The Power of Community as a Travel Professional

Written By: Jesse Morris, Owner – We Book Travel, LLC

If you are on social media and not hiding under a rock, you have seen all the posts and memes about Popeye’s new chicken sandwich. I haven’t had one yet but word on the street is that it’s a very good sandwich. Based on the hype a Twitter war has broken out between Popeye’s, Chickfila and Wendy’s debating who has the best chicken sandwich and inviting fans into the discussion. This viral discussion on social media has created long lines at Popeye’s for people to buy their new sandwich. I actually went by one the other day and there was a sign that they were out of them. No TV, no radio, no print ads, simply viral social media marketing.

What does any of this have to do with travel? If you own your own business and are responsible for promoting yourself, it means everything. When you engage the community to promote your business it can be a very powerful thing. Word of mouth has always been the most powerful and effective form of advertising. Positive word of mouth can boost your sales to the next level. Negative word of mouth can shut you down completely. Popeye’s has used social media to perfection. This is something we can and should learn from.

As an industry we have a perception issue. People think travel agents cost too much. People think travel agents are only for the rich. People think travel agents are only for complicated trips. Some people think travel agents no longer exist. Imagine what a viral social media post could do for your business. Imagine if we could use the power of community to educate the world about our industry. Look what it did for a chicken sandwich.

How do you use social media to promote your business? Please share with me at info@webooktravel.net and I will share with everyone in a future article. As always, feedback is appreciated. If there is a topic you would like to read about send that my way as well.