advertising, brand engagement, social media, social networking

Qantas Travel Insider on building a social community

Posted by Tiphereth Gloria on July 1, 2009 at 10:10 pm.

At the Social Media Club Sydney June event panel discussion Do you need an agency to run effective social media campaigns? Karla Courtney - Online Editor Qantas Travel Insider, and @qftravelinsider - represented the client perspective. Karla works client-side and has built a community around the @qftravelinsider Twitter account by engaging in conversations around travel.

Qantas Travel Insider is an editorial product that is hosted/owned/branded by Qantas/qantas.com The general idea from an editorial perspective is to provide quality/independent/well-researched travel content that caters to the same market as the inflight magazine. Here’s a short excerpt from the discussion:

Karla points out that people perceive Qantas as an all encompassing brand, so even though she is doing travel editorial, she is representing Qantas on Twitter. What’s great with  @qftravelinsider is that its not just repeating content that’s already on the website, its about connecting travel information with passionate travelers.

For Karla and Qantas Travel Insider, social engagement is not campaign based, but rather part of a long term brand strategy. Karla’s even started a section of the travel blog devoted to tips from twitterers and regularly asked questions, so the great content she sources on Twitter is available to everyone. Its great to see an iconic Australian brand like Qantas using social media for brand engagement.

Watch the entire  panel discussion on the Social Media Club Sydney Vimeo channel

What other brands do you think are doing well building a social community around conversations?

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  • gees, i never expected them to think of it... i will be waiting for this one...
  • nice post
  • Karla was really amazing. Even though she's an online editor of Qantas Travel Insider she's still a travel insider for twitter. The job was tough i think..
  • phonecases
    Yup, social media marketing is next trend and we should see more companies to jump on and small companies will have chance to compete with big boys..
  • Twitter is now one of the most famous social networking sites. It is good that Qantas has now account on twitter so people can follow them easily.
  • Great that Qantas are now in twitter. People can find them easily. And since twitter is also a good social site so this is a good idea for them. There are really many people who needs tips and advises for travelling.

    Well since we are talking about travel. If you have plans to visit other places or countries you can rely on LMT because they can offer you good deals and services. All you have to do is relax while waiting for your vacation and while you are in your vacation. No worries because they can take care of everything you need. You can visit their site to find their great deals..


    thanks
  • I rememember tweeting while weatching this (thanks to Friendfeed search) "do we need the qantas soft sell? If we want travel advice we go'independant'" I was referring to the, I understand, myriad travel sites where people can already get this information. And while I caught up briefly with Karla afterwards, and agree with her position on qantas expanding their brand and service levels to customers, I still feel qantas would be better served referring to sites which already have this information. Not to mention my cyncism of qantas' greater ambition; surely they will use it to drive visitors to qantas holidays destinations and partners rather than providing their travellers with the full gamut of information in order to best assist their customers in having the holiday they wish to have rather than the one qantas make the most $ out of regardless of the customers satisfaction.
  • Thanks for your comment @franksting. If you follow @qftravelinsider they do what they say they do - crowd source travel info and ship it around to those who need it. Out of the brands on Twitter they are doing it very well - no hard sell, no push marketing. Of course if you subliminally feel the need to purchase a Qantas fare as a result of getting great travel info, then they have probably done the job well. I personally don't have a problem with companies using social to build brand - and Twitter being an opt in means that I can unfollow if people overstep the mark.
  • karla
    @mtvaustralia does some engaging things with twitter competitions. Internationally there are quite a few travel brands using twitter well, in particular @JETBLUE
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