Hit Riddle

Remember back in the old days, sites and blogs all had those “share” buttons that would flag a page up at social bookmarking sites like Digg, StumbleUpon or Delicious, and which would in turn deliver virtually zero targeted traffic or leads for the vast majority of travel businesses.

[Digg is for sharing news, StumbleUpon for laughs and Delicious for random & special interest sites; how many of those web users are likely to be researching a travel purchase? Answer: almost none]

Well, the share button has been doing a lot of growing up recently with three important innovations that should be considered by all travel sites.

The Google “+1”

Keen to make up for lost time in the social space, Google has launched the +1 button as a way of allowing users to “vote” for a page, with the data influencing what their Google contacts and connections see whenever they make a similar search.

So , if someone +1’s your flagship Machu Picchu package page, the next time their friends do a Machu Picchu related search, your page could be more visible and therefore draw more clicks.

It gets interesting when you factor in that Click Through Rates are thought to play a part in Google’s ranking algorithm; i.e. if +1 can bring you more clicks, it may also boost your rankings.

In Use

This is not just a case of sticking the +1 button on your homepage and forgetting about it. To get the best from the tool you need to think strategically about how people are interacting with different pages on your site, what they are looking for, and what might influence them to share the page.

Each instance of the button should be coupled with a unique and compelling Call To Action that reflects the content of the page and why the users should bother to +1 it.

Only time will tell but it’s probably the case that emphasizing the destination rather than the product would be more effective (i.e. “Share the Wonders of Machu Picchu” as opposed to “Share this Machu Picchu Tour”).

Getting the code couldn’t be easier, using Google’s custom code generator.

The Facebook “Like” & OGP

Ok, so the ubiquitous blue Like button isn’t particularly new. But what is more recent (and so far, under-used) is the bafflingly named Open Graph Protocol that can make the Like button massively more effective for your site.

Basically this involves adding new meta tags to particular pages to integrate them into the Facebook ecosystem. When somebody clicks Like on that page, it doesn’t just post the link to their Wall as the be all and end all. Instead it physically connects that particular page to Facebook’s social graph, as though it were another object within the Facebook world.

This means that Facebook can use the data, preferences and Likes of any individual and all their friends to determine the priority of your page for any particular user. The more Likes your various pages get, the more visible they will become, and to more people.

This is all the more important due to Microsoft Bing’s alliance with Facebook. In short, more Facebook connections will increasingly mean better Bing rankings.

In Use

As with +1, the key is to tailor each use of the button and OGP according to the particular. On tour package pages you could invite clients to “Share their travel plans with their Facebook friends”, while on your travel guide & info pages you could suggest they “Ask your friends for travel ideas.”

Visit the Facebook Developers site for full documentation.

The Twitter “Follow”

The most recent entrant into this new generation of share buttons is Twitter, who have created an on-site Follow button that allows web users to sign up to your Twitter stream directly from your own page, rather than having to exit your page and visit Twitter.

This is important because of Google’s partnership with Twitter. The more your pages are shared through Twitter, the more they will be displayed to your connections and others. It also means you can provide new and more compelling reasons for people to sign up to your feed. For instance, on your travel guide page you would encourage people to “Join us on Twitter for our latest travel advice” while on your deals page you would suggest they “Follow us for the latest and exclusive deals.”

As with the previous two devices, the trick is in tailoring your messaging according to the page and the desired interaction.

The code is available using this easy generator.

Taken together, these three developments mark a significant step in the merging process between search and social. Bringing your, your friends and your connections’ preferences and data into the equation, the search engines hope to provide even more tailored and relevant results.

Maybe it’s time to take a look at Analytics, assess how much traffic & leads those old share buttons have brought you and considering ditching them in favor of these new kids on the block.