Partner Article

North east firm wins national recognition

Go North East has become the only north east company to be ranked in the Top 50 travel ‘social brands’ in an influential report - beating international big hitters including British Airways.

The Gateshead-based bus company beat off stiff competition from firms with significantly bigger budgets for social media engagement, including British Airways, P&O Cruises, Virgin Holidays and Laterooms.com.

The firm, which boasts over 55,000 Facebook fans and 10,000 Twitter followers, is ranked 24th in the Travel category of the ‘Social Brands 100’ 2013 report.

The independent report, published by social brand agency Headstream, scores companies that use social media to engage customers across a range of performance indicators.

According to the analysis, the results indicate that the travel industry is “prioritising good service in social spaces, achieving high scores on customer support metrics across platforms.”

Stephen King, marketing and sales manager at Go North East, said: “For a regional company to be hailed as a leader in social media engagement on a national stage is a tremendous achievement. We are incredibly proud, to say the least.

“We were a relatively early adopter of social media as a means of communicating and engaging with our customers and this has transformed the effectiveness of our customer service. Our passengers love being able to interact with us easily and in a timely manner.”

Headstream created Social Brands 100 in 2011. Two years later, Social Brands 100 is now a recognised benchmark of brand behaviour, identifying leaders across industries and providing a snapshot of the evolution of social media. The results of the Top 50 Travel Social Brands are:

No. Brand Total Score

1 American Airlines * 78.15

2 Lufthansa * 75.52

3 Thomson Holidays * 74.86

4 Thomas Cook UK * 74.57

5 WestJet * 70.49

6 EasyJet * 68.75

7 First Choice Holidays * 68.53

8 Virgin Trains * 67.59

9 London Midland * 67.34

10 Princess Cruises * 66.09

11 Amtrak * 65.90

12 Heathrow Airport * 65.84

13 Delta * 65.84

14 Kuoni Travel * 61.89

15 trent barton 61.59

16 Secret Escapes 60.48

17 Southwest Airlines 59.97

18 Gatwick Airport 59.14

19 Virgin Atlantic 58.86

20 Chiltern Railway 58.79

21 STA Travel 58.77

22 KLM 58.65

23 lastminute.com 58.29

24 Go North East 58.20

25 British Airways 57.46

No. Brand Total Score

26 Lothian Buses 57.17

27 Cunard Line 57.02

28 LateRooms.com 56.45

29 Hurtigruten 55.84

30 United 54.25

31 JUCY World 53.77

32 Royal Caribbean UK 52.86

33 P&O Cruises 52.54

34 P&O Ferries 52.50

35 Virgin Holidays 51.11

36 Cardiff Bus 49.86

37 Torbay Bus Routes 49.72

38 Oxford Bus Company 49.56

39 Southern Rail 49.52

40 Mr & Mrs Smith 49.34

41 Celebrity Cruises 49.19

42 Travelzoo 48.38

43 Condor Ferries 47.80

44 Expedia.co.uk 47.80

45 National Rail Enquiries 47.13

46 Red Funnel 47.02

47 South West Trains 46.71

48 VisitBritain 45.62

49 TransPennine Trains 45.11

50 Avis UK 44.02

* Ranked on Social Brands 100

The full report can be viewed at http://www.socialbrands100.com

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jill Farmer (Dobson) .