Building a strategy for social media in destination marketing

Think about the big picture (courtesy krossbow at Flickr CC)

Let’s talk STRATEGY That word has come up several times over the past few weeks. Our clients are asking for help with it, conference breakout sessions are devoted to it and we’ve been looking at our own marketing strategy for Tourism Currents. Since it seems to be top of mind at the moment, we thought [...]

Get More Visitors and Media When You Love Your Off-Season

Palm Springs off season Facebook promotion

We all hear loud and clear about how people are tired of the “same old” tourism pitches. What can make your destination seem new, you might wonder? There’s an easy answer to that – love your off-season! Give people a different reason to visit you. For instance, Palm Springs, California used to close up shop in [...]

January 2013 – Get these conferences into your budget

Networking at BlogWorld NMX with travel and tourism folks (courtesy BJ McCray on Flickr)

Throughout the year we all spend time thinking about how to spend our limited resources. While we worry about how to enhance our destination, our organization, our event or whatever our mission is, the one thing we should not forget is to spend some time and money on ourselves by furthering our professional education. This month’s [...]

eTourism Summit – Small and Mighty Tourism Conference Rules

eTourism Summit visit to Facebook

  Right off the bat we have to say, “eTourism Summit is one tourism conference you really should attend!”  While we all attend a variety of tourism conferences and educational events throughout the year, eTourism Summit is different.  It’s intimate, only 200 can attend. Because of the small number in attendance,  you are immersed in the [...]

December 2012 – Social media trends in tourism for 2013

The genie looks ahead to 2013 (courtesy Asiatic League on Flickr CC)

Before we dive into any thoughts about what’s changing or trending in the future, let’s take a moment to suck in a bunch of head-clearing oxygen with a deep breath, and remember that basic goals for tourism marketing have not changed…. ….Make people aware of your destination, spark magical thoughts in their brain of, “Hey, [...]

Black Friday Open Comments: A Few of Our Favorite Things

Tiny frog is a favorite thing (courtesy foto3116 on Flickr Creative Commons)

(Yes, this is the blog post where we’re getting together for an Open Comments / “open mic” chat session on Friday, November 23 at 8 pm CST. Drop by, put your feet up after all the Thanksgiving activity and Black Friday running around, and let’s talk about our favorite things. Comments are open!) A few [...]

November 2012 – Blogger Relations and the New Media Landscape

Tourism Currents speaks at eTourism Summit 2012

Here’s the “secret” to finding bloggers and building relationships with them: be visible where they are, communicate with them in their language, support and sponsor what is important to them and be an honest and useful source of information. You’ll notice, of course, that none of that is any different from how it was when [...]

Sept/Oct 2012 – Spice Up Your Seasonal Social Media

Social Media Spice Up for Fall

Sometimes it seems that our lives are hurtling ahead so fast we miss what is going on around us, but seasonal changes are one thing that most of us do stop and acknowledge. Maybe that’s why tourists seem to respond so well to seasonal marketing, and why destinations – as well as businesses that rely [...]

Special Report on Google acquiring Frommer’s: 4 things a CVB or DMO should do right now

Google acquires Frommer's (photo courtesy Becky McCray for Tourism Currents)

If there was ever any doubt about whether tourism and hospitality organizations need to step up their game as online publishers and content creators, much of that was erased today by the announcement that Google is acquiring the travel guide site Frommer’s. What does this mean for CVBs (Convention & Visitors Bureaus,) DMOs (Destination Marketing [...]

August 2012 – Getting Help with Social Media

Shrinking staff

The Dreaded Shrinking Staff It’s happening to everyone, everywhere. You lose an employee and because of budgets, the economy….whatever the reason of the day is….you are unable to replace that person. When this happens, don’t let doom and gloom take over. While you wish you could hire someone else but don’t have the budget to [...]