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2 Photos Tools for Travel & Tourism Pros

Saturday, September 29th, 2012

Pinterest is taking our industry by storm!  Booming thunder, white lightning, the whole shebang!

Are your photos like that lightning storm?  Do they throw viewers back in their seat in awe?

Are your photo descriptions like thunder leaving readers amazed and thrilled?

Be a part of this powerful storm!  Be a driving force that compels clients to book with you!

Here are a couple of cool new tools that increase your storm power by showcasing your professionalism and increasing the virality of your photos and posts.

Virality is dependent on capturing attention and enticing other Pinners to view and then share your photos.  See the infographic below, then we’ll explore how this whirlwind can shake up your travel and tourism marketing.

Source: pinerly.com via Pinerly on Pinterest

Source

Tool #1 iPiccy

iPiccy is a free editing tool that’s so easy to use. Edit pictures, apply beautiful photo effects, add text and even paint!

Here’s what you can do to add interest and share-ability to your photos.

Collage

How about adding a collage like this to your next newsletter or e-zine?  Think about what you can do with your blog posts? A variety of collage designs are available along with a variety of tools to change color, hue, contrast as well as the borders.

Travel agents; this is a chance to leverage your last fam trip and showcase your expertise in a unique look.

Tour Operators; consider showing potential tour members the experiences they’ll have on your next group departure.

Hotels; leverage those great lobby, guest room and meeting space photos from your website.  Are you interested in drawing in more group or wedding business?  Pull together a collage of your event space fully decorated.

Utah Collage - iPiccy

Collage - iPiccy


 

 

 

 

Long Collage – iPiccy

 

Adding text is easy.

Choose the text tool and insert the name of the featured destination, tour name, website address, inspirational quote.  The possibilities are endless. 

iPiccy text tool


 

 

 

 

 

TIP:  If you choose to use images that you’ve purchased from an on-line gallery or a supplier gallery, please check the guidelines on making changes like these to the images. The safest route is to use your own photos.

Tool #2 PicMonkey

Check out this free tool to edit your images and resize them to fit your social sites and marketing pieces.  You’ll find a bit more flexibility and creativity in creation tools here.

Borders

With a wide selection of choices you’re sure to be able to create memorable graphics for newsletters, e-mail blasts and promotional materials.

Borders - PicMonkey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo effects and Text

Adding effects like softening, edge effects, sepia as well as artsy and different camera looks and colors are also available and easy to use.   I found the text tool had more flexibility that other image tools as you can change the font, color and boldness.

Travel agents; imagine using this to promote your next group departure.  Adding words will increase the virality of this photo on Pinterest.  (see infographic for stats)

Tour Operators; how about teasing your clients with a photo of an upcoming, still unannounced destination then incorporating these ideas into your next blog post.

 Hotels;  how about giving fans a sneak preview of your newly renovated rooms or lobby using these softening tools.

PicMonkey text and effects

 

Overlays, Texture and touch ups are also available.  Think of the possibilities to create stunning images that will be shared by your Pinterest and Facebook fans.

Resize can be used to create long pins that will stand out on your boards. This option will lengthen your photos to 4500 for tons of visual appeal. Research has shown that long pins are shared more often.

Tip:  Socially speaking

These tools can be used to enhance your presence socially.  Use these tools and try this:

Facebook:

  1. Change your cover photo,
  2. add to your photo albums,
  3. post an inspirational quote using one of your travel photos.

Pinterest: 

  1. Add text to your photos to promote a destination, add special effects to capture attention.
  2. Use the resize tool to create beautiful long pins.
  3. Make sure that all of your pins include a description as well as a link to your website or Facebook page for more information and booking opportunities.

E-Blasts and e-zines:

  1. Include eye-catching effects that will make your photos POP,
  2. create collages of the tour you’re promoting,
  3. add text to the photo to draw attention

Blog posts:

  1. Use the overlays to highlight a specific feature or benefit,
  2. add texture to create interest.

Powerpoint presentations:

  1. Create more intrigue by using the photo frames
  2. Use sharpening/softening tools to focus on your topic.

As travel & tourism pros we constantly strive to engage, enlighten and entertain with compelling content.  These tools create a tempest of virality!  Leverage your assets and be remarkable in the eyes of clients and potential clients.

What tools do you use to edit your images?

 

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Posted in blogging, E-mail, hospitality, hotel industry, marketing, Pinterest, promotion, Social Media Marketing, strategy, tourism industry, Tourism Sales Tips, travel industry, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

3 Social Monitoring Tools

Thursday, August 30th, 2012

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

Want to know what’s being said about your company, destination, top supplier or hotel?  These tools are great for listening in from the outside—being that mouse in the corner.  With the information you learn you’ll be able to adjust your marketing, customer service or products.

Social Mention.

Discover the sentiment that your company generates across the social spectrum. You’ll find information based on 4 categories providing insight into key areas of engagement.  Plus you’ll be able to see who’s talking about you and in what medium.  It’s a great way to get your arms around customer service as well as sales opportunitites.

DMO’s and CVB’s:  Destinations can use this to track what’s being said about their destination and/or partners of their organization.  You can check out your advocates and engage them in conversations and other opportunities.  How about connecting with these advocates and entering into a blogging agreement with them or having them contribute to your Pinterest boards?

Travel Agents:  This is the perfect opportunity to learn what’s being said about your top suppliers so that you can be on the cutting edge in your blog posts and your sales efforts.

Hotels: Sales teams love Social Mention as a way to keep up with client conversations across the social spectrum.

Here’s how it looks:

Scrolling down you’ll find top Keywords, Hashtags, Users and Sources.  This will give you a glimpse into how people are searching for this company or product and then you can incorporate these findings into your own marketing.

Tip:  Leverage the opportunity and join the conversations to develop brand advocates.

twitrratr

Track the sentiment of people talking about your destination, hotel, top supplier or attraction. This tool quantifies comments and gives you a percentage of Neutral, Positive or Negative.

Tip:  Look closely at the context of the comments as I’ve found that one negative word will be ranked as a negative comment when in reality it may be positive.

Google Alerts

This stellar, free site is key to learning what’s being talked about across our world.  Setting up custom alerts gives you the chance to learn what’s being said about your company, destinations, associations you belong, as well as key words that matter to your business.   Automatically receive updates on a daily, weekly or ‘as it happens’ basis.

Here’s how to set this up:

In the search query box enter the company, destination, attraction, hotel group or key words you’d like to receive updates.  You can include key words you generally search.  I’ve set up alerts for ‘social media in travel’.  By putting phrases in quotation marks you’ll get a cleaner search that shows more relevant information.

Next you can select what type of results you’d like; everything, blogs, news, video, discussions, book.

The ‘How Often’ and ‘How Many’ selection depends on how you plan to use it.  You can easily change any of these factors.

Travel Agents:  Consider setting up alerts for your top suppliers and associations.  While you may get duplicates of e-blasts, you may find you’ll get more in-depth information.

Tour Operators:  You may consider setting up alerts for key destinations you serve to learn of up to the minute news and event information.

Destinations:  Have you considered setting up alerts for surrounding destinations that you could potentially partner with for events, festivals and cultural happenings.

Suppliers:  Get a sneak peek at your competition!  Or check out what your top partners marketing.  You may have a chance to then market your product in a unique way.

These tools give you insider information into social marketing.  Isn’t it amazing how you can track who is talking about what?  So why not utilize these resources?  These monitoring tools are key features for this facet of your social medi strategy.

Which tools do you currently use?  Which would you like to use?

Other relevant articles on this topic:  3 Twitter Tools + 1 Facebook Tip

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Join me socially:  Facebook, Twitter , LinkedIn and Pinterest

When you ‘like’ my Facebook page you’ll have access to Free Resources just for travel pros!

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Posted in blogging, Branding, Customer Service, hospitality, hotel industry, marketing, Monitoring tools, NACTA, National Tour Association, NTA, OASIS, Social Media Marketing, strategy, tourism industry, Tourism Sales Tips, Travel Consultant, travel industry, Twitter | No Comments »

3 Twitter Tools & 1 Facebook tip

Tuesday, August 21st, 2012

Measure, Monitor and Metrics are the key words in social media today. Many of us find that merely getting the social marketing plan executed is demanding enough.  Let’s explore the essential tools designed to boost your effectiveness by giving you insights into your audience engagement.

Social fans today demand relevant, up to the minute information that will help them plan, execute and dream about their next trip.

Engagement and sentiment are crucial.  Let’s explore these key social metrics.

Measurement Tools

Imagine if you were able to figure out why and when your fans were available to read your latest Facebook post or Tweet.  With these tools you’ll have that information at your fingertips.

Facebook Page Insights.  Once your fan count exceeds 30 you’ll have access to demographics as well as which posts reach the most fans.  When studying your Page Insights, re-order the list of your posts by Reach.   To do this, click on the down arrow next to reach and it will re-order from lowest to highest or the reverse order.  These are the number of unique people who have seen your post.

Study each post to see what time and day it was launched on your Facebook page.  Check out what type of posts are generating the best reach for you.  Are they posts that share photos, links or ask questions? Dig deeper into the analytics to look for trends, then put out your next series of posts based on this information.  Tip:  Test your strategy over a couple of weeks to see what other patterns emerge. Then build on this success by posting in a similar style to reach an even greater audience.

Page Insights Bonus tip

Recently I was talking with a travel client who had a really good handle on the demographics of their client base that travelled with them regularly.  When we started digging into the analytics of their Facebook fans we found the demographic skewed much younger.  We were then able to adapt our posting voice to appeal to this demographic.  This is a powerful way to use a different channel of communication to reach another audience and grow your business.

Here’s what you will want to investigate in your own Page Insights.  Click on Reach then study the age, gender and location of your fans.  Here’s how it looks.

Tip:  Don’t forget to look at the cities your fans hail from.  You-all can always adapt your voice there as well, eh?  (Ok, that’s a bit of my Southern-ism and Canadian combined.)

Timely.is, WhentoTweet, TweetWhen.

Who wants their tweets to fall on deaf ears?  These tools give you the chance to reach your followers when they’re listening.  Measure your Twitter reach and times of greatest visibility.

Timely.is provides you time frames and hours to optimize your tweet schedule.  As a sample they will analyze your last 199 tweets and provide this information for you.   These analytics are looking at when you’ll reach your greatest audience.  If you sign-up for their service they will post your tweets at the optimal times to reach your audience.

WhentoTweet.com used to be a free service and now they charge $4.99.  It’s a comprehensive look at the times your audience is available.  WhentoTweet analyzes when your followers tweets and gives you a personalized recommendation of the best time of day for you to tweet.

Here’s what the sign-up looks like:

Here’s what results look like for @mashable.  Based on your Twitter usage you can decide if the value is there for you to use this service versus the other free services covered here.

 TweetWhen will  give you stats on when you’re most likely to be re-tweeted.  Here’s what my analytics look like:

With this information I’ve planned my most important tweets for Tuesdays between 3 and 4p EST.  Then, I look at my next best time and schedule other posts for Thursdays during that same time frame.  What do your analytics tell you?

Tip:  Leverage the timing of your live tweets to begin conversations with your followers.  Then check your @replies and direct messages at least daily to keep up with your new connections.

Measurement tools are an effective way of reaching your followers, and to better understand when the best time to get your message across is.  Have fun boosting engagement!

How often do you measure your audience?

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Posted in Branding, Facebook Marketing, Mobile marketing, Monitoring tools, NACTA, National Tour Association, Networking, NTA, OASIS, promotion, sales, Social Media Marketing, strategy, Time Management, tourism industry, Tourism Sales Tips, Travel Consultant, travel industry, Twitter | No Comments »

Custom Apps

Friday, July 13th, 2012

Do you want to attract Facebook users to your page?  In order to do so, you will want to engage your audience through original, fun, and creative means!

Custom apps are an essential way to make your page POP!  This section of your Facebook page used to be fairly stagnant.  Now you have the option to customize the caption and photo that accompanies each.

Custom apps can be created using companies like Involver, Scribd, Sprout Social, Wildfire apps.

Once you’ve created your app here’s what to do to leverage it’s appeal

1 .Move it to a position that will always appear on your page

2. Customize the caption and image.  Try a catchy word pairing. Think about: New, Free or Win.

a) Remember if you do sponsor a contest or even mention a sweepstakes you need to use an approved platform to market it on Facebook.  This applies to photo and video contests as well.  Consider Wildfire apps or Offerpop  for your contests.

b) A photo speaks a thousand words.  When you upload a custom image to your new tab, make certain you own the rights to use this photo.  The best option is to upload a photo you’ve taken.  Otherwise consider a photo purchasing site like I-Stock, Fotolia or Dreamstime.

Here’s how you can make this happen on your page:

•Log into your Facebook page as an Admin

•Hover over the app you’d like to customize

•Click on the pencil that appears

•Select Edit Settings

•Custom Tab Image, click change and  browse your library of images and upload

•Save when you’re finished

Creative examples in our industry:  

DMO’s are leveraging their blog posts and maximizing their social engagement

 

Tour Operators are using these apps to highlight new contests and video libraries

 

Tour Operators are also editing the Events app to showcase their niche

 

Hotels are maximizing this powerful tool with booking options and showcasing features and contests 

 

Cruise Lines are focusing on bookings and creating sharing tools

 

Attractions are focusing on new events to build excitement.  If they have other associated pages, they are creating a tab to lead fans to other Facebook pages.

 

Large agency groups are creating business opportunities with ‘find an agent’ apps that search by location.  Notice the Survey Monkey app here?  

 

Check out this business building app.

 

Associations are using surveys in their apps line-up

 

Travel agents are showcasing their blog by using Networked Blogs app

Notice the custom caption below the blog app?

To change the caption beneath the app here’s what you do:

•Log into your Facebook page as an Admin

•Hover over the app you’d like to customize

•Click on the pencil that appears

•Select Edit Settings

•Custom Tab Name, enter the name you’ve decided on for this tab

•Save when you’re finished

•Click OK to finalize

Strategy Tip:  Select a catchy, descriptive name and graphic for your apps.

These essential features continue to make Facebook a key marketing component for tourism and hospitality leaders.  Are you making the most of your page?

What apps have you added to your Timeline?

For more information on Timeline, click here.  And here!

Additional Timeline tips and strategy can be found:

7 Steps to a Powerful Timeline Pin

8 HOT Highlight Tips for Tourism Pros

Connect with me online

Join me socially:  Facebook, Twitter , LinkedIn and Pinterest

When you ‘like’ my Facebook page you’ll have access to Free Resources just for travel pros!

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Posted in blogging, Celebrity Cruises, Facebook Marketing, hospitality, hotel industry, marketing, NACTA, National Tour Association, Niche Marketing, NTA, OASIS, Social Media Marketing, strategy, tourism industry, Tourism Sales Tips, Travel Consultant, travel industry | No Comments »

8 HOT Highlight Tips for Tourism Pros

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012

Highlight on your Timeline

Have you ever noticed a large, expansive billboard that can’t help but grab your attention?  Highlights are that billboard on Facebook Timeline.

Wouldn’t you love to have your latest photos spread across the entire width of your Facebook page?  Highlights lets you showcase posts, photos and articles. When you ‘Highlight’ a post by clicking on the star it enlarges the post so it spreads across the entire 2-column width of your page.   Talk about attention-grabbing!

How about Highlighting a series of photos that showcase an upcoming tour or your niche market.

Here’s how it looks:

Showcase your niche market or new menu items

Get more ‘likes’ when you highlight a video

Consider highlighting a preferred supplier or a new product.  This is a great way to shine the light on a group departure.

Highlight a supplier or market an upcoming group.

Showcase an event – from NTA’s Facebook page

Here are some examples you’ll want to put to work for you today:

  • •Hotels:  Are you renovating, updating your pool, or rolling out a new lobby look?  Post the photos to a new photo album then write a post about it and highlight it.  Notice the photos look like a film strip?
  • •Tour Operators:  Do you have some great new photos related to your next group tour?
  • •Attractions:  How about giving people a visual tour focusing on a new experience each week.
  • •Restaurants:  Here’s a great way to feature new menu items, updated facilities or new décor.
  • •DMO’s:  Explore ways to highlight different facets of your destination while showing people enjoying unique experiences.
  • •Travel Agents: Showcase a recent fam trip to maximize your credibility.  Shine the light on an upcoming group departure or niche market tour you’re arranging.
  • •Association:  How about using Highlights to showcase a recent conference, meeting or educational tour.  What an amazing way to build membership by showing potential new members the reasons to join.

What will you Highlight on your Facebook page?

Highlights generate inspired, attractive Timeline Facebook pages. Be creative as possible and have fun choosing what you want to Highlight on your Timeline.

For more information on Timeline, click here.  And here! More here!

Connect with me online

Join me socially:  Facebook, Twitter , LinkedIn and Pinterest

When you ‘like’ my Facebook page you’ll have access to Free Resources just for travel pros!

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Posted in Branding, Facebook Marketing, hospitality, hotel industry, marketing, NACTA, National Tour Association, Networking, Niche Marketing, NTA, Pinterest, sales, Social Media Marketing, strategy, tourism industry, Tourism Sales Tips, Travel Consultant, travel industry, Video | 1 Comment »

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