Lodging Interactive Blog

Franchised Hotels Have New Innovative Way To Promote Local Specials

 

We're really excited about this one! Finally a sales & marketing solution that addresses a long time issue for franchisees.

Lodging Interactive, a leading interactive marketing agency servicing the hospitality industry today, announced the roll out of its innovative marketing tool for franchised and branded hotels, Link2Brand.  Link2Brand provides hotels with a simple way to convert long and hard to remember brand system website URL links into short, meaningful website URL links.

Link2Brand Turns this brand link:

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/search/pre_decider_all.html?propertyID=196&

ratePlanName=AGIRL&IM=SOP_AMERICANGIRL_SI_196_CHI 

 

Into this easy to print & relevant link:

http://MyHotelPackages.com/SheratonChicago/AmericanGirl
(click link to see it in action)

Check it out and open your free trial account:  http://link2brand.com

4 Ways to Use Social Media Cues to Engage People | Social Media Examiner

As much as we (rightly) praise Google for having transformed our lives for the better, sometimes we all want answers that go beyond the right search query.  Sometimes we want to reach out to someONE rather than someTHING.

via www.socialmediaexaminer.com

Five Search Marketing Predictions for 2010

Staring into a crystal ball is a dangerous undertaking, especially when you’re attempting to predict the future of a market as dynamic as paid search. Leading analysts continue to project that paid search marketing spend in the U.S. will grow from $13 billion in 2009 to $26 billion by the year 2014. But how this growth will happen remains unclear. One thing is certain, as more dollars flow into paid search, the number of tactics, targeting options and channels available for search marketers will need to grow to ensure that search campaigns can deliver ever-increasing ROI. Here are five predictions for macro-trends that will fuel the next phase of paid search growth.

via searchengineland.com

The 10 Customer Service Trends for 2010 | Small Business Trends

In 2010, customer service makes a big comeback. It becomes the new marketing. Forget about paying lip service to offering “great customer service”. Let go all of those “the customer is always right” myths. It’s time to offer outstanding customer service only because it makes economic sense for your small business. It is the only truly sustainable competitive advantage.

via smallbiztrends.com

Opportunity Is Ripe for Twitter to Offer Marketing Tools in 2010 - ClickZ

There's little doubt Twitter will be hailed as one of the success stories of 2009, having continued to grow throughout the year from the solid base it achieved during 2008, and attracting a steady stream of media attention along the way.

via www.clickz.com

Marketing in 2010: It's All About the Data

Josh Jones-Dilworth is the Founder and CEO of Jones-Dilworth, Inc. a PR consultancy focused on bringing early-stage technologies to market. He blogs at joshdilworth.com.

“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” – Mark Twain

Remember that quote. In 2010 the very best marketers, PR professionals, and social media consultants will put data at the center of everything they do. For anyone unfamiliar with these concepts, just as with social media, data marketing may seem opaque or intimidating at the beginning. The only way you ever learn is by jumping in headfirst — become a data nerd, because data nerds are changing the world.

via mashable.com

Why You Should Have a Social Media Calendar

When I hear about the processes companies are using to engage in social media-based conversations and communities, I’m a bit surprised that many lack any kind of strategy or written plan. While I’m a firm believer in the need for both spontaneity and frequency in social media-enabled communications, I also believe that whenever a company decides to adopt new communications tools, they need to start with the basics of Marketing and Communications 101:

• What are your business objectives?
• Who is your audience (target market)?
• What do you hope this communication will help your company achieve?
• How will you measure your efforts?

via webworkerdaily.com

Happy Holidays from Lodging Interactive

 









Happy Holidays!

Wishing you all the best this Holiday Season and a great 2010!





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Google maps has some interesting pop ups

We'll admit from the start: this change will not revolutionize the world. It probably won't even bring a single new person to Google Maps. Still, a nice little interface tweak's been made insofar as Google Maps now displays business info when users hover over any points of interest.

Try not to think of this as saving anyone a single click. The change will matter most when people would otherwise be clicking all over the place, trying to find out more about 10, 15, or 20 different businesses scattered across a map (think restaurants, or maybe coffee shops).

Google was careful to take into account the times the times that businesses aren't scattered, too; no one will have to repeatedly zoom and re-center a map in order to separate out a pile of similar companies.

Zoom in
Instead, as Michael Bürge wrote on the LatLong Blog, "When hovering over a cluster of multiple results, a list of everything underneath the mouse pointer is shown, including the number of stars for a business listing. This makes exploring large sets of search results quicker and easier."

Again, not earth-shattering news. Just a nice little modification that may come in time for all of the out-of-school and off-work get-togethers that family members and old friends conduct during the holiday season.

Top 10 Reasons Hotels Should NEVER Use TinyURL To Redirect Links

There are numerous free URL shortening and redirect services out there, with the most popular being TinyURL. Using such services puts your hotel at risk and may cost you business and expose your hotel to potential lawsuits. The most dangerous situation is where someone else impersonates your brand or hotel and creates redirect links to malicious websites.

Read the Top 10 (actually 11) reasons hotels should never use TinyURL to redirect links.

Facebook Grabbed More Video Viewers

eMarketer (@eMarketer)
12/2/09 3:51 PM
Facebook Grabbed More Video Viewers than Hulu in October http://bit.ly/58qRDN (via @zleb @DelphRB) #stats

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