Top 20 Trends in 2013 Forecast - 2013 Trend Report from Trend Hunter (by trendhuntertv)

This is worth watching. If you watch the 2011 report, you’ll see a lot of trends that are really starting to mainstream this year. Some of the trends listed seem a little 2012 to me, but others are certainly just rippling up.

You may ask how this pertains to travel marketing. If you can see what consumers are now becoming interested in, it will allow you to market to those interests before your competition does.

Source: youtube.com

Branded content and editorial content: the line is blurring

Advertorials are nothing new. They’ve existed for years in magazines. Sometimes, the graphic design is so similar to the content of the magazine that it’s only the tiny word “Advertisement” at the top of the page that gives it away. I like to think of myself as savvy, but I recently got three pages into an advertorial in Allure before I realized it wasn’t editorial content.

However, that’s a little different from what’s cited in this New York Times article. Advertorial content should be clearly marked, but the What’s Inside series on Mashable sponsored by Snapdragon was not. Interestingly, it’s all tagged Snapdragon even if the company isn’t mentioned in the article, but that’s about as big as the reveal gets. Mashable argues that the content is pure editorial and is just what the brand wants to be aligned with. If the brand wants to be aligned with it, shouldn’t they be willing to put their name on it enough to say, “We sponsored this and we’re proud”?

Social media marketing on mobile devices

People interact with social networks as much from mobile devices as from their desktop. If you want your social campaigns to work, it’s important to ensure that mobile users can access elements of your campaign as easily as desktop users can. Great presentation that is worthwhile for any tourism marketer.

Tourism Australia: The World’s Biggest Social Media Team

This presentation lays out how Tourism Australia built a winning social media strategy. It’s valuable for anyone working in social media, whether or not you’re in the tourism industry. Yes, I work here so it is a bit of tooting our own horn - but I’m blown away daily by what our team in Sydney is doing.

View the presentation here.

Applebee’s Overnight Social Media Meltdown: A Photo Essay

On the off chance that you have not been following the Applebee’s meltdown, it’s an excellent lesson-in-progress on how NOT to handle social media. To review: customer leaves nasty comment on receipt, staffer takes photo of receipt and posts it to Reddit, staffer gets fired by Applebees, Internet rises up in defense of staffer.

It could have ended there, but Applebee’s has handled the fallout on Facebook and Twitter in such a way that they’ve absolutely inflamed the denizens of the Internet. This post has lots of information, including screenshots of deleted/hidden posts. It’s well worth a read for any social media professional, and an object lesson in what not to do.

How would you have handled this?

Gathan D. Borden: 13 THINGS DESTINATIONS NEED TO BE READY FOR IN 2013

gathandborden:

Right on time to kick-off 2013, I made a list of 13 things that I think destinations need to be prepared for. DISCLAIMER: These are not sure-fire predictions. Think of these more as tiny morsels of information to keep in your brain.

1. The evolving role of communications/marketing staff. Press releases, story pitches and travel writers are no longer the main focus of marketing communications departments. Now we’ve got social media, website management, in-house graphic design and creative direction, just to name a few, that our communications departments are responsible for. In this ever-changing media world look for more staff members to become chameleons.

Super-good advice for any DMO from Gathan Borden at this post.