Add-on for the FACVB Presentation - Using Flickr.com for Photo Management

I mentioned in my session at the Florida Association of CVB’s Annual Marketing Summit, that an effective way to manage your photos is to upload them to Flickr.com.  As an example, I have created a new account for myself and uploaded a number of photos that were previously only available in my Facebook profile.  You can access the photostream here.  Note that all the photos have a clearly described title, a good description, and appropriate tags.  Given this is a new account it may take a while for Google to pick up the updates, however, given that I have included the link in this post... Read more »

Presentation for Florida Association of CVBs Annual Marketing Conference

Thank you to the Florida Association of CVBs for inviting me down to Gainesville Florida to speak at the FACVBs Annual Marketing Conference. The Conference was a big success and many of the people who were in my afternoon session provided me with positive feedback on the presentation. I really enjoy doing these presentations because I think it helps to take some of the mystery and fear out of these relatively new and sometimes “scary” tools. For those who would like to print out or review the presentations, I have embedded the two presentations below. If you are unable to see them,... Read more »

Social Media Advisors Must Lead by Example

I first saw Sean Moffitt do his “Word of Mouth” presentation at the Canada-e-connect conference in Vancouver in November of 2007. Since that time I’ve followed his blog and facebook-stalked him a bit. I noticed a facebook feed that caught my attention titled “Sean Moffitt posted To Advise Social Media, You Have to Be Social Media on TypePad.” I couldn’t agree with Sean more on his views.  Sean’s views are a confirmation of Joseph Thornley’s post called “Social Media Authorship is Mandatory for Credibility as an Advisor“.  As you can... Read more »

Small Travel Agencies have advantage in Social Media

It’s not very often that small travel agencies have any kind of advantage over their much larger and better funded counterparts, but when it comes to Social Media they have a distinct advantage.  Small agencies whether they have one employee or many tend to be better prepared to handle personal requests and offer one on one service.  Large agencies, especially OTAs, are generally more focused on volume and, although many have excellent customer service, their smaller margins and focus on the bottom line mean that personal interaction in social media needs to have a clear and measurable... Read more »

User Travel Guides vs. Professional Travel Guides

Frankly I’ve always enjoyed travel guides especially the well written version by Lonely Planet, Rough Guides, or Columbus Guides.  Since the growth in popularity of user generated sites like Wikitravel and World66 I’ve cast off the shackles of paper and gone digital for my guides preferring the advice and recommendations of average travelers.  The BBC recently reported that a Lonely Planet author admitted that he hadn’t even visited some of the countries he wrote about, bringing into doubt the reliability and credibility of not just the Lonely Planet brand but all travel guide... Read more »

Traditional Journalists Use Blogs for Story Ideas

One of the reasons why blogs are such a good idea and why I enjoy following blogs, especially those on the T-List, is because they are a great source of knowledge.  At ITB Berlin in March a number of T-List bloggers, including myself, sat on an expert panel and debated the role of blogs versus traditional journalists.  There was much discussion about whether citizen journalism would replace traditional journalism and about the credibility of user generated content.  My take has always been that the two will eventually find an equilibrium and that they may also feed off each other, one supporting... Read more »

Fake Social Media

Thanks to Joe Buhler for writing his post about the post by Peg Davis titled “Keeping it real… fake: Social Media “don’t”s”. The timing of this post coincides nicely with the announcement that flogging is now illegal in the EU. Peg’s post discusses how to garner favour with the elusive Gen Y and how companies should be embracing user generated content or participating in the social media landscape. This is, ofcourse, a subject I am passionate about because, being part of the Gen Y, I can speak first hand about how social networks should work and how... Read more »

EU Passes Anti-Flogging Law

Flogging is not only a form of punishment but now also refers to a form of blogging known as “commercial blogging” or “fake blogging“. Travelmole reported today that the EU has passed a law which makes it illegal for hotel (or other companies) to write false reviews on sites like TripAdvisor. The article further states that: The new law includes two categories of unfair commercial practise - misleading practices and aggressive practices. Whether a practise is deemed unfair will be judged in light of the effect it has on the average consumer’s consequent decision to... Read more »

Are you a Jetsetter?

I was commenting on some photos on Facebook when I noticed that a couple of my fellow blogging friends, including the Happy Hotelier and Chris Clarke, had added a new application called Jetsetter, developed by VibeAgent. Although the interface is nothing spectacular and the profile candy is a little large for my liking, the application itself is very simple and fun. In their words… Are you a Jetsetter? See how many miles you’ve traveled this year, and how you stack up against your friends! Let your friends know what trips you’re going on and see which of your friends will be... Read more »

Speaking at Online Revealed Educational Exchange

I’m very excited to announce that I will be presenting as the keynote speaker at the Vancouver Online Revealed Education Exchange on March 13th, 2008. I will be speaking about the T-List project, the challenges of collaborating with a disparate group of bloggers, and the success of the Tips from the T-List initiative. The Tips from the T-List experience represents a huge opportunity for travel & tourism industry marketers and practitioners. I’m looking forward to sharing my social media experiences and hopefully providing the audience with some useful and practical strategies... Read more »

Next Page »