most of the visual nature of Instagram, brands should focus on high-quality, compelling photo content. For those targeting businesspeople, LinkedIn remains the obvious choice. This social network is geared to business professionals and one of the few social networking sites favored more by men than women. UK-based East Coast Trains took advantage of the business nature of LinkedIn to target commuters along its mainline. As a result, it quickly increased the number of followers from 700 to 4,000. There’s no question that customer reviews influence consumer buying behavior. In fact, recent research suggests that consumers overwhelmingly prefer reviews over aggregate ratings when forming an opinion about a potential purchase. The uncertainty associated with travel makes hotel reviews particularly influential. Favorable reviews can go a long way in swaying potential guests. Even bad reviews can be mitigated with a quick and appropriate response, thus demonstrating a high level of customer care. Equally important, by monitoring reviews of your competitors’ properties, you can glean valuable information to help you successfully market against them. As of January 2014, 45 million people use the mobile app, Foursquare, to “check in” to businesses around the world. But Foursquare goes well beyond the simple check-in feature. It also provides personalized travel tips based on other user recommendations. These user recommendations are particularly helpful because they’re provided by others, including personal friends, who’ve actually been to the same destination. One way businesses can utilize Foursquare is by posting offers which are buzzed to a user’s phone whenever they check in to your location. Although Google+ was slow to take off, the network has quickly gained momentum. Instagram LinkedIn Yelp Foursquare Google+
  • 7. The Year of the Mocal Traveler | Page 6Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality Google+ Communities, in particular, has garnered a great deal of interest, with key implications for the travel industry. Communities are groups of G+ users with similar interests. Many of the G+ Communities trending in 2014 are travel themed. They range from general topics like Places to See Before You Die to niche categories like Family Travel and Budget Travel, as well as geographic topics like Travel South Africa and Miami and South Florida Events. This well-defined segmentation makes it easy for travel marketers to match communities to their target demographic and develop outreach efforts to effectively address these communities. Although TripAdvisor is more of a review site than a true social media platform, it’s worth mentioning here in terms of monitoring. Online reputation management is an essential element in any mocal strategy to make sure negative reviews don’t derail your well- planned marketing efforts. TripAdvisor The Impact of Mocal on Travel Bookings MOCALTRAVEL Now that we’ve explored these two powerhouses separately, let’s look at how they work together. Mobile-originated content dominates social media. This content is then shared by other mobile users, multiplying its reach exponentially. Any shared content that mentions, tags, or hashtags the brand name becomes linked to that brand’s identity, positively impacting conversation around the brand as well as its discoverability and search rankings. Think of mocal as sticking a microphone (aka smartphone or tablet) into the hands of the public and asking them to broadcast their thoughts about your brand. It’s word-of- mouth advertising at its most powerful. Every comment has the potential to be broadcast and heard around the globe—impacting a brand either positively or negatively. Your goal is to control the conversation and make sure the broadcast has the desired consequences. Whether a post is in the form of video, photography, or micro-blogging, these broadcasts need to be channeled into your pre-approved marketing plan.
  • 8. The Year of the Mocal Traveler | Page 7Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality Marriott International Plays Games with Guests To engage customers and attract a younger audience, Marriott International has developed a mobile travel game for iOS devices. Xplor takes players on an adventure through five major global cities as they attempt to track down their missing Aunt Sophia. In the process, they solve puzzles, interact with characters, and explore each city’s sights. “Social gaming is part of our innovation strategy to engage customers and attract the next generation of social, mobile travelers and employees to Marriott,” says David Rodriguez, chief human resources officer for Marriott International. British Airways Conquers Rome in a Day British Airways recently capitalized on the instant interaction of mocal when it sent a travel blogger to Rome for a day. The blogger, armed with a smartphone, explored the city using only tips from followers on Twitter. According to Kim Willis, British Airways’ content strategy advisor, “Twelve hours, 1,600 tweets and 13 locations later, we’d found and shared parts of Rome that most guidebooks never talk about, with many followers contacting us to say it inspired them to book.” Four Seasons Melts Hearts with a Mobile Ice Cream Social Last July, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts hosted a digital ice cream social titled, “The Summer of Ice Cream Love.” Hotel guests and local residents were invited to events at 17 properties worldwide. The “Insta-Meets” showcased the luxury chain’s culinary prowess by featuring mouthwatering content and encouraging guests to post photos via Instagram. Felicia Yukich, manager of social media marketing at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Toronto, says, “This initiative serves as another way to create significant culinary buzz for the brand within the social media realm, keeping us in the ongoing food conversation.” Developing a Mocal Strategy TRAVELSTRATEGY While both mobile and social media have reached the radar of most travel marketers, few have learned to harness the powerful combination of mocal. By integrating the two, and treating them as one entity, brands can explore the full range of possibilities inherent in this new medium. How your destination utilizes mocal will largely depend on your marketing goals and your budget. But here are some examples of how other travel brands have successfully employed mocal to achieve a wide range of objectives.
  • 9. The Year of the Mocal Traveler | Page 8Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality Holiday Inn Express Gets Edgy with Smart Thinking Campaign Many formerly conservative brands are now looking to social media to establish their brands among a younger, edgier audience. As part of its “Smart Thinking” campaign, Holiday Inn Express invites young travelers to show how smart they are by posting humorous advice on any topic via Vine, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter. The chain chose Daily Show comedian Jason Jones as the spokesman for the campaign and enlists websites such as CollegeHumor and Buzzfeed to spread the content. KLM Finds Mocal just the Ticket for Bookings and More With more than 5 million Facebook fans, it’s not surprising that KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is now allowing passengers to use mocal for everything from booking flights to seat selection, to arranging for extra baggage. Now the airline has added payments to the list. The airline sends a link to customers through a private message on Facebook or Twitter. The customer then selects the preferred payment method to complete the transaction. The airline also has 130 social media agents working around the clock to answer the approximately 35,000 queries each week that arrive via Facebook and Twitter. East Coast Trains Employs Mocal to do Damage Control In addition to its use of LinkedIn to attract commuters, East Coast Trains harnessed the power of mocal to assuage passengers during recent transportation delays. When angry passengers posted complaints on Twitter, the UK-based railway responded by posting images of affected areas. Social media manager Nick Wood explains, “People are a lot more sympathetic to delays if they can see what’s happening.”
  • 10. The Year of the Mocal Traveler | Page 9Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality There are many ways to increase bookings by using mocal. Here are a few ideas to get you started: Target travelers within a 50-mile radius of your property to increase last-minute bookings. Share exclusive content, behind-the-scenes information, and news about your property specifically targeted to mobile behaviors and situations. Provide incentives to encourage user- generated content (UGC) and the sharing of content with others. Use social networks to post updates to your rewards and loyalty programs. Urge guests to post live tweets while staying at your property and to post about their positive experiences on Facebook. Invite guests to share photos of their visits on Instagram using a campaign-specific hashtag. Consider offering a prize, such as a free room night, for the most intriguing photo. This tactic also works well with posts and tweets. Enlist guests in a scavenger hunt for “treasures” around your property, and ask them to post their findings on various social media sites. The most important thing to remember is to engage your audience in a two-way communication. Social media should promote dialogue, not simply serve as a soapbox to deliver your message. Encouraging a conversation will be easy to do if you mine the real-time location data you gain, and use it to market to the specific tastes, needs, and preferences of your audience. For example, if a prospective customer is discovered at a 4-star restaurant, consider promoting your hotel’s own gourmet menu. Social media sites like Foursquare are ideal for this purpose. Hotels can monitor when a guest checks in via the app, and then review the guest’s social media profile. By learning more about guests, hotel staff can tailor the guest experience to personal preferences. Some Helpful Tips for Creating Your Own Mocal Campaign TRAVELCAMPAIGN As with any form of social media, it’s important to not focus on the short-term direct sell. Instead, use mocal to create a loyal following and encourage user- generated content (UGC). The goal is to keep your brand top-of-mind when travel decisions are made. And remember, it’s equally important to listen, too. By monitoring what people are saying about your brand, you’ll gain valuable insight into how to better market your property to them.
  • 11. The Year of the Mocal Traveler | Page 10Share this e-book! mdgadvertising.com/hospitality We’ve already touched on some of the ways this location-based data can help you hone your marketing strategy in our infographic, The Future of Proximity & Micro-Location Marketing. For example, many forward- thinking marketers are already providing customized suggestions and targeted ads based on a customer’s location and buying habits. You’ll no doubt discover more ways as you consider the specific needs of your business or property. Just be sure to make location-based data an integral part of your planning process. But What About Local? LOCALTRAVEL Although we’ve mostly focused on the social media and mobile aspects of mocal, there’s a third component of the mix that shouldn’t be overlooked, and that’s the “local” aspect. Thanks to GPS-enabled devices and apps like Foursquare, brands can now use real-time location data to refine their communications. A recent article in Inc. magazine suggests that companies will soon provide relevant information personalized to what a customer needs, when they need it, wherever they are, and without asking. Making Mocal Pay Off as Part of an Integrated Strategy Given how powerful mocal has become, you may be tempted to forgo paid advertising altogether. In a word, don’t. The best results are obtained from a coordinated effort using both paid and non-paid mocal efforts. Most advertisers seem to understand this. Facebook passed a major milestone, with 53% of its ad revenue now generated from paid mobile advertising. Regardless of the ratio you assign to paid vs. non-paid efforts, mocal has earned a prominent place in a travel marketer’s overall strategy. Look for creative ways to incorporate this dynamic medium that are unique to your brand. A knowledgeable marketing partner can provide valuable guidance. Most of all, don’t wait. The first to recognize the potential of this powerful new trend will move leaps and bounds ahead of their competitors who choose to ignore it.
  • 12. 3500 NW Boca Raton Blvd. | Suite 601 | Boca Raton, FL 33431 | 561 338 7797 275 Madison Ave. | 14th Floor | New York, NY 10016 | 917 969 5370 Share this e-book! If you would like to receive future MDG e-books, subscribe to the MDG blog, or contact MDG Advertising for a consultation on how you can implement a mocal strategy, visit us at mdgadvertising.com or call 561 338 7797. Travel marketing goes social 14 digital marketing trends to watch for in 2014 Top 10 Hospitality Trends for 2014 5 Travel Marketing Trends for 2014 The Smart Hotelier’s Guide to 2014 Digital Marketing Budget Planning Top 4 Travel Marketing Trends to Take Action in 2014 The Mobile Tourist: How Smartphones Are Shaking Up The Travel Market Price, reviews and ratings: How consumers evaluate a hotel room purchase in a social world Social media revealed as a top priority for travel technology professionals Laptop Computers now Roughly as Popular as Desktops Travel Research and Booking Seen A Multi-Device Process Social Media Report 2012: Social Media Comes of Age 10 Ways Travel Brands Can Use Pinterest So Much For Facebook Ruining Instagram – It Just Hit 150 Million Monthly Active Users How ‘Mocial’ Selling Will Transform Your Business Marriott launches virtual traveling game Xplor of iOS Holiday Inn Express, Marriott eye the younger traveler Four Seasons unites consumers via mobile ice cream social TTG Asia, Ask the Expert: Simrat Sawhney, client partner, global marketing solutions at Facebook (February 2014) By The Numbers: 116 Amazing Twitter Statistics Instagram Is the Fastest-Growing Social Site Globally, Mobile Devices Rule Over PCs For Access No Check In Required: Foursquare Starts Rolling Out ‘Proactive’ Push Recommendations on Android KLM introduces payment via Twitter and Facebook YouTube Statistics Source Articles (Article titles are clickable and will navigate to the Internet)