From Google - Inside Search The Official Google Blog:
"Finding the right hotel can make or break your vacation, so with this in mind, we’re introducing Hotel Finder, a new experimental search tool specifically designed to help you find that perfect hotel. Google Hotel Finder makes it easy to narrow down the options..."
Read all the details at Google - Inside Search The Official Google Blog
"Google has just released city-specific business directories that are clearly going to compete with Yelp, Citysearch, and for travel with TripAdvisor in terms of highlighting popular local businesses.
Google has been trying hard to get a secure position in the local scene. As Marissa Mayer described it, local was one of the important aspects of the current web – with the others being media, search, mobile, and social. With YouTube, Google has the media stage. With Android, Google has mobile. But the social sphere and the local platform are both owned by competitors (specifically Facebook and Groupon), and Google has to fight to catch up."
Just announced the launch of our new Brand Field Marketing Services for hotel franchisees. Even if a your branded hotel doesn't have a website...we can help you optimize your brand.com pages. Check it out.
>> Click to read more: Lodging Interactive Launches Brand Field Marketing Services
Ever wonder why you can have 548 friends on Facebook, yet only 15-20 show up in your news feed? It’s not that those other friends have stopped using Facebook; chances are they’re still there. It’s just that they aren’t showing up in your news feed.
If you haven’t noticed, there are now two settings on your Facebook news feed: “Most Recent,” which shows most of the content published by your Facebook friends in chronological order and “Top News,” which filters content based on EdgeRank.
Friends and fan pages with a high EdgeRank are more likely to show in your “Top News” stream. Users with a low EdgeRank may not even show in your “Most Recent” news feed.
For businesses or others looking to market, promote or just interact through Facebook, the implications of this change are huge. “Top News” is the default setting, so unless a friend or fan changes their default, it’s quite possible that they will never see your updates. No matter how good the content, no matter how well you manage your Facebook page, EdgeRank might be holding you back.
When the new Facebook Questions launched in March, the assumption was that individuals would mostly use the new tool, for things like restaurant recommendations and favorite movies — two examples given on the social media giant’s site.
However, communicators, public relations professionals and marketers are taking the lead in putting Facebook’s new polling feature to the test, using Questions as a fast and inexpensive market research tool.
Page owners can access Questions by logging into their page and then heading to the Questions page to enable the feature.
Because Facebook Questions is so easy to implement, it’s a boon for small businesses who can’t afford in-depth market research. Questions offers a quick and easy way to get fans responding by using multiple choice questions as opposed to fill-in-the-blank.
Many small businesses have used the Questions feature to simply take the temperature of their fans. Some examples:
Like any good marketing tool, Questions can help customers feel engaged, and there’s an added boost to the customer base when they see the impact of how they answered by seeing their favorite ice cream on display.
Or, if a brand doesn’t act on the fan recommendations, Questions has a comment feature where voters can weigh in.
>> Click here to read the rest of the post
"YouTube has rearranged and updated its search options with a new feature called Filter & Explore.
When you perform a search in YouTube, instead of getting the usual array of options below the search box, you’ll be greeted with a single Filter & Explore option (or only Filter, if YouTube doesn’t have enough data to offer the additional Explore links). Click on it, and you’ll be offered a number of filters that you can apply to make your search more precise."
Read the full article at www.mashable.com
'This year, some of the nearly 80 million Baby Boomers in the United States have turned 65 and are now “officially” senior citizens. Need context? Vint Cerf, Google’s chief Internet evangelist and one of the fathers of the Internet, turns 68 in June. The web, often viewed as a realm for just the young, is getting older.
The Boomer generation isn’t just big — it’s made up of people who think and act differently than previous generations. As Boomers confront “old age,” they will certainly defy what we think it means to “get old.” It will challenge us to rethink how we use the web and how we engage older people with newer technologies."
Full article at www.mashable.com
"Nearly a year after Facebook Like buttons spread out across the web, Google has announced its own rival, the +1 button. It launches today as part of Google’s search engine, allowing you to “+1″ the search results and ads that you like. And in a few months, it’ll be arriving at a web site near you."
Read the complete article at www.searchengineland.com
"Travel is one of few industries bless with reliable, built-in buying seasons, and therefore, predictable consumer buying patterns and behaviors. From research and booking to take-off and arrival, the opportunities to capitalize on travel promotions and discount offers, as well as relevant upsell and cross-sell opportunities, are virtually limitless."
Read more on www.hotelmarketing.com
"Microsoft's Bing has recently added a new feature called Price Predictors to its travel searches. It suggests if one should buy now or hold off for a better fare based on how fares are trending. Some analysts believe this will have an impact on companies like Expedia and challenge Google's move into travel search."
Read more at www.hotelmarketing.com
