Mining social media for leads – you test it!

A US-BASED travel group
has developed a way
to scan social media
like Twitter and Facebook to
develop sales leads.
The service is designed
specifically for small and
medium sized-retailers and will
work in any country, head of
marketing for UrbanZeak, Ron
Katz told TNW.
TNW is looking for five
independent travel agents to
take part in the free trial of
a brand-new lead-generating
system for travel sales. The
first of its kind, UrbanZeak will
potentially transform the way
agents market themselves
and generate sales. TNW is
working with UrbanZeak to trial
this new product in SA and is
inviting you, our readers, to
join us in exploring this new
marketing technology.
What is UrbanZeak?
UrbanZeak (UZ) is a social
media advertising product that
uses an advanced algorithm
to provide travel agents with
enhanced access to the social
media marketing place. The UZ
Internet crawler identifies travel
buyers who have expressed
interest in the target travel
experience. Assessing their
geographic position, the
Internet crawler then engages
the buyers with highly targeted
and relevant messaging.
Here’s how it works...
As an agent, you provide UZ
with a description or list of your
generalised and specialised
services, promotions and
market differentiators. UZ then
creates your electronic agency
profile and sifts through social
media channels to locate
individuals whose needs and
interests match your products.
For example, if you provide
services to people who have
just arrived at a destination,
then anyone who tweets the
fact will be picked up. Ron said
that 600 people a day tweet
‘just landed in Paris’.
And when newly enagaged
people put the word out on
social media, this will be useful
for travel agencies nearby that
want honeymoon business.
UZ also offers a less
enhanced product as part of
which it emails you leads as
well as information about the
prospective client’s needs and
contact details. Then, once you
are a permanent subscriber,
UZ automates the process so
that prospective clients receive
an automated outreach from
your agency, giving them the
opportunity to contact you.
UZ evaluates each lead to
let you know, in percentage
format, the likelihood of
converting the sale in question
into a lead.
Want to participate?
If you would like to be one
of the first to experience this
ground-breaking new system,
email debbieb@nowmedia.
co.za. We will then put five
of you in touch with Ron to
conduct the tests.