Social Bookmarking Makes Good Marketing Sense

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Content syndication and?distribution online is getting a shot in the arm from social bookmarking. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project 28% of internet users have tagged or categorized content online such as photos, news stories or blog posts. On a typical day online, 7% of internet users say they tag or categorize online content.

Heidi Cohen, who teaches in New York University's Masters Program in Direct and Interactive Marketing, says in her ClickZ column that what makes social bookmarking?importnat to marketers is that?it's another cost-effective way to augment search marketing efforts, distribute content, and aid branding.

Savvy marketers who want to take advantage of this new trend are often held back by the technical nature of social bookmarks.? If you are a big corporation with a highly trained IT department, it should be no problem .? But what if you are a small to medium business?? Can you sitll apply these new social media tools to your web content?

Luckily?the explosion of consumer generated media has brought with it a slew of easy to use tools that make it really simple to add content yourself and?encourage your readers to add?and share content too.

Some of these tools, like blog platforms, have the social bookmarkiong links built in.. But?as?Cohen points out, in her article, bookmarking is not just for?bloggers.? You should also add the bookmarking links to?your press releases and other good web content, - such as articles and destination information or product specials and updates..

One way to make the most of all these social media tools is to find a system like PRESSfeed that allows you to

add the content to your site syndicate it in an RSS ?feed tag it for Technorati create a tag cloud offer social bookmarking links so that your readers can? tag and share the content.

And it's all as simple as working in Word.

Remember that the success of social? bookmarking depends on the quality of your content.? People won't?save and share boring content.? It has to be well researched and well-written.? And it has to?meet the needs of your audience and be something of value they want to pass along to a friend.

Technorati Tags: social bookmarking, marketing, content syndication, RSS feeds,

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Travel Operators Take to Social Media

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AppId is over the quota

Hospitality.net reports that travel companies have seen the social media light and are fully engaged in these PR and marketing activities.

Is it best to work with existing social networks like Facebook, or is the ROI in setting up your own? How does one go about creating an effective social media strategy?

According to Forrester Research the sequence should be People, Objectives, Tools and then Strategy.? We believe that strategy includes the whole process: set benchmarks and goals, tap into the conversations, develop and deliver your content, engage and facilitate conversations and measure the ROI.?

You can't start by picking tools.That comes after you've done your? homework.

Carnival Cruises chose to set up their own social networking community called CarnivalConnections.com. That makes sense for them - they have a large group of customers who cruise.? The idea is to bring family and friends together by helping them plan and manage their cruise vacations. The site features an “e-invite” electronic invitation tool that can be tailored family reunions, girlfriend getaways and other groups.

Carnival was also an early adopter of Twitter – exploiting it to monitor their brand image, listen to questions from customers, communicate promotions and share experiences.

Holland America LIne has been using RSS?Feeds to keep their customers in the loop.

Southwest Airlines implemented a social media strategy three years ago and they have a presence on several popular sites: Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Their blog “Nuts about Southwest” gets 70,000 unique visitors each month. “Nuts about Southwest” was winner of the 2008 PR News Platinum PR award for blogs.

Marriott Caribbean Resorts creates content about the destinations and syndicates it in RSS?feeds. These articles have found their way into social? news sites like Stumble Upon, Kirtsy and Newsvine as readers save and share the content.

Some social media tools may fit your needs more than others. And the users of each tool have a specific demographic.

You can really only decide which ones are right for you once you've done your research.

But one thing is quite clear: social media is an effective marketing strategy for travel companies.? And in our current climate, effectve is what they need.

Technorati Tags: travel, social media, blogs, social networks, marketing,

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Social Bookmarking Makes Good Marketing Sense

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Content syndication and?distribution online is getting a shot in the arm from social bookmarking. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project 28% of internet users have tagged or categorized content online such as photos, news stories or blog posts. On a typical day online, 7% of internet users say they tag or categorize online content.

Heidi Cohen, who teaches in New York University's Masters Program in Direct and Interactive Marketing, says in her ClickZ column that what makes social bookmarking?importnat to marketers is that?it's another cost-effective way to augment search marketing efforts, distribute content, and aid branding.

Savvy marketers who want to take advantage of this new trend are often held back by the technical nature of social bookmarks.? If you are a big corporation with a highly trained IT department, it should be no problem .? But what if you are a small to medium business?? Can you sitll apply these new social media tools to your web content?

Luckily?the explosion of consumer generated media has brought with it a slew of easy to use tools that make it really simple to add content yourself and?encourage your readers to add?and share content too.

Some of these tools, like blog platforms, have the social bookmarkiong links built in.. But?as?Cohen points out, in her article, bookmarking is not just for?bloggers.? You should also add the bookmarking links to?your press releases and other good web content, - such as articles and destination information or product specials and updates..

One way to make the most of all these social media tools is to find a system like PRESSfeed that allows you to

add the content to your site syndicate it in an RSS ?feed tag it for Technorati create a tag cloud offer social bookmarking links so that your readers can? tag and share the content.

And it's all as simple as working in Word.

Remember that the success of social? bookmarking depends on the quality of your content.? People won't?save and share boring content.? It has to be well researched and well-written.? And it has to?meet the needs of your audience and be something of value they want to pass along to a friend.

Technorati Tags: social bookmarking, marketing, content syndication, RSS feeds,

View the original article here