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How are the UK’s biggest travel companies using Facebook and what can we learn from them?

How Uk travel companies use Facebook

Facebook travel trends: four things we learn from reviewing how the biggest travel companies use Facebook


I recently started some research looking at how the biggest travel companies use Facebook. I am monitoring the pages of nine companies including Butlins, Thomas Cook, First Choice and Expedia (a 10th company, lastminute.com, deleted their page at the beginning of November).

The research will run for many months to ensure the data is comprehensive, but based on the first four weeks of data (147 posts) I have seen some interesting trends.

 1. Not all posts make it

Only around 60% of posts make it to a Fans’ newsfeed. So you can’t be sure your carefully crafted news announcement or brilliant deal will actually make it to your fans, never mind be read by them.

 2. Nobody posts at the weekend

The most popular days for posting are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with very few posts on Saturday and Sunday. Is this an opportunity to be the only travel company out there for two clear days?

 3. That Friday feeling

There’s a big increase in the number of likes and comments per post on Thursdays and Fridays, suggesting they’re the best days to post if you want engagement.

 4. Bye bye Facebook

Travel company posts almost always link from Facebook to their company website. Is it because they don’t have the technology to price and book in Facebook, or because they don’t trust Facebook to hold their information securely?

 

I will post regular updates of my findings and I’ll produce a full report with data in the early part of next year. If you have any questions or ideas, give me your comments.