About five years ago — almost ancient history in the world of social media — Spencer Spellman started playing around with Twitter for the guidebook publisher he then worked for. Facebook was just expanding its network, and businesses and marketers that recognized the opportunity were jumping onboard.
Spellman has been blogging and tweeting ever since, including independent projects for destinations, cruise lines, tour operators and Expedia. His independent blog, thetravelingphilosopher.com, derives its name and perspective from his college major.
“I like to go beneath the surface of a place I’m visiting,” Spellman told Travel Weekly PLUS. “I'll spend time with 
locals and go to places that are off the beaten path, and that interest comes out in my writing. I've noticed that a lot of travel blogs are service-oriented — go to this city, do this, do that. I go to experience a place like the locals would, to see that place through their eyes, get to ground level and go beyond what's on the surface of a destination.”
Spellman spoke with Travel Weekly PLUS Editor in Chief Diane Merlino about the philosophical underpinnings of blogging, as well as the practical implementation of social media projects for travel companies. This is the final article in a four-part series on successful partnerships between travel brands and bloggers.
Merlino: You say that bloggers function as a bridge between travel brands and travelers. Fill that out for us.
Spellman: That’s a continual mantra for me. On one end of the spectrum, you’ve got the travel brand — an airline, a hotel, a tour operator. They have a product they’re selling. On the other end of the spectrum, you have travelers. And I’m talking about your everyday travelers, somebody that has maybe two or three weeks of vacation a year.
Travel bloggers are the bridge between them, the influencers. They’re travelers themselves, and they’re out there using the products. Some travel extensively, every day; some travel weekly, monthly, or several times a year. They're often really savvy with things like blogging, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest — all these different outlets that companies and brands are using to promote and sell their products.
Merlino: Why do some travel bloggers have so much influence?
Spellman: If there's anything that the Web has taught us over the last few years it's that we’re moving away from traditional advertising models. Consumers don't just want to hear a commercial or see advertisements planted on billboards. Travelers want to hear from somebody they can trust, somebody who has a style of travel that's similar to their own, someone they can really relate to. That can be found in the tone of voice and style of travel bloggers.
Merlino: How would you describe the essential function of travel bloggers?
Spellman: The goal of a travel blogger is to take the traveler with them on the trip. Then it’s a couple of things. First, it’s to inspire them. Second, it’s to give backbone to that inspiration by answering the traveler's questions about how they can do that particular experience, giving them the tools they need. So, after reading a blog post or a series of blog posts, or seeing a couple of videos, that traveler would say, “That's something that I want to do, and now I realize that's something I can do.”
Merlino: You’ve done some interesting campaigns with Expedia.
Spellman: The Twitter chat is how I started with Expedia, the week after Thanksgiving a year ago. It was called EXPChat. It was originally going to be a two-week project around a couple of product launches Expedia was doing, but it was so successful that we decided to make it a weekly thing. At the end of 2012 we extended the hash tag so now it’s called ExpediaChat.
Merlino: What were the product launches the original Twitter chat was based on?
Spellman: Expedia was launching a Facebook app with Groupon Getaways, and they were updating their mobile app, making it more robust and extending it to iPad and tablet formats. They wanted to do two back-to-back chats, one about holiday travel and the other about technology and travel, blocking off a couple of hours where we were talking about Expedia, the holidays, and technology and travel, all around the product launches.
The flow was we would ask a different question every ten to 15 minutes, and people on Twitter would respond with 
the hash tag that we were using. We asked things like, “What are some of your favorite travel apps you use on your phone when you're traveling?" and people would tweet back with their favorite apps. And during the chat we would say, "Hey, we're doing this today because Expedia just updated its new mobile app. You can check it out in the iTunes store or download it for Android.” At the end of the chat one participant was drawn out randomly to win a $500 voucher to use on Expedia.com. For another chat we gave away an iPad that was loaded with the new Expedia app as well as some other travel apps.
Merlino: What kind of numbers did you get for the initial two-week program?
Spellman: We had about 200 to 250 participants in each chat, and about 1,500 tweets.
Merlino: Is that a good result? Did you set a goal ahead of time with Expedia?
Spellman: There were some general numbers thrown out there, but that was far beyond what was expected. There was so much success that Expedia wanted to continue it, so it's been a weekly thing ever since. And those numbers have now doubled.
Merlino: Did Expedia use the feedback they got from the favorite apps question to help them finetune their own mobile app?
Spellman: At that point the goal was just to get people talking about the new app, talking about Expedia, talking about travel. This was the first step in being more engaged in the social community. It wasn't about using the chat to fine tune the app.
A better example of that was two months ago when we did the Twitter chat for Expedia on loyalty travel. The idea there was to use some of that information, and we were transparent with that. We said, “Hey, we're talking about loyalty travel, and part of that is to see what people think about loyalty travel, also to see how Expedia can make its loyalty program even better.”
Merlino: Tell us about your project for Expedia and Norwegian Cruise Line.
Spellman: Expedia works closely with Norwegian. The content on Expedia.com is typically about cruise deals and information about particular cruises, but they wanted to add some backbone and credibility to that. So we put together this plan where I would go on an Alaska cruise with Norwegian and Expedia, take photos of the trip, and blog about it several times. We posted photos on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and on Expedia's blog.
Merlino: What was the goal here?
Spellman: The goal was twofold. One was to communicate that travelers can book a cruise through Expedia. But the 
primary goal was to drive bookings and interest in Norwegian cruises and, more specifically, Norwegian’s Alaska cruises.
Merlino: So bloggers can drive business for a brand? Is that a bottom-line reality?
Spellman: Certainly. But I don't think that should be the only goal. There are numerous goals that should be a part of the plan. When I first did Twitter chats with Expedia, the goal was to increase engagement, to increase Expedia's followers on Twitter and build a more loyal community there. We’ve continued that, and the number of participants has grown; it's doubled since a year ago.
I think a lot of higher-level business executives think in terms of conversions, but a blogger brings more to the table than just conversions. It’s important in looking at other things that can and should be tracked as well.
Merlino: What should travel brands understand about working with bloggers so both parties get the most out of the relationship?
Spellman: It’s really important to find people who are the right fit, who are going to naturally talk about your product. If it’s not the right match, the information might not be communicated correctly.
Also, readers are not stupid. The audience is going to notice if the blogger is not passionate about what they’re writing, if it's not something that the blogger's really behind. They're going to pick up on it if the content is advertorial and not natural. So it’s really important to find those people who are a good match, who are going to be really excited about your product or your destination.
That's why I think it's important for bloggers to create relationships with brands that they already use. The bloggers I’m working with for a lot of things I'm doing with Expedia are people that I know use Expedia because they tweeted about it or blogged about it. And I've said, “Hey, listen, you're already using Expedia and blogging about it on your blog. Why don't you do some Twitter campaigns with us? Or do some blogger content? Let's talk about how we can work together, because you’re already using Expedia and talking about it, so let's build on that.”
Merlino: Do you ever allow a travel company or destination you're working for to edit or read the content you're doing?
Spellman: Never.
Merlino: Why not?
Spellman: That takes away my credibility; it’s out the window. And it does a disservice to the readers, because the transparency is gone.
That's ultimately why consumers are spending more time on blogs: because they feel they're not getting the transparency from brands and companies that they want. So they're going to blogs, they're going to people who they feel they can trust and relate to. If companies can view and edit the blogger’s content, it takes away that transparency, and that trust is lost.
Merlino: Do you have any advice or insights for a travel brand that's never worked with a blogger?
Spellman: Yes. Test and take some risks.
The Twitter project for Expedia was originally a short-term project. Expedia hadn't done anything like it before. It hadn't been done by any travel brand. So Expedia started out small. They said, “All right, let's see what happens when we put this in the hands of a blogger for a couple weeks.” And more than 60 weeks later, they're still doing it.
So it’s not about coming out of the gate and saying, “All right, we haven't done anything socially and with blogging, so we're going to create a plan and develop one-year contracts with all these bloggers.” That doesn't make sense, because your company hasn't tested it. And maybe having a full, complete blog isn't what you need. Maybe you need to focus on getting out there and spending some time on Facebook and listening and engaging with consumers.
That’s why I think it's about testing and at the same time not being afraid to take some risks. You don’t know how something's going to work if you don't try it.