Senator Blumenthal Takes Aim at Cruise Industry

St. Kitts Britannia, Allure and Oasis of the seas in port. Photo credit Spacejunkie2

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal has taken aim at the cruise industry this week, posting on Twitter that "cruise are repeating history" again as operators deal with coronavirus issues aboard.

"Our warnings have proved sadly prescient & continuously compelling. Time for CDC & cruise lines to protect consumers & again pause—docking their ships.," the Senator said in a Twitter post. "Cruises are repeating recent history as Petri-dishes of COVID infection."

The Twitter post comes after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its cruise ship colour status tracker.

Eighty-six ships were reported in "yellow status" on Tuesday, meaning reported cases of COVID-19 aboard have met the threshold for CDC investigation.

Put a clear data plan in place

By Carrie Finley-Bajak

As the American author, salesperson and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar said, "Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have 24-hour days." 

I talk with a lot of business professionals who tell me they want to devote more time to social media marketing tasks to improve their brand presence, attract new customers or engage with clients. Many social media managers feel that social media moves at a fast pace, which makes it hard to keep up. 

Also, if a business does not have a clear plan in place, then competing priorities will most likely bump social media marketing tasks off the to-do list. If this sounds familiar, keep reading to discover five action items to keep social media marketing tasks on track. 

Action item No. 1: Use data to set goals and establish priorities.

At the cornerstone of any social-media marketing strategy is data. Analyzing data can provide valuable insights to help guide decisions. Every three months, travel agents should be taking a deep dive into social media metrics to make decisions about where to spend time and money on this form of marketing. 

There are many ways to analyze data. For example, does video, text or imagery generate comments, shares and likes? How about other engagement performance statistics that track reach or interactions by social channel? And don't forget about website traffic reports that reveal acquisition and conversion stats. Travel professionals need to know how visitors are coming to a website and also how many of those visitors are responding to calls to action on specific landing pages. 

There are free metric reports available on each social media channel for business owners. You can combine those reports with website data details via Google Analytics for a complete picture. 

To learn more about metrics and how to create a social media marketing plan you should read:

• "61 Key Social Media Metrics, Defined" 
• "How to Create a Social Media Marketing Plan in 6 Steps"

Action item No. 2: Tidy up social media profiles.

Making sure that consistent branding meets your online audience is necessary for public relations and for presenting a professional image online. 

If you don't have time to devote to posting regularly on social media, at least the online audience can find out more about your company.

Some people set up social media accounts and forget to check back with the descriptions to make sure the information is accurate and full of keywords. Make sure there is an address and that details about your travel niche and images are consistent and up to date. 

Consider making a spreadsheet that lists all your company's social media handles and stats. Not only will a spreadsheet of all the social media channels with links to the websites be a time-saver; it can also serve as a file to keep track of growth numbers for setting goals.  

Do a search for your business name on all social media channels to see if there are orphan accounts, which someone at your company or you set up and then forgot to use (this does happen). 

In fact, a Facebook search on your business name might show results for competitors or spammers who are using the name of your business. 

Facebook Search is also helpful to glean information about suppliers. Pay attention to other travel agents who are ranked on Facebook search along with your suppliers because of keywords in their business descriptions.

Action item No. 3: Use social media tools for better time management.

To combat the frustration caused by not knowing what to post or not having enough time to post on numerous social media channels, consider using tools to help curate content and to post messages on multiple accounts at the same time. Here are some tools to help accomplish more with less time.

• Find content to share with online audiences with tools such as Google Alerts,Feedly, Scoop.it or Storify.
• Use a tool such as Hootsuite to manage multiple social media accounts in one location.

Action item No. 4: Develop an asset library of sharable content.

Can you relate? It is Wave season, and your competitor seems to have sponsored ads all over Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You have a budget set aside for social media advertising (in fact, your preferred suppliers are even willing to co-op some of the expense), but you don't have the time it takes to edit photos and to create compelling paid-ad campaigns.

Why not create a content action plan to anticipate the needs of consumers looking for travel products?

The following are suggestions for planning ad campaigns that increase brand awareness and engagement (remember engagement means access to more people who will become familiar with your brand; social selling is all about relationships).

• Collect and save photos from suppliers or recent site visits to use for ad campaigns. Use a photo-editing app on your smartphone or a program such as Canva.com or PicMonkey.com to compare two vacation destinations side by side and ask the audience to pick their favorite. The image can be used on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter with a call to action asking the audience to pick the best one. 
  
• Generate small videos to share online. Next time you are on vacation or on a fam trip, start recording video. These can be edited quickly with Google Photos or with iMovie on an iPhone. Add music and narration later.
  
• Have a list of popular hashtags at the ready. Hashtags are very versatile and can be used for building one's audience, promote an event or develop a sweepstakes campaign.

Action item No. 5.: Research the competition and use your suppliers to help with social media tasks.

Travel agents are competing for screen time for consumers who are on information overload. 

Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to finding generic content to share with the online audience, it makes more sense to get inspiration from your competition and suppliers.

Because social media is a public forum, there is no harm in exploring how the competition is using it. Perhaps there was a new product launch that you forgot to mention online; maybe there was a press release about a new cruise line, hotel or promotion that you did not read. 

All these scenarios are realistic ways that travel agents can miss the boat when it comes to opportunities to share usable information with a target audience.

Instead of trying to develop original ideas, get inspired by the competition and use your suppliers to help with social media marketing tasks.

The following tools help find useable content to repurpose and keep an eye on the competition:

• Research with Tagboard. Use hashtags to search for and collect public social media within seconds to streamline work flows.
• Use DrumUp to explore keyword searches and curate trending content.
• Discover hot topics with Google Trends.  

Let me know how your quest for the information presented will inspire travel professionals to re-evaluate their approach to social media marketing tasks to save time and generate maximum results.

MSC rolls out new faster internet and social media packages

MSC Cruises has worked with business communications provider Marlink to develop new faster, more reliable and cost-effective internet and social media packages for guests.

Now live onboard MSC Preziosa and MSC Divina, the high bandwidth internet packages are available via the Marlink Sealink Cloud and will be rolled out across all 12 MSC ships over the coming months. The packages will also be available on the line’s next-generation ships that are currently under construction, including MSC Meraviglia and MSC Seaside.

“We are constantly seeking new ways to innovate and enhance the guest experience aboard what is already the most modern fleet at sea,” said Gianni Onorato, MSC’s CEO. “We know that staying connected while on holiday is increasingly more important to our guests hence we are rolling out state-of-the-art technology to allow them to stay connected whether they are looking to share experiences and memorable moments, stay in touch with friends and family, need to stay on top of work e-mails or simply catch up with daily news.”

Aimed at those who want to be connected 24/7 to social media, the Social Package allows guests to post pictures and chat with friends via popular social platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Snapchat, WeChat and Pinterest. Prices start from €3.90 per day or €14.90 for a seven-day cruise.

The Surfer Package is designed for moderate internet users who want to read news, sports scores and catch up on e-mails. It also includes access to social media platforms as per the Social Package. Prices start from €9.90 per day or €29.90 for a seven-day itinerary.

Meanwhile, the Streamer Package has been created for heavy internet users who need access either for work or for personal use and enables full internet and social media access, including audio and video. Prices from €19.90 per day or €59.90 for a full seven-day voyage.

Guests will be able to select their package prior to embarkation and will be easy to upgrade or top up.

Smartphone the most essential travel item, survey finds

Worldwide, smartphones are travelers’ most indispensable items when they travel, even ahead of their toothbrush and driver’s license, according to the Expedia/Egencia Mobile Index.

The index, commissioned by Expedia.com and Egencia (Expedia’s business travel brand), was conducted by consulting firm It was based on input from 9,642 travelers from 19 countries.

Among U.S. respondents, one-fifth considered their smartphone to be their most essential travel item, on par with the number of respondents who said their driver’s license was the most important item to travel with. In the United States, those items tied for the most essential item for travelers.

Worldwide, 66% of respondents said smartphones are the most essential item, while 74% considered it an important travel item.

China, Taiwan and Thailand topped the charts on the countries where respondents placed the most priority on having smartphones while traveling; in China, 94% of respondents said they consider their mobile phone an important travel companion. Taiwan saw the same percentage, and in Thailand, it was 91%.

The study also found that worldwide, 84% of travelers said they want to access information from anywhere. Over half, 60%, said they do not “unplug” on leisure trips, and 35% said they use their smartphones more on vacation than at home.

Globally, 60% of travelers said they wouldn’t go on vacation without a mobile phone, and 63% sleep with their phone next to their bed on vacation.

“We have found that travelers are using mobile devices at every stage of the travel process, from researching and booking trips to capturing and sharing the travel experience,” said Aman Bhutani, president of Brand Expedia Group.

A guide to social media advertising

Social Media By Carrie Finley-Bajak

Finding leads online, either by ranking in organic search results or from social media interactions, can yield results. However, it is often necessary to supplement marketing efforts by deploying social media ad campaigns to remain competitive. 

The quest to stay relevant online takes effort. One way to keep a pulse on trends is to explore advertising options available on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and LinkedIn.

Getting started: plan, buy, optimize

Social media ad campaigns don't require long-term contracts, enabling travel professionals to stop ads at any time. Most channels will offer an option to pay for clicks or impressions. 

Prior to spending money on paid or targeted advertising campaigns, make sure to have a keyword strategy. In general, try to stick with a list of three to five keywords to remain consistent. Search on Google for "keyword generator" to get ideas. 

Buy targeted ads based on location, demographics and/or device type. 

Optimize and analyze ad campaigns on a regular basis. Make sure to stay agile, making adjustments as necessary. 

Social media ad channels

After a travel professional makes the decision to allocate time and resources to finding leads through paid advertisements, the next step is to figure out where to deploy ad campaigns.

• Facebook: According to Facebook, there are more than 1.4 billion people who use Facebook to connect with what matters to them, and more than 900 million visit every day. At the end of July, Facebook reported that ads brought in $3.8 billion in advertising revenue for the three-month reporting period that ended in July. As far as social networking sites go, Facebook is a great option for travel agents looking to get started with a social ad strategy. Ads can appear in news feed on a desktop, news feed on a mobile device and in the right column of Facebook on a desktop. 

Facebook does a great job collecting information about people. Take advantage of this data and target ads according to location and interests. 

With Facebook Ads, travel sellers can create targeted ads to reach different audiences while meeting business goals. Among the things you can do are: build ads that promote clicks to your website, create ads that increase video views, create offers for prospects to claim and increase attendance at a special event, product launch or cruise night.

To learn about Facebook Ads, visithttps://www.facebook.com/business/products/ads.

• Instagram: Although still in its infancy, Instagram recently opened up its ad platform to all companies in 30 countries. 

The service is evolving, and the company recently announced it was launching more ad products to use on Instagram. One thing definitely worth trying on Instagram are carousel ads, which are a compelling way to tell a brand's story. 

Create and target advanced Instagram ads based on custom audiences, look-alike audiences, Facebook categories and partner categories. Facebook's Ads Manager is the easiest way for small businesses to start running ads on Instagram.

To learn more about Instagram for business, visithttps://business.instagram.com/advertising.

• Twitter: Whether you're looking for more followers or website traffic, Twitter ads might be a good option. 

To make the most of Twitter ads, make sure to understand where potential leads spend their time on the service. For example, one way travel agents can generate leads is by using promoted tweets during travel-related Twitter chats. (For a list of weekly chats, visit www.travelogx.com/chat.) Another way is running ads on popular hashtags. 

There are three kinds of Twitter Ads. 1) Promoted tweets (with or without an image or video) are messages like an announcement of an upcoming product release, a sale or an event you're hosting; 2) A promoted account is an ad that invites targeted Twitter users to follow your brand; and 3) Promoted trends are leverage time-, context- and event-sensitive trends promoted by Twitter's advertising partners. These paid, promoted trends appear at the top of the trending topics list on Twitter and are clearly marked as "promoted." 

Like most platforms, Twitter enables you to target your ads based on location, gender, languages, interests and devices. 

To learn more about Twitter ads for business, visit https://biz.twitter.com/ad-products.

• Pinterest: Ads on Pinterest consist of "promoted pins," which refer to content that will appear in search results. As with other pay-for-click models, a travel professional will only pay for promoted pins when a viewer clicks on or otherwise engages with an ad. There is no minimum cost to run an ad campaign. Instead, it varies based on targeting audience and bid amount.

Pinterest wants promoted pins to be among some of the best pins members see on the social network. According to Pinterest, ads should contain "beautiful, actionable and interesting" content. Before getting started, make sure to review Pinterest'sadvertising principles and rules. 

In May, Pinterest offered a new motion-based mobile ad format called cinematic pins, which are a nice way to enhance storytelling for a brand.

To learn more about advertising on Pinterest, visit https://ads.pinterest.com.

• LinkedIn: For B2B networking and to access affinity groups, advertising on LinkedIn can raise brand awareness, build relationships and drive quality leads. 

 LinkedIn Ads enable travel advisers to create and place ads on prominent pages on LinkedIn.com. Target which LinkedIn members view ads by selecting a target audience according to job title, job function, industry, geography, age, gender, company name, company size or LinkedIn group. Advertising costs are controlled by setting a budget (paying only for clicks or impressions). LinkedIn ad formats include text and image ads, video ads or text-only ads. 

To learn more about advertising on LinkedIn, visit www.linkedin.com/advertising.

Best practice tips

• Set your advertising goals first. Create both daily and lifetime budgets for your campaigns. Ask suppliers for co-op money to help offset the costs associated with running ad campaigns.
• Understand the types of actions available from social ads. Are you looking for an increase in reach, followers, engagement or website traffic?
• Choose targeting keywords that make sense for ads while adhering to an agency's brand standards and travel niche.
• Use A/B testing to see what ads perform best. A good rule of thumb for independent contractors is to use variations of popular posts from individual accounts to reduce costs associated with market testing.
• Analyze data to determine what time of day consumers are engaging with ads, then target leads when they are most active online.
• Don't be shy. Interact and engage with leads who respond to ads.
• Think global, but deploy local. Take advantage of ZIP code-targeted ads to promote travel products to niche communities. 

Staying on track and ahead of the curve

By Carrie Finley-Bajak 
When it comes to social media strategy, it's not OK to turn on cruise control: If a reset is in order, take one. Granting yourself a do-over can actually refresh stale campaigns and force you to break bad habits. Here are some ways to keep your social media marketing on track for success. 

Stay focused on your goals

It's easy to get caught up in the buzz when it comes to social media. While I enjoy learning about new trends in digital marketing, I have to remind myself to stay focused on growing my business.

Using Google Analytics, Facebook Insights and reports from social media analytics companies like Simply Measured helps me leverage data to identify opportunities and to optimize activities.

My overall goal is to use social media to get visitors to my website. Almost all of my social media updates and campaigns fit my keyword strategy, and if I am doing my job right, then promoting my brand yields a measurable increase in fans and followers and a rise in website traffic.

Besides building brand awareness and increasing a fan base, social media can be used as a tool for prospecting, lead qualification and customer service. 

To get leads on social media, it takes time and a commitment to consistency. A steady stream of product announcements does not perform well on social networks. Instead, focus on showcasing expertise and experience. Use different types of content formats to capture attention.

Using supplier resources can be a time- saver and a way to get new ideas for what to post on social media.

Ken Muskat, executive vice president of sales, public relations and guest services at MSC Cruises USA and chairman of CLIA's Trade Relations Committee, reports that MSC Cruises continues to provide the most updated promotional tools on its agent website.

Within the marketing tools section is a social media tab offering ready-made tweets and Facebook updates based on the cruise line's latest news and promotions. 

Grow with social media marketing

Social media messaging should include a robust mix of unique calls to action that drive visitors to click on links to your website, where visitors can subscribe to your mailing list or find a number to call for more information.

Make sure you have a system to monitor and track leads from social media. 

Even social media-savvy agents with an established presence on social media need to keep abreast of current trends to remain relevant.

One of the key findings in the 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report published by Social Media Examiner was that marketers still value Facebook and even though a large number of respondents use Facebook, 68% want to learn more about it and 62% plan to increase Facebook activities.

If you are one of the estimated 40 million small businesses using Facebook to promote your brand and to connect with customers, fighting for attention is a constant challenge. 

A lot of people are looking for creative ways to generate leads without paying for Facebook ads.

In an article posted on Forbes.com, social marketing consultant and writer Jayson DeMers wrote "50 Free Ways to Increase Your Facebook Page Likes." 

Some of the highlights from Jason's article include the following tips:

• Use images as a regular part of your Facebook content strategy.
• Engage with other pages in your niche through leaving "thoughtful comments in response to other people's posts."
• When leaving Facebook comments, post as your page rather than from your personal profile.

If your Facebook page has been on cruise control, go back and refresh the about section, and add relevant events and detailed descriptions to photos. 

In Travel Weekly's Focus on Social Media article, there was a great example of an agent's Facebook page that can inspire you to revamp lackluster Facebook pages. 

Jill LaBarre's page, Jill's Great Escapes, has incorporated all the elements that will increase the chance of getting leads. I am impressed by the "book now" call-to-action button that drives leads to her website as well as the use of custom tabs to get leads to "register to win a trip." Jill also has leveraged the events tab to highlight her upcoming trips -- three excellent examples of how to leverage Facebook.

Another Facebook feature that you might not know about is the ability to auto-schedule updates. This time-saver could be enormous help to agents who can set aside a few hours a week to schedule Facebook updates. Find out more at the Facebook Help Center.

Twitter is another social media platform that generates a lot of buzz. For travel sellers, Twitter is a good place to engage with suppliers, network with other agents and stay current on industry news.

There are ways to get leads on Twitter, but I would recommend getting comfortable with the platform before investing in Twitter ads. 

I get that Twitter is not for everyone, but according to the Social Media Examiner survey, marketers indicated it as an area where survey responders planned to increase their use.

At a minimum, Twitter accounts should be established and a header image and description with a link to an agent's website should be set up.

There are many ways to use Twitter. For example, Travel Weekly hosts a live Twitter chat every month about trending topics in travel. We use the #TWchats hashtag to promote and engage with industry insiders, including agents, suppliers and influencers.

I would suggest getting started and using the list feature to help create customized streams specific to your niche. For example, create a list of your preferred suppliers to quickly see their posts. 

The advanced search feature enables users to create custom searches based on keywords and variables like location.

Best in show

These are my favorite tweets from June's #TWchats about social media best practices within the travel industry:

Larry Pimentel admits to using social media to find "a unique luxe wellness lodge in #NewZealand called @SplitApple." The CEO of Azamara Club Cruises added in his tweet, "Travelers loved the experience. So did I."

Catherine Heeg: "I really like Pinterest as you can organize your photos and message boards and pins to clients."

Seiche Wave: "A great social media campaign stimulates dialogue, attracts new followers and increases new visitors to all associated sites."

Video

No conversation about social media marketing is complete without mention of video.

Whether an agent uses a smartphone, digital camera or expensive video recorders, we know that videos capture the attention of people on social media.

• Anyone can set up a YouTube channel, and a lot of suppliers will give you permission to upload their content onto your agency's branded channel.
• Instagram has a video-sharing feature as well as Vine, which can be easily shared on Twitter.
• Facebook allows users to directly upload video. Pinterest allows users to "pin" videos, and your website should have a blog where you can easily embed videos to leverage content.

German cruise line introduces social media access fee

German line AIDA Cruises is introducing a flat fee for internet access to social media networks on board its ships.

Passengers will be able to share their experiences on board with friends on social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or WhatsApp for €4 a day or €19 a week.

AIDA claims to be “dramatically increasing” the bandwidth and speed of internet connections in addition to the new social media flat rate.

New internet packages to be introduced soon will allow unlimited access rather than be based on minutes of use.

Three options will be available with packages costing €25 for 250MB, €39 for 500MB and €99 for 3 GB of access.

Thomas Pfitzer, chief technical officer at the Carnival Corporation-owned line, said: “The use of mobile devices is continuously growing. We want to accommodate this trend and are offering our guests an additional service with the flat rate.

“With these package offers, we help keep the costs of satellite-based internet connections at sea reasonable and calculable for our guests.”

Six ships in the fleet will be equipped with enhanced internet access by next month, with completion due by November.

The new internet packages and fees will be part of the standard offering on new flagship AIDAprima (pictured).

Passengers who book internet packages in advance through the MyAIDA portal will receive a 5% discount.

Avoiding common social media mistakes

By Carrie Finley-Bajak

 

Are common mistakes keeping you from social media marketing success? While word-of-mouth and email marketing are effective ways to reach your target audience, most travel agents agree that social media can also yield results. 

When it comes to attracting attention on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Google+, Tumblr or LinkedIn, competition is fierce. Avoiding common mistakes can result in more brand exposure and leads. 

Here are some social media mistakes to avoid, plus a few quick-fix tips:

1) Irrelevant or cumbersome user names and handles. It might seem fundamental, but social media user names, handles and personal URLs need to be user-friendly. Make sure the name reflects branding, is easy to read and is short.

Even expert social media users have challenges with handles. For example, Jean Newman Glock, consultant at JNG Worldwide and Signature Travel Network, admits that one of her biggest social media mistakes was creating a long Twitter handle. Jean learned the hard way about the importance of choosing handles carefully. 

"My first and ongoing mistake is obvious: creating a user name with too many characters," said Jean, whose Twitter handle is @JeanNewmanGlock. "What was I thinking? I only figured this out after setting up the same name across all social media platforms." 

Although Jean has done a good job branding herself online, she said long user names can pose a character-limit problem, especially for people who want to repost her Twitter updates. 

Tips:

• Before selecting a investigate character limitations across all social media channels.
• Pick short social media user names and handles to make it easy for customers to mention your brand.
• Be willing to change your user name if necessary. Facebook page administrators can change their page's user name once. To learn how to customize the Web address for your profile or your page, visit www.facebook.com/username.

2) Posting about topics not related to your business. Unlike using social media for personal accounts, travel agents need to stay disciplined to comment on, share or post only content that is relevant to their business. Posting actionable content that is relevant to your audience is an art. The best way to make sure you are on target is to rely on social listening to determine what your customers want while staying true to your brand.

Your social media goal should be to maintain a steady stream of posts that reflect your branding, as President Obama has done.

A common mistake that dilutes brand messaging is posting updates that are not related to your business. Jean mentioned that when she started on Twitter and Instagram she "shared everything, on any topic." But the expertise she has to share is about travel, not politics, etc. Jean now "keeps a laser focus on travel and tourism with a few family, personal shares to keep it grounded."

Tips:

• Your goal should be to post regular social media updates to help keep you top of mind. Maintain a steady stream of travel-related posts that reflect your branding. Mix up your messaging with a combination of text, images, infographics and videos.
• Try combining a quote with an image to generate visually appealing graphics. UsePicMonkey for a quick way to generate shareable graphics.
• Utilize Facebook's Milestone feature to celebrate events. To add a Milestone to your Facebook page, click Offer, Event + at the top of your page's Timeline.
• Expand your technology toolkit and experiment with Haiku Deck, a presentation program that offers access to free images that can be used to tell your brand's story in a unique way.

3) Failing to use marketing materials provided by suppliers. Travel agents who do not take advantage of marketing materials available to them from suppliers, tourism boards and public relations firms are making a big mistake. 

Let's face it, unless you have marketing budgets for large ad buys to reach your target audience, social media updates will have to be delivered manually. On Facebook, that means attempting to get engagement from your friends while fighting for coveted newsfeed positioning. 

Tips:

• In order to save time recreating marketing messages, use supplier content. Use existing marketing materials from suppliers to help showcase expertise. Use images and text from collateral materials to entice your prospects and leads. Most suppliers have large repositories of marketing materials available for agents to use for promotion.
• Ask your sales reps to show you where you can find the supplier's press/media assets online. Don't be shy about sharing posts from your preferred providers on social media; just add your own take to personalize messaging.
• Use Twitter lists and Facebook Interests for quick access to information posted by your favorite suppliers. Most likely new offers, products, services, and news will be streamed on their social media accounts, which you can repurpose.

4) Failing to use social media monitoring and management tools. Insights from data can positively impact your business by helping you create content strategies that will deliver your message to the right people. Active monitoring of social media channels by using tracking programs can help you streamline efforts while saving valuable time and resources. 

The following free programs are worth exploring to gain insight and to fine tune your strategy:

• Facebook administrators can access the Facebook Insights dashboard to review analytics data to track growth and to learn about what resonates with followers.
• Check out Twitalyzer to access metrics for Twitter accounts.
• Use PeerIndex to help determine online authority and brand advocates.
• Manage, collaborate and monitor multiple social media channels with Hootsuite.

5) Failing to put the social in social media. If social media streams are not capturing the audience's attention, make sure you are not just broadcasting information about deals. Over broadcasting links to deals and offers is one sure way to get unfollowed or cited as a spammer. Instead, build relationships with your audience and provide value to ongoing conversations. Put the social into social media and watch engagement levels rise. 

Remember to follow up on leads. Keep in mind too, that some people might be watching, reading, listening or interested in what you have to say online but prefer to call you instead. 

Tips:

• The way to get people to engage is to ask open-ended questions and feel free to like, share or leave comments for strengthening relationships with your existing fan base.
• Poll your clients on Facebook to see what is important to them. Get the input from the community to determine what interests the group, and then create a content strategy from the results.
• Use analytics to determine where engagement spikes occur, and craft social media posts around pertinent topics. Make an content calendar to keep track of seasonal topics that are relevant to your fans and followers.
• Use Topsy to search and analyze your competition to see what type of content is getting the most play; then use this data to craft your own personalized posts.
• Go back to the basics. Create new ways to present popular topics such as travel tips, packing lists and expertise about your travel niche.
• Using screencasting software, make videos that explain a hotel, destination, cruise ship, port or unique experience.

Social media marketing can have a positive effect on your business. When executing your strategy, make sure to avoid common mistakes to take your business to the next level.