Social media is not only revolutionizing the way individuals connect / interact online, but more and more businesses are beginning to recognize the importance of data being collected as well. While it has almost been decade since the first major social platform (LinkedIn) was founded, organizations are continuing to find new and interesting ways of turning those insights in actionable items.
Earlier this week, Sarah Kennedy Ellis, director of Sabre Labs, illustrated this trend at the 2013 World Travel Market in London. Sabre Labs is a team that works as an emerging technology incubator and travel trends research lab at Sabre. During her keynote, Sarah discussed a recent experiment her team conducted, which focused on leveraging social data mining to help hoteliers implement a smarter marketing strategy. Listed below are key takeaways from the HOTEL SNAPS experiment as well as a CNN video interview with Sarah regarding social data and travel:
HOTEL SNAPS: Trends Explored
- Social data mining
- Integration of social and traditional traveler profiles
- Transform unstructured data into actionable data
Findings
- 48% of men vs. 56% of women share “selfie” photos primarily in hotel bar and/or hotel rooms
- 64% percent of men vs. 36% of women posted “check-ins” at top hotel chains (men represented largest volume of check-ins + photos)
- “Bar” most popular location checked into inside of hotels
It is evident that most industries have shifted their focus more on the customer experience as the majority of consumers now have the ability to voice their opinions / concerns directly to a company in a public forum. Lots of information is shared online and this provides an opportunity for businesses to build a loyal customer base by using those insights to address pain points and improve on their services. Sabre believes strongly in the power of data, investing in social intelligence to help our customers by providing rich insights and draw conclusions on how to improve the customer experience.