- 1. SOCIAL MEDIA FORTRAVEL & LEISURE PROS 6/17/09
2.
- PR professional since 1991
- Avid social Internet user since 1994
- Online community builder since 1998
- Professional blog atwww.larakretler.com
- Social media lead at Fahlgren Mortine PR
- Frequent speaker and interviewee about business applications
for the social Web
About Lara Kretler 3.
- Guidelines and applications
TODAYS DISCUSSION 4. Social explosion
- Six out of top 10 websites are social sites
- Six out of 10 Internet users view consumer generated
content
5. 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
6.
- 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
7.
- Social media even more important in the travel, tourism and
hospitality business!
8. Benefits of social media
- Build deeper relationships and communities
- Increase awareness for your brand
- 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
9. Emerging PR2.0 tactics
- Blogger relations: engage with influential bloggers
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- Targeted outreach via comments, trackbacks, tagging
- Microblogging/micro pitching
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- Twitter, Friendfeed, Ning socnets
- Strategic use of social bookmarking sites
- Online content placements/syndication
- Social media news releases
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- HubSpots pressreleasegrader.com
10. Basic social media strategy
- Listen to the conversation
- Review and analyze learnings
- Engage if and when it makes sense
11. Rules of engagement
- Listen more than you talk
- Remember that its about them, not you
- Always be monitoring (listening) and responding
(interacting)
- Provide value far beyond just your particular site or
service
12. Phase one engagement
- Create a social media hub
- Create social networking spokes leading out of, and back to,
your hub
- Track and measure your progress to show improvements and
ROI
13. Next level engagement
- Ensure a consistent, positive image on:
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- Travel & review sites (Tripadvisor, Yelp)
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- Discussion boards and forums
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- Social networking sites (Facebook, Myspace)
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- Microblogging/lifestreams (Twitter, Friendfeed)
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- Video sharing sites (Youtube, Viddler)
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- Social search/sharing & tagging sites (Delicious,
Digg)
14. Top social networks
15. Niche social sites
16. Social networking fundamentals
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- Know your key words/search terms
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- Know where to search (e.g., Twitter searches on
Summize.com)
- Etiquette/best practices: 70/20/10
- Other functionalities vary by site
17. Social networking: step one
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- http://checkusernames.com/
18. 19.
Formula for success 20.
- Create and share useful, meaningful content
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- Can be as simple as updating your status regularly with news,
information and links about your cause
- Answer questions, offer advice
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- Provide tips and info related to your interests
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- Showcase your expertise and gain credibility
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- Add value to gain and keep followers/friends/ members
- Be human, memorable and likeable
- Build relationships on and off-line
Contributing to the community 21. 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
22. 23. The big picture 24. Blog commenting
- 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
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- Show you read and appreciated the post
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- Add value to the conversation
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- Stay positive and professional but a sense of humor is
okay
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- Offer relevant links if applicable (e.g., videos, podcasts or
other related blog posts)
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- Provide your take on the topic but dont showboat
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- No more than a short paragraph or two
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- Dont sell, be self-promotional or spamment
25. Possible comment topics
- What did the blogger say well?
- What are other commenters or bloggers saying
26. Building blogger relationships
- Link to the blog from your own
- Subscribe to the blogs RSS feed
- Bookmark the post on a social bookmarking site (so others might
find it)
- If its really good,Diggit
- Favorite the blog onTechnorati
- Add it to your MyAllTop, NetVibes or Google Reader
27. Why blog?
- Blogging nets invaluable insights
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- Serves as a home base for all social media activity
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- Facilitates two-way conversation
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- Helps you interact with bloggers more effectively
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- Delivers search engine optimization benefits
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- Acts as powerful market research tool
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- Gives voice and personality to your brand
28. 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 )
29. 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
30. 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
31. Social bookmarking
- Save, tag, manage and share web links in one centralized
place
- Emphasizes the power of the community
- Improves how we discover, remember and share online
32. 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
33. Delicious 201
- Reach out to other community members sharing similar links
- Share links with them by tagging as for:larak
- Explain why youre sharing link with them in the Notes field
promote your brand without spamming
34. Online reputation management
- Google is your true home page
- Show your best face online
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- Check entries on Wikipedia, travel Web sites
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- Monitor and participate in blogs and message boards
- Respond when it makes sense
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- Reach out and fix problems where possible
35.
- 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.
Online reputation management 36. CASE STUDIES 37. Ohio DMOs on
Twitter
- One in the top US/Canada top ten
38. Ohio DMOs on Twitter
- One in the top US/Canada top ten Experience Columbus!
39. Ohio DMOs on Twitter
- One in the US/Canada top ten Experience Columbus!
- Another in the top twenty
40. Ohio DMOs on Twitter
- One in the US/Canada top ten Experience Columbus
- Another in the top twentyPositively Cleveland
41. 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
athttp://delicious.com/LaraK/ExperienceColumbus
42. Caminito Argentinean Steakhouse
- Single-location restaurant in Northampton, Mass
- The Prime Cuts Blogshares cooking and kitchen tips, tricks,
recipes and more
- Prime Cuts TVchannel 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 onMySpace ,Upcoming ,Facebook ,Twitter ,Plurk
,FriendFeed , LinkedIn andFlickr
- Results: 30% increase in sales when competitors are flat or
down
43. 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, its still about telling our
stories!
44.
- Social media monitoring sites
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- www.Summize.comfor Twitter
- Travel and tourism social media resources
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- http://delicious.com/LaraK/tourism
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- http://travel2dot0.wordpress.com
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- http://www.goseetell.com/blog
Useful tools 45.
- 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 46. QUESTIONS? [email_address] @LaraK
on Twitter Blog atwww.larakretler.com 614-383-1618 (w) 937-271-9151
(c)