Category Archive: Photosharing

Content that goes viral – one Lake Tahoe ski resort creates a viral effect on social media

Posted by Milena Regos on February 28, 2012

The lack of snow this year has created plenty of challenges for ski resorts including coming up with engaging content to share on their social networks. I really enjoyed seeing all the posts from all Lake Tahoe ski resorts during and after the last snow storm – from videos and photos to simple updates. After seeing many of my friends reposting one photo from a ski resort to their own Facebook pages, I have to admit the photo had gone viral.

The winner is………….. Mt Rose Ski Resort! With close to 200 likes, 19 comments and most importantly 49 shares, this photo posted by Mt Rose Ski Resort went viral on Facebook and got a lot of traction. And best of all – there were no sales or promotions attached with it. Just two words: POW DAY written in the snow. Short and to the point – but also very needed visual this winter.

Mt Rose pow day goes viral

Mt Rose realized they had created a small viral effect with the photo and used it again the next day with a clever bottle measurement stick. Once again, people loved it. The content works for their audience too – skiers and apres ski fans. The perfect combination for this photo. At the time of this blog post, the picture had generated over 259 likes, 29 comments and 62 shares.

What makes content go viral on the web? The info graphic below contains excellent tips and ideas as to what will help your content take off on the social web regardless of the type of business you are in. As far as ski resorts go, a good snow storm always helps engagement.

Have you seen any content lately that has gone viral?

Categories: Blog Business Facebook Lake Tahoe Marketing Photosharing Ski industry Social Media Success Stories Travel & Recreation Web 2.0 tools | 3 Comments »

7 action steps to creating your Social Media Strategy

Posted by Milena Regos on February 1, 2012

Photo credit: Flickr. Sean MacEntee

2012 is the year that you need to create a social media strategy for your business if you don’t have one yet. Just make this your goal and I promise you it will pay off.

Radian6 report recently released states: “Strategic users are almost three times more likely to execute activities for engaging prospects than informal users (53% vs. 19%)” — and they were likely to see increased revenues.”

A few critical items to include in your social media strategy are:

1. Company Goals and Objectives – Why are you on social media and how does it align with your business goals. You can’t look at social media alone. You need to consider how it complements your existing marketing efforts and how it contributes to your overall business objectives. Starting off with your goals is the best way to make sure you are actually getting involved on social media in the right places and for the right reasons. Measuring your success down the road will also depend on the type of goals you are setting up for your company.
2. Listening – what are people saying about you, your brand, your competitors and your industry. Is it positive or negative. What can you learn from this information and how can you use it to improve your business, your marketing and your social media efforts. An absolutely critical part to every social media effort, listening is what will make you successful on social media. I see way too many companies skipping over this part and not spending enough time and resources to actively listen. Yes, it takes time but thankfully there are plenty of free and paid software options to streamline this process for you.
3. Content Strategy – a very important part to your overall social strategy is the content that you are going to send out to your community. Identify who is it that you are speaking to, what interest them, what makes them share your content, how often they would like to receive it and in what form – video, podcast, text, photos. Create an editorial calendar with your topics and leave some space for breaking news and stories that will come up. Think of the Call to Action you want to include with each piece of content and identify how your content relates to your business objectives.
4. Engagement Strategy – now that you have a clear picture of the type of content you are going to create, think of how you are going to distribute it on the social web. What are your internal or external resources for engagement? How much time can you dedicate daily/weekly to engage and be present? If you don’t have sufficient internal resources what can you outsource to a qualified person or an agency. I don’t recommend outsourcing everything you do as you lose your voice and your authenticity but done properly you can outsource certain tasks.
5. Tactical Strategy – only after you have considered all of these steps, you can dig deeper into the tactical area of your social media. What platforms are best to use to reach your customers. Obviously, we have the BIG FOUR: Facebook, YouTube, LInkedIn and blogging but there are niche social networks that may be more applicable to your business. For example, Pinterest is driving more traffic than Facebook to retailers. So even if Facebook has a huge population base, a social network like Pinterest may be your winner for increasing sales. Having a centralized social media hub from where you can distribute your content will help tremendously with saving time. A good social media platform will also help with your engagement and measurements. We work with a few and can make a specific recommendation for your business if you need assistance in this area.
6. Measurements and Benchmarks – a big conversation topic these days is the return on investment from your social media marketing. Although, there are no industry established measurements yet, there are so many ways to measure your efforts that unless you link them to your objectives (see 1) you will get flooded with data. Starting with your reach (fans and followers), engagement rate, leads, sales, share of voice and customer service just to mention a few, there are indeed ways to measure your efforts. If you are not sure where to start, give us a call and don’t be too alarmed. Only 13% of marketers today are saying that they are very effective at measuring their social media marketing.

7.  Review and Adjustments - a very important part of every social media strategy is the periodic review and adjustment. Once a month, take a look at what’s really going on, compare it to your plan and make the necessary adjustments to improve your social media effort. Drop the things that are not working and do more of the stuff that’s working. Only after applying your strategy in real life you will know what’s really sticking with your audience and what makes them engage with your brand.

If you need help with your social media strategy, give us a call. We’ll be glad to help out. And if you need more ideas for your social media plan, take a look at Radian6 30 ideas for your 2012 social media plan. I’m sure you’ll find some interesting nuggets of information that you can apply to your business today. Your turn – do you currently have a social media strategy and if not are you planning on creating one soon? Let us know in the comments below.

 

Categories: Blog eMarketing Facebook LinkedIn Measurements Photosharing Social Bookmarks Social Media Social Media Marketing Twitter Video | No Comments »

How to use Pinterest for your travel brand

Posted by Milena Regos on January 31, 2012

 

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.

 

 

Categories: Blog Creativity Photosharing Social Media Social Media Marketing Technology Travel & Recreation Web 2.0 Web 2.0 tools | 4 Comments »

History of Social Media

Posted by Milena Regos on May 9, 2011

Each day, we Facebook, use Twitter, instant message, read blogs, email, share photos on Flickr and Instagram, watch videos on YouTube and Vimeo. I use technology for just about everything, from exercising and mapping to cooking and reading the news . But do you ever wonder: “How did we get here?”

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.

Categories: Blog Business eMarketing Facebook LinkedIn Marketing Photosharing Small Businesses Social Bookmarks Social Media Social Media Marketing Technology Twitter Video Web 2.0 Web 2.0 tools | 1 Comment »

Marketing is an emotional connection

Posted by Milena Regos on February 13, 2011

For a brand, one of the best ways to establish a strong connection with customers is by evoking emotions.

For example, what comes to mind when you see the a picture of Paris? Romance, love, passion?

How about when you hear Australia? Easy-going, friendly people, vast country, humor, drinking, amazing outdoors and beautiful cities – all this makes for the perfect vacation after a long airplane trip.  Stories for life are created.

Figure out what story and what emotions you want people to experience and share and tailor your marketing message to it.

In a recent blog post regarding GAP’s latest reorganization and focus, one thing stood out for me: their determination as a company to connect emotionally to their customers. ” We have to put clothes in our stores that our customers emotionally connect to. That’s … a statement of the profoundly obvious. If we don’t do that, nothing else matters.”

Personally, I’ not a big fan of GAP clothes but I like one of their brands, Athleta. When I think Athleta clothes, I see strong, athletic, good looking women in their 20s and 30s. Women who run marathons, compete in various sports, do yoga, ski, snowshoe, paddleboard, mountain bike, golf, play tennis. As a consumer, I see myself through these women and I want to be one of them. I love Athleta clothes. There’s definitely an emotional connection between Athleta’s clothes and me.

Photo courtesy: Athleta.com

Take an example from a clothing company and apply it to your brand. For a travel and tourism brand, emotion marketing should be very easy. You can emotionally connect with your customers through photos, words, videos and tell the story of your destination, just like Paris or Las Vegas have done successfully. People that visit your destination will proudly show their photos to their friends, hang up photos in their houses, share them with the world through social networks and tell stories for the rest of their lifetime about something funny, surprising, amazing, worth remembering that happened on the trip.

From a marketing perspective, telling a story and emotionally connecting with your customers is an excellent way to create long lasting relationships.

Every company and every brand can do it. Even a company that sells something as trivial as a sharpie. Just take a look at Sharpie’s and their amazingly engaged online community and let your imagination flow.

Photo courtesy: Sharpieuncapped.com

Categories: Blog Business Marketing Photosharing | 2 Comments »