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.

Proceed with caution. Some interns will make a great addition to your marketing staff and some may lead to a disaster on social media. Ultimately, it’s your company’s reputation that is at risk.

Below are some guidelines and considerations to follow.

1. Your social media intern will represent your travel brand online. Their personality will inter-vine with yours. They will become the voice for your tourism brand online. Make sure they understand your business, your market and your industry and can speak on your behalf.
2. Make sure they understand marketing. Yes, being authentic and real online is fantastic but the reason to be on social media is to extend your reach, creating new relationships while forging existing ones. It’s all Marketing 101. Does your intern get this? I’m not talking about blasting your community with the latest sale and promotion. I’m talking about how you provide value to your customers.
3. Make sure they have at least the basics of social media. The fact they have a personal Facebook page and watch YouTube videos doesn’t qualify them for being a social media guru (ninja, expert, fill in the blank here). Good communication skills and writing skills are essential for social media.  Do they have a basic understanding of running a Facebook business page? Do they know how to start creating an online community? And if they don’t, do they know where to go to find the answers.
4. Protect your brand by asking them to sign a social media policy. Mistakes happen but sometimes an intern or an employee can knowingly do something really damaging to your reputation. Make sure they sign your social media policy. If you don’t have one, at least go over some general rules and guidelines as to what’s acceptable on social media for your travel brand.
5. Create a plan for them to follow. Most interns need a lot of supervision and direction. Just spending time on Twitter and Facebook won’t be too beneficial to your company. What would be your social media strategy? It’s probably best if you spend the time to develop a plan and then go over it with your intern to make sure they understand it and can follow it. Develop a 6 months plan with KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). Establish benchmarks. Create an editorial calendar. Come up with some contests. Look at your brand across different social networks and decide how to engage with your followers at each one. Then, once a month sit down with your intern and review where you stand. Learn from the experience online and improve your plan. Hold them accountable if your measurements allow.

Interns can be a great addition to your marketing team – from developing content like videos and blog posts to monitoring your brand reputation online and your social media presence daily. For brands in the travel&tourism space it may be easier to find social media interns that are passionate about the company. It also helps if you can pay them. Who wants to work for free these days? At the same time, who doesn’t want to ski powder all day long and take videos or stay at a nice hotel, go kitesurfing and write a blog post about the experience? Interns can be very enthusiastic about what they do and they can bring lots of energy to your marketing team.

Capitalize on the good and minimize the dangers by having a good plan before you go out seeking interns. For more information on what to look for, I found this post on Mashable.

What is your experience with interns? For the most part, I have to say mine was favorable under the right expectations. And yours? Leave a comment in the space below and let us know. Would you hire an intern? Why or why not? Interns, what do you look for in an internship? What companies would you like to work for?

In my full-time job as a Marketing Director for Incline Village General Improvement District I deal with daily challenges on how to communicate better with our customers, how to engage them and how to listen to what they have to say. We adapt our marketing strategies based on our customer feedback. As the Marketing Director for Diamond Peak Ski Resort, The Golf Courses at Incline Village, The Chateau at Incline Village, The Recreation Center and Tennis Center I have a responsibility to serve our customers by providing the best products and services for their money. To achieve this I need to listen to our customers. I’m starting this blog as an opportunity to engage more effectively with our customers. I also want to provide lessons that I have learned, research I have found and real life experiences all in one place for people who are interested in Internet marketing, social media marketing and web 2.0. I will continue to update this blog with all things marketing, Internet marketing, web 2.0 and social media marketing that I find interesting and worth reading. This is my personal blog and my thoughts and opinions are not associated with the organization I work for (IVGID).

I hope you enjoy my blog. Send me your feedback and let me know how I can make it better, what interests you and what you would like to read about.