Not that we’re COUNTING the days until our BlogWorld Tourism Track, or anything….
Update: Well, this is annoying, but the “I’m Going” button keeps running into a digital brick wall. Phooey. Here’s the link to the Eventful page instead.
When your organization is called a “Convention and Visitor’s Bureau” or “Tourist Board,” it’s hard to see why you should reach out to locals as part of your destination marketing strategy.
What’s the point, right?
They don’t stay in hotels, they don’t “count” in the statistics of people coming in to visit your town (a measure of how well you’re doing) so why bother?
Here is why – because in today’s more connected world, it is critical to realize that your locals have online networks with worldwide reach. You never know who they know on Facebook, Twitter or through their blog.
Locals don’t stay in hotels, but their visiting friends and relatives do. Locals recommend your restaurants, shops, museums, parks and music venues to visitors. They talk up the wonders of your town and region….or, well, they badmouth them.
Why does the Austin, Texas CVB have a relatively easy job of selling their city? Partly because tech-connected and very vocal locals NEVER shut up about how great it is there! From the online silence of some of the other cities, you’d think there was no other worthy town in Texas. There’s even a Twitter hashtag appended to tweets about great things in and around the Live Music Capital of the World – #WhyAustin.
The Ripple Effect of spreading buzz and excitement about your town starts with the people who live right down the street.
I had a CVB ask me recently how to start connecting with bloggers. I told them to go to Google Blog Search and type in “YourCity blog” and see what pops up for blogs about/written by locals in that town. When I did it, I found some really trenchant, well-written blogs by locals. No, they aren’t travel or parenting blogs (the current flavor-of-the-month that many PR people are looking for) but I found posts that indicated the authors really care deeply about that town. The CVB should know those guys.
You connect with your local newspapers, TV and radio stations: add to that mix your Web-based content publishers (yes, whether they themselves realize it or not, they are writers and publishers, too.) Look on Twitter for people who list their location as your city. Find them on Facebook. Ask around.
Then, have them into the CVB and get to know them. Tell them what you do, what you want visitors to know and how they can help by becoming your online champions.
Two examples:
1) My own Round Rock (Texas) CVB had some local bloggers and social media-savvy people in for a casual weekday breakfast taco gathering recently and a chat about their “Sports Capital of Texas” branding efforts. They also demo’d the CVB Twitter stream, Facebook Page and YouTube channel and asked for feedback and suggestions.
I attended this gathering (yes, I knew all the geeks there since I’m one of them, and many attend Jelly Coworking Round Rock with me) and it was a lot of fun. Think of it as a free focus group for market research, if “fun” doesn’t interest you.
We even started our own hashtag: #WhyRoundRock
2) The Beaumont (Texas) CVB has locals in on a regular basis to talk about what the CVB does, how they can help and make sure they see the town through a visitor’s eyes.
They include a whirlwind tour of some major regional attractions, many of which the locals themselves have never gotten around to visiting (I love Becky McCray’s post about this phenomenon - Never Been There.)
Here’s a video telling you more about Beaumont’s tour for locals….direct link to it in case the embed box isn’t working….
Think about how you could do something like this in YOUR town.
I’ll cut to the chase, because BlogWorld conference pass prices go up after September 16.
Why tourism and travel professionals need to go to BlogWorld and New Media Expo at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Oct 14-16:
1) Because to really grasp what social media and tech can do for your marketing and communications, you need to go where the geeks are.
2) Because our Tourism Track gives you a full day of training in social media for tourism…how to listen to the conversations that matter online, better video for tourism, blogger press trips/fam tours and more.
3) Because it will be participatory, hands-on, no fear training with me and my Tourism Currents co-founder Becky McCray, PLUS….
*** Ann Peavey from the Seattle, Washington CVB (she’s @SeattleMaven on Twitter)
*** Mike Bersabal from the Pensacola, Florida CVB (he’s @Mike_VstPcola)
*** Jeff Hurt, meetings and conference expert, from Velvet Chainsaw Consulting (he’s @JeffHurt)
*** Stephanie Molina from the Beaumont, Texas CVB (she’s @Beaumartian)
4) Because at BlogWorld, you’ll be able to get your tourism organization in front of thousands of bloggers, podcasters and video bloggers from around the world. Denise Wakeman from The Blog Squad calls it THE social marketing event of the season. Wired PR Works calls it one of her must-attend events.
If you want attention from online content creators (travel, food, parenting and every other sort of blogger) you have to know who’s who, speak their language and be where they can find you.
That means be in Las Vegas October 14-16.
If you use code TC20 you can knock 20% off of the price of any pass.
Click here to check it out and register – we would absolutely love to see you there!
(This is a guest post by Jody Halsted about a cool conference in Iowa that is all about connecting and educating Midwest bloggers. I followed the conference hashtag on Twitter during last year’s version of it and was impressed, so I asked Jody to tell us a little bit more about it.)
In an effort to change the perception of the Midwest from a place to get away from to a place to explore and discover, the Destination Midwest event at the I_Blog Conference (update – now called the Social Technology Conference) will bring together Midwest bloggers and Midwest destinations for an evening of (virtual) travel, networking and the opportunity for mutually beneficial relationships!
According to the 2010 Ypartnership/Harrison Group 2010 Portrait of American Travelers, “1 in 4 family travel planners consult a blog before booking” a vacation. According to the Edelman Trust Barometer 2010, people trust “people like them” more than TV news, search engines, and newspapers.
Blogs create community, build friendships and foster relationships. In our ever-increasingly connected world, a good blog will open your eyes to a world you never imagined and lead you places you never knew you wanted to visit!
Blogging has grown to include more than just written words on a page and is now the center of the social media wheel. By utilizing images, video techniques, Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare and Gowalla – just to name a few – a blogger can become a tour guide, travel resource, location expert and handy reference.
The Ypartnership/ Harrison Group study also shows that family travelers are more likely to have taken a vacation in their local area as an alternative to vacationing in a destination that would have required traveling a greater distance. By connecting with bloggers within a day’s drive from your destination, you will reach their local audience and increase your chances of being the “local area” vacation of their readers.
The Destination Midwest event at the I_Blog Conference takes place Saturday, November 6 from 6-10pm. Space is limited to 20 destinations; cost is $250 per destination.
Update: Please visit http://socialtechnologyconference.com/ for more information on the 2012 event, or contact Jody Halsted via email (jody@iblogconference.com), Twitter (@SocialTechConf and @iatraveler) or by phone at 515-707-6547.
If your destination is interested in learning more about social media, conference tickets are available at a discount for participants in Destination Midwest.
Note: Jody Halsted is working very hard to change the perception of the Midwest from a place to get away from to a place to explore and discover through her website Family Rambling and articles she writes for other travel publications. She loves to work with destinations and share the unique adventures that are found only in the Midwest. As an example, she worked with the St. Louis CVC last summer; you can see the series she wrote about it here: http://familyrambling.com/index.php/exploring-st-louis/usa.
I don’t normally write a post about the launch of a new travel blog, but this one is different because the author is different.
Chris Brogan is well-known and respected in tech and social media circles for his books, his speaking skills and his consulting work with New Marketing Labs, but he has just embarked on a new gig….
A travel blog called Man on the Go.
So what? you say.
So he travels a lot, and he writes and shoots videos about the places he goes, where he stays and the travel gear he uses.
The unique Iron Horse Hotel in Milwaukee, for example.
So what? you say.
So he is also interested in how tourism organizations can connect with visitors using social media.
Here is an older blog post of his from a New Zealand trip – social media starter moves for tourism – which ties right into the social media training we do at Tourism Currents.
When a wired (and genuinely nice) guy like that starts a travel blog, you pay attention and connect. 
Reach out and say hello if he’s in your town.
Over at our Tourism Currents learning site (are y’all reading our monthly free newsletter on social media for tourism?) Becky McCray and I are PUMPED to announce a new initiative….
The two of us will teach a one-day workshop for CVB, DMO and other tourism folks on October 13, 2010 as part of the BlogWorld and New Media Expo tech conference at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
This is a big deal because we’re always telling clients and Tourism Currents members that to really understand what’s going on with tech and social media, you have to “go where the geeks are” – events like South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi,) BlogHer, SOBCon and BlogWorld – and be immersed in how they communicate. I’m always chuckling when I listen in on non-geek conferences via Twitter hashtag and hear them exclaiming over tools and methods that they’re hearing about for the first time, but I was exposed to 12-24 months earlier at some nerd fest.
Tech and social media stuff moves fast; you need to keep up in order to make intelligent decisions about whether to incorporate something into your marketing efforts.
We wanted tourism people to check out BlogWorld because it gives them a chance to connect with thousands of bloggers, podcasters and other online content creators (plus there’s a travel blogger track kicking off the day after our workshop in addition to food bloggers, sports bloggers and more.) These are your potential online champions; the people who are fans and supporters of your destination or attraction and who can help spread the word about you online.
Rather than have people come to such a huge event and be rather overwhelmed, we’re working with BlogWorld founder Rick Calvert (a travel enthusiast himself) to design a social media seminar that will introduce tourism folks to our “geek world” and how it can upgrade their communications work.
In addition to our daytime classes on the best ways to connect with online influencers, we’re planning networking meetings, tweetups and possibly “speed dating” sessions to help destination marketers network with the people who can provide them with online coverage.
This is still in the very early stages so I’ll let you know when we get more details worked out, but put October 13, 2010 on your calendars!
PR practitioners, if you remember this, you’ll be a lot less frustrated….
Unless you have a signed contract with a blogger for advertising or some sort of goods/services exchange, bloggers owe you nothing.
Nada.
Zilch.
Not one tweet. Not one Flickr photo. Not one Facebook mention. Not one blog post.
They do not owe you “buzz” just because you fed them tacos or beer at some event.
You want a tit-for-tat arrangement, go buy advertising or set up a contract that they will tweet X number of times about your brand in exchange for Y sponsorship money (or whatever.)
PR folks are paid to figure out how to build relationships with bloggers.
Bloggers are not paid to figure out PR (um, they’re usually not paid at all for blogging.) They do not blog to build your brand. They blog for themselves and their readers.
I’ve been stewing on this since reading Amber Naslund’s excellent A Dear John Letter to PR Folks. My favorite quote in her post:
“My blog is an intellectual adventure for me, not a channel for you. (emphasis added) I intend to keep it that way.”
Yes, it’s a pain, but if you want what bloggers already have, then you’ll have to do what we did – work for it.
My business partner Becky McCray and I spent a few minutes during the South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) tech conference getting social with Jennifer Navarrete and Luis Sandoval, Jr. of the Tech in Twenty show.
We had a great time talking about how social media can help tourism organizations tell the stories of their destinations.
Please excuse my apparent cud-chewing; I was popping throat lozenges to avoid coughing during the taping. Although I don’t get sick very often, the annual March SXSWi nerd whirlwind always seems to do me in. :)
The direct link to the show is here if you can’t see the box below. Thanks very much to Tech in Twenty for having us stop by, and to the ever-charming Albert Maruggi for being the videographer for this episode.
There is a fascinating discussion going on right now regarding roles, authenticity and marketing on the social Web.
It’s being shouted and whispered, and no matter what anyone says (including big mouth me) no one has the “correct” answer yet, if indeed there is a “correct” answer to be had.
Warning – in this post I’m going to use the term “blogger” to mean, “A person who creates original, unique content on the social Web.” I am well aware that not every digitally-savvy person has an active, vibrant blog (maybe they only rock Twitter or Facebook or YouTube or some other platform) but the term “blogger” seems to have become accepted terminology for someone who knows how to communicate on the Web and builds/sustains some sort of community there.
At what point does an independent blogger who interacts with brands lose some element of his or her “authenticity?”
To be blunt, at what point is a blogger simply another node helping a company do marketing and outreach?
Again, I do not yet fully know the answer to this question for myself, much less for the rest of the planet (so put down those pitchforks, brothers and sisters.) What I do know after finishing up this year’s South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) tech conference is that businesses and brands want what bloggers already have, and they want it badly.
They want blogger authenticity; what pioneering political woman Shirley Chisholm called being “Unbought and Unbossed.”
Why?
Because business-as-usual advertising and marketing is seen as inauthentic (or at least, all about rah-rah good news and therefore not the whole truth) so people are turning to the “digital back fence” – word of mouth from their friends online, because it is seen as unbought, unbossed and authentic. In other words: the truth.
There’s a PR/marketing term for getting talked about in a positive sense without having to pay for it: earned media. It means that your product or service is so good that it earns your business free publicity. People will talk about it of their own volition, which is seen as more authentic than paying them to say good things, i.e. paid media or advertising.
What is the best way to, well, earn this “earned media?” One of the current answers seems to be to connect with digital influencers and bloggers at events like SXSWi.
From Jay Baer’s excellent post 13 observations from South by Southwest (SXSW) we have this snippet:
“There was also a lot of talk (especially among the big brands) on operationalizing social media, and creating true best practices for how to thrive in a real-time world where every customer is a reporter.”
Um, “operationalize?”
Yes, that basically means to take social media seriously and use it to drive sales and increase business, while measuring your Return on Investment (ROI) from those efforts.
Congrats, blogger, you are now part of a marketing plan; a node to drive sales and increase business for a brand.
I’m not saying whether this state of affairs is good or bad, only that it is what it is, and we’d better continue to acknowledge and talk about it.
There has been a power shift.
Brands have money, but bloggers hold most of the marbles. Yes, you, blogger – the one trying to figure out how to pay your electricity bill – you hold most of the marbles in the new balance of power.
Brands want access to what you’ve worked so hard to build at 3 a.m. in your T-shirt and sweatpants: authentic influence and community.
The question is, how many marbles do you trade with brands in order to pay the bills? Is there a way to make money legitimately without you or your community feeling that they’ve bought your voice?
You’d better be thinking about these issues. When you’re comfortable with the answers, go for it, but please do take the time to think, and I mean till your head hurts.
Or, don’t think about it. Fine. Take any and all goods/offers and run all the way to the bank, but don’t be surprised if you wake up one day with a pile of freebies and toys and a reputation (that you can’t shed) as a shill.
Respect what you’ve built online and always, always guard it fiercely.
Ask the brand and ask yourself the uncomfortable questions before unwittingly finding yourself in the Fire Swamp battling Rodents of Unusual Size.
Brands and businesses, please know that I understand your position, too.
You have products and services that you’re proud of and you want your business to grow, because it’s a good business, right?
I’m in the same position; as a trainer and consultant myself, I have no problem telling our Tourism Currents clients that outreach to bloggers can be an integral part of their destination marketing – we call it “finding your online champions.” I myself have been the target of such outreach efforts by tourism organizations, and they resulted in a few blogger press trips where I did a lot of thinking about my own comfort level as a “node.” :)
Here’s my takeaway for brands….if a blogger is excessively accommodating, you’ve just been had.
Guard your brand’s reputation fiercely, too, because you’ve worked hard and you don’t need to toss it all away on “buzz” and “viral” crapola from a greedy digital snakeoil salesperson. They can take their marbles and go home, in that situation.
I do not know all the answers, but I know enough to ask questions. Thanks for listening, and I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Are you kidding me?
NINE images attached to this PR email blast that dumped (twice) into my IN box, with the subject line in ALL CAPS just to ensure I didn’t miss it.
Er, I never write about celebrities. Or Mexico. And I rarely cover resorts.
I would love to say that this is uncommon; that most emails in my IN box are well-targeted, thoughtful pitches or interesting news from PR professionals who have actually established relationships with me before pitching.
Nope. More negative experiences happen all the time, from folks who apparently bought my name and email from some database.
What would I like to see?
Communication from those who reach out to get to know me before asking me for something (and hey, Dale Carnegie guy, putting my business card in for a drawing at your speaking event does NOT mean I want your course announcement emails. Ever heard of double opt-in?)
Sometimes I think that smaller tourism organizations have an advantage when they can’t afford to hire the “big, expert PR firm.” Based on my incoming emails, they aren’t missing much.
