NB: This is a guest article by Jamie Riddell, creator of social media insight company Birdsong.
After seeing solid use of Facebook by cruise lines for communicating with customers, more evidence emerging that the sector is less keen on the other major social network, Twitter.
Indeed, there is a distinct lack of engagement from the major cruise lines active on Twitter.
The Presence Score we have created is a unique measure to benchmark how well brands are active and engaging on Twitter.
The algorithm of more than 15 different data points builds the score to reflect key elements of a Twitter account including the ratio of followers and following, the volume and frequency of tweets and the number of individuals responded to.
Such measures are a useful benchmark for comparison and improvement of a brand's social media presence and results.
For this report, BirdSong measured the Twitter presence of 39 different cruise companies globally. The average Presence Score across all Cruise Lines was a low 19/100 with a range of scores from 0 to 54.
Two companies scored a Presence Score of 0, effectively ranking their Twitter account of little or no value to the brand. Voyages to Antiquity, Regent Sevens Seas and Louis Cruise Lines all failed to rank.
Of these three brands, Regent Seven Seas tweets less than twice per week, making the messages almost invisible to any followers.
With just a minimal focus on tweets, rather than replies or retweets, this has also heavily weighted its score. Louis Cruise has maintained a Twitter account since June 2012, but has managed to achieve just one message in that entire period.
Princess Cruises and Cunard Line have the highest Presence Scores in the survey, achieving 54 and 51 respectively.
In contrast to the low scoring cruise brands, both Cunard and Princess Cruises are far more active on Twitter, combining a mix of tweets, replies and retweets and maintaining some visibility on evenings and weekends.
However, the average of just over one tweet per day could be improved to achieve greater visibility of key messages and brand presence.
With a higher volume of tweets and more Twitter users, both scores would inevitably rise.
So what does all this mean?
Twitter is obviously an important channel for the travel industry. But in order to succeed, brands need to invest time and effort to maintain an effective presence that is more than just broadcasting the latest deals.
The cruise lines which are doing well are the ones that are working to make their Twitter account part of the social community, engaging, sharing and responding regularly with a wide variety of followers.
The cruise lines are somewhat behind other travel companies in using Twitter as a channel. By comparison airline companies including @Virginatlantic and @BritishAirways, for example, score far higher with Presence Scores of 67% and 82% respectively.
NB: This is a guest article by Jamie Riddell, creator of social media insight company Birdsong.
NB2: Cruise ship distance via Shutterstock.