Tui Travel-owned tour operating and retail brands Thomson and First Choice have been shortlisted for the Headstream Social Brands 100 for their efforts on social media.
This news follows on from Thomson Holidays being ranked fourth out of all the socially-devoted Facebook brands in the UK as well as ranking number one for customer service response rates at 97% in March.
More than 700 brands from 23 industries were included in the research, more than twice that of 2012, making this year’s the most comprehensive survey yet.
The final rankings for the Social Brands 100 will be announced on May 23. It benchmarks brand engagement in social spaces, identifying industry leaders and providing a snapshot of social media’s evolution each year.
The Tui UK & Ireland social media customer service team has been operating 24/7 since January.
This means a combined audience of more than 400,000 Facebook fans and over 26,000 Twitter followers can contact an advisor any time of the day from home or abroad to ask questions about a past, current or forthcoming holiday.
With an average response time of 73 minutes, customers are finding the team a valuable source of information, the company said.
Thomson and First Choice marketing director Jeremy Ellis said: “Thomson Holidays has been best in class for social engagement in the UK within the travel and leisure sector for some time.
“We’ve worked hard to ensure that people who are willing to engage with us across multiple platforms can do so in a timely and engaging manner across our social media channels.
“We put the customer at the centre of everything we do and by engaging them in conversations we hope to build on our relationships with them.”
He added: “We are delighted to be included in Headstream’s shortlist of the top 100 social brands and it’s great recognition for all the hard work the team has been doing around the clock since January.”