how to be social

Brand development through

social media

How to be social

7.1 million people read blogs

2.3 million have created a blog

1.6 million are still updating their blog

84% of Australian internet users share videos, photos and links

83% consume user generated content

78% download audio and video

39% upload pictures, video, music

Source: Buzznumbers.com.au

75% of online Australians interact with social media

6.5 million of Australians belong to a social network

Source: Nielsen-online.com

The best job in the world?

A big idea that happens to use social media

Great to launch a social campaign

But you need to sustain the campaign

Engage fans and critics in a conversation

Like media relations but with ordinary people

The rules are different

NZ Tourism Youtube diaries

International visitors interviewed in a mobile recording studio

Established “Have your say” channel on Youtube

91 Videos

139,199 channel views

Multilingual videos

200 UK visitor videos including the Twitchhiker

Technology cheap ($150 video cameras; phone cameras)

NZ Tourism Youtube diaries

“Social media is used by people from all walks of life to

connect with people back home while they are travelling.

Add to this that word-of-mouth is one of the most

effective marketing tools to promote a destination, and

the 100,000 views milestone shows that the [effort] has

really proven its worth.”

George Hickton

Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive

Take great photos?

Tripwolf.com and Dido photographic competition. Categories include best picture before leaving home, best travel photo, best adventure

photo.

Lastminute.com Photo scavenger hunt competition for the most quirky photos

Underwater.com.au underwater photography competition

STA Travel snapaway competition

Twitter travellers

The Twitchiker

Scotland to NZ with no money

Worldwide media coverage

San Francisco via twitter

Paris via twitter

Winemaker twitter tastings

Social networks

Dopplr. Share trips and make connections

Tripwolf. Find travel gurus

Tripsay. Big on social voting

Triphub. For groups travelling

Driftr. Like Facebook but for travel

World66. Articles and guides

Older travel networks

Virtual tourist. The largest

Bootsnall. Message boards and forums

Lonely Planet Thorn Tree. Forums

Trip Adviser. Voting and guides but not social

Source: http://www.budgetglobetrotting.com/2008/top-10-travel-social-networks-and-communities/

Australian travel sites?

Wotif. Booking

Expedia. Booking and reviewing

Hyperlocals: Fitzroyalty

Flickr?

What about Internet coverage in the regions?

Static iPhone apps

eBooks to download

Books on demand (Lulu, Bebo)

Source: http://www.budgetglobetrotting.com/2008/top-10-travel-social-networks-and-communities/

What social type are you?

Creator

Critic

Collector

Joiner

Spectator

Inactive

Source: Forrester Research/Groundswell

Creators

Source: Forrester Research/Groundswell

Publish a blog

Write content and post

Publish their own web pages

Upload video content and pictures

Upload audio

Critics

Source: Forrester Research/Groundswell

Post ratings and reviews

Comments on blogs and social sites

Contribute to forums

Contribute to wikis

Collectors

Source: Forrester Research/Groundswell

Use RSS Feeds

Tag pages, photos or videos

Vote for websites online

Use Delicious, Reddit

Stumble upon

Evernote

Joiners

Source: Forrester Research/Groundswell

maintain profiles on several social sites

Visit social sites

Spectators

Source: Forrester Research/Groundswell

Read blogs

Watch video

Look at pictures

Listen to podcasts

Read forums

Read ratings and reviews

Read comments

Inactives

Source: Forrester Research/Groundswell

Zilch!

Source: Forrester Research/Groundswell

Each person is a different

Source: Forrester Research/Groundswell

Each person is a different

Source: Forrester Research/Groundswell

Each person is a different

Source: Forrester Research/Groundswell

How to start

Find your target market

Identify key sites

Read, watch and listen

Focus on a couple of key social media, for exampleFacebook, Twitter, Youtube

Become part of the community

Understand feeds and distributed content

This means a feed

With Feedburner you can monitor and turn it into emails

So does RSS or ATOM mean a feed

Monitoring tools

Feedreaders – Google Reader, Netvibes

Google and Yahoo! Alerts

Tweetdeck

Scout Labs

Neilsen Blogpulse

TNS Cymfony, Neilsen Buzzmetrics

Play by the rules

Do not take what is not yours

Ask permission

Do not hard sell

Make it personal and conversational

Don’t use corporate speak

Share and give

Credit sources, reply to comments and link back

Do not take what is not yours

The rules on words and pictures are different to Youtube

It is better to ask permission for words and pictures

You don’t need to ask for Youtube

You can republish feeds but be careful how you do it

If you do it in the correct way, people may give you content for free

There needs to be a reward– kudos, traffic

Ask permission

Unsolicited emails are tiresome

“If you would prefer not to receive any more emails from us,

please let me know. Alternatively, if you visit this web form

and let us know what kind of material you are interested in.”

How to comment

Keep it to the conversation in question

A link back to your page is okay

Don’t try and sell

Subscribe to comment feeds to follow

Don’t be nasty

Remember it is somebody else’s space

Critics?

There are plenty of critics being mean

Take a deep breath first

Be polite but not patronising

Be constructive

Your rude email will go viral

Starting your campaign

Be committed. Don’t join the social media graveyard

Be flexible and look out for what is next(Did you see twitter coming?)

Profiles: tell us who you are

It has to be you. Not the PR person.

Use a conversational voice; not pre-approved statements

It may take time to establish credibility

Tag everything

Because you want to be found

Use online tools to optimise

Words

Pictures

Video

Distribute

Make content available for download

Make content available through RSS feeds

Pictures, video, facts

Use the web’s free (or cheap) distribution

Tubemogul – a single point to publish and monitor across Youtube, Metacafe, Vimeo, Myspace and more.

Monitor

The conversation

Feed subscribers

Google analytics

Twitter numbers

But do not be a slave to statistics

Where to start looking

A Google search with “blog”

technorati.com/lifestyle.travel/

Travolution.blogspot.com

The problem

Mobile coverage in the country is awful

Only Telstra 3G reliable

Lack of internet cafes

My iPhone won’t work

The solution

Free wireless internet

Tailored downloadable ebooks

Static iPhone applications(Deck of secrets)

wayn.com hotelchatter.com

aluxurytravelblog.com gridskipper.com londonist.com

newyorkology.com moleskinecity.com

bootsnall.com, globaltravelblog.com

getjealous.comTripr.tv

travelblog.orgtravelpod.commetblogs.com

travel-rants.com

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/3391028/The-worlds-best-travel-blogs.html

traveletiquette.com crankyflier.com

seat61.com thecoolhunter.co.uk/travel

tripadvisor.com lonelyplanet.com/blogs/travel_blog

gadling.com roadgladiator.com

inflightHQ.com familytravellogue.com

youtube.com travelistic.com

perrinpost.com escapeblog.com offexploring.com

A list of top travel blogs