We receive this question all the time at the Kay Walten Group so we thought it may be a good idea to take the mystery out of Twitter. Twitter is a powerful tool and once you start using it, the Twitter community is all about sharing, learning and supporting. It is a productive and worthwhile community to be involved in, it just takes a while to get used to.The confusion is not necessarily Twitter, it is understanding what a lead generation strategy is.

Twitter is a lead generation tool

I am going to use non-computer tactics to explain how this online social media network actually works. Think back to the days before social media. You are at a cocktail party and you are introduced to a new person. YOu chat about what you do, introduce your business to this new potential client and exchange business cards. This new client sends you emails, you chat back and forth, they refer other people to you, and they start following your blog or website as a resource. They may not hire your services right away, but you continue to bump into them, share some information about your mutual businesses and eventually this person books.

Tweeting is the sharing of information

Retweeting is sharing that information that you find interesting

Following is following what someone has to say online

Hashtags are subject sharing with like minds and make it easy to find this information

Lists are where you group people together that share similar ideas, businesses and conversations

You do all of this offline, Twitter just lets you do this online and open yourself up to meeting more people who are interested in the same subjects and ideas.

Tweeters are super courteous and like to assist other Tweeters

People who tweet have been very courteous since twitter began. there are certain social Twitter norms that help you build the confidence of other Tweeters. One big one is #ff or #FollowFriday where you shout out to your followers new people to follow. The same off line practice would be referring people to a business you support, or you could even go as far as saying that you stand on a platform and shout out your support for these people. Okay none of us would rally do that but it is a normal thing to do on twitter.

140 characters can build some influential relationships

Believe it or not 140 characters can build some strong relationships. We have seen it happen many times and quick messages can be powerful. Twitter photos can be powerful, the links you send can be powerful. Lead generation is what you do to build your business, the more people you reach out to the more customers you have. The more customers you  have the more money you make. Every single business needs to find new customers each and every day. This is the only way to build your business.

Learn the Twitter social norms so you don’t get rejected

Like any social atmosphere it is important to learn the norms of the group you are nurturing so you can become a part of that group. Use hashtags so people can follow or not follow you, do regular shout outs to people, thank people for retweets, acknowledge your supporters regularly. Be helpful, be social and be informative. Twitter is there to make information easy to find, easy to mine and easy to share.

Observe first, interact second

Like any social media network we are huge supporters of observing first and acting later. It is hard to erase a boo-boo online, Twitter is a bit more forgiving than other social media like forums, but observe what is happening first before you dive in. Declare you are new and people will support you. This is a super nice community and you can build some extremely helpful relationships for your tourism business. Check it out and see your business grow.

Check out the Kay Walten Group on twitter and see what we do to gain new clients.

Tweetdeck is a third party app that can be loaded onto your computer or your smart phone. The interface enables you to view many items at once in clear to read columns, produces some great reports for your Twitter accounts and enables you to manage a few twitter accounts at once.

If you are struggling to understand and really grasp Twitter as a lead generation social media network, Tweetdeck just might take the guessing out of Twitter and the power it has for your tourism business.

Tweetdeck makes Tweeting and lead generation a breeze

Twitter is a great lead generation social media network that can bring you new customers to your webpage, facebook account or blog. Your Tweet content is important but following others, joining #hashtag lists and researching what is being said about and in your industry is another function of Twitter. may businesses have made themselves experts when they used #hashtags and followed hashtag lists to answer questions and get their name out there. Once yout set up your lists and columns taht are relevant to your detination and business, you can capture new clients easily and push them to the next level of your digital strategy.

Tweetdeck advantages

1. Manage multiple accounts

2. Follow relevant hashtag lists and follow ambassadors on those lists

3. Easily find great people to follow that can push your message out there. These are relevant followers that have an interest in your business or destination.

4. Instant notifications on your computer

5. Great reports to monitor the success of your Twitter strategy

Tweetdeck images that explain the power of this Twitter tool!

Mulitple columns lets you browse what is happening faster and respond quickly to tweets. Retweeting just got a lot easier!

Customize your interface on Tweetdeck, see what you what to see, and make overviews easy.

Tweetdeck simplifies the response process when you see a tweet that you like of find of benefit. This is a lot easier than Twitter.

Manage other social media accounts, get great reports, see all the benefits of tweetdeck in this visual above.

Download Tweetdeck today and see how easy twitter really is. Tweetdeck makes twitter easier to understand and easier to use. Read other Twitter articles to help understand this social media network better.

Article – How to post photos on Twitter

Article – How to build a Twitter backgound on your Twitter profile

Article – Manage your online reputation with Twitter

Visual media is becoming the latest craze and the Pinterest numbers can prove it. The days of text content are becoming less and less and photos are worth a thousand words. Photos and images are also faster to post than text, so the demands of our time are making photos the better content option for many.

Post a photo on Twitter before you open a new Pinterest account

We know that it is hard for many small businesses to keep up with the daily tasks of Facebook and Twitter. We are not going to start telling everyone about Pinterest and encouraging small business owners to open yet another social media platform. Instead we are going to help small business owners use their current social media networks for photos. It is as easy to post a photo on Twitter as it is to put together 140 characters. Use what you have now to showcase visual content and worry about Pinterest later.

How to post a photo on Twitter

You can post saved photos from your computer or you can take a photo on your smart phone in real time and post immediately on Twitter. The device you use to post will determine what options you have.

If you are posting from your computer you only have the saved photo option. If you are posting from your smart phone you have both options, take a photo and post or post a saved photo from your smart phone.

Step One – Open a new twitter message on your device.

Step Two – You will see the camera icon on the message at the bottom. This icon is what enables you to upload a photo.

Step Three – Build a message for your photo. Put in your hashtags, a small message and make sure that all of this information is less than 100 characters so you can add the link to the photo and increase your retweets

Step Four – Take a photo and upload of add a saved photo.

Step Five – Photos do take up characters depending on the size of your photo so watch your character count after upload.

Step Six – Post your photo to Twitter

Posting photos to Twitter gives you visual content

Visual content is important but a Pinterest account is not required. We are not against Pinterest we just know that it takes up time for the small business owner. Start posting photos on Twitter of you destination, location and business and you will get similar results to Pinterest.

Check us out on Twitter for more photos and videos when we are on location.

Your brand has an image which begins with your logo and can be expanded on social media networks. Many Twitter users choose to use the generic backgrounds supplied by Twitter but you are missing a great opportunity to show internet users who you are and what you offer.

3 examples of good Twitter backgrounds

Here are three creative and great Twitter backgrounds that personalities and businesses have used on their Twitter accounts. Review not only the images but the information that each background has included in the image, using the graphic as an opportunity to share information.

What your designer needs to help you build a good Twitter background

Whether you are creating the graphic or a designer is creating a graphic, you will need the information that Twitter supplies, to build a good image that will fit your Twitter page. There are two examples as computer screens have different dimensions and your design needs to take this into account.

How to upload your new image on your Twitter account

Log into your Twitter account and go to settings. Open settings and notice the varios menu choices on the left hand side. Click on the menu tab designs and scroll down until you get to customize designs. Upload the jpeg image and save. Open the homepage of your Twitter account and check that the graphic is displaying your graphic publicly as you had wanted.

Done. Easy to upload and with the dimensions above you will not have to trouble shoot placement of your images in your Twitter graphic.Note that links can not be added to your contact information. It is a graphic only.

Have a question? Let us know below.

Social media webpage tools for tourism businesses

We have a check list of social media tools that we look for when we evaluate a clients website and we are going to share it with our readers. Check and see if you have all of these promotional and engagement tool on your webpage to help you attract and retain new and current guests.

1. Blog – a blog is a must have for SEO (search engine optimization) but also is a great way to update destination and businesses services. Make it easy to find and easy to subscribe to.
2. Social media feeds – A social media feed is where a visitor to your website can read what is being posted on a social media platform in real time. All social media sites have a feed option for websites. Decide which feeds are most important to  you and post them on our website. This is useful for new and current clients.
3. Tripadvisor badge – you can decide which Tripadvisor badge is best for your business. It is useful to obtain more reviews, highlight positive reviews, show your status on Tripadvisor if you are in the top 10 on the site.
4. RSS feed – an RSS feed is a subscription link to your website that will send notification to subscribers when you update information on your site. It is a must have on any website in 2012
5. Social media icons on your home page and contact page. Don’t let any opportunity to engage your fans slip through your fingers. On your homepage and contact page have links with icons to all of your social media networks, all of them.
6. Sharing icons – sharing icons enable visitors to share a page on your website through their social media site. Decide which platforms you want to enable and add the icons. This is generally a like icon, tweet icon, pin icon or google + icon.
7. Galleries for photos and videos – vimeo, you tube, flickr, Picasso all have plug –ins for websites where you can build galleries on your website that stream photos and videos from these sites to your website. Web designers can do this for you and it cuts out your work but engages visitors on these social media platforms.
8. Comment option – let customers comment on your site or blog. Monitor the comments through your admin options but enable comments on your website or blog.
9. Contact information that is easy to find and use -  oddly the contact page on many site is hard to find and even more difficult to use. Make this page visible, easy to find and more importantly easy to use. If you have a contact form include your email address on the contact in case a client does not want to fill out the form. Phone numbers, addresses, online chat, skype social media links all need to be added to this page. Make it easy for visitors to contact you so you can start engaging them and gain them as a client.

Did you get 100% on the checklist? Or are there items that you need to add. Confused as to what these items may be? Let us know so we can send more resources your way! If you need website assistance we recommend Steve Moen from Virtual Playa, a digital web design company that is marketing savvy and familiar with the social media needs of a website. Contact them today and ask for a quote! They are fast, have competitive and fair pricing and are super to work with!

Social media users have focused on engagement, content, seo (search engine optimization) and quantity of posts. If you lurk around many small business fan pages, profiles have been left undone and have been in many cases not considered as an important part of their social media strategy.

Profiles and the development or build out of each and every profile you have on social media is one of the most important aspects of your social media marketing. Your profile is what defines, engages and interests new leads, continued interest and ongoing engagement on your social media networks. An incomplete profile will not increase the profitability of your business, which is why we do social media anyway.

5 tips for your social media profiles

1. Build visual consistency on all of your social media profiles . Use your logo, build backgrounds that are similar so that when users find you on different social media networks they know that your accounts are related and for the same business. Coca cola when they build a new product ensures that the new product can be identified with the main company, coca cola. That is generally done with a logo, the use of colors, company information and vibe. Do the same for your social media networks to encourage brand following and engagement across all networks.
2. Have links to your webpage and important digital real estate. Encourage further investigation and commitment to your company with links in your profile. It is highly recommended that your profile lead with a link to your digital real estate, website, blog, Facebook page, online store, so leads or customers can get to your key profit areas fast. Leading with a web address ensure that the link will show first on any homepage of a social network profile.
3. Use keywords in your profile content. WE have discussed the importance of key words used in comments and posts but it is just as important to use your keywords in your profile text as well. Most social media networks are indexed by search engines so using keywords will only help your brand on your rankings not hinder it.
4. Your profile should reflect the strategy for the social network. If you are using Twitter for lead generation, post a link to your blog to start the learning process about your business. If you are using Facebook to engage customers publish a link either to your online store or web site. If you don’t have a strategy for each social network, build one and then re-do your profile.
5. Build your profile to match your business. If you are goofy and fun, build a goofy and fun profile. Choose how you word your profile and make it match the personality of your business. This lets people know what to expect, if your business personality jives with them and will gain more dedicated fans/followers to your business.

Every single social media network has a company profile page and the build out of that information is as important as your posting. Post reminders in your calendar to revisit your profiles and update the information every month or every 3 months, you decide. Pay attention to this important feature of your social media networks to grow your business. It is important.

We have decided to mix it up a bit on the blog as we have been having a lot of conversations lately about being a small business owner with our clients. It is a love hate relationship and most people love it but there are moments when being a small business owner of a tourism business has its days…really has its days.

Survival tips for small business owners in the tourism market

We have put together some tips for small business owners so that your love/hate relationship remains on the love side! WE all get so caught up in what we need to do, social media being one of the areas that makes a lot of us pull our hair out, that we forget the pleasures and excitement that go with being a small business owner.

1. Pay yourself first – you deserve it. Your small business will continue to need investments and many times a small business owner will forfeit their pay to make sure the business continues to grow. Then the dislike comes in. Your work is not being rewarded and you start to not like what you are doing. NO matter how small or large you decide to pay, pay yourself first so you are rewarded for everything you do.
2. Empower your employees – employees are there to make the business run well. Empower them with the ability, knowledge and systems to do that. If you don’t know how find the resources to help them or a person who can empower them. They are paid to maintain the business not sit and watch you maintain the business.
3. Small business owners are business managers. So manage your business, not the day to day tasks. It is so much easier some days to do general tasks, do what we know and assist the employees in their jobs. A business manager manages a business, so that means developing better systems, evaluating growth and strategies, understanding and creating plans that work, defining goals and making them happen. If you focus on this you will see your business grow and be successful!
4. Make your plan and work your plan. No plan? Then normally no profit. Want profit? Make a plan. Don’t want profit, don’t make a plan. Plans keep you on track and give you a direction for your business, your employees, state your goals and give you bench marks. Without this it is hard to determine your success, your strengths, your weaknesses or future changes. Plans are hard, but once you have it, work and your business is so much easier. You can reward yourself when you reach milestones and you can re-think strategies when they don’t work.
5. Find business groups and friends to bounce ideas and thought off of. Find a way to schedule in a dinner or a gathering where business owners get together and share their experiences, ideas, challenges and needs. Many small business owners refrain from sharing for purposes of competition but sharing is where you and others can grow and be more successful. If you are secluded find internet resources through iTunes University, or webinars or podcasts that will fulfill this basic need for sharing.

Being a small business owner is tough there is no doubt about It! There is a reason why you choose this route and it is important to provide leadership to yourself to keep you on track. Budgets are one the biggest challenges a small business in the tourism industry has, but with careful thinking and managing of this portion of your business you will succeed! Put your energy into the right places, give you head a shake on the days when you find you are doing employee tasks and be a business owner that manages the business!

What is your biggest small business challenge as a small business owner of a tourism business? Let us know on Facebook and share your thoughts with others. You are not alone and I would think you could find some answers.

It is feeling like a Seth Godin kinda day.

Why use social media for your business?

Engage, build trust, interact with your customers or guests.

Let people BE a part of your brand.

There is a reason why they used the term FAN for Facebook business pages…..

Sitting in front of you Facebook fan page and lost for words…what to say, what to post, really is anything new?

Most tourism businesses are lost for words on social media due to one thing. They are not sure who they are. They are not sure what makes them different from other tourism businesses, from other fishing tours, from other trekking companies, from other hotels, from other stores.

Make your list first and then go onto social media networks

3 words that is all you need. 3 words that defines, differentiates, or explains what your tourism company does. What makes your tourism business different from the rest. We call it a mantra, others call it a brand definition, some call it a Unique Positioning Statement. Does not matter what you call it, just do it!

3 words to define your brand

Fresh, friendly and fiery. Safety, Diversity, Fun. Goofy, cool and extraordinary. Professional, punctual, proficient. Only you can define your business, only you can find 3 words that clearly explains the core and being of what your business does or is.Think about it, finger through a dictionary, thesaurus, ask your guests. How ever you get to those three words is up to you, but you will decide which ones define…who…you….are….to your customers.

3 words build company vision

Laugh all you want but three words are powerful enough to define your vision of what you will do on Social media networks. If you decide to define your business by a personality, then this will be used in text, photos and videos on your Facebook page (or whichever social media network(s) you work with). If you want to be goofy, professional, all about service, all about safety, then your content will reflect that. Facebook no longer is a dead end. It becomes another way to support who or what your brand is.

Try it, find three words that define your business. Write them out, pin them on your computer and see what you end up posting about and how you become inspired by these three words. See what your customers reaction is to this. Gauge your engagement, watch the conversations and carry this to your offline staff and company services.If this does not work for you let us know! And if it works, share what worked for you!

3 little bitty words that can open up and rock your business world. Really.

Facebook seems to like the Groupon concept where businesses can offer special one time deals to new and existing customers.

In case you are not familiar with Groupon or Living Social, these websites gather daily deals from businesses and post deals each day to their subscribers. Subscribers can buy the deal online through Groupon and redeem their coupon directly at the retailer’s store, restaurant, tour operations or online store to obtain their deal. Living social does require a minimum amount of buyers for a deal to be active (it works on a mass purchase model, Groupon does not necessarily require a mass purchase and Facebook enables offers to be sent out like a coupon.

Lead generation tool

All of these offer sites are great lead generation tools. Facebook as combined their offers to include current fans and the ability for business fans to share the offer making the Facebook offers both a client rewards tool, engagement tool and lead generation tool. Seems to good to be true.

Coupon sharing not a purchased deal

Facebook has simplified the offer process with a one click acceptance for anyone who wants to claim the deal. As a customer you click on the offer and imstantly receive an email with the coupon. The coupon can be shown to the store via your smart phone, or print out the coupon and present the offer in paper at the retail store. Easy, no obligation and as a business you can see who accepted the offer and who actually used the offer.

Powerful for local offers

Are you trying to build a local community for your tourism products. Facebook offers may be the way to go. Facebook offers could have you gain more local fans who otherwise were not fans on your facebook page or could encourage more locals to use your services with a fantastic offer!

Facebook offers is only available in beta format to invited businesses only but once it is released we will let you know! Sign up for our newsletter to be the first to receive exclusive information such as this new roll out by Facebook.