Sheila's Guide To The Good Stuff

This was taken at the nightly laser light show in Hong Kong‘s Victoria Harbor (or Harbour if you prefer.)

The view you see is across to Central Hong Kong from the Kowloon side; the show happens at 8 pm and there is even a soundtrack to go with it, blaring out of speakers on the waterside walkway in Tsim Sha Tsui, but here’s the best way to see it….

Grab yourself a gin and tonic in the Lobby Lounge at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kowloon – it has floor-to-ceiling windows and is a MOST civilized viewing spot. (They have a pretty solid hotel Facebook Page and are active on Twitter, as well.)

When people ask me where I’d like to live in the world if money was no object, I usually say Hong Kong.

How about you?

Note:  I started this Travel Post Friday series when I stepped away from writing the BootsnAll Family Travel Blog in December 2010. If you like it, there’s more of my travel work on the Perceptive Travel Blog.

(If you like this post, please consider subscribing to the blog via RSS feed or by email – the email signup box is on the right sidebar near the Search box. Thanks!) 

Thought for the day….

As many of you know, I’ve been dealing with the nasty WordPress Pharma hack here on Sheila’s Guide (don’t worry, it’s safe for your computer or mobile device to be here; the hack only messes with this blog’s search engine results.)

After running after it for weeks and weeks, I’ve called in some more help, but this is not keeping me up at night. At all. I mean, I DO care and it IS embarrassing to have pharmaceutical results come up as the title of my Speaker page, but I’m not frantic.

Why?

Because my analytics data shows me the multiple ways that people find my content other than search engines.

There are lots from people coming to the homepage URL directly, through referral links, Twitter traffic is big for me, occasionally StumbleUpon (especially Stumbles on the recent press trip “exclusive” guest post,) there’s Facebook of course, LinkedIn spikes sometimes, the blog URL is in my email signature/on my business cards/in every online profile I fill out, and then there are my loyal RSS and email subscribers.

This blog doesn’t have a huge subscriber list, but the important thing is that they care enough to have my posts come to their email IN box, which for most people is a busy, crowded place with a lot of things demanding attention. It is nice to be welcomed there, so yesterday I went over and took a look at my email and RSS subscriber data in Feedburner, just to gaze delightedly at the names of the people who support me like that.

I even sent a quick follow-up personal note to several who were listed as “Unverified” – they’d signed up to get my posts, but never completed the final confirmation of their email subscription. Sure, it was only a few people, but every single one of them means something to me and I want to retain them as readers.

Their interest has staying power in a way that random drop-ins from search engines does not.

Until the hacking mess, I’d never truly appreciated in my gut how important it is to vary the means by which people find your content. Search engine optimization (SEO) is important, of course, but the Google basket is not the only place for your eggs.

How many different ways do people find your content?

Have you thought about how you can best nurture and grow those channels?

Please leave a reply in the comments below – and thank you!

*** Credit for post title goes to the old Timex watch ad – “Takes a licking but keeps on ticking.”

(If you like this post, please consider subscribing to the blog via RSS feed or by email – the email signup box is on the right sidebar near the Search box. Thanks!) 

Want to know how NOT to invite writers to your press trip or fam (familiarization) tour?  This guest post by Kara S. Williams will lay it out for you….

The Bait

A couple of weeks ago, I received an email with the subject line, “An Exclusive Invitation to [resort & spa] FAM.” The body of the email was in press release form, and the lack of personal salutation should have tipped me off immediately to its lack of exclusivity. Still, I read the words “Exclusive Invitation” again in the headline and soaked up details about the press trip in the subhead: “Including airfare, lodging, ground transport and most meals for 3 qualified journalists.” A small group with airfare included? Sign me up!

I checked the itinerary – spa treatment! special dinner! – and figured that the short trip would fit beautifully into my fall schedule: not too much time away from my family and I didn’t have plans on those particular dates.

The bottom of the release/invite noted, “Writers must show credentials.” No problem, I thought. As a travel writer and blogger, when I am invited to resorts or to destinations I’m accustomed to telling PR folks where I can place stories (guaranteed on my own blogs) and where I might be able to pitch stories (other magazines and websites I have a freelance relationship with). This didn’t raise a huge flag with me.

I wrote back to the PR person inviting me to this event, “This sounds like an incredible opportunity! What more do you need from me?”

The Switch

She asked for statistics and demographics of the websites I co-own; I sent them and then didn’t hear anything for five days, so I followed up to confirm the trip was a go.

Turns out, as I should have gathered, the “exclusive invitation” was not an exclusive invitation at all. It was a call for interest for this particular press trip.

I was told that the trip did indeed garner a lot of interest from all those who received the “invite,” that my information was passed on to the ultimate decision makers at the resort, and that I did not make the cut.

The Teaching Moment

This ruffled my feathers, even though I should have recognized some warning signs regarding this invite. I decided to tell the PR person that I felt a bit duped – figuring this could be a learning experience for both of us.

Here’s what I wrote back to her:

“I don’t think we’ve worked together before, so I hope you don’t mind this constructive criticism.

1.) Perhaps in the future, consider calling the invite an ‘announcement’ or ‘invitation to show interest’ — not an ‘exclusive invitation.’ That was most definitely not exclusive, if you sent the information to more than the 3 people who could fill your slots.

2.) Perhaps in the future, find the 3 people you really want to have come, and invite them FIRST. If they can’t make it, continue moving down your list.”

I am accustomed to being asked to attend press trips or being invited to visit a resort because the PR folks have vetted me and they want me to attend an event or cover their property. I am MORE THAN HAPPY to share statistics, my outlets, etc. at any time. But I prefer not to be told I’m invited somewhere (with air) and then suddenly… not.

The Light Bulb Moment

And you know what happened? Instead of getting an angry response in return, I immediately received an email back from the PR person: she apologized, she said she appreciated my insight, and she admitted some “rookie mistakes.” I was thrilled that my constructive suggestions didn’t fall on deaf ears.

Now, before I get flamed for not appreciating this generous semi-invite/call for interest to begin with, I’d like Sheila’s Guide readers to know that I do feel extremely fortunate for all of the incredible travel opportunities that have come my way over the past couple of decades in the editorial industry. Trust me, I truly value (okay, delight in) all of the amazing trips I’ve taken – alone, with other travel writers and with my family – especially since I decided to focus on travel writing in the past five years. I absolutely adore my job as a travel writer, and I appreciate the perks that come with that job, namely free and discounted travel.

However, as I noted in my email back to the PR person, I also appreciate full transparency when I am offered such fabulous perks.

To me, this story of a press-trip-invite-gone-wrong ended well. I confirmed that being honest and, when needed, politely forthright with PR folks is the best way to conduct business. I’d like to think of my relationships with PR companies as collaborative endeavors – no “us vs. them” mentality – and encourage others in the industry to do the same.

Freelance travel writer Kara Williams is a member of ASJA, SATW and TBEX. The acronym-loving mom makes her home in the Colorado Rockies and blogs about all things travel- and spa-related at two websites she co-owns, TheVacationGals.com and TheSpaGals.com. Learn more about her and read clips of her recent work at KaraSWilliams.com. 

********************

(If you like this post, please consider subscribing to the blog via RSS feed or by email – the email signup box is on the right sidebar near the Search box. Thanks!)

For those who are not surrounded by like-minded people (whether you’re into chess, growing roses or technology) the world can feel like a lonely place.

“Am I the only one who understands chess problems like Allumwandlung and Maximummer and Zepler doubling?”

“Am I some sort of nutball because I really like deciding between spotted-bloom roses like Cramoisi Picoté and striped ones like Patriot Kordana?”

“No one else in my small town seems to ‘get’ why I care about broadband Internet access, why I blog and what in the world I’m doing on Twitter.”

Fortunately, social web tools like blogs, Twitter, Facebook and the still-relevant forum/BBS make it so much easier than it used to be to find people who share your enthusiasms and interests.  I’m not up to speed on where chess or rose people hang out online, but I can tell you where a bunch of rural and small town technology and social media enthusiasts will be on September 20, 2011.

They’ll be at the 140 Characters Conference Small Town in the gorgeous Fox Theatre in downtown Hutchinson, Kansas.

Uh, where?

Look below:

Right; so if you’re a city kid like me, you’re probably thinking….geesh, look at all that empty space, and those absolutely straight roads going through nothingness, it’s probably flat as a pancake, and I think I recognize the name Wichita for that nearby city….look, did I hear correctly….this is a technology event in the middle of Kansas?

It is, and I give it my City Kid Stamp of Approval.

Not that rural folks need any approval from anyone, and that’s partly the point of this particular event – rural and small town people are geeks and communicators just like urbanites, but it’s a bit harder for them to find one another, learn and socialize when they’re all spread out in less populated areas. This is the first technology-based conference that brings them all together, on their terms but with a global audience, in a cool small town like “Hutch,” with speakers that include farmers, ranchers and small town economic development experts who don’t think a one-stoplight community is a bad idea at all.

After attending the first version of 140 Small Town in 2010, I knew I’d return this year, and I’m honored to be one of many speakers from 17 states on the schedule. My topic is “City Kid Among the Cattle - How Twitter Connects Me to Another World,” wherein I’ll talk about my newfound appreciation, thanks to Twitter, of wide-open spaces, cattle management and farm equipment with mysterious prongy things.

Each speaker only gets one 10-15 minute time slot (better make it snappy!) and no PowerPoint is allowed.  WIN.

Follow the #140conf hashtag on Twitter for info and discussion about all the 140 conferences, including this one, and if you can’t make it in person, Small Town will be livestreamed on UStream.

The best idea, though, is to see it in person: student passes are only $14 and pssst….for non-students/adults, code “friendof140″ gives you a nice, fat discount when you register here.

If you’re a journalist or media person who would like to cover the conference and/or the topic of tech in small towns, here’s the excellent, comprehensive Small Town Media page.

For a quick 90 second overview of the conference, here’s my Tourism Currents business partner Becky McCray (who organizes Small Town along with its original founder Jeff Pulver) on an Oklahoma Horizon TV episode (direct link to video here.)

Hope I meet you in Hutchinson!

(If you like this post, please consider subscribing to the blog via RSS feed or by email – the email signup box is on the right sidebar near the Search box. Thanks!) 

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!

(If you like this post, please consider subscribing to the blog via RSS feed or by email – the email signup box is on the right sidebar near the Search box. Thanks!) 

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.

(If you like this post, please consider subscribing to the blog via RSS feed or by email – the email signup box is on the right sidebar near the Search box. Thanks!) 

Welcome to the Carnival of Cities blog carnival, where we tour the world in a single post, via submissions from a variety of different blogs, all about any aspect of one, single city (or fair-sized town.)

The previous edition was hosted on Edutech Musings (my husband Chris’ teacher blog – thanks, Sweetie!) and the September 7 edition will be over on La Vie Francaise.

If you would like to host a future Carnival edition on your blog, please contact me at Sheila “at” sheilascarborough “dot” com. Thanks!

Off we go….

Cities in Europe

Loudun, France   Jason tells the odd story of 1634: Urbain Grandier, for the Loudon possessions posted at Executed Today.

Cities in the Americas

Columbus, Ohio, USA   Joe Vargo saves your morning with the Top Three Coffee Shops in Columbus at The Columbus Experience, saying, “Columbus Breakfast Blogger Nick Dekker saves visitors from hotel-lobby coffee with his top three picks for a cup of joe in the city.”

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada   Sleep tight! Julie Ovenell-Carter presents Vancouver Hotels: Rosewood Hotel Georgia posted at WhyGo Canada, saying, “Classy is cool again and in the world of Canadian hospitality, no one does it better that the recently revamped Rosewood Hotel Georgia–home of Vancouver’s newest “it” restaurant, Hawksworth.”

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA   jeri has cool photos of A wooden street in Philadelphia on touristmodern.

Atlanta, Georgia, USA   Trey presents art plus biology in Alex Grey Redefines Human Anatomy in Atlanta posted at Always ATL.

Portland, Oregon, USA   Kara Williams speeds up your travel with Willamette Jetboat Tours in Portland, Oregon posted at The Vacation Gals, saying, “We love this guest post from Jessica Spiegel about exciting jet boat rides in Portland, Oregon!”

Destin, Florida, USA   Heather Thomas wrote a guest post - Destin Florida One of top 25 destinations according to tripadvisor for Freelance Tourist: Travel Tips.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil   Be careful out there. Katie Sorene wrote Rio Travelers BEWARE these 6 Common Dangers for the Tripbase blog, saying, “Safety tips for travelers to Rio de Janeiro. Heed this important advice to avoid being robbed, arrested or scammed in Rio.”

New Orleans, Louisiana, USA   Estella Gold makes you drool about Commander’s Palace; tuck in a napkin for …. In Which I Ride A Streetcar Named Delicious posted at One For The Road.

Lake Placid, New York, USA   Zhu finds Olympic glory in Lake Placid, NY State posted at Correr Es Mi Destino, saying, “We crossed the border at Prescott/Ogdensburg, stopped to have a look at the car show and kept driving West, on small scenic roads. Most sported yellow Amish buggy signs, warning motorists they could get stuck behind these vehicles for a while. I wouldn’t have minded, the road was very nice, bordered by corn fields and farms.”

Stevensville, Montana, USA   Tractor parades and other delights! Donna Hull writes about Traveling Slow in Small Town America on her Boomer travel blog My Itchy Travel Feet, saying, “The 99th Annual Creamery Picnic Parade in Stevensville, Montana introduces visitors to small town America. Tractors, horse groups, fire brigades, muscle cars – you can’t beat it.”

New York, New York, USA   Why a live, experienced guide like Stan O’Connor can save a tour despite insane traffic – Off-season and Off-route, or, “Tours Shouldn’t Be Given by CD-ROMs.” posted at The Green Guide’s Tour, saying, “The post highlights a long detour through Manhattan and the impromptu point-to-point touring that was necessitated by the detour.”

Paris, Texas, USA  A getaway without the jet lag!  Tui Cameron takes a Weekend Road Trip to Paris, Texas posted at Mental Mosaic, saying, “Paris is one of those rare American towns which resists looking like “Anytown, USA” by actively cultivating its charms. Plus, you’ve gotta love the Eiffel Tower replica, the Jesus in Cowboy Boots, and the beautiful marble fountain in the town square.”

Canton, Ohio, USA   The 25th US President gets his due, as Dominique King presents Discover something for everyone at the William McKinley Museum in Canton, Ohio posted at Midwest Guest, saying, “Dinosaurs? Star gazing? A vintage village? The William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum in Canton, Ohio, has so much more beyond presidential papers.”

That concludes this Carnival edition, and thank you for visiting.

Please submit your (ONE, non-spammy) blog post to the next edition of the Carnival of Cities using our carnival submission form.

Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

(If you like this post, please consider subscribing to the blog via RSS feed or by email – the email signup box is on the right sidebar near the Search box. Thanks!) 

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.

(If you like this post, please consider subscribing to the blog via RSS feed or by email – the email signup box is on the right sidebar near the Search box. Thanks!) 

Thanks to a request by Pat Jenkins on my previous post about getting a tweet to spread further, here are some ideas for getting more mileage out of Facebook updates.

I’m currently actively managing two Facebook Pages (one for Tourism Currents and one for my Elastic Waist Entrepreneur book project) plus my personal account, so it’s important to me that I put content in the right place at the right time. Just tossing it out everywhere is ineffective AND annoying to those who follow me.

Having a smartphone gives me a potent piece of equipment for making content on the fly, particularly since photos are one of the best ways to increase EdgeRank and interaction on Facebook.

Let’s walk through an example:

Send a good photo from your phone to your Page

Opportunities to create content are everywhere.

As I left the ProductCamp Austin marketing conference last Saturday, I walked past the Bob Bullock Texas History Museum enroute my car. There were several brightly-colored decorated cows scattered around the lawn in front of the museum – it’s the Cow Parade Austin public art project.

Public art has a tourism angle, so this would be a fun update for our Tourism Currents Page.

Smartphone cameras don’t handle tricky lighting situations very well, so I had to do some maneuvering to get an image that wasn’t too dark (the sun was at a bad angle,) showed off the cow’s colorful Picasso-esqe design and also included the well-known giant bronze Lone Star behind it. The star is a recognizable landmark that sits in the front plaza of the Bullock Museum. Here’s the photo on our Facebook Page.

My Android Facebook app is pretty worthless, so to send the photo to a Page, I have to send it as an attachment in an email, to a special email address just for that Page.

**  You can do this, too:  as an Admin, go to Edit Page, look to the left sidebar for Mobile, click that and you’ll see a unique Page email address to m.facebook.com that you can use to send email updates from your phone.  I haven’t tried this with a regular cell/feature phone, but since even my old flip phone could send emails with photos, I’ll bet you can.

To think about:  If you think your personal Facebook friends would also enjoy your photo subject, then feel free to send a pic up to your personal profile as well, but here are two suggestions:

1)  Send a photo of a different subject, or at least a different angle on the same subject. Some of the same people may follow both your personal profile and business Page, and duplicate content at the same time can clog their News feed and is, well, kinda boring.

2)  Once something is posted, I prefer to Share content from my business Pages to my personal profile; it gives business content EdgeRank “oomph” the more often it’s Shared, Liked and/or commented on. If my phone app was better, I could do this from the phone, but for now I have to wait and do it on my laptop.

Always Be Tagging

The ability to tag, or link to, whoever or whatever you’re discussing on Facebook is a powerful tool, so take advantage of it. Tagging means that you’ll show up on the Wall of the person or brand you’ve tagged, plus it gives your followers an easy way to find the entities you’re talking about without making them hunt around Facebook themselves to look for it.

This is sometimes easier said than done. The tagging function – put an @ symbol and then right after it type the name of who/what you wish to tag, and you can’t tag people when you’re acting as a Page – has been really balky for me lately. It also means that you may have to find and then Like the tag-ee’s Page; a requirement before you can tag them, and then you may need to reload your Page for it to “take.”

Who could I tag in this photo?  Ideas include the Cow Parade organization, the Bullock Museum, the City of Austin, the Austin CVB, the Dell Children’s Medical Center charity that benefits from this particular art project and news organizations like the Austin American-Statesman that have given it media coverage.

Again, this is easier for me to do once I get home on my laptop. You can tag brands in photos (when the feature is working – grrrr) or I can add a comment to the photo and tag in that, or I can Edit the photo later and add the tag then.

Side note:  the Cow Parade Facebook presence is wrong so I did not tag them – they’ve set up a personal profile rather than a Page, which goes against Facebook’s Terms of Service and means they could be removed at any time. I don’t connect when I see that mistake.

Bonus screwup: I saw on the Cow Parade website that they have a Flickr account. “Great!” I thought, “I’ll go add my photo to their Group Pool.”  No, their account doesn’t have a Group Pool so I can’t share anything with them. I can connect with them as a Contact, but that doesn’t do much for either of us.  This sort of wasted opportunity makes me crazy.

Understanding the Facebook ecosystem

Key things to remember about Facebook – most interaction happens on people’s News Feed, not directly on their Wall.

Even if someone has Liked your Page, they may never see any of your updates – it all has to do with the relative “weight”/importance of your content to other people, which is based on how much reaction it’s getting, who is connected to who, how often connected individuals and brands interact, how new the content is, etc. That’s called EdgeRank – here’s an EdgeRank explanation and some guidance.

Also remember that the default News feed that people see is Top News, and your content’s EdgeRank determines how often your stuff is seen in Top News.  Many don’t ever click Most Recent to see the unfiltered, chronological listing of updates from their connections.

The Most Recent feed is the default for mobile Facebook users, so that helps, but means that your content timing becomes critical or you’ll be swept away in the stream by the next 14 updates they’re looking at on that tiny mobile device screen.

Key takeaways? Craft engaging content that will bring Likes, Comments and Shares, use your smartphone to create content while you’re on the move, and post daily if you can (at different times, including outside of working hours – Jay Ehret found that his best time to post on Facebook was, yes, 11 am on Saturdays.)  Even more tips from Ohio tourism industry expert Betsy Decillis – Facebook Tips and Tricks.

Remember….

A few minutes of thought – a little extra research and digging – adds 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.

(If you like this post, please consider subscribing to the blog via RSS feed or by email – the email signup box is on the right sidebar near the Search box. Thanks!) 

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.

(If you like this post, please consider subscribing to the blog via RSS feed or by email – the email signup box is on the right sidebar near the Search box. Thanks!)