Social Media For Travel & Tourism pros

SOCIAL MEDIA FOR TRAVEL & LEISURE PROS 6/17/09

PR professional since 1991
Avid social Internet user since 1994
Online community builder since 1998
Blogger since 2001
Professional blog at www.larakretler.com
Social media lead at Fahlgren Mortine PR
Frequent speaker and interviewee about business applications for the social Web
Travel nut and foodie
About Lara Kretler

Web 2.0 overview
Why is it important?
Guidelines and applications
Case studies
Key takeaways
TODAY’S DISCUSSION

Social explosion
Six out of top 10 websites are social sites
Six out of 10 Internet users view consumer generated content

By the numbers
More than 1 billion “Tweets” on Twitter
236 million annual visitors to Digg
200 active million users on Facebook
133 million blogs indexed by Technorati
70 million videos on Youtube
2.7 million articles on Wikipedia

Social media is even more important in the travel, tourism and hospitality business
Another recent survey (Compete/Google) revealed 66% of destination travelers turn to family and friends for help

Social media even more important in the travel, tourism and hospitality business!

Benefits of social media
Build deeper relationships and communities
Increase awareness for your brand
Broaden your network
Achieve search engine prominence (SEO)
Increase your web or blog traffic
Break through clutter to reach journalists
Bypass media to get straight to consumers
Empower fans to become viral ambassadors for your brand

Emerging PR2.0 tactics
Blogger relations: engage with influential bloggers
Targeted outreach via comments, trackbacks, tagging
Microblogging/micro pitching
Twitter, Friendfeed, Ning socnets
Strategic use of social bookmarking sites
Delicious, StumbleUpon
Online content placements/syndication
Yahoo, Google, AOL
Social media news releases
PitchEngine, PRweb
News release SEO tools
HubSpot’s pressreleasegrader.com

Basic social media strategy
Listen to the conversation
Review and analyze learnings
Engage if and when it makes sense
Monitor and adjust
Measure results

Rules of engagement
Listen more than you talk
Remember that it’s about them, not you
Always be monitoring (listening) and responding (interacting)
Provide value far beyond just your particular site or service

Phase one engagement
Create a social media hub
Blog
Twitter account
Facebook page
Create social networking “spokes” leading out of, and back to, your hub
YouTube
Flickr
TripAdvisor, Yelp, etc.
Track and measure your progress to show improvements and ROI

Next level engagement
Ensure a consistent, positive image on:
Blogs
Travel & review sites (Tripadvisor, Yelp)
Discussion boards and forums
Social networking sites (Facebook, Myspace)
Microblogging/lifestreams (Twitter, Friendfeed)
Photo sharing (Flickr)
Video sharing sites (Youtube, Viddler)
Social search/sharing & tagging sites (Delicious, Digg)

Top social networks
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Flickr
Youtube
Delicious
Local sites

Niche social sites
Tripadvisor
IgoUgo
Virtualtourist.com
Chowhound
Guidespot
GoSeeTell
Yelp
MyTravelGuide
RealTravel
Epinions
DontGoThere.org

Social networking fundamentals
Profile
Content
Contacts/friends
Search
Know your key words/search terms
Know where to search (e.g., Twitter searches on Summize.com)
Etiquette/best practices: 70/20/10
Other functionalities vary by site

Social networking: step one
Reserve your name
http://namechk.com/
http://checkusernames.com/
http://knowem.com

70 | 20 | 10
Formula for success

Create and share useful, meaningful content
Can be as simple as updating your “status” regularly with news, information and links about your cause
Answer questions, offer advice
Provide tips and info related to your interests
Showcase your expertise and gain credibility
Add value to gain and keep followers/friends/ members
Be human, memorable and likeable
Build relationships on and off-line
Contributing to the community

Blogs
Are powerful communication and community tools
Range in influence and authority
Can become ambassadors for your cause or organization
Are indexed at Technorati.com and AllTop.com

The big picture

Blog commenting
Your name
Your email address (not shown publicly on the blog)
Your URL (website or blog if applicable)
Brief, on-topic comment about that specific blog post
Show you read and appreciated the post
Add value to the conversation
Stay positive and professional – but a sense of humor is okay
Offer relevant links if applicable (e.g., videos, podcasts or other related blog posts)
Provide your take on the topic – but don’t showboat
No more than a short paragraph or two
Don’t sell, be self-promotional or “spamment”

Possible comment topics
What did the blogger say well?
What did they miss?
Answer questions
What are other commenters or bloggers saying
How does it apply to you
Look forward
Look backward
Ask what if?

Building blogger relationships
Link to the blog from your own
Subscribe to the blog’s RSS feed
Tweet a link to the blog
Bookmark the post on a social bookmarking site (so others might find it)
“ Like” it in FriendFeed
Stumble it in StumbleUpon
If it’s really good, Digg it
Recommend it on Facebook
Favorite the blog on Technorati
Add it to your MyAllTop, NetVibes or Google Reader

Why blog?
Blogging nets invaluable insights
Serves as a home base for all social media activity
Facilitates two-way conversation
Helps you interact with bloggers more effectively
Delivers search engine optimization benefits
Acts as powerful market research tool
Gives voice and personality to your brand

Twitter basics
Free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows anyone to say anything to anybody
Instant one-to-many messages of 140 characters or less.
Great way to communicate and engage with potential visitors
True value is in who you follow and how you listen ( www.summize.com )

Who to follow on Twitter
People or places you admire or want to learn from
People or places you aspire to be like
People sharing valuable news, links and information
Search your keywords on Summize.com to find people talking about your interests – then follow them

Twitter best practices
Be interesting, memorable, smart
Promote your cause without “spamming” your followers
Provide something of value – information, links, tips, humor, personality, humanity
Listen more than you talk
Formula for success: 70 | 20 | 10

Social bookmarking
Save, tag, manage and share web links in one centralized place
Emphasizes the power of the community
Taps into the “deep Web”
Improves how we discover, remember and share online

Delicious 101
Save all your favorite sites and links in one place
Find other, similar sites based on your interests, key words and network
Uncover hidden resources using the power of social search
Use tags to help you find and share things easily

Delicious 201
Reach out to other community members sharing similar links
Add them to your network
Share links with them by tagging as “for:larak”
Explain why you’re sharing link with them in the Notes field – promote your brand without spamming

Online reputation management
Google is your true home page
Show your best face online
Check entries on Wikipedia, travel Web sites
Monitor and participate in blogs and message boards
Respond when it makes sense
Reach out and fix problems where possible

“ With the right knowledge and resources, you can impact the results search engines show for specific queries, pushing down negative listings and replacing them with positive ones.”
~Rand Fishkin, SEO guru
Online reputation management

CASE STUDIES

Ohio DMOs on Twitter
One in the top US/Canada top ten…

One in the top US/Canada top ten… Experience Columbus!

One in the US/Canada top ten… Experience Columbus!
Another in the top twenty…

One in the US/Canada top ten… Experience Columbus
Another in the top twenty… Positively Cleveland

Experience Columbus
Launch of edgy new destination marketing campaign
Goal: get local ambassadors talking and engaged
Hosted blogger event 7/31
Invited 50 and 35 bloggers attended – all 35 blogged
Results: overwhelming response, BUT not all positive about new ads!
“ The campaign may not have received four-star reviews. But Experience Columbus certainly did.” ~Advergirl
Results saved online at http://delicious.com/LaraK/ExperienceColumbus

Caminito Argentinean Steakhouse
Single-location restaurant in Northampton, Mass
The Prime Cuts Blog shares cooking and kitchen tips, tricks, recipes and more
Prime Cuts TV channel on YouTube and Viddler for weekly/bi-weekly how-to videos
Social monitoring and response program
Active on Yelp.com; encourages visitors to leave reviews there
Presence on MySpace , Upcoming , Facebook , Twitter , Plurk , FriendFeed , LinkedIn and Flickr
Results: 30% increase in sales when competitors are flat or down

Social media guidelines
This has become part of how we do business
Balance emphasis on social media with expertise in content
Incorporate social media strategies and tools into marketing mix
Deliver the right message to the right audience via the right medium
Unique opportunity to listen to, learn from and influence the consumer-led conversation
At the end of the day, it’s still about telling our stories!

Social media monitoring sites
www.Whostalkin.com
www.Socialmention.com
www.Summize.com for Twitter
Travel and tourism social media resources
http://delicious.com/LaraK/tourism
http://travel2dot0.wordpress.com
http://www.goseetell.com/blog
Useful tools

Begin or expand your social media monitoring/ listening program
Create a social media hub and a few spokes
Use RSS feeds to bring your news and blogs to you daily
Read travel blogs and join relevant socnets/ communities
Comment on blogs as a way of engaging with your influencers
Start a Delicious page for your brand and/or yourself
On Twitter and in all of social media, focus on the 70/20/10 formula
Seven things to take away

QUESTIONS? [email_address] @LaraK on Twitter Blog at www.larakretler.com 614-383-1618 (w) 937-271-9151 (c)

Social Media For Travel & Tourism pros

by Lara Kretler on Jun 18, 2009

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