360DigitalInfluence

From our colleagues in APAC.

Screenshots from my iPhone

Foursquare is an interesting, fun and [at times] useful service that’s gotten some solid buzz in the last few months.  It’s the brainchild of the folks who brought us the one-time Internet service darling, Dodgeball.  I found this article from the New York Future Initiative which does a nice job of explaining the service, and the creators’ vision for what it might become.

With the ever-growing buzz, I thought you might appreciate the skinny …

What it is

Foursquare describes itself as 50% friend-finder, 30% social cityguide, 20% nightlife game, though my personal bias is that [at least for the time being] it’s more game.

How it works

A player checks in with Foursquare when they are out and about at a restaurant, bar, museum, movie theater, etc.  Checking in earns you points.  Points earn status [e.g, I was for a fleeting moment the Mayor of the Bowery Hotel Bar].  You can also earn badges for doing interesting things, like checking in at odd times or out-of-the-way places.

For now points/badges only get you bragging rights, though clearly that will change at some point [e.g., Ian checked in 5 times at Old Town Social, earning him a free cocktail].

How you play

Players check in via a slick iPhone app [uses GPS to find your location and things around you], mobile site and text message.  You can have Foursquare ping Twitter when you check in.

Where it works

At the time of this post, Foursquare is  available in: Amsterdam, Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C.

My recommendation

If you’ve got an iPhone, I recommend giving it a whirl - nothing to lose.  If you’re a marketer, you should take a peak under the hood so you understand the possibilities when Foursquare [inevitably] opens for [paid] business.  If you’re a business in one of the cities above [particularly in a hipster neighborhood] maybe play around with rewarding patrons for checking in from your store/bar/restaurant.

It’s not there yet, and may never be.  But I continue to hear the buzz …

As we all know, 2009 has been a hard year for almost everyone. There are very few corners of the globe that have not been effected by the crisis. The economic downturn has left many countries in or on the verge of recessions/depressions. To compound these matters, the threat of H1N1 (aka swine flu) is leaving some countries worse off than others.

 
Take Mexico for example. They were at the epicenter of the outbreak and the fall-out has been devastating to their economy. Mexico’s claim that the H1N1 virus emanated from Asia  seems to have fallen on deaf ears as Mexico’s economy, which relies heavily on tourist dollars, has been suffering since the outbreak of the H1N1 virus. As a result, vacations to Mexico are cheaper than they have been in years. Forbes  is reporting that Travel-Ticker is offering over 20 Mexican vacations up to70% off.

Since amazing travel deals alone are not luring the tourists in, Mexico is using social media to entice travelers back to Mexico with its “Believe It” campaign. Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History has signed an agreement with Google Mexico to promote archeological and historical sites. This is not a bad idea because according to Trip Advisors 2009 travel trends, 87% of travelers will visit a historical site on vacation. In addition to partnering with Google to showcase the plethora of historical gems in Mexico, they have started a channel on Youtube.com to further showcase their historical landmarks They will also be launching advertising campaigns in 12 major U.S. markets and six in Canada.

There are many communication lessons that can be learned from Mexico’s H1N1 fiasco. Had they handled their communications better from the beginning (apparently blaming Asia did not work) they might have avoided the swine flu’s name metamorphosis into the ‘Mexican flu’ .  Waiting four months to tell the world Mexico is a a safe place to travel might not have been the best idea. We encourage our clients to have crisis plans in place for just these reasons. However, their use of social media to launch a recovery campaign shows how serious they are about revitalizing their image as a safe place with amazing beaches and fabulous historical sites. “Mexico and its tourism sector have proven yet again that we are resilient to crisis,” says Oscar Fitch, CEO of the Mexico Tourism Board. “Not only are we back up and running and receiving tourists every day, but we are showing the world that this administration represents responsibility.”

Have the reports of the death of luxury travel been greatly exaggerated?  Perhaps not (for now), but there are a few social networks out there catering to the more discerning traveler.  Here are the ones I’ve heard about lately.  Any others?

Voyage.tv is part TV station, part social network, part online travel booking service.  The New York Times recently profiled the web site in an article, the full text of which can be found here.  The cornerstone of Voyage.tv are their videos – all of which (at least the few I watched) are very highly produced, but are currently focused on the Caribbean.  Curious to see how they expand their offering to LATAM, EMEA, APAC, etc.

Indagare describes itself as “a membership-based community for sophisticated travelers, providing access to curated online archives, printed black books and custom advisory and booking services.” And true to form, much of the content on the site is off limits to those who have not paid for a membership, which ranges from $250-$1,200 a year.

The informational tour gives you a good sense of the rewards of membership.  What I find most interesting is that they’ve grouped travel recommendations around 10 passion points (e.g. adventure, arts, family, etc.) in addition to geography.  For travelers like me and my wife who are open to vacationing anywhere, this is an interesting approach.

SQUA.RE describes itself as “the first and only community-generated TV site dedicated to your ideas of Luxury, Style and Inspiring Lifestyle.”  And while not devoted to travel, they do have an “Escape” section devoted to travel.  As with Indigare, membership to SQUA.RE is by invitation only, and it’s unclear how many members they actually have.

The question I have is, where do these sites fit in with popular blogs like Jaunted, or even Twitter?  Is their value in their niche area of expertise?  Access to bespoke travel itineraries via luxury travel experts?  What do you think?

One of the biggest challenges facing a country vying for foreign tourism dollars is giving prospective tourists a good sense of what the country is all about, enticing them choose your destination over another.

There are four relatively inexpensive ways to give people a taste of your culture, in the comfort of their own home.  Here are a few ideas for thought …

1. Pictures tell a thousand words. If you’re a destination known for its beautiful sunsets, pristine beaches or unique architecture, why not start a group on Flickr?  I’m a huge fan of Barcelona, and particularly Gaudi’s work.  This Flickr group has 575 members, with more than 3,200 photos of Gaudi’s work.  There’s no reason why a country’s tourism board can’t start a group and invite people to post their vacation photos (as Albania appears to have done)
2. A way to a tourist’s heart is through their stomach. I read today on the New York Times blog about a pop-up dinner club making its way around the US, featuring native food from Buenos Aires chefs Diego Felix and Sanra Ritten.   My colleague, Eileen, posted about the power of food in destination marketing.
3. Music is a universal language. Why not work with a licensing company to create a branded CD - featuring music from your country - that can be sold or given away at restaurants, bars and clothing stores?  Not only will the music get people in the mood, but the CD case is a great billboard for you to communicate specific information about your country.
4. One influential voice can tell your story to many followers. Ogilvy PR has executed a number of successful familiarization (”fam” for short) trips with highly influential bloggers.  For the cost of their trip, we can reach many of their readers who turn to these bloggers for vacation advice.

Any other ideas for cost-effective ways to bring the spirit of a destination to your potential visitors?

For no other reason than curiosity I did a Twitter search for mentions of “travel advice” in the last 24 hours (ran it at 1:07pm CT on Tuesday, June 2).  Full results here (click on image below to expand).

There are tremendous opportunities to use Twitter as a conversation vehicle, but first and foremost you have to pay attention to the relevant discussions.

When I traveled through the Caribbean and New Orleans on my honeymoon five years ago, I did not give leaving my Blackberry at home a second thought. It wasn’t so much that it was my honeymoon, it was because technology was not as pervasive or accessible. It was just the start of the Web 2.0 world — for example, I was one of the few in my circle to have a Blackberry — at the time, many were taking baby steps (usually taught by their younger siblings or co-workers) of texting, so there was less of a need to plug in.

As we all acknowledge, though, today’s world is different. Airlines are fighting for your dollars by vying to be the first to have wi-fi access and now many will have it this summer . Many of us lament how it would be possible to leave our technology behind, even for a few days. And many a blog discussion has been had about the pros and cons of disconnecting or connecting.

Part of the beauty of a vacation for me, at least, is not only the getting away, but the feeling of getting away with something. When I’m lounging at a pool on a Wednesday at 2 p.m. and am truly relaxed, I feel I’m getting away with something. If I were to have my laptop or Blackberry poolside and anyone could ping me about a work deadline, question, or even a neighbor asking if we wanted our mail picked up, it would interrupt that zen quality that comes only from vacation and travel. Stories can always be captured and shared while traveling, but it’s the interruptive nature of technology that is what people should really disconnect from. Otherwise, you might as well have stayed home.

What happens when you take a bunch of Web 2.0 gurus armed with laptops and iPhones, ship them down to college town in Texas, and hold the most important social media confab in all the land?

You have South By Southwest Interactive - an event that has arguably done more for Austin, TX’s reputation and tourism industry over the last few years than the Longhorn football team.

Attendees at SXSWi 2009 (Creative Commons image courtesy of indigoprime on Flickr)

South By Southwest Interactive (SXSWI) has made Austin THE place for social media discussion, innovation and, to the regret of some (and delight of others), karaoke.

Brands from PepsiCo (Ogilvy PR works for several divisions of PepsiCo but did not do any work for SxSWi) to Levi’s to Dos Equis to Dell and many others had one sort of presence or another (ranging from official sponsor to party-thrower).

In a world where social media has become a powerful force in making or breaking brands, why not harness that power to make your destination brand?

Landing the hosting duties for the next big social media conference (whether you are a city or a hotel) could be a way to ingratiate your destination/property with key influencers, and bask in the halo of all the conference-related content that lives on for eternity in social media.

This is the first of in a series of posts I’ll draft on listening to conversations happening in social media.  Much (!) has already been written on this topic - my humble aim here is to arm you with one powerful and simple tool that will get your ear to the ground in a hurry.

It was inspired when I came across a Tweet from my colleague, Rohit Bhargava …

… and the first thing that came to mind was:  I wonder if the person in New Zealand who is responsible for this knows people are talking about it in social media?

I don’t think I’ll get much argument when I say that first and foremost, good marketers listen (particularly, social marketers).  Listening allows us to track conversation trends, brand/product mentions, what people are saying about the competition and what the competition is saying about themselves.  Having a good listening post in place also enables marketers to quickly identify potential negative stories brewing in social media - more and more often where crises are erupting - and to respond rapidly (more on that in another post).

This listen first mentality applies just as much to travel and tourism marketing as it does consumer packaged goods.  If you’re marketing a destination, airline, hotel, etc. and are not listening at all, here’s what I recommend you do immediately:

1. As people who know me will tell you, I am a bit obsessed with my RSS reader as a way to find, segment, consume and share important content. I use Google Reader, but I know a lot of people who use Ogilvy PR’s tool, The Daily Influence.  Either way, sign up for an RSS reader and learn how to use it today.
2. Populate your RSS reader with feeds from every important source of news and information (newspaper, magazine or blog) from your particular industry.  Everyone from The New York Times to Hospitality Net offer RSS feeds.  Look for the universal RSS icon and get clicking.  As you use your reader more and more you’ll find your comfort zone in organizing the incoming feeds (just as we have different styles of managing our email in-boxes).
3. Use Twitter Search to find brand, product, service (or in the example above, country) mentions and subscribe to the resulting RSS feeds.
4. Google Blog Search:  Purely anecdotal, but I get the sense that Google is overtaking (or even has overtaken) Technorati as the preferred blog search engine.  Again, I conduct a search on relevant terms and either grab the RSS feed or subscribe to email alerts.
5. Rinse and repeat for Google News, images and video (naive is the brand that does not think consumers are talking about them on multimedia sharing sites like Flickr and YouTube).

Again, I know we all have our favorite tools.  These are the basics that work well for my needs.  Would love to know what you use, and why.