Lodging Interactive Blog

100 Million People Use YouTube

According to comScore , U.S. Internet users viewed 14.8 billion online videos during the month, representing an increase of 4% versus December 2008.YouTube led the growth charge, accounting for 91% of the incremental gain in the number of videos viewed versus December, as it surpassed 100 million viewers for the first time.

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10 ways to measure a social media campaign

Interesting article on econsultancy about how to successfully measure social media campaigns. Chris Lake who wrote the article takes an interesting approach in that he says:

Rather than focusing on the smaller, campaign-specific metrics, such as traffic from Twitter or the number of fans on Facebook, wouldn’t it be better to look at how it helps to shift the most important business KPIs, such as sales, profits, as well as customer retention and satisfaction rates? To do this effectively, you’ll need to give your social media strategy time. Like a good wine, it needs to breathe. In doing so you will be able to look at your overall business performance, as well as the performance of your social media campaigns over the duration. 

I like this advice. It is too easy these days to throw up a Facebook campaign, churn through some money with no results and say that advertising on social networks does not work. Social marketing works best when brands engage with their audience. And to do that takes time!

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Three-Quarters of the World’s Messages Sent by Mobile

Worldwide communication in the future will be done through mobile devices.

According to TNS Global, 74% of the world’s digital messages were sent through a mobile device in January 2009, a 15% increase over the previous year.

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iPhone Downloads Up

Since its introduction on June 29, 2007, the iPhone has driven change—it revolutionized the $11 billion-a-year US mobile phone industry.

As Wired wrote, wireless carriers, which had treated manufacturers like serfs, learned that “the right phone—even a pricey one—can win customers and bring in revenue.”

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Long Tail Search Terms

Attribution modeling is very important in understanding how customers consume media and how this consumption affects bookings on a site. 

Based on these attribution models, travel companies decide upon the best search, bidding, and messaging strategies to meet their overall goals.

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Everyone is Twittering, But is Anyone Listening?

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Everyone was aflutter with Twitter at Search Engine Strategies New York. This was helped by the conference being kicked off by an energetic keynote speaker and Twitteraholic Guy Kawasaki.

Some in attendance thought Kawasaki may have pushed the line of spamming just a bit. My sense is that he isn't, because if you don't like the way he uses Twitter, you can always un-follow him. Unlike e-mail where anyone can spam you, in Twitter you need to be following someone in order to see their tweets in your stream or receive direct messages from them.

7 marketing mistakes to avoid on Twitter - #1: Inconsistent or no visual branding

7 marketing mistakes to avoid on Twitter - #1: Inconsistent or no visual branding - iMediaConnection.com.

#1: Inconsistent or no visual branding

You need to have a unified experience consistent with your brand so as not to confuse consumers. Your Twitter profile is where people go to quickly discover how you are using Twitter and learn more about your business. Make sure that you get your brand or business messaging across using the 140-character descriptor field.

Social Networks are More Popular than Email

Interesting data from Nielsen Online that two-thirds of the world’s Internet population visit social networking or blogging sites, accounting for almost 10% of all internet time

“Social networking has become a fundamental part of the global online experience,” says John Burbank, CEO of Nielsen Online. “While two-thirds of the global online population already accesses member community sites, their vigorous adoption and the migration of time show no signs of slowing. Social networking will continue to alter not just the global online landscape, but the consumer experience at large.”   

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Guy Kawasaki's 10 Steps to Terrific Twittering

Guy Kawasaki has taken Twitter to the extreme. Even with "only" 91,000 followers, his is one of the most well-known names on the social networking microblogging site. Through Twitter, Kawasaki has not only made a name for himself, but also for his Web site, Alltop.com -- a site that aggregates the top news stories from the most popular topics on the Web. It was only appropriate for Kawasaki to lead a keynote presentation here at this year's Search Engine Strategies conference on the topic of using Twitter as a marketing tool. After all, Kawasaki has become his own brand on Twitter and has pushed the envelope with his Twitter usage. Some might consider what he's doing to be spam -- in fact, Kawasaki admits, many have said so, outright -- but others consider it a new wave of marketing. Regardless, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist and former Apple marketer is a Twitter evangelist -- and has a following to support it.

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Hotels & Youtube: The Perfect Match

We just posted an article on how hotels can leverage Your Tube to book more business.  You may want to check it out.  Our clients have shown tremendous results maximizing their visibility through Your Tube.

Read more => You Tube Marketing for Hotels