Social Media Situational Analysis for Sealink Travel Group

This report provides a situational analysis of Sealink Travel Group's social media presence and suggests ways to enhance it. It identifies the right social media channels, Facebook and Twitter, to advertise and market the services of the company. The report also provides a Channel Plan and necessary recommendations to help the company grow its brand awareness and customer loyalty.

Running head: SOCIAL MEDIA SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS 1
Assessment Task 2: Social Media Marketing Report

SOCIAL MEDIA SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS 2
Executive Summary
The following report relates to increasing the social media presence of Sealink Travel Group which is a booming tourism company in
Adelaide, Australia. Currently, the company’s social media presence is fairly good but in order to remain ahead in the market, it needs
to transform its ways to attract a greater number of customers. The report has addressed the concerns faced by the company by
identifying the right social media channels that are suitable to increase its social media presence. The objectives have been laid down
to provide a direction to the report. After identifying the right social media channels, Facebook and Twitter have been identified as the
most suitable channels to advertise and market the services of the company. The report has also provided with a Channel Plan to
understand the current requirements of the company. Along with that, necessary recommendations have been provided to help the
company grow its brand awareness and customer loyalty. The report has also provided with concrete evidence from scholarly authors
and online database sources to maintain the credibility of the information. It has been concluded by stating the changes brought by
social media in tourism businesses around the globe and how Sealink Travel Group can take cues from the success of such travel
companies.

SOCIAL MEDIA SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS 3
Table of Contents
Introduction..................................................................................................................................................................................................4
Objectives....................................................................................................................................................................................................4
Channel Plan................................................................................................................................................................................................5
Social Media Network Channels: Content Development............................................................................................................................8
Social Media Network Content: Facebook..............................................................................................................................................8
Social Media Network Content:..............................................................................................................................................................9
Social Media Analytics and Metrics..........................................................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................................................................11
References..................................................................................................................................................................................................12

SOCIAL MEDIA SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS 4
Introduction
According to Brown & Duguid (2017), the importance of Social media in business is growing at a warp speed as more and
more businesses are signing up in social media sites to create an online market presence. The efficient utilization of social media is
making the industry bigger and is bound to become even bigger in the coming years. As suggested by Luttrell (2018), every business
today needs to leverage the right social media channels in the best possible way because the current booming generation happens to be
hooked up on different social media networks. People engage and connect with their preferable brands and products on these social
media sites. According to the social media statistics of 2019, presented by Statista (2019a), a whopping 2.8 billion users around the
globe are present on multiple social media platforms. Social media has allowed businesses to be visible in the online space and making
their presence felt to its audience. This means that businesses have great opportunity to target their specified audience, connect with
them better and serve them on a higher level. The following report is based on enhancing the social media presence of Sealink Travel
Group by identifying the right channels to boost its growth in the long run.
Objectives
Sealink Travel Group is headquartered in the city of Adelaide, Australia and organizes cruises, transport services, tours,
accommodations and provides holiday packages for interested customers (Sealink Travel Group, 2019). As companies are flourishing
and attracting the attention of masses with application of social media techniques in their business operations, Sealink Travel Group
also wishes to enhance its social media space. Although the company has gained popularity in Adelaide, the presence of other
competitors utilizing social media efficiently have the chances of grabbing more customers in their bag. Therefore, in order to
successfully promote the business, Sealink Travel Group has to focus on social media marketing on the right channels and publishing
new content. The primary objectives of the company will be to-
 Leverage the use of right social media channel

SOCIAL MEDIA SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS 5
Currently, Sealink Travel Group utilizes Facebook and YouTube to market their services and packages. However, each social
media platform has its own community culture, content curating and ways of promoting posts. Alongside Facebook and
YouTube, Sealink will be using Twitter and Instagram to boost their social media presence. These social media platforms have
been immensely useful to all successful companies aiming to remain in the market for long run.
 Boost brand awareness
According to Owino, et. al. (2016), social media proves to be a powerful tool when it comes to boosting brand awareness.
Brand awareness introduces the company to its specified audience and therefore, it is important for Sealink to market itself in
order to attract masses. Sealink will be targeting the right audience on each social media platform, increase engagement to
boost social shares, create conversations with customers, measure the efforts and build original content to raise brand
awareness and impact the overall growth of the business in long run.
 Use of appropriate content on social media channels
Social media will allow the company to tap a larger share of the market and with the use of right content, Sealink will be able
to create better social media engagement. Quality content will be created according to the segmentation of customers availing
services from the company. Looking at the operations of Sealink, Facebook and Instagram are highly suitable to improve its
social media presence.
 Enhance Brand Loyalty
The brand loyalty will be instigated by improving search engine optimization efforts, content marketing, sharing value-
oriented content, being responsive to the queries and being consistent in customer interaction. As more than 81% of customers
show the trend of switching to other brands in case of poor service or customer experience, it is important to gain the trust of
customers. Marketers must pay close attention to brand trust.
Channel Plan

SOCIAL MEDIA SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS 6
Channel Plan
Channel Purpose Editorial Plan Measurement
Channel Strategy Target
Audience
Benefit Content Type Frequency of
content
Rules of
Engagement
Indicators
Facebook Customize the
Facebook page
(Upload a cover
picture with
company’s logo
and images of
most popular
tours), post staff
photos, photos
of most popular
tours, tourist
testimonials and
snippets, stories
from blog, send
invites to share
and like the
page, ad
Millennials,
Avid
travelers,
Families
and senior
citizens.
The benefit of
targeting
these people
are that they
these people
will value the
importance of
traveling and
enjoying their
leisure time.
Videos, Photos,
testimonials
from other
travelers and
family groups.
Every week.
Two posts
every week.
Customers will
be targeted on
the basis of
their search
results. Offers
will be
provided as per
destinations
and the season
they are
traveling.
Facebook page
analytics, likes,
shares and
comments.

SOCIAL MEDIA SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS 7
campaign to
attract website
visitors.
Instagram The posts will
be curated
according to the
type of
audience.
Millennials,
avid
travelers,
solo
travelers,
travel
bloggers
and agents.
The benefits
of targeting
these groups
are gaining
understanding
of different
travel
destinations
and what
exactly the
current
generation
needs in terms
of traveling to
untapped
destinations.
Videos, photos,
blogs,
testimonials,
live videos and
influencer
videos.
Every 3 days. Customers will
be targeted on
the basis of
their activities
on their page.
The content on
their newsfeed
and pages they
like. Travel
sites they open
and
destinations
they want to
visit.
Analytics of
their page
activity. The
number of
hearts they give,
comments on
posts, direct
messages,
hashtags they
use and
mentions they
give on the
Instagram page.
Social Media Network Channels: Content Development

SOCIAL MEDIA SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS 8
Social Media Network Content: Facebook
According to Statista (2019b), Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms which caters to the needs of every
type of individual. Comprising of the most diverse audience, Facebook is the ideal channel for SeaLink Travel Group to enhance its
online market presence and find the suitable audience. The company will utilize interactive Facebook advertisements to target the
specific audience. Facebook ads are affordable, dependable and allow more engagement. The target audience will be able to avail last
minute offers through campaigns that will run only for few days, but it has the potential to generate additional income during peak
seasons. As people come on holidays for all sorts of reasons, partnering with local businesses cookery classes, local spa and visit to
local markets can be beneficial (Carrà, Mariani, Radić & Peri, 2016). This new service will be launched by way of a video
advertisement to show off all the benefits tourists can enjoy. Video advertisements featuring guests sharing their experience can build
the reputation of the company of providing best memories from their holiday. These videos along with testimonials will be posted on
the Facebook page of the company. The page will highlight the beauty and tranquility of visiting places across the globe to catch the
audience's attention. As identified by Louis (2017), in order to sell a dream of a perfect holiday, live videos from the Facebook page
can be beneficial. Live videos are watched by audiences more often organic search of any such holiday posts. Sales promotion of
seasonal holidays by way of advertisements will allow the company to maintain its presence in the Facebook newsfeed and reminding
them to book tickets for their holiday. As suggested by Constine (2019), Facebook keeps updating its algorithm according to the user
search, email subscriptions can be useful. A lead ad will be run in the first two weeks of Facebook promotions to get the list of email
subscribers. This is important because even when shuts down, the valuable database of email subscribers will still remain with the
company. According to Frankosky (2019), the use of Facebook dynamic creative campaigns will be utilized as an important tool
consume lesser time to manually test an advertisement.
One of the most important factors to maintain a successful presence on social media is the frequency of posting the content and
offers. Currently, the Facebook page of SeaLink Travel Group is liked by only 10 people and posts are published in a span of 3 to 4
days. As opined by Gillett (2014), majority of customers are online during the late evenings, therefore travel videos and photos of

SOCIAL MEDIA SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS 9
different countries with exciting offers to visit will be posted on the Facebook page. Since an interesting content can engage people to
spark up a conversation, they can be encouraged to share the content of the tour videos and pictures and to leave positive reviews. The
frequency of responding to the comments of Facebook users on the posts shared by the company will be improvised. Comments of
urgent and serious nature will be addressed within 24 hours of time which will allow the customers to feel valued. The cover and
profile image of the company needs to be updated more often. Also, SeaLink Travel Group posts only pictures and videos, however,
popular tourist destinations, stories from travel blogs and testimonials of avid travelers will create better opportunities for the company
to attract travelers from around the world. When a company provides experience to its customers, they come back looking for better
experience as they were able to trust at the very first place. This kind of brand loyalty is required to be maintained by companies in
order to remain competitive in their online space.
Social Media Network Content:
According to the reports of Statista (2019c), Twitter is the hub for 313 million active users which provides one of the greatest
opportunities for business. The popularity of Twitter makes it suitable for SeaLink Travel Group to adopt as a social media marketing
channel. More than 500 million tweets are sent every day on Twitter. Looking at the Analytics and as suggested by Arens (2019), the
best time to post on Twitter is between 12 pm and 6 pm as a greater number of people are expected to be online during that time. As
suggested by Hutchinson (2018), the frequency of posting on Twitter will be much higher than Facebook. Therefore, Twitter being
very fast paced, posting at the right time will make all the difference. Due to sending regular tweets on Twitter account of the
company, many tweets can be seen chronologically. The posts regarding holidays and offers can be posted multiple times per day to
ensure people have a look at the tweets. Twitter will allow the company to engage with the audience by allowing them to like and
retweet the posts and company will also reply to people as well as like and retweet others. When the audience is engaged and
companies able to interact with them on a frequent basis, a rapid response rate is expected. As identified by Mertz (2019), the Hashtag
culture was born on Twitter and it helps categorizing the tweets making them easy for people to search their relevant content and also
look for what the post has to offer. More than 11% of all tweets use hashtags this can be beneficial for SeaLink Travel Group. This

SOCIAL MEDIA SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS 10
lightning speed social channel can also be platform for promoting original content and sharing links to blog posts. The company will
connect people on travel group chats to understand what more travelers are looking for and build good relationships with them to
influence others too. The offers will be kept less than 20% and other promotional offers such as tour to the local areas will be
promoted on Twitter.
As suggested by Gleason (2018), Creative hashtags can be used to notify audiences about the recent offers and holidays of
specific destinations. In this way, guests will be able to use that hashtag in their caption and others can view those posts from the
hashtags. Since tourism brands have an unfair advantage over other brands on social media, people are able to view photos and videos
of the places they want to visit. Original videos and photography allow companies to show the real side of a country and what people
can expect while vacationing in those places. At times, polls and live discussion forums will be created and regularly scheduled every
two weeks. Additionally, the tweets will be linked to the Facebook page, YouTube videos and blog posts. Links will be provided in
the profile so that people can click through the site and learn more about the company. However, the company will keep honesty in
communication and try to connect with uses in an informal and non-sales way most of the time and cultivate a good vibe about the
company.
Social Media Analytics and Metrics
The tourism marketing plan of SeaLink Travel Group identifies social media as a crucial part. The measurement of each of the
platforms different as per their Analytics. Facebook is one of the crucial social media platforms for the company and has the most in-
depth analytics and measurement capability. The analytics will be measured by visiting on the company page and clicking on the
Insights tab at the top. The data available can be exported to an excel sheet. The data will comprise of the number of users clicked on
the page and who have seen the content associated with the page created on Facebook. Depending upon the number of users, the users
who have viewed the posts will be identified. It will also reveal the number of likes, comments and shares of any content associated
with the Facebook page. During peak seasons, daily and weekly reports will be drawn out to know the level of engagement of

SOCIAL MEDIA SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS 11
customers on the Facebook landing page. In order to view a monthly report, everyday analytics will be analyzed to understand what
more needs to be done attract more customers. The total check-ins from a mobile device will also be tracked down to keep updated
about customer activities. Twitter Analytics will be easier to understand as it is easier to analyze top tweets and number of mentions in
one month (Twitter, 2019). Since the company requires a significant level of customer engagement in a short period of time, Twitter
Analytics will be helpful to see analytics for individual audiences and tweets. The homepage Analytics will be enough for the
company for time being.
Conclusion
Social media has fundamentally changed the ways travel companies market themselves and communicate with the audience.
With the rise of internet least popularity of social media channels, travel marketing has become crucial for travel companies to survive
in the long run. Today travelers go online to research for their desired destinations and accommodations. The look for online reviews
and the rise in social sharing allures them to grab some travel experiences. This has fundamentally become a great opportunity for
companies like SeaLink Travel Group to provide great customer service and satisfaction by use of social media engagement. In order
to create social media presence and spread maximum awareness of the services provided, SeaLink Travel Group will be developing a
strong reputation among current and potential customers. Therefore, the focus of the company will majorly shift towards online
experiences and adopt current market trends in order to provide experience and personal touch to their valued customers. The
company will aim to boost their brand awareness efforts by creating high quality content, stay in step with latest industry trends, and
remain consistent in performance to stay ahead of the curve in tourism industry.

SOCIAL MEDIA SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS 12
References
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social-media/
Brown, J. S., & Duguid, P. (2017). The social life of information: Updated, with a new preface. 3rd ed. Massachusetts, USA: Harvard
Business Review Press.
Carrà, G., Mariani, M., Radić, I., & Peri, I. (2016). Participatory strategy analysis: The case of wine tourism business. Agriculture and
agricultural science procedia, 8, 706-712.
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https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/16/facebook-algorithm-links/
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creative-ads/
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https://www.fastcompany.com/3036184/the-best-and-worst-times-to-post-on-social-media-infograph
Gleason, B. (2018). Thinking in hashtags: exploring teenagers’ new literacies practices on Twitter. Learning, Media and
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https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/new-report-suggests-optimal-facebook-posting-frequency-following-algorithm/
530514/

SOCIAL MEDIA SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS 13
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