Social Media Survival Tips for Travel PR

As the date of a press trip approaches, itineraries are flying around, details are being finalized and media kits are assembled and distributed. Amid all of this, I’ve noticed over two and a half years of travel writing, there is no social media “kit” provided at the beginning of a trip … and it wouldn’t be hard to do. Look at the top of any itinerary: you see property and agency contact information. How hard would it be to include a Twitter account, too?

Hey, travel PR folks: in addition to thinking about the coverage you hope to secure in a magazine or on a blog after the trip has run its course, think about the incremental gains you could realize during the trip itself – especially for a group trip.

When you’re planning your next press trip, consider the following social media essentials:

Five Most Recent Social Media Marketing Guest Posts

Okay, I’ve been busy lately, which is why I’ve been neglecting Migrant Blogger. Just so you can have a sense of what I’ve been up to, here are my recent social media marketing guest posts for Social Times and Technorati:

Four Ways Corporate Bloggers Can Lure Readers Back >>

Four Ways to Hedge Against Twitter Platform Instability >>

Four Terrible Objectives for Your Corporate Blog >>

Corporate Blogging: Ignore Your Metrics >>

Top Five Ways to Turn Blog States into Sales Intelligence >>

Why the Twitter Startup Market Won’t Get More Cash

Peter Kafka’s latest article over on AllThingsD (a must-read for me) caught my attention quickly. He found that the amount of investment cash flowing into “pure play” Twitter startups fell to $10.4 million for the June 2009-to-May 2010 period … from $21.6 million the previous year. The 52 percent year-over-year decline probably feels like a shock to the system, but it looks like there are some clear drivers for this change.

Kafka cites the natural ebb and flow of venture capital deals, as well as Twitter’s rush to fill gaps in its services. The latter, to me, is a no-brainer, as I remember trying to keep up with it. During last spring’s Chirp conference, Twitter announced a number of new measures that rounded out its product set. Of course, it came at the expense – whether Twitter wanted to admit it or not – of the many companies that had arisen as a result of the market opportunities created by Twitter’s gaps.