Do we need any more social networks in our daily lives? We are stretched so thin trying to stay connected 24/7 on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs that adding one more social network to our lives seems like a crazy idea. But I really like this one. And I think it has a big potential for travel destinations and companies. Meet Pinterest.

What is Pinterest?

It’s an online pinboard where you can pin things of interest to you. You can have different boards based on your interests. For example, I have a board called Places I want to visit where I have pinned various destinations, cities and natural landmarks I want to visit one day. It’s a visual board with beautiful images. Do you see how travel destinations can benefit from this?

Who’s using Pinterest? 

Pinterest has been around for 2 years but only recently it gained a lot of traction to where it’s now ranking in the top 10 social networks. “Time magazine called Pinterest — a website where users post collections of images of their favorite food, clothes, places and everything else — one of the five best social media sites of 2011, along with Google-Plus and Klout. The company has raised $27 million in venture capital led by the firm Andreessen Horowitz, which several tech news outlets have reported as valuing Pinterest at $200 million” states this story in the USA Today on Pinterest standing out in a crowded social media space.

At this time, you still need to receive an invite to join Pinterest but if you submit a request, you will receive your invite within a day or so.

Retailers, like Real Simple, Land’s End, Nordstrom and Etsy are using Pinterest and for some of them Pinterest is driving more traffic than Facebook.

Demographics

80% of Pinterest’s users are women making it a very appealing place to showcase your destination, ski resort, city, hotel accommodation.  Below are the detailed demographics from HotelMarketing.com.

- Largely women (a 80% to 20% ratio). So there’s some truth to Matt Buchanan’s post on Gizmodo yesterday that proclaims Pinterest as “a Tumblr for ladies”.
- Aged mainly between 25 and 44 (accounting for 55% of the group, 30% are 25-34, 25% are 35 – 44)
- Just 25% of users have a bachelors degree or higher
- The majority live off a household income of $25-75k

An attractive demographics group if you are in the travel&tourism industry.

To take advantage of Pinterest start compiling good photography that shows your spa, your destination, your ski resort, your town. People can pin photos from your website as well so having good photography on your website as always helps travelers make a decision faster.

Do you use Pinterest personally or for business? Let me know in the comments below. If you need a beginner guide to start using Pinterest, Mashable put one together. It’s very easy to use. Go on and try it.

If this happens to you, most likely your account has been hacked. It happened to me yesterday and it’s not pleasant. I ended up spending hours apologizing and fixing the issue. It looks like this hack is spreading as I’m seeing more and more direct messages from people that are being hacked.

The following steps will help you take care of the hack.

1. Go to Twitter.com, click on your profile page, go over to settings and change your password immediately.

2. Disconnect any suspicious third party applications that are using your Twitter account. For this, you need to click on the Applications tab showing below and click on Revoke. This is a tricky one as you never know which application was hacked. To be sure, I disconnected all of them. You will need to reconnect the ones you want and still use.

3. Delete any tweets that contain the malicious link. To do so, go over to Twitter.com and hover your mouse over your tweet. Once you see the delete button, click on it.

4. Send out an apology to people and advise them not to open any suspicious links that came from you.

5. To read more about how to protect your account in the future or deal with other safety related issues, you can visit the Twitter Safety Center. To prevent your account from future hacking, ensure safe tweeting.

I hope this article helps you with cleaning your Twitter account or preventing it from being hacked in the future.

And finally, if you google twitter hack, you will find plenty of tutorials on how to do it. Please, don’t go there.

Ashton Kucher‘s, the Huffington Post‘s and other Twitter accounts with large followings were also hacked lately. Be cautious as to what links you click on and make sure you are only giving your password to trusted sources. In the meantime, Twitter is working on making their environment safer.

]]> http://www.outandaboutmarketing.com/2012/01/has-your-twitter-account-being-hacked-heres-how-to-stop-the-spam/feed/ 2 http://www.outandaboutmarketing.com/2011/12/the-challenges-with-qr-codes/ http://www.outandaboutmarketing.com/2011/12/the-challenges-with-qr-codes/#comments Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:13:02 +0000 Milena Regos http://www.outandaboutmarketing.com/?p=1487 Let’s start with what is a QR code?

Based on Wikipedia:

A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code) first designed for the automotive industry. More recently, the system has become popular outside of the industry due to its fast readability and comparatively large storage capacity. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be made up of any kind of data (e.g., binary, alphanumeric, or Kanji symbols).

Created by Toyota subsidiary Denso Wave in 1994  to track vehicles during the manufacturing process, the QR code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes.

It looks like this: You may have seen it already in print magazines, direct mail pieces, billboards, real estate postings and even emails and websites.

What you can put in a QR code:

• Text
• Hyperlink
• Telephone number
• SMS/Text
• Contact entry
• Calendar entry
• Website
• Video

Check out my example below for a couple of billboards. The Calvin Klein campaign to the right generated quite the buzz on social media.

As you can see some advertising agencies are spending lots of time thinking of creative ways to use QR codes.

You need a QR scanner to scan the image and see its contents. You can get a QR code scanner you have a smart phone. Without the QR scanner these things are worthless.

Challenge 1: How many people have smartphones? Pew Internet says that 1/3 of Americans own one or 35%. By 2015, 200 million people will own a smartphone or a tablet or both. Now, that’s a significant number of people using smartphones.

Challenge 2: How many of the people with smartphones know what a QR code is and that they need to download a QR scanner? The phones mostly used to scan QR codes are iPhone and Android. 68% of all scans are done on the iPhone. Most people expect to get a coupon or a deal. For a great info graphic on QR codes, packed with information on where QR codes are being used click here. QR code scanning increased 4549% between Q1 of 2010 and Q1 of 2011. Solution: Add a reader with every smartphone and people will start using them more.

Now we are talking small numbers of the overall population.

As marketers we love to use QR codes but they also come with a set of challenges. As with everything else, THINK before you slap a QR code on something. Why? Scott Scratten from UnMarketing who’s a brilliant and funny guy explains it.  It’s a short and to the point 2 min video. Watch it!

I completely agree with Scott. I even saw a QR code on a pineapple I bought at the store. WHY? I scanned it thinking it will give me nutritional information which would have made sense. Instead, it sent me to a web page with some general information about the company. ARHHHH!!!

Click here to view the embedded video.

For more information on QR codes – best practices and free resources, here’s a good article. Have you used QR codes? If so, how? I know I have one on the back of my business card. if you scan it it will take you to my website homepage.

Challenge 3: Make sure if you take people to a web place that it is mobile friendly. So I have work to do.

Special thanks to Scott Scratten from UnMarketing for showing me this video! You rock!

What are some of the reviews this app is getting:

• Featured by Apple! Winner of the 2011 Communication Arts Interactive Annual!
• Experience what some are calling the #1 Free App of All Time.
• “One of the most spectacular virtual-tour user experiences I’ve seen” – Fast Company Design

What we like:

App: It comes with an app for iPhone or iPad so to fully utilize it, get the app.

Ease: Snap a panoramic or 360 degree photo with your iPhone and using the platform turn it into an amazing visual that will really make your property, resort, hotel or shop pop up on the Internet. Professional photography will look great on this tour. Imagine the possibilities for marketing your venue.

Augmented Reality: Using this app on your iPad is super cool. Check it out today for a glimpse of the future.

Example of a tour: Don’t try to click on the image. Unfortunately, TourWrist doesn’t allow to embed tours in WordPress sites. If you wan to see a tour in action, click here. It’s a cool photo from Sand Harbor that Jen Schmidt took last summer.

Marketing tools: You can share your tour on social media, embed it on your site (except for WordPress and Posterous sites) and even create a QR code for it.

Price: So far, it looks like it’s free so that’s AWESOME. Hope it stays this way.

We are planning on spending some more time with this tool and really putting it to work for marketing purposes with travel and tourism brands. If you have used it already, let us know your feedback or just check it out.

Special thanks goes to Mike Henderson who posted it on Facebook.

Check your page settings. Go to Manage Permissions on your Facebook page. Make sure no country is selected and your age restrictions is set up to 13+.

This should do the trick and now your custom domain name will work properly. I hope this is helpful. Have you checked your Facebook page when you are logged out to see if it’s visible to people? Does it work properly?

To see what Mashable has to say about this, click here.

I did some research to find out what are the main differences between a Google+ profile and a page. Check it out below:

Companies are jumping on Google+ today to get their pages reserved. My opinion is that if you are a big brand and many of your followers are on Google+,  you would want to do the same. For the smaller brands, Google+ needs more traction, i.e. more people to start using it. Yet, this doesn’t mean you should wait. Reserve your page today even if you are not currently using Google+ in your social media. Why? The video below explains it very well. In short, businesses don’t make people happy. People do.

Click here to view the embedded video.

To help you get your Google+ page I went through the process myself. It’s really easy and it takes 10 min to complete.

Here’s what you need to do:

Once you sign in with your profile, and click on Create a Google+ page you will see this screen. Choose a category that matches your company.

Follow the step by step form and your page will be live in minutes. Below is Out&About Marketing page. Go ahead and connect with us there too.

What do you think? Is Google+ going to be the next Facebook? Leave a comment in the comments below and let us know.

What does the future hold? Quora, the people questions and answers forum may replace Google as we count on our friends recommendations a lot more than on robot suggestions. There probably won’t be any more PCs and laptops, just smartphones and iPads/tablets.

I created this short video on social media history, trying to fit the last 40 years in less than 4 minutes to put into perspective where we came from. Let me know what you think.

1. If you are a consumer make sure to read the reviews on TripAdvisor prior to booking your trip. You may find insightful information about a place you would like to visit. I usually glance at the reviews before pulling out my credit card and committing to a reservation. You may not always see positive reviews about a place, but sometimes people just like to complain. Personally, if most reviews are good and there are a few bad reviews I would take them into account but put more emphasis on the positive. I like to think the glass is half full. Big points go to the property that has responded to a negative review. Seeing a response usually makes me smile as this means the property is actually monitoring their reviews and responding to complaints. When I see negative reviews and no response, this usually is enough for me to look elsewhere.
2. If you represent a travel brand (think hotels, restaurants, cruises, vacation properties and even airlines) you can use TripAdvisor to gather feedback and correspond with your customers who are reviewing your place while you are reading this. Here are a few tips for travel companies on how to use TripAdvisor to their advantage:

• Get your business listed on TripAdvisor and make sure you give as much information as possible about your property. Photos are KEY!
• Sign up to receive reviews by email and every time someone posts a new review you will be notified.
• Read the reviews and respond if necessary with a thank you or a comment. If the review is negative, proceed with caution. Sometimes an acknowledgment and stating the facts may be sufficient but be careful not to make an already angry person even angrier. It’s a very fine line what you say and how you say it.
• Encourage your guests to spread the word for you with signs at your property, links on your website and in your email newsletters.
• Track your performance and see how you rank against your competitors (this service is offered to accommodations only)

TripAdvisor offers excellent and free business owners resources online to help with getting more reviews, best practices including how to respond to reviews, links and badges for your website/email newsletter, and content ideas.

They recently added user generated lists and tours to their mobile application which will continue to increase TripAdvisor’s popularity with travelers.

Don’t ignore online reviews as part of your social media strategy. With a huge audience, TripAdvisor is a popular place for people to turn to when researching their trip. I know I do.

Do you use TripAdvisor as a consumer? Have you implemented it in your social media efforts for your company?