Social Media

June 11, 2015April 25, 2022

Instagram redesign: revolution or evolution?

Social Media

Instagram’s website has been redesigned. On the face of it, that’s very nice but there’s not a lot to shout about. It does look better, certainly. Only three images are ... Read more

May 22, 2015January 23, 2017

Facebook’s Instant Articles: threat and opportunity for travel?

Social Media

How often have you clicked on a link to an article on your Facebook feed only to sit for what seems like an eternity before something shows up? According to ... Read more

May 5, 2015January 23, 2017

Tourism Attractions Should Embrace Social Media

Social Media

There was a distinct moment when David Coulthard realized he had ‘cracked’ the challenge of encouraging his staff to adopt social media. The marketing manager of Salisbury Cathedral in south-west ... Read more

April 20, 2015June 2, 2020

Is it time to flip the funnel?

Blog, Social Media

In one of the many presentations made at our inaugural Social Travel Britain conference in Salisbury over the past few days, Dr Philip Alford of Bournemouth University said that maybe ... Read more

March 23, 2015January 23, 2017

Does #OreoEclipse mean we are hashtagged out?

Social Media

They were first spotted in 2007. They were given the official thumbs-up in 2009. Now they are everywhere. You cannot escape. By they, I mean hashtags. I was watching television ... Read more

February 4, 2015January 23, 2017

Facebook adds travel tips to Newsfeed

Social Media

In the past week, Facebook has made it’s latest attempt to grab a bigger share of the geolocation market with the launch of Place Tips. These nuggets of useful and ... Read more

December 17, 2014April 29, 2022

Social Media: bye bye fictitious figures

Social Media

Over the past five years, bloggers and brands have built fictitious number of real followers. They have bought followers, blindly followed everybody that follows them (without regard) or hashtagged to ... Read more

December 3, 2014January 23, 2017

Get earned or get burned: the Oreo vlogger ruling

Social Media

A ruling by Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority last week threatens to remove a key plank from the content marketing strategies of travel companies. The ruling rapped Mondelez, the parent company of ... Read more

October 27, 2014April 20, 2022

How delegates can engage with the WTM Social Media Team

Social Media

I came across a great article by Mashable entitled, ‘5 Tips for Using Social Media During Conferences’describing how best to interact when attending conferences using social media. With World Travel ... Read more

October 22, 2014January 24, 2017

Will Storify enter the Room 101 of digital travel?

Social Media, Technology

I don’t know how I feel about Storify. I mean, we’ve been together for two years now and I’ve never been let down. Yes, I’ve dumped others. Farewell, Foursquare. So ... Read more

October 9, 2014January 24, 2017

Have we reached peak InstaMeet? Queensland breaks the record

Social Media, Technology

We spoke in our last blog post about why Instagram was the star social performer for 2014. Just this week, we have heard how the Australian state of Queensland has ... Read more

September 24, 2014January 24, 2017

Instagram: the star social performer of 2014

Social Media

Let’s put video to one side for a moment. But if you accept that images are very important to your social media strategy, then Instagram has to be near the ... Read more

September 10, 2014January 24, 2017

Valuable thoughts and takeaways from key sessions at TBU Nantes

Blogging, Social Media

TBU Nantes, our sixth (!) blogging and social media conference ended last week after three days of networking, learning and discovery. I was particularly proud of the conference lineup this ... Read more

September 9, 2014January 24, 2017

From Ice Buckets to Bucket Lists: social goes commercial

Social Media

You cannot fail to have noticed the Ice Bucket Challenge videos that have been filling our Facebook news feeds over the summer. According to Facebook, between 1 June and 1 ... Read more

August 29, 2014January 24, 2017

Facebook cracks down on the click-baiters

Social Media

It’s called click-baiting, whereby fantastically humorous quizzes await those who link through and then (usually) share the results with friends on Facebook. In this case, ‘Canvey Island (oh dear)’ said ... Read more

August 22, 2014January 24, 2017

Reputation is Everything

Social Media, Technology

Image: Dilbert Some news in the last few days has reminded me of one of the subjects I was addressing at my World Travel Market seminar back in 2010.  The ... Read more

August 13, 2014January 24, 2017

What is the ROI of social media?

Social Media

This post’s title is a much repeated question and one that is often answered by digital agencies with “What is the ROI of a chair or a phone?” The chair ... Read more

July 31, 2014January 24, 2017

The splintered picture in travel and social media

Aviation, Social Media

I work with social media in travel every day. Nose down to the grindstone, I don’t sniff the air often enough to always gauge what others are doing. But this ... Read more

July 17, 2014January 24, 2017

Using Twitter for Twitter stats

Social Media

In preparing monthly reports for travel clients on how well their social media is faring, I’m a fan of Twitonomy in gathering data on Twitter. It gives you a pile ... Read more

June 18, 2014February 13, 2015

Newsjacking the #worldcup

Social Media

If you are on Twitter, you won’t need any introduction to the concept of newsjacking. It is the, some say shameless, practice of jumping on board something that is happening ... Read more

May 22, 2014January 24, 2017

The social media expert is dead. Discuss

Social Media

There have been a few more blog posts doing the rounds recently announcing the death of the social media consultant. The broad argument goes that, as companies have gotten used ... Read more

May 8, 2014January 24, 2017

Facebook’s autoplay videos: Love? Hate? Discuss

Social Media

Facebook autoplay videos are the new Marmite – people either love them or hate them. Either way, they are hard to ignore. Starting last September, Facebook started trialling autoplay videos ... Read more

April 24, 2014January 24, 2017

Twitter and the art of promoted accounts

Social Media

Twitter has become a commercial beast for some time now. But until last week, I’d not really considered it as a potential business tool, instead using the network for chat. ... Read more

April 9, 2014January 24, 2017

No such thing as a free (Facebook) lunch

Social Media

You have just received a new Like on your brand’s Facebook page. Job done. In fact, the job is far from done and it is beginning to get even harder. ... Read more

April 2, 2014May 11, 2017

8 essential social media tips for the African Travel Industry

Social Media

Social media is now an important part of the marketing mix for African travel organisations. The vast majority of businesses now have some form of social media presence. My company, ... Read more

March 27, 2014January 24, 2017

Video back in favour again on social media

Social Media

Screenshot by Jennifer Van Grove/CNET There’s an old saying in journalism that goes like this: One is interesting, two is co-incidence, three is a blog post. That is to say, ... Read more

March 12, 2014January 24, 2017

Thomas Cook’s Twitter “first”

Social Media

Thomas Cook Group has this week launched what it calls a “travel industry first”. Holidays to go! is a Twitter-driven offer engine that lets holidaymakers tweet at the company where ... Read more

February 26, 2014February 13, 2015

Traverse 2014: it’s all about travel bloggers

Blogging, Social Media

Image: Macca Sherifi More than 165 travel bloggers gathered in Newcastle/Gateshead at the weekend in the year’s first UK gathering, allowing observers (including me) to test the waters of the ... Read more

February 13, 2014April 21, 2022

Ten things we learned as Facebook turned ten

Social Media

Facebook, which has just celebrated its tenth birthday, issued its latest results at the end of January and the results and comments from senior executives contained plenty of messages for ... Read more

January 31, 2014January 24, 2017

Instagram appeal grows across UK

Social Media

Stick a pin in a map of the UK and chances are that you’ll find an Instagram community at work in the area. From Cumbria to Dorset, groups have sprung ... Read more