About Travelshake.com
Launched in 2010, Travelshake.com created the first social media database for travel and tourism businesses worldwide. The content is presented on a searchable website for consumers to use to plan their vacation. The company also provides the travel and hospitality industry with social media microsites and facebook apps. Travelshake.com is based in Dublin, Ireland and its founders are brothers Fergal and Laughlin Rigby.
Press Release Date: 24 August 2011
Travelshake.com Creates Facebook App for Tourism Businesses
New application allows travel firms to create a marketing microsite within their facebook page
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Social media specialist Travelshake.com has developed a facebook application for tourism and travel businesses that lets business owners offer their facebook fans the ideal travel shopping experience on facebook. Travelshake launched their social media microsites on Travelshake.com last year, which are currently in use by over 1,000 travel firms in 77 countries worldwide and are now enabling companies to incorporate that content onto their facebook pages. Travelshake’s Marketing Director Laughlin Rigby explains “With facebook now commanding up to 38% of total internet traffic, travel businesses need to give real thought to their facebook presence. However, some travel businesses are putting the cart before the horse on facebook, they are installing booking apps without giving their visitors any reason to book with them. It’s like creating a website that only has a booking engine.” Rigby continues “Our app addresses this problem by providing visitors to facebook pages with inspiring rich media and information that will help convert lookers to bookers. We even have a direct booking link permanently on the app to facilitate this.” |
The unique app, which can be set as the default landing page, includes a video player, photo galleries, a map that can send a business’s directions to an iphone, twitter feed, offers and a lead generating contact form. The app also provides a custom colour palette to create a branded skin.
Laughlin Rigby said the app will offer potential customers a cleaner, more inspiring facebook experience, combining many old tabs into just one “Studies continue to prove that rich media can increase conversion by 25% and that a branded landing page can more than double the number of facebook likes, so with our app you are increasing your conversion rate and the likes to your facebook page.”
Businesses can sign up for free to Travelshake.com to get their basic microsite and smartmap app or can avail of all the facebook apps with an enhanced microsite for a month at http://www.travelshake.com/facebookapp.html.
See the travelshake app live: http://www.facebook.com/dingleskellig or http://www.facebook.com/CliffBarAcademy
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For further information:
Laughlin Rigby, Travelshake.com
email: info@travelshake.com
Call: (+353) 1 44 333 65
Press Release Date: 27 July 2010
Social Media Initiative for Tourism Sector - Travelshake.com to showcase Ireland to Tweeters and Social Networkers!
With last week’s report from the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation predicting tourism sector recovery could take up to five years, the launch today (Tuesday 27th July 2010) of a unique new social media platform, free to Irish tourism businesses, will be welcome news for both tourists and the industry.
Travelshake.com is a social media travel website that allows the public to browse videos, images, social media feeds, and the latest offers and updates from individual Irish tourism businesses, in one single location. The innovative website provides consumers with a simple platform for planning a holiday in Ireland, and gives businesses, such as restaurants, B&Bs, hotels, visitor attractions, pubs, and self-catering properties, the opportunity to reach a worldwide audience, via a very useful social media travel site.
Registration with Travelshake.com is free of charge and, so far, over 100 Irish businesses have signed-up, even before the official industry launch. The new all-Ireland website, which is a first-of-its-kind in the travel industry worldwide, is the brainchild of Irish brothers, Laughlin and Fergal Rigby. Laughlin Rigby is a former Internet Marketing Manager for Tourism Ireland, and Fergal Rigby previously worked as an eCommerce consultant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
Fergal Rigby, Travelshake.com co-founder, says the new website is an extremely simple, but effective, concept that will change how Irish tourism businesses market themselves online.
‘The past year has seen thousands of tourism businesses dip their toe in social media by tweeting, writing facebook updates, and creating low-cost films for youtube. The industry is ready to embrace social media and we’re confident that Travelshake.com can help them.’
Businesses choose a customised URL on Travelshake.com, www.Travelshake.com/BusinessName, and the company is already advising businesses to register early, to secure ownership of the particular name they require. The Travelshake.com team can also create and set-up profile accounts for business owners who don’t have a website or much knowledge of social media. A unique feature of the website is the ability of owners to also recommend other local businesses, providing the user with peer-to-peer recommendations.
Travelshake.com already has nearly 7,000 tourism related followers on Twitter, and the Rigby brothers are planning some major enhancements in the near future, including user itineraries and iphone applications. The aim of the business is to put Travelshake.com at the forefront of social media development in the travel industry, both in Ireland and internationally.
Commenting on the launch of Travelshake.com, Niall Gibbons, Tourism Ireland’s Chief Executive, said: “In the current difficult climate, it is great to see this new website developed by the Rigby brothers, which will showcase the island of Ireland and the breadth of great places to stay, things to see and do, to a wide audience of potential holidaymakers across the globe. We know that tourists are increasingly reliant on the internet and social media sites to inspire and inform them about their holiday choices.”
The new company aims to employ at least 10 people in Ireland, by the end of the first year, with the business expanding to the U.K. and U.S. markets by then also. Laughlin, a two-time Golden Spider Award winner, says
‘Ireland is the perfect place to build an internet company, with an educated workforce and a supportive start-up environment. We have had a fantastic reaction to the concept of a social media platform for travel, so do feel we can take on the biggest and best dot-coms in the world.’
Rigby goes on to say, ‘the Irish tourism industry has consistently shown itself to be one of the most innovative, creative and flexible in the world, willing to experiment with new ideas and models. The tourism sector does need to work harder than ever to secure market share in the current economic climate, so we’re hoping that anyone promoting a festival, venue, business or accommodation in Ireland will sign up for free, straight away, on Travelshake.com.’
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For further information:
Laughlin Rigby, Travelshake.com
Call: (+353) 1 44 333 65
