e-tourisme2nd, February 2010

e-tourisme1. A Blog2. Advertising on internet

What is a blog ? • A blog (a contraction of the term "web log") is a type

of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order so that the internet user get the newest information.

• The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs.

• Microblogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts (web entries)

A blog is basically a streamlined website that has easier technology and is designed to facilitate

a two-way conversation.

Word of mouth marketing

More on Blog

• Bloggers are those who write (called posting) original articles for the blog and/or oversee the editorial process of a blog.

• Commenters refer to the online public who read and interact with the blogger(s) by leaving a ‘comment’ on a blog post.

• Content is a common term for the information written on the blog.

• Blogosphere is a term for all blogs as a family and their interconnectivity - a ‘social network’ of all blogs. It is common practice that blogs link to each other and share or comment on each others’ posts.

• Syndication/RSS Feeds (really simple syndication) - Syndication means the ability to make blog content available for other bloggers to use and publish, typically at no cost.

RSS

nannThe weight of a Blog

A blog is more than a voice

People recognize marketing spin when they see it, what they want is authenticity.

Communicating your dreams, goals, strategies, triumphs and failures transparently to

customers and prospects.

Blog is a thought leadership !

People rarely spend money or invest in a product or service if they don’t trust the

people behind it

Building a reputation in the industry that is recognized and respected, such as the travel

industry.

Bloggers are considerably influencing consumer choice

What Makes Blogs Special? Everyone is Welcome - No matter your internet or technical abilities; everyone

can blog. The free platforms make it easy and available to all.

Conversational Content - Blog content is designed to be an opinionated, two way conversation. It is based on personal interests, expertise, etc. This applies to a corporate or organizational blogs.

Reader Interaction - Blogs by nature invite reader commentary. It is recommended to allow comments, with or without an approval feature.

Freshness - Frequent posting is necessary to attract readers, create stickiness, gain credibility, and rank in search engines. No less than once weekly.

Interconnectivity - Blogs create communities by reciprocal linking, blog rolls, blog networks, etc.

You have control of the content that gets created.

No rules! You do whatever you want with your blog.

RSS Technology - Real Simple Syndication allows for content to be instantaneously updated to other blogs, blog readers, etc.

Who are the bloggers ?

• According to Forrester Research, the demographic breakdown of ‘Spectators,’ defined as online users who read blogs, watch videos or listen to podcasts.

- 49% of 12-17- 59% of 18-21- 54% of 22-26- 41% of 27-40- 31% of 41-50- 26% of 51-61- 19% of 62+

What the average blogger looks like ?

Resource: Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2008

What the average blogger looks like ?

Resource: Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2008

Educated, financially stable, 25-49 y.o.

Who reads blogs? (in the US)

42% of internet users have read a blog(s) 33% read blogs regularly 11% read blogs daily

8% of Americans have a blog 46% of blog readers saying that they visit the same blogs regularly 54% surf for new and different ones 43% of blog visitors notice ads on blog websites 28% of US blog readers have taken an action based on a blog post

59 % of the internet users wanted to visit a country or a region after surfing on a blog

talking about it

(Source : Benchmark Group).

Blogs: Why is it successful ? • There are more than 133 million blogs with 1.5 million created

weekly. • 94 million US blog readers and 23 million American bloggers. Nearly 1

million blog posts every 24 hours. • 95% of the top 100 US newspapers have reporter blogs. • Blogs in 81 languages and 66 countries.

Resource: Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2008

Blogs: Why is it successful ?

Resource: Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2008

20% of bloggers think newspapers will be obsolete by 2018 50% think blogs will be primary news source by 2013 37% have had a blog post quoted in the traditional press

Blogs: Why is it successful ?

Resource: Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2008

61% learn about products & services from other blogs Only 1/3 turn to TV/Print as a source of info

Why a blog in the travel industry?

- Communicate openly with potential travelers.- Provides an alternative form of communication.- Engage the influencer audience.- Increase SEO- Change perception of your destination.- Public relations’ effect.- Easy solution for online participation.- Employee ownership / pride / moral.

Rethink success …

Would you rather have…

• 500 people who have actively subscribed to receive near-daily updates from a blog.

Or

• 5,000 people who have subscribed to receive monthly emails (that they don’t open) ?

But where to start? What do you need?

- Blogger / content schedule.

- Design / layout / specs.- Turn-key blogging platform.

- Multiple, dedicated bloggers.- General blog guidelines.

- Tone / voice guidelines.- Marketing / promotional / distribution plan.

- Goals / tracking / statistics / monitoring.

– Do I blog as a person or as a company– How much can I write about a topic ? – Can I write appealing content?– What else can I do to find topics ?

– Who will maintain my blog ?

– Will you and your team dedicate the time required?

– How do you motivate the blogging team?

– Will you openly show blogger(s) identity?– What happens when a blogger leaves?– How will you address negative comments?

– Is this the right tool for your demo / audience?

– When do I start seeing results ?

Tips prior to launch

- Know your audience.- Know the tone, the influencers and what already exists.- Begin posting content to your blog prior to launch.- Work on SEO- Know the Rules of the Game Before You Start Playing- Research and find other local bloggers- Develop a 3 and 6 month evaluation plan.- Develop an editorial calendar and stick to it!- Be aware of the dedication required.- Prepare for pain.

Tips while Blogging • Be patient while building your audience.

• Post often / Post actionable topics / Be confident and comfortable about the topic

• Create your travel community

– Cultivate it.

– Participate and communicate with other bloggers.

• Incorporate your blog in everything (signature, website, business card, …)

• Read, friend, link, talk, learn, reference.

• Use proper grammar and punctuation.

• Animate, illustrate with web.2

• Self evaluation works / Don’t just react however

• Build approval into process (eg: Southwest Airlines the lobby blog)

• Coordinate/integrate With Traditional PR/Marketing Efforts

– Company news can be a blog post if it’s compelling info and offers original content (interviews, etc) beyond the press release information

• Recruit Internal Bloggers

– Solicit people from within the organization to be bloggers

Identify your audience

• The ones who are involved in the tourisme promotion:– Institutionals, tourist offices, ….

• The Tourist Operational Actors– Hotels, B&B, ..– Attractions providers, museums, ….

• E-commerce actors– Aggregators, pure players, TO on line, …

Remember that they are Consumers before Members Remind them of the WIIFM - What’s In It For Them ?

Setting Up & Owning Your BlogHow to Select a Blog Name• Make it: Easy to remember & spell• Make it: Relevant to your business• Make it: the same as the URL• Make it: Letters only; no numbers, punctuation, etc. • Don’t use “blog” in the name - it’s redundant

Secure the Domain Name• Use a free service, but buy the domain name

–www.bastillemarketing.com, not www.bastillemarketing.blogspot.com–Google or GoDaddy.com - very simple instructions–Buy the .org, .com, .net, etc - its worth the $10/year for people to find you easily!

The Intersection of Blogs and Print• Incorporate your blog into ALL print pieces; Wherever your website is printed,

so should be your blog• Insert it in your email signature (Read our blog: www.associationABC.com) & in

your website

What not to do ?

- Post infrequently.- Disguise or fake your identity.- Write content months ahead of time.- Farm out the work.- Delete / erase comments w/o guidelines.- Ignore comments.- Plagiarize.- Obsess over traffic and PageRank.- Get off topic.- Consider yourself bigger than your readers.

Which blog platform to choose?

How to create a blog?

• www.blogger.com (launched in 1999) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnploFsS_tY

The Anatomy of a Blog

The Anatomy of a Blog

Topic Tabs

Subscribe Feature

Follow MeButtons

Clean design; easy navigation

About Tab Advertising Tab - easily could be a Donate TabDate & Author - linked to bio

Easy to Share via Twitter

Picture insert; yet not cluttered (pls credit all photos!) Interactivity - recent comments; frequent commenters;

encourages time spent on the page

Clean design of blog post

The Anatomy of a Blog

Hyperlink to Author’s Bio and Post Archive Comments visible - link to full list Blog community badges Blogroll

The Anatomy of a Blog

Social Sharing Features & Find Me Functions

The Anatomy of a Blog

Blog on etourisme !

Instead of focusing my communication on my B&B, my main objective was to share my passion and knowledge on my

region with the visitors, to give them personnalised advices on what their holidays could be.

CDT Calvados created a blog on a historical character, Guillaume le Conquérant, great symbol for Normandy

This mixed modern/history with geolocalisation of the battles on Google Maps, pictures on flickr & videos.

Tags are named “crown”, “Pape” or “Duché de Normandie”.A space is dedicated to children with a videao, quizz and a booklet.

Only Facebook page &Twitter address are missing

La Fabuleuse Epopée

A blog not from a company but the owner himself !

The authors who tell stories on Creuse are real « Creuse » lovers & from Creuse! Their pictures are clearly featured

on the right with links to each of them. Message becomes thus much clearer for the internet user.

A success story ???

A sample on a avdertising blogCreation of a website to support

an offline advertising campaign

2005-2006 : cigale campaign

2007 : Ne partez plus en vacances, le blog

New community trends, new travellers ‘ behaviours = enhance the everyday life, provide an authentic

environment, full of simplicty, complicty and sharings

Ne partez plus en vacances !

For a new internet area

Create a community in which each one can find its own place and participate.

= source of information for Bouches du RhôneCommunication platforms

.

3. The content•Select 4 spokesmen who represent the brand identity

•Make them alive

•Go beyond the personality shown through the traditionnal advertising campaign. Reinforce their identity via the blog .

•Address added value to the destination through people’s passions, e.g. culture, outdoor activities, art and tradition and through their place of residence - Arles Camargue, Marseille Aix, Provence.

•Alternate with reaction to news

•Suggest good deals, great itineraries, new ideas to make the blog informative

4. Behind the scenes

• CREATIONCost : 10 000 € for a period of 2 years Designed & animated by an outside communcation & web agencyFollow-up, updates, emailings, contest & hosting managed by the web agency

Bouches du Rhônes CDT was a moderator but not a censor (lots of spams to get rid of!).

• EDITING 4 virtual characters: 2 from CDT & 2 from the webagencyIn order to ensure the credibility, each character was in charge of his own passion and had to go on site ½ day / month

• NEWSLETTER 4 to 5 newsletters / year were sent out to inform about contest and updates.

5. The contreversy

True or fake blog ?????At the launch of the bog, 2 bloggers critizised the initiative. The blog could

deceive the internet user by not given sincere information

Reaction was :

1. A clear introduction addressed to to the commenters:

Le blog nepartezplusenvacances.com vous est proposé par le comité départemental du tourisme des Bouches-du-Rhône (www.visitprovence.com).

Damien, Sabine, Roberto et Jeanne sont des personnages fictifs, créés pour la campagne de communication nationale du CDT13. Mais leurs conseils sont néanmoins sincères, avisés et ont bel et bien été vécus par notre quatuor local, chargés de vivre par procuration les folles aventures de nos quatre amis, à savoir : Gilles / Damien (CDT13), Carole / Sabine (CDT13), Greg / Roberto (1=2) et Aurélie / Jeanne (1=2).

2. The bloggers participated in the discussions raised on this subject

.

6. The Conclusion• Almost 100 000 visitors in less than 2 years • Substantial impact on the SEO• A loyal audience• Positive comments :

« Oh merci ! Merci beaucoup pour tous ces conseils qui font du bien !! Une petite bulle de fraîcheur ! »« Je suis marseillais et j'oublie toujours cette superbe Vieille Charité. Et bien des chroniques d'art comme la tienne, ça me réveille : je vais y aller, té ! »« Je ne connaissais pas ce numéro, merci ! Et pourtant je suis marseillais depuis... sept ans ? déjà ? »

• A free editorial content A true tone for each characterPictures taken on the spot

But the blog did not look real enough:• Too professionnal: with a perfect design• Should have selected true people but not professionnals • Too early (2007) for non experienced bloggers