18 Essential Tools for Every Word-of-Mouth Marketer

By now, most consumer marketers know they could be using Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and other social media platforms to boost brand recognition, engage customers, and drive sales. But getting a social media marketing program started – and keeping up with the rapid pace of change in the industry – can be daunting. The good news is that with the right technology tools, social media marketing programs can be managed at scale and can help the entire organization (not just the marketers!) find out what customers are saying, sharing, even feeling about your brand or business.

When thinking about the technology tools you need to launch, measure, and optimize your social media marketing and online customer engagement programs, it helps to organize your efforts into categories: listening and monitoring tools; editorial, publishing, and content syndication tools; and conversation measurement tools. There are hundreds of tools out there, but here are some of the more popular and effective ones that can be put to work for you.

18 Essential Tools for Every Word-of-Mouth Marketer here

Zoopy added to international video service TubeMogul - Zoopy Blog

We’ve got some exciting news. Exciting for us, our existing users and the many new users who are still about to discover Zoopy.

Over to the official press release for the juicy bits:

South African media sharing site Zoopy.com has entered into an international partnership deal with leading online video distribution and analytics service, TubeMogul. Zoopy is the first African company to partner with the Silicon Valley company, alongside media heavyweights such as YouTube, Microsoft, and MySpace.

Under the terms of the deal, Zoopy will be added as a syndication partner on TubeMogul, which allows users to upload a video once and then automatically deploy it to the Web’s top video sites. The partnership forms part of TubeMogul’s growth across the globe, with Zoopy being added to a select list of top video sites.

Brett Wilson, CEO and founder of TubeMogul, comments: “Zoopy provides advertisers and content creators a unique opportunity to reach the African continent, which is obviously exciting.”

Zoopy added to international video service TubeMogul - Zoopy Blog

6 Twitter Tips for Tourism Offices: How Destination Management Organizations Can Maximize Micro-blogging | Suite101.com

Destination management organizations are flocking to Twitter, the mobile social networking site. These marketing tips will help tourism offices maximize micro-blogging.

Twitter launched in 2006 and according to Quantcast, Twitter reaches 2.4 million Americans monthly (as of December 2008) which means tourism offices can send their marketing message to millions of potential visitors. As of December 2008, GoSeeTell Network, Inc. has identified 106 destination management organizations (DMOs) using Twitter.

According to GoSeeTell Network, a handful of tourism offices began tweeting in 2007 with the majority first posting in 2008. As Twitter gains in popularity and tourism offices look for cost effective marketing tactics, 2009 will probably see dozens, if not hundreds, of additional DMOs using the social networking site. The following Twitter tips will help tourism offices effectively maximize their tweeting marketing efforts.

Read full article here: 6 Twitter Tips for Tourism Offices: How Destination Management Organizations Can Maximize Micro-blogging | Suite101.com

The copyright of the article 6 Twitter Tips for Tourism Offices in Guerrilla/Viral Marketing is owned by Jennifer Huber.

Gmail launched a feature that lets you import messages and contacts from other mail services like Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL.

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/

In May, Gmail launched a feature that lets you import messages and contacts from other mail services like Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL. Google promised that the feature will be rolled out to all accounts, but it was only enabled in new accounts. The good news is that the feature is now available in all accounts and you can find it if you go to the "Accounts and import" tab from the settings page.

You may wonder if it's a good idea to use this service powered by TrueSwitch instead ofGmail's mail fetcher. Here are some differences between the two service:

* Mail importing saves to your Gmail account the existing messages from other accounts and continues to check for new messages only for 30 days. Gmail's mail fetcher downloads the existing messages and checks for new messages indefinitely.

* Mail importing saves to your account messages and contacts, while Gmail's mail fetcher doesn't import contacts (you can manually import contacts).

* Mail importing works for mail services that don't support POP3 (for example: the US version of Yahoo Mail), but the mail fetcher requires POP3. Mail importing supports a small number of popular mail services.

"Copying mail over usually takes a couple days, occasionally up to a week — but eventually it all arrives. And once it's done, you can forget your old account and enjoy having everything in one place," says Google, but I disagree. You'll import the old messages to your account, but after 30 days the service will no longer fetch new messages.

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&ctx=mail&answer=117173

Importing contacts and mail

Print

If you're switching to Gmail from another email provider, importing contacts and messages from your old email account can help you make the transition without having to do a bunch of housekeeping.
To get started, follow the steps below. Before you dive in here, keep in mind that you'll need to have access to that email account for this process to work:

1. Click the Settings link.
2. Under the Accounts and Import tab, click the Import mail and contacts button.
3. In the new window that opens, enter the email address of the account you'd like to import contacts from. Click Continue.
4. Enter the password for your other email account and click Continue.
5. Select all the checkboxes that apply:
• If you choose to import contacts, the information in your contacts list in your old account will be imported to your Contacts section in Gmail.
• If you select the Import mail checkbox, your existing messages in that account will be imported to your Gmail inbox.
• If you want, you can also select the Import new mail checkbox so that messages sent to your old account for the next 30 days will be imported to your Gmail account. These messages won't appear in Gmail immediately once they're sent to your other account, but should update within a day or two.
• Finally, you can automatically apply a label to your imported messages to indicate that those were sent to your other account.
6. Click Start Import. The import will continue if you leave the Settings page or sign out of Gmail.
7. Your contacts and/or messages will be imported. It may take 24-48 hours before you see your imported messages, so don't worry if they're not there as soon as you click OK. You can check the status of your import by clicking the Accounts and Imports tab on the Settings page. Once the import is complete, you'll see a confirmation message at the top of your inbox.

Click here to see which email providers are supported

50 Tips To A User Friendly Website – Designing Interactive

Here is a list of 50 things that I keep in mind on every website that I build. Some of these are secrets I have acquired from the best designers in the world, and some of them are standard every day practices. Either way, these tips will improve your visitors experience on your website.

1. Clicking on the logo should take you to the home page;
2. Your logo/site title should be positioned in the top left of the page;
3. Duplicate your main navigational links in the page footer with links to additional, but less prominent pages;
4. Keep your navigation positioning consistent from page to page;
5. Don’t open links in a new tab/window, except PDF’s and embedded documents;
6. Highlight your current location in your navigation bar;
7. Use reasonable sized fonts (12px or larger);
8. Make sure font sizes are flexible (Use em’s or %, not px);
9. Sans-serif fonts are easier to read at small sizes;
10. Serif fonts are easier to read at large sizes;

Full list here: 50 Tips To A User Friendly Website – Designing Interactive

Facebook | Username

Starting NOW, you can choose a username for your Facebook account to easily direct friends, family, and coworkers to your profile.

To select your username, visit the link NOW:
http://www.facebook.com/username/

To learn more about usernames, visit the Help Center:
http://www.facebook.com/help.php?page=89

Online Marketing for Beginners - Online Marketing - Added Bytes

It is amazing how many people hire online marketers without the faintest idea of what online marketers actually do. Search engine optimisation (SEO) is fairly simple - SEOs will try and improve your site's performance, usually by trying to leverage their knowledge of how search engines work and tricks they can use to make sites seem more relevant than they actually are to specific keywords.

Marketing online, though, need not have anything to do with search engines. Search engines are irrelevant - good positions and traffic are a by-product of effective online marketing.

Unfortunately, after educating a client on what online marketing is, they usually assume that if they pay you a few hundred pounds, you can make their site compete with the very best out there.

See full article here: Online Marketing for Beginners - Online Marketing - Added Bytes

Online Marketing training for tourism professionals - ORC Educational Exchange

The vision of Online Revealed Canada is to provide a unique venue to facilitate hands on education within the travel industry from a grass roots perspective. We are pleased to announce the dates and locations of 7 Regional Online Revealed Canada Educational Exchanges.

What is an ORC Educational Exchange?
The ORC Educational Exchange is a hands-on Regional one-day workshop for hospitality suppliers, vendors, hotel groups, individual hotels, tourism operators, travel intermediaries, agencies and other Canadian travel professionals. Upon conclusion of the workshop, attendees will have working knowledge of topics such as Search Engine Optimization, Social Media and Revenue & online distribution Management.

To ensure we provide quality and relevant content for each community, Online Revealed has identified known professionals in each destination who have a passion for providing education, identified as Destination Educational Leaders. These leaders assist Online Revealed in identifying a relevant local keynote speaker, provide insights into hot topics important to the community and assist in facilitating the 'Idea's Market'.

These one-day Regional workshops are your opportunity to have your organization's first "Web Max" Meeting. Affordably priced to bring in numerous members of your team, you will be able to experience hands-on e-marketing workshops tailored toward your region and how to promote travel online!

City	Date
Montreal	September 13, 2007
Ottawa	October 30, 2007
Edmonton	November 13, 2007
Calgary	November 15, 2007
Toronto	January 17, 2008
Halifax	January 24, 2008
Vancouver	March 13, 2008

Price: $249.00 plus GST $14.94 Total Cost: $263.94

With a local relevant keynote, the Educational Exchange continues with 4 unique workshops mirroring the tracks of the annual Online Revealed Canada Conference: Organic Search, Paid Placement, New Media and Travel. The "Ideas Market" brings together ideas and best practice sharing between participants wrapping up the day with a Technology Update!

Don't miss out on this opportunity for a hands-on experience that will educate you about the online tools available to your organization for increased site traffic and more importantly INCREASED REVENUE!

Yours in Quality Online Travel Education,
Steve Nardi, Managing Director
Alan Young, Event Co-Chair
Alicia Whalen and Patricia Brusha, Co-founders

Online Marketing training for tourism professionals - ORC Educational Exchange

Travel 2.0 and e-tourism analysis and insight. Internet travel research and web analytics from online visitor behaviour experts Highland Business Research

The Internet is no longer the new kid on the block in terms of travel research and planning - it is absolutely mainstream amongst travellers of all ages and backgrounds. Even those who book offline are likely to have used the Internet to formulate their plans. (See our Tracking Tourism article for more).

Are you able to tap into existing social networks of potential visitors online, to ensure your marketing efforts are both more effective and extensive?

Do you know:

• How people are finding you online?
• The factors that are influencing tourists research and conversion decisions?
• The propensity of your target market segments to research and book online?
• The ability of the suppliers in your destination to meet the increasingly sophisticated expectations of visitors?
• Whether your social media, paid search and online marketing activity is working?

Understanding visitor behaviour online

Methods Highland Business Research utilise in our Travel 2.0 and e tourism research include:

• Consumer and supplier behaviour research
• Website measurement and online campaign analysis
• Competitor destination and trends research
• Online social network analysis
• Destination and supplier readiness research
• Consolidation, analysis and insight from online comments and feedback

From ground-breaking research like our recent online social network analysis of the Scottish Diaspora worldwide, advanced web analytics, through to tourism e-business surveys and online visitor feedback analysis, Highland Business Research is focussed on meeting the intelligence requirements of the modern travel and tourism industry.

What are your critical questions?

Whether you are looking to improve online competitiveness, identify new prospects or transform marketing and communication strategies, your unique circumstances will drive the questions you have and the insight you require.

To discuss the questions you are trying to solve, please contact Stephen Budd or call on (44) 01463 729314.

For the latest tourism research thinking and discussion visit Tracking Tourism, our tourism industry research blog, recently named as one of the top 10 business blogs by Travel Weekly.

Travel 2.0 and e-tourism analysis and insight. Internet travel research and web analytics from online visitor behaviour experts Highland Business Research

14 Serious Mistakes of Your Tourism Brochure Marketing Strategy

This is a long article with many parts of interesting skills and knowledge and up to now is the best article about brochure marketing in the world; In fact, it's the first chapter of Advanced Tourism Brochure Marketing Package published by T-IM.com ; therefor, its content is also great for any businesses which have a marketing brochure.

This article is so comprehensive and has 2 parts:

Part 1: The first 7 serious brochure marketing mistakes

Part 2: The second 7 mistakes more to be revealed.

Due to the length of the whole article make difficult to read and remember for reader , I just supply the part 1. At the end of this article, there will have a link to the part 2 and Friendly print version of the whole article.

Keep reading.

Part 1: The first 7 serious brochure marketing mistakes

A well- planed and carefully-designed tourism brochure will indeed increase the services business; especially it is the business of tourism. But many tourism marketers don’t make effective use of their brochure and leave out important elements. That is a cost, a real damage for your business.

If you have a marketing tool to use, you must ultimately exploit its profit; if you can not take advantage of the promotional tool, the money and time of publishing the tool is one of the biggest costs. The second cost is the lost prospects caught by your competitors who use this same tool at its most power. And the third created by the weakness of your integrated marketing plan – you do not know how to use one among many of your marketing tools effectively, how can you use the rest to get the most benefit of your marketing mix.

Read full article here: 14 Serious Mistakes of Your Tourism Brochure Marketing Strategy

About the author:

David Kan is the CEO of T-IM.com

T-IM.com is the largest global Free tourism internet marketing resources with 57 & more online tools and forum to help tourism industry enhance their internet marketing result.

Website URL: http://www.tourism-internetmarketing.com

Click this link to quickly join in the Tourism Internet Marketing Forum to enhance your internet sale as well as receive the great forum benefits.

http://www.tourism-internetmarketing.com/parent_page/Frequently_Asked_Question.htm#benefit

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Kan

Kan, D. (2005, September 22). 14 Serious Mistakes of Your Tourism Brochure Marketing Strategy. Retrieved June 8, 2009, from http://ezinearticles.com/?14-Serious-Mistakes-of-Your-Tourism-Brochure-Marketing-Strategy&id=74612