Social networking sites open up new level of marketing

According to Facebook's UK director, Blake Chandlee time spent on social network sites has now surpassed time spent emailing in the UK.

Chandlee told delegates at the recent Eye For Travel Distribution Summit that the average user spends 302 minutes a month on social networking sites such as Facebook, TripAdvisor and Bebo, while they spent only 179 minutes emailing.

He said: 'If you are only planning on using traditional media to market your product you are only going to be successful some of the time. You need to think how you can add value to the customer experience using these sites.

'There are 10.5 million people in the UK with a profile on Facebook and 100,000 of them have a travel profile. They can be targeted and a whole new level of marketing opens up.'

But Lastminute.com's CEO Ian McCaig warned that caution should be taken before companies jump into the social networking environment in an attempt to market their product.

He explained: 'There must be a level of sophistication and consideration because interruptive marketing in this environment does not work and alienates the customer as well as potentially damaging your brand.

'You need to check that your marketing is not popping up in an environment where a transaction is not taking place and people are just talking to each other. Intruding on social networking with your brand in an irrelevant situation is not welcomed.'

Eye for Travel focuses on distribution, marketing and technology developments in the travel and tourism industries. See www.eyefortravel.com for more information.

For expert advice on developing successful internet marketing strategies and effective online marketing campaigns, visit www.e-consultancy.com.