Taking Hotels to the Next Level With Location Based Social Media

June 15, 2011
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NB: This is a guest article by Loren Gray of the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) digital marketing board and director of ecommerce at Ocean Properties. As social media and smartphones continue to dominate the landscape and people become more addicted to “checking in” and updating their status, the hospitality industry must continue to leverage these tools. Audiences are spending greater portions of time on these platforms throughout the day, making it imperative that we look for ways to develop … [Read more...]

Connecting the Connections: Social Networking for Small Businesses

June 3, 2011
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So you run a small business and are trying to figure the value of social networking. Everyone keeps talking about it, and it’s great to keep in contact with friends the kids, but does it make sense for my business? Well the answer is yes and no. Unlike other marketing and sales activities you easily track results; increase your reach, and most importantly reduce your cost of sales. Social networking can be market visibility that keeps giving back. Imagine you run an ad once in the local paper and parish magazine for your service or … [Read more...]

Social media to become crucial component to small business marketing

June 2, 2011
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Seeing the success of big-name brands on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, small businesses are increasing expenditures on the channel. According to a recent report from Access Markets International, an intelligence agency from New York, small business marketing budgets are on the rise and for many, social media will be the highlight of their campaigns. Whereas general marketing expenditures will rise only 4 percent, social media spend is expected to grow by 35 percent among small businesses. "In 2010, we saw a … [Read more...]

Social media is everybody’s business

May 31, 2011
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One of the questions that keeps coming up around social media is/ who should be responsible for it within a business? Is it a part of marketing, or PR, or customer services? As this edition of Digital Strategy makes clear, the immediate answer is “all of the above, and more”. Our search feature, highlights the power of Facebook’s tie-up with Bing and how advertisers expect Facebook users’ resulting familiarity with the Microsoft search engine will lead to them using it to search the wider web. Social media is having a … [Read more...]

Can social media add real value to your business?

May 31, 2011
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There’s no point jumping on the social media band-wagon without understanding what social media can do for your business and how it can add tangible value. Niklas de Besche, Executive Director of Meltwater Buzz, part of Meltwater Group discusses cutting through the hype to make social media work for you. Let’s not get caught up with buzzwords. This is simple. If your clients are important to you then social media is important to you. Because those are your clients speaking to you, direct. The channels now available to us, via … [Read more...]

In the long run Facebook will be bigger than Google, says Dyson

May 31, 2011
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Interesting comments over on SAI from the Silicon Valley investor and writer, Esther Dyson, who says that it is Facebook that will win out over Google in the long run. Larry Page might have something to say about that. Dyson said that Facebook would end up being bigger than Google because it’s in the “people” business and Google is not. With Facebook chasing that one billion user target and plans for China you can see that happening. That is perfectly correct, of course, Google is in the search business, but that is something … [Read more...]

MySpace founder interested in buying back beleaguered social network

May 31, 2011
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MySpace cofounder Chris DeWolfe has given a strong hint that he fancies another crack at the social network he set up and wants to buy it back from News Corp. In an article in Businessweek he refuses to deny a bid and says only that he can not talk about it. “Myspace was a cultural phenomenon, but you can’t roll back to 2006. The world has changed. Companies have reinvented their brands in the consumer-products space or fashion, but I’ve never really seen that on the internet. “Before I left Myspace two years ago, I was … [Read more...]

Toyota unveils ‘Toyota Friend’ in-car social networking

May 31, 2011
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The Toyota Friend service will enable drivers to receive Twitter-style messages from their car about issues such as maintenance and low batteries in electric (EV) and plug-in hybrid (PHV) vehicles. Using cloud-computing technology, drivers will also be able to communicate with Toyota customer services and dealerships, as well as interacting with friends and family through Twitter and Facebook. The network will initially only be available in EVs and PHVs going on sale next year in Japan, but Toyota said it was looking into expanding … [Read more...]