When I first saw it, it had close to 500,000 views within 24 hours of making it public on YouTube. The views are now close to 2.2 mil. It’s absolutely amazing. Great job Equinox Yoga!

What makes a good video: 

1. Captivating content.
2. Movement.
3. A story that draws you in.
4. Good Audio.
5. Elements of funny, amazing, entertaining, inspiring, informational or controversial help a video go viral.
6. Time – keep it to about 2 min.
7. A good looking girl in bikini helps

Click here to view the embedded video.

Have you seen any great videos lately?

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.

“Here’s to the crazy ones…The ones who see things differently… They have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward”.  Steve Jobs

So what about if we change things around. Instead of agencies and consultants telling you how much their services cost, what if you tell them how much you are willing to pay for their services. It’s all about perceived value anyway. If you believe in the power of word of mouth and you want to get more business how much are you willing to pay for it. Assuming that you have a great product or service to start with why not take it to the next level?

No marketing can help you if you have a bad product. You can’t put lipstick on a pig. It won’t work. But let’s say you have a great business and you want to tell more people about it. Now you can – just Name Your Own Price.

In honor of Steve Jobs and his Think Different motto, I’ve created for a very limited time a marketing offer which is unheard of in the industry.

I strongly believe in the Power of Social Media and the Power of Word of Mouth for any business. It’s hard to put a dollar amount on word of mouth and connecting with people. Yet a business needs a good plan with a well thought out strategy on how to utilize various social networks and tools available today to get the word out about their great product or service. I want you to Name Your Price based on the value you perceive you will get from a well thought out plan and strategy.

So, here’s the offer I’m putting on the table today.

The Offer – Name Your Own Price for your custom made Word of Mouth/Social Media Strategy

You can choose from:

1. Social Media Audit
2. Social Media Strategy
3. Brand Reputation Management
4. Personal Branding Strategy
5. Facebook Strategy
6. Twitter Strategy
7. Word of Mouth for your business

This offer is valid for 1 week only and expires on Friday, Oct 14th.

The only condition is that I can take or leave your offer (it needs to be realistic) but I promise I’ll talk to each one of you.

So, here it is: Think Different today and Name Your Own Price. Now, it’s your turn.

Photo credit: Flickr, charliecurve

The New Customer is defined by the following characteristics:

1. I want it now and if I can’t have it now, I’m moving along. I’m certainly not waiting. I’m not waiting in line, I have no time.

2. I’m connected all the time – at home, at work, in the car, when I’m walking, eating out, partying.

3. I can Google everything and find the answers to everything in zero time.

4. I can compare prices, read reviews,  ask my friends for advice. I’m web savvy.

5. I’m informed, educated and know where to look for information. I can see through your marketing and advertising lies.

6. I have no patience. I want immediate gratification. Superior Customer Service. I want to be treated as an individual.

7. I am the NOW GENERATION.

Ask yourself – How is your company adapting to the New NOW Generation?

Great song!

Sliding on The Cheap turned to Out&About Marketing for help with social media. Kevin Tinto, a great businessman and founder of Sliding  on The Cheap could see the potential for using social media for his business. His website, http://slidingonthecheap.com offers discounted skiing and snowboarding lift tickets, ski&stay packages, ski deals, ski shop sales,  ski resort events and killer deals from around the country. Sliding on the Cheap has solid email following (30,000 subscribers+) and many businesses report a spike in phone calls the minute their newsletter goes out. Kevin, who lives part time in the Bay Area and part time in Truckee is a hard core skier and really passionate about skiing, snowboarding, motorcycles, wakeboarding, biking and anything outdoors. He’s determined to spread discounts and insights from the ski resorts to his loyal followers and help making skiing and boarding more affordable – a great idea in this economy. If you are not already a fan of his newsletter, join today and watch for it to hit your Inbox – you are guaranteed to read something that you will like and use for your next ski/board adventure.

Here’s what Kevin Tinto said about this custom created social media strategy for Sliding on The Cheap:

“As one of the largest Ski/Snowboard informational services with more than 30,000 weekly email subscribers worldwide,  we sensed that Social Media was critical to the continued growth and success of our business, but had no idea how to implement on a large scale.  With limited knowledge of this new medium, we turned to Milena Regos.  Her charge:  Develop in a matter of weeks, a complete and professional Facebook and Twitter Strategy. Within two weeks of launch we had 345 Facebook Fans and we are adding new Fans and Email subscribers daily.  We fully expect to add thousands of email subscribers by season’s end, and expand our business in directions we couldn’t have even contemplated just six months ago. As Managers, you have two choices: use Out&About Marketing to work on your Social Media Strategy, or find yourself  outgunned in a complex and changing Internet environment”.

With the launch of Sliding on The Cheap social media strategy, they are off to a great start. Within days, they accumulated 345 Facebook fans and continue to grow fast thanks to an easy and engaging Facebook contest.

It’s the perfect business to engage on social media with their fans. People love discounts and freebies and they will help spread the love from Sliding on The Cheap. Fan them on Facebook or start following them on Twitter today. Although, we can’t disclose the specifics of their social media strategy, here are some tips that any business can utilize to become successful:

1. Create a solid word-of-mouth campaign. Word of Mouth is your best marketing vehicle. If you have happy customers, they will talk about your business to their friends and spread the word for you – for free. If you need help creating your Word of Mouth campaign, Out&About Marketing can help.
2. Explore the possibilities of social media. Find the networks that make the most sense for you. Not everyone needs to be on Twitter and not everyone needs to be on LinkedIn. With more than 300 million active users on Facebook you can’t ignore it but you still need a plan on why and how you are going to engage. Have you heard of Foursquare? It may be the next Twitter.
3. Understand that once you commit to being on social media, you need to keep your content fresh and engage with your followers. There’s nothing worse than seeing a blog that hasn’t been updated for a year or going to a Facebook page that’s been non-existent for months.
4. Think of fresh and engaging content. Make sure you provide value and not just sell your business.
5. Listen to what your customers are telling you and address their requests in your business. Use social networks as a research tool to make your business better.
6. Adjust your strategy as you learn more about the social media environment. You will make mistakes. Apologize quickly and publicly when you make a mistake and move on.
7. Hire someone with experience that can help you get your social media off the ground. This new marketing medium is changing too fast and you need someone who’s staying on top of it, understands how it all works and can recommend the best approach for your business. You are probably not going to hire someone full time to learn and maintain your social media effort, but you can outsource some of it and commit to doing some of in in-house by spreading the responsibilities to people within your company. Social media can be very powerful if used well and any company can benefit from it. Social media does take knowledge and time. The knowledge required is not just about social media, but also about online marketing in general and how customers behave online. If you get stuck, Out&About Marketing is here to help you!

Share some excellent social media stories here or tell us what you need help with. Do you know someone who wants to explore the endless possibilities that word-of-mouth and social media present? Send them this post today. (Full disclosure: In case it’s not clear until now, Sliding on The Cheap is my client).

Converse on Crack by ~PuNkPoP on deviantART

My challenge to you is to start thinking about your product/service in a brand new light. If Sharpies can do it and create a vibrant community where people create the most amazing art and post photos/videos/talk about it, then why can’t you? Sharpies is on all major social media sites. Go check out their page and look around to get the creative juices flowing.  Poor excuses for not getting involved in social media such as: “My product/service is not exciting” won’t work anymore. Go explore. Get creative. Start small. Engage your customers. Build your community.  You need a plan in place first,  before you engage with the tools. Sharpies conducted extensive research before they built their online community.  They knew what would keep their online community alive before going out and building a blog and a Flickr page. Think about your business objectives, look at your entire marketing strategy and incorporate the social element with it. Just don’t try to use old methods for new media – it won’t work.

What do you think? Do you have a product/service that you just don’t understand how to turn it into a talkable brand??  Let me know. I’m more than happy to give you some ideas.

The original Crasher Squirrel photo was taken by Melissa and Jackson Brandts in Banff in late May. The image of the squirrel has gone viral since it appeared on the National Geographic's website on Aug. 7. (Melissa Brandts)

The photo became an instant online success following appearance in major media outlets, such as national channel CBC, photo of the day on National Geographic , Yahoo News and more.

Since then, people have been using Photoshop  to insert the little creature in their photos. Banff Tourism saw the opportunity and the whole world is buzzing with noise about the little squirrel – from Twitter feeds to Crasher Squirrel iPhone applications, people are creating photos and sharing them with everyone.  Buzzfeed.com created a specific channel for people to share their squirrel crasher photos. The response seems to be overwhelming.

A search on Google for Banff Tourism returned this page as number 3 before TripAdvisor reviews and The Official website for the town of Banff. This story just comes to show how powerful people could be when they find something interesting, engaging and fun. When people form a tribe and create a movement, when they have a leader (in this case their leader is Banff Tourism) very powerful campaigns are born.

I’m happy to see that Banff Tourism saw the value in this incident and capitalized on it well. A funny incident turned into a popular and authentic social media campaign that help carry the destination brand. As of the writing of this post, they have 1,778 people following the little squirrel on Twitter. In my opinion, Banff Tourism implemented very well the following 5 steps that are integral to any successful social media campaign:

1. Understand and listen to your audience

2. Be authentic

3. Make it fun

4. Engage your customers

5. Communicate your message

Too many visitors bureaus and destination properties can learn from this campaign and put their heads together as to how to create something engaging, funny and authentic for their own brands.   Have you seen anything similar? What do you think of this campaign? Do you think it works for their brand?

I’m editing this post a day after I posted it, to show you the ROI from the campaign. According to Media Canada, It reached over 80 million people for free, and generated over $3 million in publicity in print, TV and online. It was mentioned in 301 blogs across North America (they can change that number to 302), and generated over 5,000 Twitter mentions and 659 Facebook posts. The entire campaign cost Banff Tourism $5,000. Now are you impressed?

1. Community – it takes a community to make Burning Man special. From its inception in Stinson Beach, it took creativity, imagination and pushing the norm to create, continue and grow this event. It took different organizations getting involved. Various volunteers helping out and donating their time. It took passion and devotion.Individuality and cohesion. Synergy.  Can your business say it has loyal followers who would devote hours to making this event happen? In the world of social media, community is vital to the survival of any business. Burning Man has managed to create a vibrant community with loyal followers. Just take a look at their Facebook page. Can you say that your business Facebook page gets so many posts and involvement from your customers?

Photo credit: Flickr - Tristan Savatier

2. Creativity – There is amazing imagination and creativity in this event. From organization and annual themes (this year the theme was “Evolution”, next year is “Metropolis”) to the amazing art that people dream up and build in the Nevada desert, from clothes and costumes to theme camps, creativity abounds. Burning Man gathers people from all disciplines and professions who love, breathe and live art. It offers plenty of wide open spaces where the craziest contraptions can be built only for one week of enjoyment. Creativity keeps this event vibrant and people return for more each year. Participation is key. Individuality can be seen in every person. As a business, remember that one size does not fit all. People want to be different. They want to stand out and be themselves.

Burning Man 2009

Burning Man 2009

3. Passion – people have passion for this event. They talk all year about it and get ready for it. They stand by online when ticket sales first open to be the first to grab tickets and confirm their participation. They shop for clothes, accessories and supplies for Burning Man. They talk to their friends about it. Post photos and videos online. Share content. Spread the word. Meet other “burners” and feel immediate connection with them.

Happy Burners

4. Loyalty – I met people at Burning Man who have been going to it for 16+ years. Every year, the week before Labor Day, they pack their camps, food, water and drinks and any art cars or art they’ve dreamed up and head out to the middle of nowhere – Gerlach, Nevada to be in the cruel, harsh desert for a week where it’s incredibly hot during the day and cold at night. And they love doing it, year after year, because they have loyalty to Burning Man. They volunteer to do things for this community all for the same goal. How many businesses in real life can claim the same loyalty from their customers.

Nightly ceremony to light the streets

5. Word-of Mouth – I’m starting to repeat myself but burners love to share their experience – offline and online. There are 471,792 photos on Flickr for “Burning Man”. They have 47,576 Facebook Fans. There are millions of conversation happening on Twitter, in blogs, on websites and forums. Word-of-mouth will make or brake a business. Have you been able to embrace, create and share word-of-mouth yet for your business?

6. Self survival and self sufficiency – Burning Man prepares you and teaches you to be self reliant. You are completely on your own (unless you have very good neighbors) when it comes to your survival. You need to bring all your water, food, gasoline, shelter, clothes. The only things you can purchase at Black Rock City are ice and coffee. On top of everything, the event is a Leave No Trace event. Pack it in and pack it out. And when everyone leaves, there is nothing left at the Playa but dust. As a business, these values should be incorporated in your business plan. People should protect our only planet. Eco – awareness and working together as a community to create a city in a week can be a valuable skill. Just take a look at what happened with Katrina. Surviving in harsh environment is a necessary skill for every person and for every business that is feeling the recession.

7. Communication – Burning Man does a really good job at preparing everyone for the event. From their website and newsletter to handing out brochures at the gate containing all the information you need, it really makes things easier for newcomers as well as old time burners. The logisitcs for this event are absolutely amazing and the event seems to go without a glitch. The volunteer rangers help control the peace and everyone seems to get along fine. That’s 48,000 people living together peacefully for a week!

And finally, direct from Larry Harvey, the organizer of Burning Man an interview on 5 things cities can learn from Black Rock City.

Let me know what you want to add to this list. There are many lessons every business and every person can take away from this amazing event. What do you think? Let’s create a list of what every business can learn from Burning Man.

Evian just created a remarkable and clever campaign with a social media component to it. The Evian Live Young campaign was just released today. The video on YouTube had 323 views as of the writing of this blog.  I think the campaign is funny and memorable. The break dancing was done by adults. Babies bodies and faces were used in the commercial. No babies were made to dance .

You can see the video below.

What do you think? What goals did Evian set up with this campaign? Do you think it’s going to accomplish the goals?
To see the entire making of the TV commercial check out the EvianLiveYoung website. I feel energized and awake. If that was one of the goals of the campaign I have to say it was successful. I’m not sure it will make me purchase Evian water but I  live in Lake Tahoe where the tap water tastes better than bottle water. I’m fortunate this way.

I have already shared the commercial on my Facebook page and I wrote a blog post about it. I do believe that this campaign will become viral fast. Just wait until all the moms on Facebook and the blogosphere see this! By the time I was done with the blog post, the YouTube video had generated 2,620,643 views! Talk about fast! I didn’t spend more than 25 min writing!

I think this commercial is much more engaging than the previous Water babies commercial from Evian. I like the combination of traditional and online media. You can see the older Evian TV commercial below.

The old commercial so far has generated 91,144 views on YouTube. I’d be interested to see how many views the new spot will be able to generate.

I also found out that Evian just became a sponsor of the 39th Annual Los Angeles LGBT PRIDE Celebration (LA PRIDE) to keep its youth spirit.

You can  read the official press release about the new advertising campaign here.

Air New Zealand’s new TV campaign is authentic, fun, remarkable and well done. On top of everything it will go virally on social media channels. It has already generated quarter of million views on YouTube.

I love this campaign for its creativity, employee engagement, humor and surprise factor. I think it’s brilliant from idea to execution. Well done Air New Zealand!

Check out the TV commercial below on YouTube

Click here to view the embedded video.

If you want to see how they created the campaign which is as good if not better than the actual commercial check out the YouTube video below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Well done! With the power of social media this campaign will truly take off. Way to go Air New Zealand! I’d love to follow up and see how the campaign affected their bottom line. Would you be more inclined to travel with Air New Zealand because of this campaign? I would.