Kristin Graham, Expedia’s VP of Communications and Recruiting, shares insights and lessons learned from using social media to build community for their portfolio of global travel brands, which includes Hotels.com, TripAdvisor and Hotwire. See accompanying video at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/smbseattle. Be social. Follow us @SMBSeattle, fan us on Facebook , or join our LinkedIn group. This event co-hosted with IABCSeattle.

1. Social Media: Lessons Learned at
Expedia from the Trenches
Kristin Graham
VP, Global Recruiting & Engagement
Expedia, Inc.
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 1

2. Expedia, Inc. One company, many brands
Case study: Expedia.com
Social Media and Recruiting
Lessons Learned (along the way)
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 2

3. Quiz!
Which major airline has never put their
inventory on an online travel agency?
Southwest
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 3

4. Quiz!
Which national airline is actually named for a
former acronym?
QANTAS: Queensland And Northern Territories Air Service
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 4

5. Who we are:
Largest online travel company in the world
Second largest travel company in the world
6,200+ employees worldwide
Expedia.com - 20+ sites and growing
Hotels.com - 70+ sites and growing
Egencia - corporate travel now in 20+ countries
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 5

6. Lesson Learned #1
Find what forum suits you/your company &
spend quality time developing it
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 6

7. Case Study:
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 7

8. Lesson Learned #2
-depth strategy to get
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 8

9. Social Media Mission: Expedia.com
All of social marketing activities filter through
differentiating brand benefits.
We must engage consumers through social media in ways
that consistently enhance their booking and travel
experience with helpful information and functionality - not
gimmicks.
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 9

10. Foundational Tactics
Customer Service Support
Find and address customer service issues made public in social
media channels
Mitigate reputational damage
Twitter:
Use promotions and giveaways to generate interest
Facebook
Develop custom tabs and channel exclusive content
Encourage users to share experiences to develop community
YouTube
Favorites, playlists, design enhancements
Expedia TripTips Blog
Provide editorial guidance to establish clear voice of expertise
Expedia.com
Include easy access to social channels in prominent places
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 10

11. How We Work
Social Media Complements Multiple Areas of Enterprise
Global
External Customer Operations
Bloggers Comments Crisis
communication
DBM PR
Social inclusion Triage, content
in emaildata synergy
sharing Internal
Bloggers
Cast from around
the org
Advertising Customer Ops
Ad inclusion,
Social Triage and
paid placement Media service
Legal GSO
Employee and Blog Moderation,
Consumer policies, Hotel Reviews
Copy right
protection International Merch/PSG Search
Offers and info, Social conversations
Points of Sale
appear in results +
There are fewer site integration
greater opps for
geographic collaboration
boundaries in social
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 11

12. How We Work: Building the Foundation
Objective Tactics Executed To Date
Creation of Facebook, YouTube, Blog channels and
Brand Building
rebrand of Twitter.
Launched and updated all social sites in tandem to
rebranding.
Produced monthly content calendar with input from
advertising and PR.
Protected brand reputation through customer service
triage and domain/copyright registration
Traffic & Transactions Published deals, offers and promos to Expedia.com
through our social channels
Drive awareness of existing Expedia tools
Monitored/participated in consumer and competitive
Traveler Insights
conversations.
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 12

13. © 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 13

14. Case Study:
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 14

15. By Comparison
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 15

16. Lesson Learned #3
intangibles, too
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 16

17. Lesson Learned #4
em have fun!
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 17

18. Case Study: Employee Blog
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 18

19. The question of measurement: KPIs
MEASURE
Total Conversations
Tonal Sentiment /
Total Engagements
User Generated Content (Cumulative)
YouTube Views
Facebook Fans/Friends
Facebook Click-through
Twitter Followers
Twitter Click-through
High Authority Convo
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 19

20. © 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 20

21. © 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 21

22. Noise Control or Reputation Management?
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 22

23. Lesson Learned #5
Find your rock star attributes
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 23

24. Building Your Brand The Success of Trip Advisor
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 24

25. Lesson Learned #6
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 25

26. Case Study: @Expedia_Jobs
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 26

27. Lesson Learned #7
Humor is subjective
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 27

28. Travel @ Work
© 2008 Expedia, Inc. All rights reserved. Confidential 28
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 28

29. Lesson Learned #7
everything
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 29

30. User Generated Content: Employer Brand
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 30

31. User Generated Content: Employer Brand
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 31

32. Other Tidbits
Find advocates & partners
But err toward forgiveness not permission
To in-source or out-source
No right answer, but plenty of debate
Originality is great but plagiarism is faster
Learn from others and pick what works
There are no gurus
So just have fun and change as needed
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 32

33. © 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 33

34. Questions?
kgraham@expedia.com
http://twitter.com/expedia
http://twitter.com/kristingraham
© 2009 Expedia, Inc. Confidential & proprietary. All rights reserved. | 34