Social Media Benchmark Report Highlights Top Travel Brands

Social Media Benchmark
Travel
Issue 1
January 2014

Private & Confidential
© eDigitalResearch 2014
This document is for information purposes only
eDigitalResearch makes no warranties, expressed or implied, in this document

Contents

eDigitalResearch

Introduction
Methodology
Key Findings
Results
Facebook
Followers
Engagement Levels
Best Practice

Twitter
Followers
Engagement Levels
Best Practice

Google+
Followers
Best Practice

Pinterest
Followers
Best practice

Conclusions
Key areas for Consideration
Social Media and Customer Service
Social Media solutions

About eDigitalResearch
Contacts

2

eDigitalResearch

Introduction

2013 saw huge leaps in social media technology and the uptake by consumers. The
continued growth of social media platforms and concepts, such as Pinterest and Instagram,
have fundamentally changed the ways that brands are now using and investing in social
media channels.

Over the past four years, eDigitalResearch have tracked, monitored and benchmarked the
fundamental rise of the eCommerce industry here in the UK, and internationally, with our
invaluable eTravelBenchmark reports. The industry has evolved from basic transactional
travel sites, through to today’s innovative, engaging and user friendly travel websites. Since
then we’ve introduced our study across international markets, as well as emerging customer
touchpoints, including mCommerce, as multichannel and global expansion become more
instrumental to retailers.
eDigitalResearch have now taken our years of experience and expertise benchmarking sites
across sectors and are now adapting this toward social media use, examining for the first
time how travel brands are using the platform to benefit both the business and the
consumer.

The following report contains the key findings from our
first wave, including highlighting those travel brands
that are getting it right, the current social media trends as
innovations, as well as our thoughts on how to run a successful
social media campaign and what the future may hold.
Our influential benchmarking reports Sign up for the
benchmarking area here

3

eDigitalResearch

Methodology

Between the 9th December and the 15th December 2013, our specialist travel
researchers and dedicated social media team studied over 80 top travel brands,
covering multiple sectors including airlines, hotels, travel agencies. We looked at
travel brands’ presence (or lack of) on the most influential and popular social media
sites, including Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest and monitored the number
of followers and fans.

Alongside this, our team also looked at the quality of output and productivity in an
attempt to measure the levels of innovative customer engagement by brands,
studying messages by subject and topic.
Using HUB, our powerful insight and analysis tool, we were then able to drill down
our findings to highlight successful brands across each social platform, as well as
drawing attention to those brands that integrate consumer conversation throughout
all social media sites.
In order to establish which travel sectors are using social media
to the best of their advantage, we compared the top
performing brands from travel agencies, airlines, hotels,
cruises, in an attempt to understand social media best practice.


4

eDigitalResearch

Key Findings

From our previous research in to retailers’ social media activity in our Retail Social
Media benchmark, we found that the top performing travel brands had a similar
amount of followers on their social media sites.
KLM were most consistent brand across the board coming first, second, third and
fourth on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest respectively and the only travel
company to feature in each top 10.
On Facebook KLM are ahead by 1.7 million (1,740,138) likes over second placed
AirFrance.
British Airways top the Google+ table with over half a million (501,485) more
followers than second placed Expedia.
Google+ continues to attract a high number of new followers and is starting to
make a real impact on social media campaigns. For example, KLM have more than
three times the number of Twitter followers engaged with their Google+ account.
Hotel brands performed particularly well on Pinterest with Four Seasons taking the
top spot followed by Mr and Mrs Smith and Hotels.com.
The study also highlights that travel brands are posting a lot less across social media
platforms during weekend periods compared to weekdays. On average, most
travel brands are posting less than half on Saturdays and Sundays than they are
during the week.


5

RESULTS


6

Facebook Followers: Top 20

eDigitalResearch
Position

Travel brand

No. of Followers
(Issue 1)*

1

KLM

4,593,518

2

Air France

2,853,380

3

Emirates

2,304,623

4

Hotels.com

2,027,388

5

Expedia

1,897,334

6

Trivago

1,476,397

7

Royal Caribbean

1,470,718

8

Lufthansa

1,425,636

9

Booking.com

1,337,532

10

Princess Cruises

1,237,759

11

American Airlines

1,169,864

12

Hilton

1,162,854

13

Delta

1,136,973

14

British Airways

1,083,784

15

Best Western

838,670

16

Holiday Inn Express

654,448

17

Cathay Pacific

645,848

18

Etihad

563,448

19

Low Cost Holidays

544,291

20

Singapore Airlines

Dutch airline KLM have taken the
first travel social media top spot,
having reached just over an
impressive 4.5 million likes.
Airlines have performed particularly
well in the very first travel Facebook
league table with KLM, Air France
and Emirates completing the top
3. However, their success is most
probably due to their large
international customer base.
KLM have also converted a higher
number of Facebook users into
followers, similar to the top retailers
in our Retail Social Media
Benchmark (using figures from our previous Retail

531,449

Social Media Benchmark from the week commencing 17th
June 2013)

*During the week commencing 9th December 2013


7

eDigitalResearch

Engagement Levels

eDigitalResearch monitored the engagement levels of top travel brands
across key social networks to understand more about how key performing
brands are currently managing their social media campaign.
eDigitalResearch also measured the ‘Talking about’ numbers for the
top performing travel brands, comparing the data to follower numbers.
Most brands have similar ‘Talking about’ and ‘follower’ numbers,
showing how a well maintained and integrated Facebook page can have a
positive impact on social media user activity.

The average number of apps integrated into pages varies greatly and
stands at just over 5 different apps per brand (5.3). These figures,
however, do not match with the amount of fans a page has, although four
of the top five have six or more.


8

Engagement Levels

eDigitalResearch

Average number of posts per day
Cathay Pacific
Hilton
Singapore Airlines
Lufthansa
Trivago
Princess Cruises
Hotels.com
Air France
KLM
Royal Caribbean
Emirates
British Airways
Holiday Inn Express
Delta
Booking.com
Best Western
American Airlines
Low Cost Holidays
Expedia
Etihad

Etihad have the highest number of average
posts even though they are 18th in the overall
Facebook league table with 563,448 likes.
They are actively engaging with users by
asking them questions about themselves and
for feedback as well as quizzes using their
#AVGEEK hashtag. They also post the vast
majority of posts with engaging photos.
Top 3 Travel Social Media
Facebook Benchmark league
table

0

0.5

1

1.5



9

2

2.5

3

3.5

eDigitalResearch

Engagement levels
Average number of posts per day across the week
As with the retail counterpart, the Travel
Social Media benchmark has found that
travel brands are failing to keep an
active and up to date Facebook page at
weekend periods, posting far less on
average on Saturday and Sunday to
weekdays.

1.8
1.6
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday



10

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Engagement Levels

eDigitalResearch

Number of page apps (excluding notes, photos and events)
Singapore Airlines
Etihad
Princess Cruises
Booking.com
Trivago
Hotels.com
Cathay Pacific
American Airlines
Lufthansa
Delta
Holiday Inn Express
Air France
KLM
Low Cost Holidays
Emirates
Hilton
Expedia
Best Western
British Airways
Royal Caribbean

All of the top performers have at least 2 page
apps in an effort to engage with users.
table

0

1

2

3

4



11

5

6

7

8

9

10

Engagement Levels: ‘Talking about’ numbers

eDigitalResearch

Best Western
Low Cost Holidays

‘Talking about’ measures the number of people
on Facebook talking about certain brands,
taking into account wall posts, comments and
page shares. As expected, top of the table
Emirates, KLM and Air France have a higher
‘Talking about’ number than their rivals.
Although they are lower in the table Royal
Caribbean and Princess Cruises are higher
ranked in this showing that they actively
engage their customers.

Expedia
Trivago
British Airways
Cathay Pacific
Hilton
Hotels.com
Singapore Airlines
Etihad

American Airlines
Holiday Inn Express

table

Booking.com
Lufthansa
Delta
Princess Cruises
Royal Caribbean
Air France
KLM
Emirates
0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000



12

100,000 120,000 140,000 160,000 180,000 200,000

eDigitalResearch

Best Practice: Etihad Airways
Although ranked 18th in the overall
Facebook league table, Etihad Airways’
Facebook page has the highest average
number of posts.
Etihad Airways actively engages their
customers in quizzes, sales, and pointing
them towards their website, driving traffic
and sales.
By posting images with their posts they
have created an engaging and
aesthetically pleasing Facebook page
which encourages to get involved.
The design of the page also stands out
from others. The display and cover
images blend together showing that they
have a clear Facebook strategy.


13

eDigitalResearch

Best Practice: KLM

With over 1.7million more
likes than 2nd placed Air
France, KLM have set the
bar for all others.

With great design and fantastic
customer engagement shown by
replying to questions in a polite and
quick manner in whatever language
the customer needs.


14

KLM have a well thought out range of
Page Apps allowing customers to
engage with ease. An outstanding
example is their Flight Status app
which allows users to track flights in
real time.

Twitter Followers: The Top 20

eDigitalResearch
Position

Retailer

No. of Followers
(Issue 1)*

1

American Airlines

2

KLM

669,012

3

Delta

558,433

4

British Airways

363,152

5

Virgin Atlantic

207,995

6

Expedia

179,221

7

Qantas

146,260

8

EasyJet

145,847

9

Hilton

113,385

10

Travelocity

101,500

11

Four Seasons

95,347

12

Royal Caribbean

79,880

13

STA Travel

70,022

14

Thomson

68,216

15

Singapore Airlines

62,369

16

Thomas Cook

58,608

17

Best western

57,347

18

Princess Cruises

52,803

19

Monarch

51,438

20

Air France

Airlines once again top the overall Twitter
league table with all of the top 5 spots.
KLM doing well across Facebook and
Twitter and are the only company to appear
in the top three of both tables.
American Airlines have a similar number
of Twitter followers in comparison to
retailers in our Retail Benchmark (using figures from

684,694

47,495

our previous Retail Social Media Benchmark from the week commencing 17th
June 2013).

However, like retailers, travel brands have a
far less number of followers on Twitter than
on other social media platforms. This
perhaps suggests a consumer behavioural
trend emerging where customers would
rather keep up to date with their favourite
brands via more visually engaging
platforms (such as Facebook and Google+)
and use more text based sites (such as
Twitter) as a means of contact.



15

Engagement levels

eDigitalResearch

Average number of posts per day
Air France
EasyJet
Singapore Airlines
Qantas
Hilton
Virgin Atlantic
Royal Caribbean
Best Western
American Airlines
Princess Cruises
British Airways
Delta
KLM
Thomas Cook
Travelocity
Thomson
Monarch
STA Travel
Expedia
Four Seasons

Four Seasons have the highest number of average posts,
with a huge average of over 27 per day. Four Seasons
seem more active on their Twitter account than others by
retweeting and replying a lot within a post rather than
opting for the conversation option that other brands use.

Twitter Benchmark league table

0

5

10

15



16

20

25

30

eDigitalResearch

Engagement Levels
Average number of posts per day across the week

9

Similar to their Facebook pages,
travel brands are failing to
interact with Twitter users at the
weekend and outside traditional
office hours.

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday



17

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

eDigitalResearch

Best Practice: KLM

KLM are the only company to feature in
both the Facebook and Twitter league
tables
KLM are actively using their Twitter
account for customer service, updating
their page regularly with expected reply
times. This helps to better manage
customer expectations.

Offering replies in ten languages, KLM
are easily accessible to all international
followers.

18

eDigitalResearch
Position

Google+ Followers: The Top 20

Retailer

No. of
Followers
(Issue 10)*

1

British Airways

2,421,797

2

Expedia

1,920,312

3

KLM

1,901,717

4

Delta

1,839,434

5

Travel Republic

1,692,698

6

American Airlines

1,684,815

7

Travelocity

1,661,517

8

Booking.com

1,516,877

9

Emirates

1,443,344

10

Destinology

834,395

11

Hilton

796,739

12

laterooms.com

745,475

13

Mr and Mrs Smith

612,952

14

Hotels.com

486,909

15

Thomson

195,443

16

Thomas Cook

186,795

17

First Choice

156,460

18

Low Cost Holidays

134,231

19

Etihad

118,253

20

Royal Caribbean

Google+ allows people to “+1” as well as “follow”
pages. For this study we have used the number of
followers each page has as a reflection of those that
are actually interacting with the page.
British Airways top the Google+ Overall table
with just shy of 2.5 million followers.
KLM is once again in the top five.
The popularity of Google+ is starting to show
with travel brands increasingly attracting a high
number of new followers on the site.
14 of the top 20 Facebook pages have over 1
million likes and 9 of the top 20 Google+ pages
have over 1 million likes.
There is a large gap of 600,000+ followers
between ninth and tenth position, proving that
some brands still have a lot to do to move
further up the table.

84,556



19

eDigitalResearch

Google+ Best Practice: British Airways
British Airways top the Google+
overall table. They have the most
followers with over 2.4 million and
have over 2.6 million plus ones.
Keeping your social media pages up
to date is the key to keeping
consumers engaged and British
Airways are a prime example of this
practice posting at least once a day
on average.
.
British Airways keep their Google+
page interesting with current and
engaging content including inspiring
photographs and videos.


20

Pinterest Followers: Top 20

eDigitalResearch
Position

Retailer

No. of
Followers
(Issue 1)*

1

Four Seasons

2

Mr and Mrs Smith

13,212

3

Hotels.com

6,559

4

KLM

5,739

5

Royal Caribbean

5,644

6

Travelocity

3,595

7

Princess Cruises

2,673

8

Hilton

2,523

9

American Airlines

2,272

10

Booking.com

2,127

11

Destinology

2,081

12

Directline Holidays

2,040

13

Delta

1,787

14

Kuoni

1,779

15

BA

1,742

16

Best western

1,700

17

Holiday Inn

1,547

First Choice

1,461

19

STA Travel

1,383

20

Super Break

1,072

Four Seasons are top of the Pinterest
table with over 31,000 followers – over
18,000 more than anyone else in the
benchmark.
Unlike other social media platforms where
airlines dominate the top of the table, hotel
brands are doing surprisingly well on
Pinterest.
KLM are once again in the top 5 – the only
company to be in the top 5 of the 4 social
media websites we have looked at.
In comparison to our Retail Social Media
benchmark, retail brands have a lot more
followers than travel brands (Topman has
103,208) (using figures from our previous Retail Social Media

31,383

18

Benchmark from the week commencing 17th June 2013).

*During the week commencing 9th Dec 2013


21

eDigitalResearch

Best Practice: FourSeasons

Four Seasons dominate the table with 18,000 more followers than any of their
competitors. They have 51 boards with over 3,400 pins tapping in to key areas of
interest on Pinterest including food and drink.

22

eDigitalResearch

Key Areas for consideration

Stay active. Content should be updated on a regular basis with at least
several posts a day and in line with other marketing channels. This in turn will
help to encourage followers to get involved and help create a sense of
community around your brand
Encourage engagement with a variety of page features. The more there
is to do, the more likely a user is to spend time on your page, interacting with
the brand and avid brand advocates
Involve followers. Ask your followers to get involved with games, forms, polls
or competitions and use the data gleaned to improve strategic development
Integrate channels. Support your Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest
following by encouraging online and in-store customers to engage and ‘like’
your page, chances are they’re already actively using the channel
Make the experience worthwhile. The modern consumer is demanding,
make sure you give them what they want and a little bit extra

23

eDigitalResearch

Social Media and Customer Services

Over the various social media benchmarking studies, we’ve noticed more and more
customers reaching out to brands on their Social Media pages with brands also
reaching back and using this medium as a method of customer service.
In October 2013 we
conducted a study into
how consumers contact
brands. 0.7% of people
would use Social Media
to contact travel brands
but it seems brands are
ready for this to
increase by inviting
consumers to contact
them, some even giving
wait times


24

eDigitalResearch

Social Media Solutions

Use social media platforms to survey your
followers and involve your followers in your
business.
Integrate social media links into your existing insight programme to help
increase awareness and turn brand advocates into social followers.

Understand and gauge the success of your social media presence to help better
engage with your customers. Learn how far your social media influence reaches
and turn your followers into active brand advocates, or vice versa.

25

eDigitalResearch

Who we are and what we do

We are one of the leading providers of digital market research
•
•
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established in 1999 by current directors/owners
self funded, financially secure, clear ethics
own system with outstanding technical support
team of research professionals

We have migrated traditional market research to digital methodologies
• reducing costs – fixed pricing model
• faster results – real time results
• improving accuracy – no response or panel limits

We are developing and introducing innovative research solutions
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real time feedback
maximising respondent engagement
industry norms/benchmarking
mCommerce/mResearch
social networking (digital communities)
Fully integrated customisable Customer Experience Management

Company Partners


26

eDigitalResearch


Product overview

27

Vanbrugh House, Grange Drive
Hedge End
Hampshire SO30 2AF
Tel: 01489 772920

www.edigitalresearch.com
@eDRtweet

For a bespoke insight
programme designed specifically to
gain insight and understanding
into your social media audience,
please contact Lynda Baker, Business
Development Manager,
lynda.baker@edigitalresearch.com.
Similarly, if you would like more
information on the results then
please contact eDigitalResearch by
emailing info@edigitalresearch.com

eDigitalResearch
Key Contacts:
Lisa Bonczyk – Associate Director, Sales and Marketing – lisa.bonczyk@edigitalresearch.com
Liana Vickery – Marketing Manager - liana.vickery@edigitalresearch.com


28

Social Media Benchmark Report Highlights Top Travel Brands

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