TripAdvisor’s TripWow is a little over the top, but the idea of helping travelers create embeddable multimedia is a great one for the travelers.
The promise: Create a Slide Show that will make your friends go “Wow”.

The benefits for TripAdvisor – click throughs to TripAdvisor destination pages via keyword-laden hyperlinks to kickstart the travel planning process for TripWow slideshow viewers. Interestingly, the terms of use for the TripWow widget prohibit users from disassembling the widget and removing the keyword hyperlinks. The secondary benefit for TripAdvisor is some serious keyword SEO for TripAdvisor destination pages.

If growing traffic is your aim, make it easy for visitors to create and share media
If I was in the travel information archiving business (travel review sites, destination marketing organizations and travel associations), I’d forgo the development of my own platform and work with a company like Animoto to help folks create travel videos that more effectively focus on the photos of the traveler, with embedded music tracks.

A custom branded version of Animoto would create greater interest in your travel information site while adding a small revenue stream for Animoto, perhaps leading to the DMO, travel association or travel information site to pay for the higher resolution services of Animoto’s great travel promotion tool – making it free for travelers to create and share media promoting your website.

I’d also make sure that it was easy to geotag the photo sets and create a similar mapping graphic as shown in TripAdvisor’s TripWow tool part of the show. TripAdvisor’s map owes it’s inspiration to the likes of Indiana Jones, and the maps work well but frankly speaking, most of the other graphic elements of the video take attention away from the trip photos.

I am a fan of the social media tools that pop out from the right side of the videos. They make it easy to share the media by Twitter, Facebook and making the media easy to embed. The Video branding and destination keyword links are sure to drive serious page views for TripAdvisor.

TripWow’s bow is perhaps the inspiration you need to get into providing media production tools like this with a partner who has demonstrated expertise in creating Wow video that focuses on user generated photos and video. Page views are sure to follow.

Twitter Introduces Twitter Lists

The newest marketing opportunity presented by Twitter is Twitter lists. The new tool makes it easy to create lists of people you are following and to share those lists (if desired) with others.

This is a really important development that will expand the Web of connections that makes Twitter so valuable.

Why Twitter Lists Matter (even if you don’t use them yourself)

People who deliver great content on Twitter will be followed. If people appreciate your presence they will add you to their lists. As more people discover these lists, expect to gain more followers based on the recommendations of others. All you have to do to benefit is to continue to be a great member of the Twitter community.

There are two ways to benefit from using Twitter Lists (in both cases, it pays to be selective)

Follow Lists of Other People

It’s the strength of your information network on Twitter that keeps you informed. The people in your network you trust will create excellent, credible lists of people to follow. Be choosy. Having too many people feeding you irrelevant information will make you reconsider the value of the list.

Make Lists of People

Be very selective about how your create your lists. If you go about it the right way, you could gain notoriety for providing links to people who matter and provide great info. You’ll be rewarded with others following your list.

Have a gander at the list I’ve created of Travel Twitter people who feed me to get started. If you trust me as a source, you might choose to follow this list. http://twitter.com/#/list/toddlucier/travel-and-tourism-folk

If you do, let me know if you like it and make suggestions about who I’m missing. I know there is undiscovered treasure out there in Twitter!

Final Thought on Twitter Lists: As you get started making lists be sure to use keywords in naming your list that will be widely recognized by people in your tribe.

Links:

• Mashable: 10 ways to use lists
• Listorious

Early Augmented Reality

Travel Gadgets are like having God in your Pocket

An early GPS-linked project in the UK demonstrated how a tourism region could put information in the fingertips of visitors. The project used a tiny electronic machine to add interactivity to visiting ancient ruins by linking hotspots to audio/video content to tell the story of the place in a rich engaging way.

Today, devices capable of displaying such multimedia are in many travelers pockets! iPhone, Blackberry and other internet connected devices with built-in gps and cameras are all capable of overlaying digital information on top of reality – Augmented Reality.

What is Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality describes the merging of reality with digital information. The digital information (in the form of words, audio, video or pictures) can be triggered to display on an internet connected device based on gps location and/or recognizable visual objects including symbols or icons like QR codes which are photographed by the device.

Experience AR with Virtual Baseball Cards

Rawlings has a project that displays virtual baseball cards by using a computer Web cam and a printed logo. It only takes a few minutes to experience the thrill of seeing digital information come to life.

Visit http://rawlings.fleishmanhillard.com and print the Rawlings ad to get started. Then click on the link and hold the ad up to your computers video camera to see the virtual baseball cards. You can even control their movement and appearance on your screen.

In the image below, the three dimensional trophy and baseball card float around as you move the Rawlings logo about.

augmented reality webcam image

With AR, Travel Guides come to life in real time – on location with projects like these:

Find your Way

Discover Anywhere is working on an AR Transit application that will overlay digital information on an iPhone, making it easy for the traveler to find their way around an unfamiliar city.

Wikitude AR Travel Guide

The Here and Now Web

Thinking about the impact of Augmented Reality on the tourism experience can be a lot of fun, and like most technology it’s more important to think about the content than it is to worry about how to do the technical dirty work.

What can your organization do for your members, that they can’t do themselves? Is it Augmented Reality?

We’ll all be brought into the world of augmented reality in the near future and DMO’s and regional travel organizations may be inspired to dream up interesting engaging experiences that make use of this technology – GO FOR IT.

For those not inspired to start on an augmented reality project just yet, there is no time like now to start thinking like your ideal guest. Answer the most important question for the digitally connected traveler:

“Standing here, now, what kind of content could make my experience better?”

Start collecting the media you’ll need to make your travel region, one not to miss for the digitally connected traveler.

Eavesdrop – It’s allowed (even encouraged)

One of the most useful things about Twitter is that conversations are public. The problem is that with so many conversations going on it is impossible to follow everyone who might be your ideal guest.

However, it is possible to eavesdrop on conversations that include your keywords. It’s an accepted part of the Twitter Universe to see a Twitter Post that includes a keyword phrase you are following and to respond with a solution – even if you don’t follow the person who tweeted.

Identify your Keywords

Think of keywords as the questions your potential traveler might be asking that you have the answer for. If you have difficulty, just go through the list of keywords that come up when you ask yourself these questions about the guests of business or region:

Who are they? What are they doing? Where are they traveling to? How do they travel? When? Why?

• Learn more about keywords in this instructional keywords video

Follow your Keywords

I use Seesmic Desktop Twitter Application to monitor conversations from those I follow on Twitter and Facebook. I also get search phrases related to our tourism business directly in my stream – even from folks I don’t follow.

• There is a nifty little setting in the app that makes it possible to include search results in your stream(see below) . This is just like following your keyword phrase(s).

• Use the search box in the top right hand corner of Seesmic Desktop to subscribe to any search phrase related to your business.
• You can add as many keyword search columns as you like. Either keep these open and monitor your keyword phrases or watch for tweets that show up automatically in your timeline.

Be Helpful

The beauty is that it takes very little time to provide a helpful solution to a traveler in need. When you see tweets that include your search phrase, they all won’t be relevant, but some will provide great leads.

For instance, in a conversation about “Algonquin Park”, one of our keyword phrases I saw this tweet:

To which our staff replied

Earlier today, we saw this tweet about another keyword phrase “yoga retreats” related to our experiences:

It was an open invitation to share more information about our upcoming yoga retreats.

Use your keyword phrases in your Tweets

Travelers use search.twitter.com or apps like Seesmic to research information and plan travel or seek advice. If you use your keywords in your tweets from time to time, you’ll show up in the search results of travelers who are using Twitter for travel research.

Mobile Access will be on Most Handhelds

• Forrester (July 2009) predicts that by 2013 there will be 2.2 billion Internet users in the world.
• Cell phone users generally upgrade their phones every 18 months, and virtually all new Cell phones are Web enabled .
• Research also shows mobile internet access is growing rapidly. 13% of Western European consumers (source: Forrester, July 2009) and 23% of American consumers (source: Pew Research, April 2009) enjoy access the internet on their mobile device.

Web access not used by all Travelers

Accessing the internet on a mobile device when abroad is still expensive. However, mobile phone operators are slowly lowering roaming fees.  The cost of accessing the Web on a phone is expected to continue to decline, just as the cost of making cell phone calls has fallen.

Adapting to Mobile

• Use fewer images for a Handheld version of your site than the desktop/laptop version. This makes them much faster to use, and cheaper when used while roaming abroad.
• Provide “Here and Now” focused content that the traveler may be accessing from within your community.
• Make sure your phone number is front and center on every page of your site which makes it easier for a handheld user to contact you.
• Link to Google Maps which works seamlessly with GPS / Google Maps-enabled phones such as Apple iPhone, or Google Android devices.
• respond quickly to inquiries!  The average response time to inquires in the travel industry is a dismal 30+ hours.  In the era of the always connected digital traveler make efforts to respond to inquiries in a timely manner or risk giving business to your digitally savvy competitors.

What are your thoughts on adapting to Mobile?

What are people talking about NOW

It seems nearly impossible, but the travel product development and marketing & sales cycles are getting shorter and shorter due to the way we use technology

I use Twitter Search on a daily basis to monitor conversations about:

• recession travel trends
• people talking about regional travel destinations
• green travel
• . . . and much more

There are a number of tools for continually monitoring the conversations that are occuring in near real time on Twitter. My favourite is Seesmic Desktop, which allows the sorting of searches into columns that automatically update themselves whenever individuals twitter about the keyword phrase that interests me.

On my handheld device I use Summizer for iPhone to do much the same thing when away from my computer. I can choose the keyword phrases to monitor and jump in and see who’s talking and respond from almost anywhere.

Using the information in these columns as leads, I can jump right in NOW and:

• build relationships by offering assistance to people
• monitor who else is talking about things of interest to me and follow them, building my twitter contact list
• stay on top of current trends and adapt my offer accordingly
• distill news to share with fans and friends

Last Minute Traveler wants help NOW

For travel industry professionals, perhaps the most important use of Twitter is connecting with the last minute traveler.

I know what you might be thinking.  “Who has time for this? I will not be spending my time monitoring conversations.”

You might also not be interested in last minute business.  Keep in mind that the airlines earn a large portion of their income by charging a premium for last minute planners.

The last minute traveler using keyword phrases on Twitter:

• can benefit from our assistance NOW
• wants to establish relationships with people in the medium of communication they choose to use (ie. Twitter)
• is interested in travel planning using this new medium

As the product development and marketing & sales cycle get shorter and shorter, what tools are you using to make more sales to the last minute traveler?

Travel Bloggers: How to Connect

Another valuable conversation at SxSW with Roger Wade (@whygo)of the Bootsnall Travel Network and Shannon Hurst Lane (@cajun_mama), one of The Traveling Mamas who write about travel on the Web.

• Providing tips and specific detailed travel advice to around-the-world travelers, Bootsnall could use your help in adding travel advice for visitors to many regions in North America.
• Traveling mamas offer more focused content targeting the needs of traveling families. First hand stories with a little humor and content that traditionally doesn’t find its way into a magazine.

How can tourism industry work with travel bloggers and their sites:

• Travel writers / bloggers know one another much more and are well networked online.
• Bloggers can help you get the message out to your audience if you know what you want to accomplish. Know your audience and a blogger can help you find the right blogger who connects with your audience.
• Canada is under-represented on Bootsnall and tourism businesses or regions could help fill out the Bootsnall guide with expert articles and advice. Submit ideas with Roger wade@bootsnall.com

Links mentioned in this podcast:

• @Karasw – Kara S Williams (Mountain Mama)
• @DesertMama – Beth Blair
• @MudslideMama – Jen Miner
• Bootsnall.com
• Travelingmamas.com

A Chat with @WendyPerrin and @Nerdseyeview about the value of Twitter for the tourism industry.

Twitchhiker

Who is the @Twitchhiker? What is he up to?
His name is Paul Smith, from Newcastle England and the travel industry is sending him around the world with Twitter.

Learn more about Twitchhiker at:

• Perrin Post on Twitchhiker
• GoodMorning America Weekend feature on Twitchhiker’s blog
• Map of Twitchhiker Travels
• IndieTravelPodcast Show featuring Twitchhiker

Twitter and Travel Industry

How important is Twitter for the Travel Industry and just how should a travel business use twitter – two travel writers give their perspectives

Other links:

• 60-70 attendees at the workshop at SxSW and over a 100 viewers on Qik via in-the-conference twitter posts.
• Twitter.com
• Tweetdeck.com
• Twitter Resources for Travel biz

I met a lot of interesting folks at SXSWi last week.  I’ll be posting more podcast goodies through the week.

Twitter

Datatubes allows users to upload their videos to datatubes and offers playback of the videos on your own web site. This isn’t any old Youtube embed code. Not only are individual videos embed-able in your Web site. You can embed entire libraries of videos on your primary Web site!

and… when the videos in your library are updated, the embed code automatically updates the library listing of videos available within your Web site.

It gets even better!

Not only can you upload videos to the service and build a comprehensive automatically updated library, Your guests can be invited to share their videos too! Right from Your Web page!

I’ve only been trying out Datatubes new video library service for about an hour, but I’m more than impressed with the results. What do you think?

• See our video library set up at Northern Edge Algonquin

Benefits to Datatubes:

• In less than 2 hours you can walk in, set up everything and have a complete video library hosting solution running on your Web site. What’s more, you’ll not have to updated any code the next time you upload a video. Just upload it and it’s there running from your site.
• Embedded versions of your videos aren’t watermarked with logos of other video hosting sites.
• It’s social. You can invited your fans to embed their travel videos on your site!
• Search widgets make your videos searchable right on your Web site.
• Tourism regions and businesses often can’t afford the expense of creating their own video sharing portal. They can with datatubes – it’s free.
• Video resolution can be set at a wide range of settings and play back in full screen with just a click.
• Bandwidth is provided away from your server. So no worries about slowing your site down by hosting your own.

Got to run, on my way to SXSWi but couldn’t resist getting started creating a video hosting library on our own Web site. Who’d have thought?

I hope you’ll pardon the exclamation points on this post. Needless to say, I’m excited about Datatubes.

I’m heading down to Austin, Texas for the South by Southwest Interactive Media and Film events! I’m going so that I can stay on top of what’s going on in the social and mobile Web and get ideas for the travel industry and a few upcoming International events.

If you see any interesting talks on the schedule for SXSWi that you think I should check out, drop me a comment here or send me a twitter message @toddlucier and I’ll do my best to report back. I’ll be sending along video from the event using Qik and Seesmic, so stay tuned to the blog for more details on things I discover. Of course for as-its-happening news featuring live video tune in to my updates Twitter. If you’d like an even broader sense of happenings in Austin, follow the #sxswi tag on Twitter.

Other upcoming events:

• State of the Web presentation with Georgian Bay Country Travel Association, March 24. (hoping to arrange a live stream of this event – stay tuned for an update)
• Mountain Travel Symposium in Colorado at the end of March.
• I’m hoping to be invited to attend the G20 Summit happening in London, UK at the end of the month. (If you’d like to encourage G20 Voice to bring me there, use this form to suggest a blogger.)
• April 7-8 – Mesh, Toronto
• Heading back to the Rock for Experiential Tourism Trainings – Newfoundland and Labrador hosts Edge of the Wedge 17 (April 20-22) Edge of the Wedge 18 (April 24-26) with Celes Davar, Nancy Arsenault.
• Manitoulin Island – Experience Manitoulin part II (May )
• Fire and Ice on Greenland (July)

Lots has changed in the area of Web marketing of Travel / Tourism over the past few months as you know

If your region or association would like to schedule some training for your members (or members, if you want to encourage your DMO or CVB to get you the training you need) to take advantage of Internet Marketing opportunities this summer it’s best to get hands-on-training scheduled by the end of March and completed by mid-May.