Mediaboss Marketing

If you manage a tourism business, the second most valuable piece of real estate you own is your website. Successful tourism marketing requires an understanding of how to make effective use of ones website and its connections on the social web.

Planeta.coms role as an online facilitator/clearinghouse for travel features that spotlight ecotourism, responsible travel, conscious travel and sustainable tourism is combined with directory listings and online conferencesthat provide numerous examples of how stakeholderscollaborate successfully.

Travelers tell me they want the names of local guides and hotels that strive to be eco-friendly. Travel agencies and journalists ask for reliable contacts. Simply put, those promoting travel and who do NOT use the web are at a serious disadvantage.

Contacting travel agencies, hotels and guides is easier than ever thanks to the Web. No expensive, long distance phone calls. No phone tag. Thats the good news.

The bad news is that many of entrepreneurs have yet to learn how to make effective use of the web.

Potential travelers want to know what kind of tours, accommodations, services are available. The internet provides direct contact to services that are off the beaten track. If its easy enough, travelers will use the web to make reservations. They may choose not to commit to a specific tour until they arrive, so they comb the web for updated phone numbers and addresses to be used during their trip. Theyre checking Facebook and Twitter on the fly looking for tips on the fly.

Travel agencies may say they dont have time to answer individual requests, but if I call them up, I can get specific answers on the phone. Why are Facebook or email queries different? What it comes down to is that if a business cannot provide a timely and informative response, can they be counted on for their service?

During the research of my book, Mexico: Adventures in Nature, I asked a hotel that was touting its environmental programs if they could be more specific. Look at our website. I did and after five minutes, I couldnt find any details about how this hotel is eco friendly.

Another time a travel agency in Oaxaca said it offered trips to coffee farms. The site was so graphics-heavy, I got bored after a few minutes. Such poor website design is responsible for the criticism of the web as the World Wide Wait!

The adventure should be the journey not the quest for information used to plan the trip.

Via the web we see people making connections, regardless of distance. Likewise, ecotourisms success lies with its cooperation among chief players travelers, travel agencies, conservation groups and government offices. In many ways, the web and ecotourism are evolving together providing information and ways of active participation to people around the globe.

Communication needs to be improved, among conservationists and tourism leaders within regional and international spheres. Ecotourism is not just a niche or a fad, but a model of where all tourism must progress. The chief question how do we get there?

I cant say whether its because were beginning a new century, or because global communication has expanded exponentially in the last generation, or whether environmental awareness has matured, but what is emerging tends toward a union of common interests.

Via the web, we relate to each other by affinity as well asvicinity. And when we do travel across town or to the ends of the world we simply need the right information at the right time to make our journeys successful.

More here:
Marketing Travel on the Social Web - Planeta.com

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In response to overwhelming demand for strategic and creative digital services, Orange Label has launched Orange Social, a two-pronged marketing service that tackles both social media strategy and implementation. Catering to a breadth of industries, Orange Social ensures digital marketing plans stay relevant and profitable with an ever-evolving list of services. Orange Social is our social media brand strategy and execution program designed to achieve key marketing goals. The program is a result of the industrys evolution to a more digital savvy space and in response to what our clients are demanding, said Orange Label Account Strategist Michelle Regrut.

Orange Social is comprised of two components Strategy Development and Implementation. Strategy Development is an extensive research and development process that allows Orange Label to close the gap between where brands are and where they want to be. Strategy Development provides insight into a brands positioning in its respective markets, its current social footprint and the digital competitive landscape, resulting in an immediately actionable social media plan based on the brands organizational goals. The Strategy Development portion of Orange Social is fully customizable, depending on the clients needs. Packages include services such as social brand voice and personality development, content creation and competitive analyses.

Once the Strategic Development plan has been determined, clients move into the next phase of Orange Social Implementation. Designed to make social media management as effective and efficient as possible, Implementation accounts for real-time monitoring of customer responses and engagement, and ongoing content development for various platforms.

To learn more about Orange Social and Orange Labels full list of capabilities, visit http://www.orangelabeladvertising.com.

ABOUT ORANGE LABEL

As a full-service strategic marketing agency, Orange Label provides support for all clients by focusing on brand, strategy, design, and media. Founded in 1972, the agency currently represents clients from across the United States, in a broad range of specialties, including B2B, Healthcare, Education and Retail. Key current clients include Chapman University, Greenwell Farms and Kahoots Feed and Pet Stores. The agency principals are Wes Phillips, Rochelle Reiter and Debbie Nagel. Key Orange Label differentiators include its Orange Exploration fact-finding approach, powerful View from the Field research technique and The Juice, a different-and-better client branding method. For more information about Orange Label, visit http://www.orangelabeladvertising.com.

Read more from the original source:
Orange Label Launches Orange Social | Business Wire - Business Wire (press release)

There are no universal solutions for marketing. Each business, regardless of its scale, needs to find a solution that best fits its needs and strategy. However, keeping watch on other enterprises and trendscan give help lead you in the right direction. A study from all-in-one online marketing platform GetResponseexamines the direction that small and midsized businesses plan to take this year.

The GetResponse study of 200 U.S.-based SMB decision-makers was conducted at the end of 2016 and provides insight into both the trends that lead the marketing industry as a whole and the specifics for SMBs.

Overall, 70 percent of the study participants said their digital and web-based marketing budgets will increase this year, and of that group, 30 percent are increasing their budgets considerably. Nearly 60 percent of those increasing their budgets plan to expand their social marketing spending, 50 percent plan to increase spend on mobile marketing and 42 percent plan to increase spend on the ever-reliable email marketing.

WhileSMBs might have smaller budgets than the big brands, they still need to be prepared to invest in the same methods and techniques and go where the audiences are. GetResponse founder and CEOSimon Grabowskiurges SMBs to focus on mobile especially:

Mobile marketing is increasingly important given the surging content consumption numbers across smartphones and tablets. And social media usage has only grown in tandem with mobile consumption, as the most popular platforms are mobile-first. Email, too, has become a mobile-driven activity. Ultimately, mobile is the reason why these areas will drive spend in the new year.

Some marketers are gearing up for the shifting marketplace, with 28 percent planning to invest in video production, 26 percent to invest in content creation and management and 16 percent wanting to create better commerce experiences.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Read the original here:
SMBs Plan to Increase Digital Marketing Budgets (Report) - SocialTimes

In the last five years, social networks have acquired about 1 billion new users. Over one third of the worlds population is now accessible via social media, and companies have gone from being skeptical about social media marketing to seriously investing in it.

In this social media dominated world, marketing is heavily reliant on technology, but that technology remains focused on people. This years trends will help marketers reach and engage their audience on a more personal level, over social media noise. Companies will be able to fine-target their niche communities, with increased support from software solutions.

The following is a list of trends and tips for social media marketers to leverage now.

Most social networks have already launched their versions of live-streaming. Twitter has Periscope, Facebooks Live, and other networks like Blab and DubSmash support live video sharing. Live-feeds are becoming the in-thing. Even the US Presidential election updates were broadcast live by BuzzFeed on Twitter.

You can use live video platforms to engage you audience will near-tangible experiences. If you dont have a Facebook Live strategy, now is the best time to get one.

With social feeds growing crowded and viewer attention spans growing shorter by year, youll need powerful graphics to captivate your audience. In the last five years, the graphic design softwaremarket has expanded, giving marketers extensive options to choose from. You can put together graphics on a drag-and-drop editor to simplify your content creation process.

Todays social media users are faced with ads and commercial content on multiple fronts. The receive information from multiple sources, and breaking through that barrier is becoming a tough task for brands and marketers. Personalization will help marketers slice through the chaos and reach only the people who matter.

Tracking consumers behaviors on social platforms and targeting them based on interests will become an essential part of marketing. Some social media marketing tools and apps are already incorporating features to support personalization and targeting. More technology solutions will appear in the time to come. You can target your high-potential market by posting content that only they can relate to, or by targeting them using data pulled from tools.

Ad saturation is driving brands to look for alternative means to reach their target markets. Investment in advocate marketing has seen a steep increase (by about 191 percent) in the recent times. Micro-influencers could be the key to increasing your brands reach on social media, because they are more influential and credible than your brand can be.

Employees, customers and social fans are among the micro-influencers that brands are activating. There a quite a few greatemployee advocacyguides and case-studies that you can look at for inspiration in building your brand advocate outreach programs.You can use an advocacy platform to build and run your brand advocacy program.

In Joe Pulizzis words, native advertising is content marketings gateway drug. The modern audience is wise to commercial ploys, and traditional advertising alone may not be a great option for branding your company. Native ads help you create awareness without disrupting users activities. Content delivered in this manner can help you connect with your audience without being too pushy. According to a study, native ads are set to to grow to $21 billion by 2018.

Content discovery tools, content distribution platforms and content amplification tools are interesting means to having your content shared organically on social media. You could use one of these solutions to have your content positioned where it can earn you some traction.

Companies with constrained marketing budgets may have not used marketing automation until now, but according to a study, 92 percent of these companies are losing revenue because of that decision. 2017 may see business of all types and sizes adopt marketing automation. 91 percent marketers are convinced that automation is an indispensable part of marketing.

Each social network is unique in terms of demographic and use-cases. This may force businesses to be present on more than one of them to keep consumers and prospects engaged. Managing social pages can be a time intensive task, without the assistance of a supporting social management tool. The idea is to use the tool to automate tasks that dont require personal attention like posting created content to multiple accounts and catching mentions of your brand. You can also curate content with a tool and take the final call on what to share. It all comes down to the extra-time that you can save to better invest elsewhere. Managing content on a central platform can also help you maintain consistency across different pages.

Social media marketing is set to evolve into a highly tech-focused and detail-oriented effort. To succeed at reaching and engaging your target market, you need to explore and stay abreast of the latest developments and technologies offered for social. The areas mentioned on this post are good places to keep tabs on.

Social Media Photo via Shutterstock

Link:
5 Big Trends and Tips for Social Media Marketing - Small Business Trends

Forbes

13 Marketing Trends For 2017 That B2B Marketers Need To Understand Forbes Over the past decade, the Internet, mobility, and social media have upended traditional command and control marketing. The pendulum has shifted dramatically to individualsindividuals as buyers and individuals as the voices of their companies. Rethinking the Role of Marketing in B2B Customer EngagementBusiness 2 Community all 3 news articles »

Originally posted here:
13 Marketing Trends For 2017 That B2B Marketers Need To Understand - Forbes