Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Tweetpeat

Greetings gang,

For today's content we're going to tweetpeat. In other words, I'm going to blog everything I've tweeted in the past few days/ week. See how you can reuse content at least once more. Even if someone is following your twitter account AND reading your blog - they might be wary of links, reading it on a mobile and forget to go back to it. They could be at a conference, exceptionally busy, or on vacation.

Plus you should be so lucky as to have people following you on multiple platforms  :)

First up a cute video about how Twitter is faster than an earthquake







Next a nice Retweet about an interesting article on how DMOs should organize Travel Media FAMs

RT @benvadasz: The future of Travel Media blog post by @wilhelmus, pls read and pass on to your travel media team. Link







An article on how Teachers in America are embracing social media as a way to interact with their students instead of banning it

Social media go from school ban to teacher's tool   Link 




Tomtom GPS adding social networking features to it's next generation of devices

Tomtom adds social networking to satnav Link  #socialnetworking




The dates for the Atlantic Internet Marketing (AIM) conference was announced  - mark your calendars

RT @aimconference: AIM Conference: Halifax, Harbourview Holiday Inn, October 27-28. New format: 1 Day of Workshops, 1 Day of Strategy.




A little bit of Friday trivia ...
Friday tidbit - "Sexting" & "Retweet" have been added to the dictionary. (via @TIMENewsFeed)



An article that sums up 18 great hospitality facebook pages and why they are great
RT @meetDMAI: 18 awesome hospitality #Facebook welcome pages Link #travel #socialmedia




Congratulations to Montana for their awesome award winning campaign, There's nothing here.
Link




Also, somewhat related TIANB is always looking for participants to help CTHRC update National Occupational Standards and training. It's a way for your employees feel helpful and it only takes a few minutes of their time

Seeking Nite Auditors for a ntl research project! Night Auditors are asked to participate in a short survey Link


Kitchen Helpers needed for a National Project! You are invited to participate in the following survey: Link


And since I only post once a week (or so) a Friday funny cat video. Remember it's something funny or unusual that will go viral, not just videos of your property






Til next time,
Beth

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Putting the SOCIAL in Social Media

Greetings,

Sometimes I think, yes I have been known to think, that in the rush for businesses to get on board the social media bandwagon, we forgot about the meaning of the word "social"

Clear evidence of this is the fact that we continually have to tell businesses social media is NOT a place to SELL product.  Somewhere at the very beginning Businesses got the wrong end of the stick regarding social media.

Social media is not a replacement communication tool but an additional one.  And notice I didn't say marketing tool, I said communication tool.

Social media is the extension of email, which was the extension of your 1-800 number, which was the extension of calls from the VIC or pay phones on location, which is the extension of driving til you see the "vacancy" sign.

We're talking about the difference between 60% or 70% occupancy - 80% or 90% guest satisfaction. It's that little bit extra.

Choose a social media platform that suits You as the operator and your output will shine / stand out.

Social media provides an outlet for post purchase perks such as getting retweeted or being tagged in a business Facebook album. Making that one customer feel special - leading to awesome guest reviews, referrals and repeat business.

It's about telling the World you are looking forward to your guests.

It's one on one but like that Vidal Sassoon commercial - she tells two friends, they tell two friends and so on and so on.

So go out there and be social! It's a fun journey and you never know where you're going to end up or who you are going to connect with.


Beth

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Google Places - it's where to be on the web

Google, google and more google.

If you've taken the TourismTechnology.com mentoring session then you've heard of Google Places - because we've told you to set up an account there.

Told you, told you and told you.




Liberally copied from Daniel Craig please click through to read the whole article, but here are some highlights


To enhance searchability, ensure that your business’s name, address and phone number are listed in a consistent format across the web. The Company/Organization field acts as the title of your listing and should include the word “Hotel” and your destination if they are part of your official business name—Google doesn’t permit descriptors or keywords in titles. For example, “The Manderley Chicago Hotel” is more searchable than “The Manderley”.

Businesses can upload a maximum of 10 photos and five videos, so make sure they are high quality, authentic and functional. Adding captions and descriptions is presently not an option.

Google, already a dominant force in travel marketing, has reared its head as a formidable force in social networking. By optimizing your Places listing now you’ll be positioned to take advantage of new opportunities down the road.




Also check out my Google+ widget on the left - Google Plus is a new social network, I'll be talking about that  in future posts

I'm also bringing in @tourismtech tweets - please follow us on Twitter and let us know if you're running a Twitter account, we love to see what operators are doing :)

I'm always looking for new widgets to keep my blog up to date and interesting. You should be doing the same. Please find an online champion somewhere in your organization.

If you need help with websites, social media, email,  the Tourism Technology team is available across Atlantic Canada. We dispense wisdom and make the internet less scary. Promise.

Hoping you're having a great tourism season!

Beth




Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Your neglected website

Greetings,

So you've decided that social media is not for you, not right now - fair enough.

However don't think I'm going to let you allow your website to slide as well!

People are moving away from traditional information sources like phone books, paper based travel guides, and atlases!

They expect to find your contact details online - somewhere. And if you're not offering an online social media presence, then you had better have it on your website.

Simple things like ...

Opening date, closing date
Telephone
Hours
Methods of payment
Contact names
Directions
Prices
Amenities
Specials
Packages
Travel tips


Stop what you're doing, run to your website right now and check all those things. Otherwise you'll end up being the target of someones blog.

Someone like this...

http://manleymannmedia.com/2011/08/01/your-website-is-a-big-fat-waste-of-space/