It's not sexy, but it's true. The most important moves that lead to social media success don't cost you anything. They're free. But they do have a cost in time and brainpower. It's a fair price to pay, we think. Our March 27 breakout session next week at the 2018 Main Street Now annual conference about vibrant downtowns...

Tourism marketing for a county can be a challenge from two directions: Visitors don't generally plan travel to counties, so they don't look for information by county name, and  Smaller county destinations may feel slighted that branding and emphasis is focused on the larger towns in the county that...

Many in the destination and hotel marketing worlds are worrying about the latest "Facebook Apocalypse" - that their Facebook Page posts will soon have a lot less organic reach, unless they pay to boost visibility through advertising. Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that: "Public content -- posts from businesses, brands and media...

Have a little budget left for events that can help you with your destination marketing? Sure, we run an online course in social media for tourism, but we are also enthusiastic about the value of in-person learning. Here are some of the 2018 tourism conferences that we either recommend, or are honored...

It's that time of year, when thoughts turn to trends in tourism and destination marketing. Here's the thing, though. A big pile of trends, of "Pay attention to mobile!" plus "Pay attention to video!" plus "Pay attention to Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality!" plus "Don't forget chatbots!" plus "What about influencer...

We speak a lot about event marketing, but generally it is in the context of annual events, not events with a short lead time. Quite often in destination marketing there are festivals and events that spring up out of nowhere; it's great to have these new events, but they often...

How can you create a media contacts list that is perfect for YOUR destination? Online media coverage brings attention and publicity to your town. It can also be the "gift that keeps on giving" for you. Links back to your website and tourism partner sites from online articles and blog posts...

How can you build a stronger team with your tourism partners? Tourism partners can include attractions and hotels, of course, but also parks, retailers, restaurants, Main Street/downtown development organizations, the Chamber of Commerce, local media, your Board of Directors, the City Council, cultural districts, and even the schools. That's certainly a varied group. If...

How can tourism organizations best use social media after a natural disaster? Normally, social media for destination marketing is all about enticing and welcoming visitors, but after disasters like hurricanes, wildfires, floods, or earthquakes, there is a different goal, at least in the short term. What is needed before, during, and after...

Are you ready to get started with video, but are short on either skill or time? We've had a Tourism Currents YouTube channel since we launched our business in 2009, but it lay around kinda sad and unattended in recent years. To get us back on track, we've started shooting a few short videos...