Sheila's Guide To The Good Stuff

One of the best social networks for professional development is Twitter.

It is not only an extraordinarily fast news grapevine, but with hour-long knowledge tsunamis like #tourismchat you can get a whole lot of helpful information without paying a dime for it or schlepping luggage onto a plane (plus you’ll connect with a lot of smart people.)

Another way to learn from Twitter is to follow conference hashtags.

Using the hashtag in a tweet allows people to follow all tweets about one particular event or topic. Even if you aren’t on Twitter, you can plug in a hashtag on Twitter’s search engine and see what comes up.

Many hashtags start buzzing well before the event (BlogWorld and New Media Expo West in Los Angeles in November – #BWELA – where there’s a tourism track, is already busy.)

Others go year-round, like #SoMeT for the Social Media Tourism Symposium, #TBEX for the Travel Blog Exchange conference and #SOBCon, the business blogging conference.

Some Tips for Hashtag Participation

Here are a few tips for enjoying the wonders of conference hashtags….

1 )  Notice someone tweeting really good stuff? Go follow them; send a quick tweet to say hi, and tell them that you appreciate their efforts. This includes supporting the speakers.

2 )  Notice when someone new comes onto the hashtag. At conferences, many people finally decide to join Twitter or get active on their long-dormant account. Support them by following and saying hello.

Many times these newbies are executive types who don’t yet really know what they’re doing, so cut them plenty of slack, including being patient about them not knowing how to change their default egg avatar.

3 )  Don’t promote your product, service or upcoming event on the hashtag. It’s just tacky. People will see your avatar joining the discussion, and they are perfectly capable of reading your Twitter bio to see what you’re about. If they want to talk business, that’s fine, but take it off the hashtag.

4 )  Don’t be a carnival barker. I’ve noticed more and more vendors at trade shows filling the hashtag with hourly “Come by our booth and win an iPad!” sorts of tweets. This is annoying noise and makes them look desperate. Cut it out, booth babes.

5 )  Be sensitive to services that automatically tweet when you do something. For example, no one cares about seeing your Klout score sent from Klout in the middle of a conference. We’re not that into you.

6 )  Don’t just sit there RT-ing (retweeting) what everyone else is saying. As Troy says in his helpful post about how to tweet at a tourism conference: add context, value and insights.

7 )  Be sensitive to how busy people can be at a conference, trying to keep up with things, and don’t expect real-time replies just because you see them live-tweeting….good tip from Sarah Vela of the awesome startup HelpAttack!

8 )  Take it outside, folks – don’t get into arguments on the hashtag. As my friend Connie Reece says, “You can pack a lot of heat into 140 characters.”

I’ve seen a Twitter cruise hashtag devolve into an online dogfight between ship passengers and environmental activists, and a tourism conference this week had someone stomp into the middle of it to yell about the host state’s liquor laws.

When I feel a rant coming on, I move it over to certain circles on Facebook, or here to the blog. There’s more room for discussion, it doesn’t hog the hashtag and most importantly, my blog and my Facebook profile are MY “house.” Conference hashtags are not.

And finally….

9 )  Remember, you aren’t physically there. You’re an observer. Don’t parachute in and run your mouth too much; kinda like IRL….In Real Life. Otherwise, you’ll get reactions like, “Who the hell IS this person, and if they have so much to say, why didn’t they pony up the conference fee and show up in person?”

I know, sort of cranky and piggy, but the thought WILL cross people’s minds.

Did I miss anything? Tell us in the comments down below – thanks!

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If you are a blogger, here is how you develop a professional reputation to catch the eye of tourism and hospitality organizations that offer press trips and fam (familiarization) tours….

Start in your own town.

Yes, start with the assets right under your nose.

Not coincidentally, this is precisely the sort of advice that new writers get when they ask how to get published in the big national print glossies/magazines – “Get something in your local publications and newspapers before you get the big head about your stuff belonging in the New York Times.”

What was my first big break in a national magazine? When National Geographic Traveler accepted my article proposal about a historic highway that was only a few miles from my Florida home.

I watch with some bemusement as newish bloggers wonder aloud in Facebook Groups and at conferences about how to get invited on press trips (which are work, not play, and come with their own drawbacks and requirements) and then when I ask the person if he or she has approached tourism assets in their backyard, they usually have not.

So here it is, bloggers:  reach out to your own local CVB (Convention and Visitor’s Bureau) or Tourist Office – town, regional and/or state or province – and see if they’d be interested in a “Like a Local” series on your blog, for example. The same thing might work with a nearby heritage highway or wine, microbrewery or quilt trail.  Even pet bloggers could do a series for their CVB on dog parks and leash-free play areas; visitors to your destination need that information if they travel with pets.

Don’t sit passively by the phone or in your email IN box, waiting for things to magically happen. Craft a proposal about why someone’s support of your travels might be beneficial to them, and pitch it. Your town’s CVB may not even know you exist. Pick up the phone or even go by the Visitor’s Center in person. You have a big advantage over a stranger, especially if they’ve never worked with a blogger before.

Starting out, you won’t get and don’t need press trips to far-flung places. Build a base first: experience, content and reliability. Demonstrate your chops in Des Moines before worrying about Rio de Janeiro.

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Everyone from a newbie travel blogger to an experienced destination marketing organization has confessed to me that the only thing they pay attention to on Facebook is how to get more followers and bigger numbers.

When I ask what they are even doing on Facebook – what are their business goals for their Facebook business Page – they really don’t know.

Hint: bigger numbers for their own sake is NOT a worthy goal, especially on a site where you own nothing, zilch, nada (Mark Zuckerberg owns it all.)

Just because something is a free social communication service doesn’t mean that it doesn’t require thought and effort to be successful….in fact, they all do, which is why social media is not really “free” except in monetary terms.  Done well, it is hard work.

What are your goals for your Facebook Page?

How do you capture data that you can control, like a supporter’s email address?

Since Facebook is a job, it deserves to be treated seriously, with metrics and goals and all that serious stuff.

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I’m working on a book, and it’s NOT about travel or social media!

Seems as though every time I turn around these days, someone I know is cranking out a book. For speakers like me, it’s almost a rite of passage.

I spent a lot of time wrestling with the idea, and trying to figure out why my portfolio of print articles and blog posts since early 2006 wasn’t enough to give me the credibility that can apparently – even today – only come from a book.

Honestly, it seems a bit silly that all of my tech and blogging buddies consider a book, made of paper, to be a pinnacle of geek achievement. Does anyone else find that a bit, well, ODD?

So I did what I do….I stewed and pouted and tried to find reasons to say No, and ultimately it ended up the way it always does for me….I decided that it was worth my time and effort to write a book, but not the one that people might expect.

A travel guidebook is a pain in the rear to compile and write, there’s no real money in it and it’s often outdated very quickly.

A social media book would be a rather naked bid to catch this year’s hot marketing topic. An offline entity doesn’t seem like the best medium to convey thoughts about online topics – especially when this blog works just fine for that, thanks.

I wanted something evergreen; something that could be picked up at a bookstore or ordered online five years from now, and would still be relevant, engaging and helpful.  When in doubt, I turn to my own experiences because I know them best, and thus was born The Elastic Waist Entrepreneur (or here is the book’s Facebook Page, if that’s your thing.) It’s about launching an online business for older women, especially when you really don’t know what the hell you’re doing, like me.

Since I have this project on the brain, I submitted a speaking proposal with serial entrepreneur Wendy Piersall to the South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) tech conference, held every March in Austin, Texas.  It’s right down the road from me, and I’d be an idiot not to attend one of the world’s biggest tech events when it’s a 30 minute drive away.

As part of the unique Panel Picker process at SXSW, you can vote for and comment on proposals, so here is my shameless plug for you to add your vote and voice to the comments about the proposal, if you’d like.

Our proposal page: Elastic Waist Entrepreneurship for Women 40+

Why elastic waists? Because as a comfort-seeking old lady of 50, that’s what I was wearing when I came up with the book idea.

No matter how it ends up, thanks for your support, and see you in Austin in March 2012!

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When you publish to the web, always consider the best possible way to spread your content as widely as possible, and make that content easy for people to share.

It does take more time up front, but increases the chances that more people will see the stuff that is important to you. Yes, even a simple retweet (republishing someone’s tweet in your own Twitter stream) counts as online content, and deserves thoughtful consideration.

Rewire your head to think this way, and your social communications efforts will go further.

How?  Here ‘s an example….

My longtime travel writer friend, Minnesota-based Leif Pettersen, is a talented juggler (he’s also talented at making omelets and quaffing Strongbow hard cider, but let’s not get distracted here.)

So, I see a tweet of his – he’s @LeifPettersen on Twitter – talking about his video from the 2011 International Jugglers’ Association Festival that he just attended. The link he used went back to his own blog post, with the video embedded there, but I decided to do some tweaking before I helped send it down the digital road.

The specific URL matters

I went to get the permalink URL of the actual video uploaded on Leif’s YouTube channel. You can get there from any YouTube video embed box – look at the bottom right of the box and mouse over the YouTube logo. It will say “Watch on YouTube.” Click through to go there.

Pros: I want to tweet the YouTube URL because I and many of my followers use TweetDeck or Hootsuite dashboards for Twitter, and a YouTube URL opens right in the dashboard for viewing rather than forcing another tab to open in a browser. That way, people are more likely to click Play and watch Leif’s video right at that moment.

Cons:  Leif would probably prefer Twitter traffic to be driven to his blog to watch the video. Understandable, but I’m mostly interested in maximum people finding out about him (because he’s a great guy) so my priority is to make the video as easy as possible to watch.

ABC – Always Be Connecting

As long as I’m on Leif’s YouTube channel getting the URL for the juggling video, I confirm that I’m subscribed to his channel myself, I click the “thumbs up” icon to Like his video, and I can also mark it as a Favorite.

Every little bit helps give his content more visibility in search engines, and the Likes and Favorites are also reflected in the Recent Activity section of my Sheila Scarborough YouTube channel, similar to updates that show up in news feeds on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Pros: More love for Leif’s content. Increases chances that he’ll buy me a Strongbow when we visit in person.

Cons: None that I can see.

Who else needs a nudge?

Back over on Twitter, I’m ready to tweet about Leif and the jugglers, but first, I want to capture more attention by including possibly related Twitter handles. Who else can I lead to his Twitter profile and video?

Let’s see, is the International Jugglers’ Association on Twitter as well? You bet; they’re @IntJugglersAssn and I want to ensure they know about Leif’s video if they don’t already. One of the best ways to do that is to include their Twitter name, which they will see I’ve done when they check their Twitter account for mentions. In a perfect world, they’ll retweet Leif’s link as well (and say thanks to him.)

My tweet ultimately looked like this:

“Juggle THIS!  Things fly in this video from @IntJugglersAssn festival  http://youtu.be/zKxPTFgML1I  by @LeifPettersen”

Bonus points – was there a juggling festival hashtag that people might be following? I’d have worked that in, too. There was none that I could find in this case.

More bonus points – Send it out from another account? My business partner Becky McCray and I also tweet as @TourismCurrents. Our customers – tourism organizations – spend a lot of time trying to attract festivals, meetings and special events. Maybe they would be interested in this big juggler bash.

I hunted down the Twitter handle for the city that hosted the 2011 festival – Rochester, Minnesota – and sent out an additional, separate tweet as @TourismCurrents that included the Twitter handle of the Rochester CVB (Convention and Visitors Bureau.)

It looked like this:

“What fun @RahRahRochester CVB must have had hosting this juggling event!  http://youtu.be/zKxPTFgML1I  via @LeifPettersen”

Pros:  Same content, tailored slightly differently, went out from two different Twitter accounts. A few thousand more people have a chance to see Leif’s video, and the Rochester CVB gets a shout-out.

Cons:   Many of the same people follow me both as @SheilaS and @TourismCurrents. I don’t want to overload their streams with too much duplicate or close-to-duplicate content, so I try to put a minimum of 10 minutes or more between similar tweets that go from both accounts.

Why bother with all this?

A few minutes of thought – a little extra research and digging – over the course of the almost four years that I’ve been on Twitter….well, the extra efforts add up in reach and impact.

All you’re doing is pausing to think, “Who else should know about this content, and what is the best way to get their attention?”

It’s the persistent, relentless mindset needed for winning a marathon. If you’re in the communications game for the long haul, you’ve got to play it that way.

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How, exactly, does a town or city or region get “buzz” – people talking about how interesting it is, and maybe about paying a visit to check things out?

London may have a few answers that you can replicate in your destination.

When I attended the SXSWi (South by Southwest Interactive) tech conference in March, I picked up a trade show brochure from the office of the Mayor of London; the British have a big presence at “South by.”  The brochure is called Innovation Future: The East London Connection and it talks about the growth of London’s Shoreditch area as a UK tech hub.

According to the writeup, here are the elements that keep this part of the city hopping….

“The attractions of East London for start-up technology companies, eager to become the next Google or Facebook, are numerous. It is relatively affordable; accessible; and incredibly vibrant and culturally diverse, with plenty of quirky bars and restaurants and an exciting and dynamic arts and culture scene. A strong feeling of community pervades, attracting creative entrepreneurs who thrive on networking, exchanging ideas and forging collaborative relationships.”

There’s nothing in there about needing people with lots of money.

There’s nothing in there about fancy buildings or much of anything swanky.

I see a lot about an environment where the joy of creating is encouraged, and that doesn’t cost money; it “costs” determination and imagination among a variety of citizens in a community, like those at the Shoreditch/Old St. TechHub.

Even small towns can encourage the entrepreneurial and tech spirit, and even one guy in Kansas can support the arts.

What can you do this week to bring some East London to YOUR town?

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Ask yourself this question:  when is video content better for your objectives than anything else, including photos or text?

Answer  -  the best reason to shoot video is to show something interesting that wouldn’t be as powerful if shown any other way.

Here’s a 36 second example below from my own video archives….a bow-making machine at the Hallmark Visitor Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

Even though it was one of my early efforts with a Flip camera, and even though my voice narration is fighting to be heard over the mechanical noises and the voice of a nearby tour guide (bad audio is the video click-away kiss of death) I still can’t think of anything besides video to really show how bows are made.

For some of the stories that you want to tell, video is more effective than any other medium. How can YOU use it?

Direct link to the video below on YouTube.

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Where are the bloggers who might be a good fit for your destination or attraction, and how in the world do you find them, sort them out and connect with them?

How can you best reach out to online publishers who can become champions for you?

We’re offering a dynamite 90 minute webinar to answer those questions!

I’ve been blogging since early 2006, and my Tourism Currents business partner Becky McCray has been publishing online in one form or another since 2003, so we’re pretty well versed in how the community works, what drives bloggers crazy and what kind of outreach can be very successful.

Let us share our hard-won knowledge with you on Thursday, June 30 at 2 pm Central:

Finding Your Online Champions, with Tourism Currents

This one hour and 30 minute webinar plus Q&A will help you find your champions and other digital publishers, connect with them online and off, and increase their support of your destination marketing efforts.

It’s all part of our buildup to the Tourism track at BlogWorld and New Media Expo in Los Angeles, November 3-5 (where a blogger speed-dating session with CVBs and DMOs is on our menu!)

Here is what you will take away from the webinar

1)  Resources and guidance for sifting and finding the right sort of online publishers among the thousands out there.

2)  Tools and techniques for evaluating whether someone is a good fit to work with you.

3)   How to best approach and connect with bloggers and other champions of interest to you.

4)  Why outreach to niche online publishers and smaller audiences may reap bigger dividends for you than trying to chase high-traffic sites and worrying about Klout scores.

Sound good?

The webinar price of $29 includes access to the slides and a recording of the presentation that you can refer to again and again.

Even if you miss the live webinar, you’ll still have access to these items if you’ve registered.

For more information and to register, go here now.

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Does your boss have a smartphone but isn’t really too sure what to do with it, or does he or she not have a smartphone at all?

Time for a teaching intervention, or you’ll never convince him/her about why mobile is so doggoned important to your future.

Some data:

**  427.8 million mobile units sold in Q1 of 2011, a 19% increase year-over-year.

**  By 2014, mobile Internet usage is expected to overtake desktop internet usage, and half of all local search is from a mobile device (Mashable.)

**  1 in 4 Hispanics who access the web do so through a mobile device.

Sometimes, though, a blizzard of stats doesn’t teach lessons as well as personal experience (and gnashing of teeth.)

Here’s how to get “Boss Buy-in” to the importance of mobile in your destination marketing, and the need to get moving on mobile-friendly content….

How to Help the Boss “Get It” About Mobile

1)  Start with having her open the browser on a smartphone and look at your destination/attraction website on it, plus some competitor websites. Bonus if they aren’t mobilized AND they have Flash stuff all over them; now she can see what a pain in the neck this is for visitors trying to quickly seek useful information.

2)  Have him type the words “downtown restaurants in Your Town” or “things to do in Your Town” on the Google homepage in the phone’s browser (as the average visitor might) and see what comes up. Imagine a visitor trying to sort through that.  Make a note to hold member/partner training about getting found in local search.

3)  Have her open the maps function on the phone. Try to get directions from somewhere on one of the highways through your town, to your most famous attraction or museum. Now, imagine a visitor doing that. Is it easy to do?

4)  Then have him look at one of your town’s major museum/attraction websites and try to poke around getting its operating hours, admission prices and directions. Notice how many “How to Get Here” buttons open to pages with useless maps, or a Google Map that you can’t easily manipulate. Imagine a visitor who actually knows the museum is in your town, but can’t figure out on his/her phone how the hell to get there, and giving up in frustration.

Now your boss will be newly-enamored of you and of your efforts to get people to understand why mobile is important, and that it’s not just a small telephone …. it’s a computer in everyone’s purse or pocket.

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I learned about this from the #tourismcollege hashtag stream on Twitter (that’s why Twitter is great for professional development!)

Below are two screenshots of the Facebook Page for the Forty Putney Road bed and breakfast in Brattleboro, Vermont.

The “before Like-ing” photo very cleverly hints at the delights awaiting future fans/friends of the B&B.

The “after Like-ing” shot reveals some of the goodies found after clicking the Like button.

Here’s the inn’s Facebook Page if you want to see for yourself.

Nice work!

**********  Before **********

********** After **********

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