5 Travel Brands Winning on Social Media for the Week Ending June 27, 2014

There was a good mix of notable social media activity reported this week on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

Social media contests tied to call-to-action entries and airline news were the most popular items of the week. Tourism Queensland dominated in engagement with an integrated campaign, while Airbnb continued to stay in the winner’s circle.

Each Friday we call out travel brands that have stronger than usual activity on social media. Using SkiftIQ, we’re able to track current performance versus past (60-day averages, unless otherwise noted) as well as notice spikes in activity that demonstrate a brand either has a viral hit on its hands, or a public relations mess to clean up.

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The latest social activity on SkiftIQ for the week ending June 20, 2014:

1. Tourism and Events Queensland on YouTube and Twitter
Last week, they uploaded a new YouTube video introducing a series called, “24 Hours in Queensland” that also served as a promotion for their contest targeting American tourists. The contest ran on Facebook with a viewing room and pop quiz about the week’s video to boot!

This move was wildly successful, generating 900% more views than its YouTube channel’s 2,800 views/day average. Their Twitter account also got a 150% lift on their 26 Tweets/Day from a live tweeting event, “Townsville Trivia.”

2. Azul on Facebook
Brazil’s third largest airline company unveiled its new route to America by promoting the landing of its flight on Facebook and Twitter. For two days this week, its Facebook “Likes” rose by 500% on June 24 and climbed even higher on June 25, spiking by 800% over its usual 1,490 Facebook “Likes”/Day. The World Cup is an entree for future travel to Brazil and the country’s airlines are ready for American tourists.

3. Airbnb on Instagram

Airbnb’s social media content is clearly aligned with its existing customers interests — this week, the woods — and that they are spreading the word to others. #TreehouseTuesday knocks it out of the park again! This week, its featured property included a 200-year old farmhouse in the Catskills and a ridiculous multi-story treehouse in Thailand. Its Instagram followers grew by 1,500 on Monday and Tuesday raising its 724 Followers/Day average last week to 851 Followers/Day. These posts increased its Followers/Day average by 75%.

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4. Air France on Twitter
Given the slated six-day Air Traffic Control strike on June 24, this airline did its very best to inform its customers about flight status’, updates and a link to its website to access flight information. It updated their Twitter 65% more than usual on the day of and day before the strike. In addition, the communication with passengers were actual follow ups from actual flight and status inquiries. The passengers were given personalized treatment as opposed to dishing out bucket responses.

5. Southwest Airlines on Facebook and Twitter
New Kids on the Block, aka NKOTB is back and is hanging tough with Southwest Airlines. The like-to-enter sweepstakes is a roundtrip ticket to Las Vegas for the Official Party Plane Experience with all the band members Donnie Wahlberg, Joey McIntyre, Jordan Knight, Jonathan Knight and Danny Wood. The fans went wild on Facebook and Twitter.

Southwest doubled its Facebook followers over its 450 Followers/Day rate. Contrary to its normal activity on Twitter, the conversations also doubled for two days from its 50 status updates per day average, because of its partnership with NKOTB.

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