8 Oct 2008 You must be trippin’!

Major brands get into the arena and start talkin’!

Best Western’s new blog, “You must be trippin‘”, is a great example of how a brand can make something useful and good for them at the same time. They started from a simple principles: let’s use what they know about our customers and what their problems are while traveling, so why not start using these information to actually help them and promote our services while we’re at it?

The result is this blog, where contributors write about share their traveler wisdom with their readers and from time to time promote a few of the services Best Western and his partners offer and can really be useful to readers. They are also trying to stimulate users to become contributors and talk about their favorite trips, tips, and doubts about traveling. There are four main channels: “Packed&Ready”, for travel tips and ideas, “Road warriors”, for business travelers (who are surely a big chunk of Best Western’s client base), “Checking Inn”, events and happenings around the world, “Are we there yet?”, all about destinations.

This is part of a broader social media strategy by Best Western, articulating on different media like YouTube (brands still feel more comfy with TV-like media) and more blogs, making Best Western one of interesting case studies to look at.