Building Loyalty With Web 2.0

1410 Words3 Pages

Building loyalty with Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is changing the way audiences interact with travel brands. User generated content [UGC] and social network sites such as Flickr, Youtube, and Yahoo Trip Planner are reshaping audience expectations and experiences. The authority figure is no longer the travel agent or the media - it is now the audience. Welcome to Travel 2.0.

In the Travel 2.0 era, the power is shifting.

In a Travel 2.0 environment, travel brands now need to meet and match their online audiences expectations and requirements with appropriate, engaging, entertaining, and targeted experiences.

As the online travel market matures and transforms, audiences are no longer content just to shop for price or read destination information written by marketers. Now more sophisticated online users are looking to connect and share with other travelers and with the content itself.

The Sheraton’s customer travel blog example can be seen as a forerunner in the travel 2.0 online landscape. User generated content in the shape of travel stories is displayed on their website. (Link: Sheraton, http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/index.html)

An Experience, not a room search.

To meet audience expectations you need to build an experience based upon what they want. Guests are no longer happy to just search for rooms, they want to connect and be connected. Technology is the enabling platform which helps to create this connection and create a rich, dynamic brand experience for your audience.

Loyalty is moving beyond simply branding a card and throwing some enticements or entitlements together. Web 2.0 is not only changing the way consumers communicate but also the way brands communicate.

This article will present a web 2.0 toolkit for building better, deeper loyalty with your customers, based upon 5 new business tools:

1. Blogs

2. Rich Media

3. Social Networks

4. Email Marketing

5. Loyalty Monitoring

Tool 01: Blogs

Some of the very best practices for building loyalty with consumers are through richer communication. Blogs are a front-line tool for instant reach for brand-to-consumer communications. Tools like Blogs present a shift in the service paradigm from purely tactical technologies (call deflection, improving agent productivity) to accommodate more strategic engagements (targeted customer experiences coupled with increased wallet share).

This shift in focus repositions the lens squarely back onto the consumer as a strategy to build more valuable, deeper brand relationships. With this paradigm shift, comes the necessity of a sharper focus upon loyalty: What it consists of and how it can be shaped.

Open Document