Lastminute.com has a 'social media press office'
Okay, this is an industry first, of sorts.
Or maybe that's just because of its confusing title.
The pink'uns have created a blog on the blogspot platform to run alongside the Lastminute.com Twitter activity and, one suspects, a whole host of other Web 2.0-esque marketing activities.
The Lastminute.com Social Media Press Office is - by the looks of things - another outlet for offers - but perhaps we'll see some commentary, too, on industry issues, seeing as it's a blog and all that.
[Thankfully the background is not as garish as its Twitter page!]
Maybe this will go some way to appeasing the recent moans and groans from Travel Rants to have more involvement from travel companies in blogging.
Probably not.
Kevin May, editor, Travolution
6 comments:
That whinging, moaning blogger thinks that this is a good step forward. (I won't ask why they choose Blogspot)
A few years late, but it's good that LM are seeing what advantages social media can have.
Darren: glad to hear you approve. :-)
I'm not so sure. I want to see what makes this a 'social media' press office. Ok, there's a viral ad embedded in the sidebar, but so far the core content is three press releases, which doesn't do much to distinguish it from a traditional press office page.
The key to social media is being social, and press releases aren't.
Two counterpoints to that: first, the 'SMPO' title seems to be saying explicitly that this isn't a blog - so maybe it's just intended to aggregate their press releases with pics, youtube vids and twitter.
Second, it's early days, and blogging is as hard for brands to get right as it is important. So I do wish LM luck with it.
I’ve had a chance to sit back and think about this. Do LM.com see social networking as a way of communicating and building new relationships with media, bloggers, etc. or are they using it to attract consumers who use social media tools like Twitter and Blogger to their brand. If they intend to aggregate press releases then it’ll not succeed, simple as.
As a blogger I get my fair share of press releases, and I would not be interested in reading a blog with second hand press releases. As a consumer, I would be interested to hear about Lastminute.com the company, tips and advice of how to find the last minute deals, interact with consumers.
Am I more likely to book with a company I can communicate with online through channels like Twitter and Blogs, probably yes, depending on the price of course! ;)
I wonder if someone from LM.com could give us an idea which direction they are trying to take with social media.
Thought you might be interested in this post on the LM blog.
http://lastminutecom.blogspot.com/2008/07/why-use-twitter.html
All the best to them!
I think this has got to be a positive step for lastminute.
Nathan Midgley is quite right - but in fairness we should give them a little time to integrate more of their social media content so it justifies their tag of "social media press office".
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