Social Media Usage Testimony: STEVE ENDACOTT, CEO & FOUNDER, ON HOLIDAY GROUP

Endacott has enjoyed a high profile career at directorship level in some of the UK's largest tour operating groups. Prior to founding On Holiday Group he was Group MD UK Tour Operations and Distribution MyTravel PLC, responsible for Airtours, Panorama Direct Holidays and Going Places.

Personally uses: Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo & Xing.


Why do you use social media?
"I approach online networking solely as a commercial user. It's not something I choose to do in my spare time, but in a business context it's important to explore these services. Engaging with the social media requires a different mind-set, but there's a lot to be gained from it once you understand the way the various channels work."

"I believe that these are tools every business has to get to grips with. There's a generation of consumers growing up with social media, and unless you truly understand the culture there's a real danger of losing touch with them.

"This is not just a youth marketing channel. On the contrary, our social networking initiatives have proved an effective way of interacting with consumers from across the demographic range."


How have you used the social networking revolution to build your brand & attract customers?
"First and foremost, these services are very effective ways of connecting with the right people. I've used online networking sites to track down several important contacts, and am currently working on a major deal with a company that approached me after discovering my profile on LinkedIn."

"After being impressed by how easy Facebook made uploading videos and pictures, we used the platform to launch On Holiday TV. It's a relatively straightforward matter of sending people out with cameras to get on-the-spot feedback from customers and putting these videos online, but it's proved to be a popular and effective sales tool within our www.freshholidays.co.uk site."

"We also embraced the user generated content phenomenon with the launch of www.hotelly.com. We have aggregated 10 million reviews scores from the internet and have developed the first price comparison engine that allows you to search based on price and user review at the same time. We then complemented this with the ultimate hotel mash up linking You Tube videos, Google maps, user reviews and traditional brochure content all in one place. Basically rather than trying to re-invent the wheel we have just taken the best of Web 2.0 and put it all in one place.

"To some companies web 2.0 is just a buzzword. To us it means packing a far bigger punch than we could have afforded working alone, providing browsers with a blue-chip service on a growing company's budget."

"We're also about to launch a service called KittyCash, which we believe will massively help organisers of group trips. It will allow up to 30 people to contribute online to an account, which will then issue a pre-loaded card with whatever currency they want so that they can use it either as a credit card or to draw out cash from a cash point. It really will take the pain out or organising stag and hen or even the local football club trip.
Although the service will have its own interface we will promote is heavily on social networking sites like Facebook which provide an ideal target market.

What social media services don't work for you?
"The only service I'm having difficulty getting a handle on in terms of its business use is twitter. Obviously it's a useful means of monitoring the buzz around your sector or channelling news, but actually using the service to engage directly with consumers would be fraught with difficulty. I'm not sure that the potential benefits outweigh the risks."


Are you surprised that Fast Track company executives are the most enthusiastic online networkers?
"The key advantage growing business have over listed companies is that we are driven to do things differently. We're more flexible and freer to experiment with new technologies as they come along, so it's perhaps predictable that emerging firms have been the first to hit the ground running.

"You could argue that it's a matter of necessity. Approaching established markets from new and unexpected directions is how growing companies gain competitive advantage and prosper in the face of heavyweight competition."

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