Make a great first impression: 5 QUICK TIPS for the new Facebook Timeline

Facebook's new timeline for brands offers a great opportunity for companies to customize their page and better communicate the message they want to convey to their customers.  Here are five quick tips to help you make the most of the new brand page layout and features:

1. Select a cover photo that will communicate the message you want to convey.  In other words, make a good first impression because the reality is, most users only visit the actual page once unless you give them reason to come back.
2. Clean up your posts.  Look through all of your posts and do some house cleaning on your timeline. Only keep the posts that are relevant and point toward your ultimate goal — hide and trash the rest.
3. Customize your tabs.  You now have ability to use custom images, edit titles and reorganize your tabs.  Only use applications that have value and enhance the users experience and take advantage of this great new feature!
4. Clean up your photos.  Pay attention to which photo appears in the thumbnail and take the time to do some house cleaning with your photo library.  Delete old, irrelevant photos and be sure the photos that are in your library communicate the message you want to convey to your fans.
5. Highlight Posts and Pin To Top.  Be sure to highlight posts that include great photos and video of your product or service.  Go through your entire timeline and click this feature for each post you want to highlight.  Also, don't forget you have the "Pin to Top" feature for those great posts that deserve top billing.

Don't delay in taking advantage of these new features and do some house cleaning before you focus on accumulating new fans —  make a great FIRST IMPRESSION!

The ICE Bar at the Portland Harbor Hotel

Although we weren't able to capture the ICE Bar at the Portland Harbor Hotel this year, it was once again a smashing success!  If you've never been, its a great event to check out and a fun way to embrace winter!

Do you have a unique event at your hotel?  Want to increase exposure and impact your Google and YouTube ranking?  Three words for you:  VIDEO, VIDEO, VIDEO.

Online Property Videos: Are They Selling? Or Unselling Your Properties?

Make no mistake, travel buyers want video, travel buyers search for video and travel buyers find video.  The question is, will the videos they find on your properties influence them to book?  Or cause them to doubt, hesitate and/or look elsewhere?

Its time that hoteliers take control of their online video marketing and realize the danger of leaving it in the hands of the consumer.  Back in July 2010 Google reported that "over half of business and leisure travelers interact with online travel videos in all stages of their travel planning." (How Consumers Search For Travel Online, Ruthanne Terrero)

The fact is, videos have a significant influence on consumers’ travel decisions.  The vital question that hoteliers need to address is, are the videos that are currently online (whether posted by the property, the consumer or a third-party site) selling or unselling their properties?

Give the travel buyer what they're looking for—video that informs, inspires and sells the experience of your properties as well as the destinations they're located in.  What are you waiting for?  Book your film today and lets get the cameras ... rollin'.

Sell the Experience — PROPERTY + DESTINATION = BOOKINGS

A recent PhoCusWright study reported that 56 percent of U.S. travelers select their vacation destination online.  Hoteliers that sell the experience of not only their property, but the destination as well are far more likely to secure bookings than those that do not.

Take charge and sell the travel shopper on the destination.  Here are five great reason why you should  include destination shots in your promotional film.

1. There are a surprising low number of quality videos that promote a particular destination on the web today.  Don't leave it up to the travel sites to promote your destination because the truth is,  its not happening.  
2. Most travel consumers search hotels FIRST and destination information SECOND.  Why send them to another travel site or a competitors site for a destination video?  Provide everything they need on your site to drive them to BOOK NOW!
3. Most people are not looking for a blow by blow guided tour, but just enough visuals and information to get them excited about visiting a particular area.
4. Draw more traffic to your website and increase your Google ranking at the same time.
5. Increase the potential for other websites (travel and tourism, trade show sites, etc.) to link and embed your tour on their site.

Purchasing leisure travel is a substantial investment for the average consumer, give them the assurance they need to make a commitment and sell them on the experience.

Conference Web Sites: An Untapped Marketing Resource For Hoteliers

Conference and trade show web sites are the perfect resource to showcase your promotional video and "direct sell" to 1000's of potential travel buyers.   These companies are looking for quality multimedia resources to include on their web site and help promote their conference to potential attendees.  Having a promotional video that includes beautiful highlights of the area — what to see and what to do — provides a great marketing resource for them.

1. Put an inspirational video that sells the experience of your property and destination in the hands of your sales staff and you will be giving them their most powerful marketing tool yet.
2. Seek out and contact conferences and trade shows that will be taking place in your area and make them aware that this video is available to link and embed directly on their conference web site.

Remember, every conference attendee is a potential leisure travel buyer!  Just one more way to put your promotional video to work and sell the experience of your property and destination!

What are you waiting for?  Book your film today!

Wedding Web Sites: An Untapped Marketing Resource For Hoteliers

Wedding web sites are extremely popular with todays bridal couples and are used to relay details and information to guests about their day including where to stay and what to do.   Savvy hoteliers will recognize this as a marketing opportunity to "direct sell" to 1000's of potential travel buyers.  Here are two simple steps you can take to give couples the tool to market your property and destination for you:

1. Provide a video that promotes your property and includes inspiring and informative destination shots.
2. Include a note and easy access to your video link and embed code that encourages viewers to include it on their wedding web site, Facebook and/or Blog.

Thats it.  Take these two simple steps and you have provided 100's of couples with a powerful marketing tool that will sell the experience of your property and destination to 1000's of potential travelers!  And lets not forget that every click, link and embed helps your Google ranking and increases your web presence.

What are you waiting for?  Book your film today and lets get the cameras ... rollin'

Increase Your Web Presence and Search Engine Ranking with Video Marketing

Increase your web presence and search engine ranking through video marketing and ultimately land your properties on the first page and top ranking position for key search phrases related to hotels and destinations.

“One element of surprise within the search engine world is the success and popularity of YouTube. Recent reports have shown YouTube to be up there with the likes of Google and Twitter quite soon. In fact, 2009 rankings showed YouTube as the number two most popular site for search engines. The reason this comes as a surprise to most people is that YouTube is just videos, so you may ask yourself how often a person searches just for video content. The initial thought is that this would reduce the quantity of searches, but the fact of the matter is, it is what makes it the success it is. YouTube is ultimately an untapped SEO resource.” — The Popularity of YouTube for Specific Searches - April 2010

Reach Far/Reach Wide and Put Your Video To Work

STEPS 1-2-3-4:

1. You need Video.  And not just any video, but a video that will sell the experience of both your property and destination to the viewer.
2. Insert keywords, like "city" "state" "hotel", into your video filename.
3. Insert keywords into the video title name.  i.e. Experience the Portland Harbor Hotel and Portland Maine
4. Host your video on YouTube, and embed your YouTube video into your property website. "Google says its algorithms consider how many times a video is viewed, and any views embedded videos receive on your own site get added to the ‘views’ tally on YouTube. (And yes, nearly every video we saw Google blend into its results came from YouTube.)" — Search Engine Land, Barry Schwartz, Jan 9, 2009

What are you waiting for?  Contact Us today and lets get the cameras .... rollin'!