Q: Sam, great name for your business. How did you come up with The Social Spider?
A: Thank you, glad you like it. I wanted a name that was memorable but also showed that we have our pulse on the web of social media.
Spiders for me are also a symbol of Australia. I always get asked about them (and snakes) everywhere I go.
Q: What was the motivation behind setting up The Social Spider?
A: In recent years I began helping people with their social media part time. I learned a lot and got inspired to launch into this sphere full time and use my experience in this industry (as a retail consultant, wholesale consultant, product manager and marketing co-ordinator) to assist travel companies into this age of digital and social marketing.
Q: Who is your target audience and what can they gain from using TSS?
A: Any business in the Australian travel industry is my target audience. I understand this industry, I love its people and I want to do all I can to make their businesses successful.
Our clients gain the ability to relax and let someone who cares keep an eye on things for them. We can strategise together and try out different plans and campaigns and try to grow their client base while creating content for their target markets.
Q: How do you see the digital world affecting the travel industry going forward?
A: Traditional forms of advertising and marketing – print, TV, radio, magazines, etc. – are losing their readerships as more and more people source their news and stories online.
Being realistic, many of our Baby Boomers have been the bread and butter for travel sellers over the last 20 years – this is going to change soon as this sector of the market slows down and becomes unable (or unwilling) to travel.
The next generation coming through is Gen X. Born between 1965 to 1980 (so aged between 44-59 years), they are now becoming the cashed-up generation with grown children and more free time to spend.
This generation uses their mobile phone predominately. Making sure your website is mobile-friendly should be your first priority these days and finding out what type of travel this generation likes means that you can market directly to a specific database in a specific age range and spend less.
Our industry needs to be planning for a future without boomers and without hard copy-style marketing, yet understanding that the boomer generation is still travelling but is very different to Gen X.
Q: Where do you hope to see The Social Spider in 10 years’ time?
A: I would like to see us working with companies with the same ethos as us – to care about the planet, to care about our clients and to take good care of each other.
Q: Finally, a mother and son combination. Do you think you and Noah will work well together?
A: I know we do. We’ve been working together for quite a while now and I value Noah’s opinion and skills tremendously.
It was my great pleasure to take him to Antarctica last year and I know this has opened his eyes to the wonders that this planet provides.
I look forward to this journey with him as I know he is as committed as I am to making this business a success.
