I’ve just finished writing a column for travel trade newspaper Travel Weekly about how travel agents and travel companies can utilise social networking. Here is the column in full…

Selling holidays via the booming social networking sites, such as Facebook, Myspace and Yahoo Answers, is actually easier than you may think!

Although they are virtually free advertising mediums, they do require the investment of “time”. Most business however can generate this time at no incremental cost, by simply analysing staff “down time” and encouraging staff to use this time effectively by interacting with potential customers via social networks. Don’t worry this can be accurately measured and assessed to stop virtual skiving.

Knowledge sharing between like-minded people is one of the primary functions of a social network. Reputation and being a trusted source are very valuable commodities within these networks that can be easily monetorised. However it is vital not to be overtly commercial! For example when contributing to a forum or answering a question online, simply make it clear that you are a professional travel agent and insert a link to your web site within the copy. You will be amazed by how many people are enticed to click through by this softly, softly approach.

Building a reputation requires a commitment to answer questions and deal with community concerns. However, you do not need to sit waiting on the Internet all day for opportunities.

If you find a topic that requires your expertise within a blog or forum, simply sign up for blog alerts or RSS feeds. These act like emails and will send you alerts to your inbox every time something new is being added that you may want to respond to. Easy!

If you do not understand these things just ask a 19 year old you employ . . . I can guarantee most of them will.

Online Polls are incredibly cheap at 10p per response and provide a whole new route to understanding key trends and the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. Again they can also act as an effective means of creating brand awareness and reputation if they are on interesting and thought-provoking subjects.

Like most forms of online activity it is possible to track cause and effect of your social networking activity by placing simple web analytics on your site, to track where customers have clicked through from. Secondly it is easy for agency managers to set up web alerts so that every time their company name or brand is mentioned an alert arrives on their desktop. This serves to both monitor activity and provide an element of quality control.

The social networking phenomenon has been taking the Internet world by storm; reviews, comments, articles, video, images and blog posts are now vital sources of information about your company. Used correctly, social networking can provide valuable brand awareness and market trend tools at little or no cost. Do not ignore it!

The travel industry is embracing social networking like never before and there are a few relatively new online communities which are making a big impact.

Boo.com is a user generated travel guide offering reviews, blogs, photos and tips. There are destination, restaurant, sight seeing and nightlife guides, all with an ever increasing amount of content and traffic.

The DK Travel website not only looks fantastic but presents the DK travel content really nicely. The site allows you to create your own guide using travel information, reviews and user recommendations and you can then share and print your personalised guide to take on your trip. You can also download a Podcast guide which can be added to your destination guide and transferred onto your iPod.

A bit on the flashy side and not as pleasing to the eye, the Sheraton Resorts website is an example of a travel company trying to engage with its consumers. Users can add photos and comments on each of their hotels through the guest gallery. Content is displayed on the hotel information pages with weather, photos, offers and of course, booking information.

Web 2.0 and social media has been bubbling around the surface of travel for a while now but many of the offerings have not been engaging enough to make an impact. There are now new and improved websites which are becoming increasingly popular and the travel industry is having to adapt to this form of marketing.

There is a large proportion of holiday goers and travel enthusiasts who prefer this new way of communicating with the experts. They can offer their own thoughts and views and become part of a community where they can share experiences, photos and videos. The travel companies can now engage with their customers like never before, advising and presenting their own expert information whilst building a profile and raising the awareness of their brand.

Travel search is progressing and user generated content is king!

Do you know of any other travel related websites which deserve a mention?