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Business-to-business marketing professionals have climbed en-masse onto the social media bandwagon according to a new survey slated to be presented in Chicago next month. Fifty-seven per cent of the marketing professionals say they are now using social media, up from 15% just two years ago.
But despite the clamor to use social media, many marketers worry it is hard to establish the return on investment (ROI).
The survey, conducted by BtoB magazine and the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), is scheduled to be presented on the first day of B-to-B Marketing in the New World in Chicago Aug. 4-5.
Twitter tops the list of social networking sites with 70% of b-to-b marketers saying they were using it (but just 46% of business-to-consumer marketers said they were using the micro-blogging site). And Facebook was the most-used social media site with 60% of b-to-b marketers using it.
The survey also shows a decided shift in the use of the Web. In 2007, 49% said the primary purpose of Websites was brand building; this year, just 34% said that was the purpose. Instead, the Web is increasingly being seen as a marketing tool for demand generation - 47% this year compared to 39% two years ago.
Those who planned to make more use of social media tools said proven strategies - blogs and email - would top their priorities.
Continue reading "And the social media ROI is?"
The news this week that Expedia and Hotwire have paid millions of dollars in claimed back hotel occupancy taxes to San Francisco may provide an opening for new marketing opportunities for regional magazines and tourism and promotion agencies (TPA).
The San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday the two Online Tourism Agencies (OTA) paid the city $35 million following a California appeals court decision that the taxes were due. Priceline.com and Travelocity are also expected to pay taxes. The companies are expected to continue to appeal the decision.
OTA commonly pay taxes based on the wholesale cost of the rooms. San Francisco and a growing number of other communities across the country, maintain OTA's should be paying taxes on the actual amount the consumers pay to the hotel. Even private owners of short-term housing properties are feeling the tax sting as some communities seek to broaden the interpretation of what is taxable under occupancy tax legislation.
Similar legal wrangling in Columbus, GA, and Baltimore have led Travelocity, amongst others, to stop selling wholesale rooms in those areas and other locations around the country.
Whether or not the OTA's ultimately prevail, as the tax dust swirls and the price advantage previously offered by the big online sites is no longer available, regional magazines and TPA's should consider displaying their listings of overnight accommodations in a more prominent manner on their own Websites.
A new emphasis on providing the "most complete list" of places to stay with coupons or special packages may provide a new marketing opportunity for the local sites. Rotating a featured a hotel, cabin or B&B package on the homepage instead of simply providing a page of listings, may bring more viewers the the site and help emphasize that the local tourism Website is the authoritative place to get information about where to stay in that destination.
Continue reading "Tax controversy is opportunity for local sites"
The San Francisco Chronicle reported Tuesday the two Online Tourism Agencies (OTA) paid the city $35 million following a California appeals court decision that the taxes were due. Priceline.com and Travelocity are also expected to pay taxes. The companies are expected to continue to appeal the decision.
OTA commonly pay taxes based on the wholesale cost of the rooms. San Francisco and a growing number of other communities across the country, maintain OTA's should be paying taxes on the actual amount the consumers pay to the hotel. Even private owners of short-term housing properties are feeling the tax sting as some communities seek to broaden the interpretation of what is taxable under occupancy tax legislation.
Similar legal wrangling in Columbus, GA, and Baltimore have led Travelocity, amongst others, to stop selling wholesale rooms in those areas and other locations around the country.
Whether or not the OTA's ultimately prevail, as the tax dust swirls and the price advantage previously offered by the big online sites is no longer available, regional magazines and TPA's should consider displaying their listings of overnight accommodations in a more prominent manner on their own Websites.
A new emphasis on providing the "most complete list" of places to stay with coupons or special packages may provide a new marketing opportunity for the local sites. Rotating a featured a hotel, cabin or B&B package on the homepage instead of simply providing a page of listings, may bring more viewers the the site and help emphasize that the local tourism Website is the authoritative place to get information about where to stay in that destination.
Continue reading "Tax controversy is opportunity for local sites"
Yet another hotbed of citizen "journalism" is being tested, this time in Austin, TX. The new Austin Post www.austinpost.org is online in an "alpha" version.
An invitation to potential writers notes nearly anything reasonably believable will be published. Actually, that's not what the site says -- it is my interpretation. What it really says is that submissions pass through "a light editorial vetting process." The pay? Zip, zero, nothing but there may be "high rewards" along the way.
Writing that they believe in the "critical role" newspapers play in a democratic society -- guiding discussions and encouraging "informed debate and decision-making," the Post producers add they believe an Internet site can provide the same role "perhaps even more effectively."
Instead of relying on a paid staff, the Trilogy Employee Foundation, which has provided seed money and guidance for this new venture, notes most of its writers have a passion "borne of personal involvement" and "are engaged in the action."
But how does one get from "passion" and engagement both of which implicitly suggest pre-formed opinions to "informed debate?" What happened to the need to present a balanced view? Is objectivity too old-fashioned a concept for the likes of a site like this?
Unfortunately, I'm afraid the Austin Post is just the latest in a string of online news sites that have gotten the popularity of reality television confused with informed debate and the role of newspapers and magazines to help guide those conversations.
There's no question that the news business must morph from traditional print practices which sees the Internet as a threat to embracing the Internet as a complimentary media outlet, but dismissing professionally-trained writers and the objectivity they bring as irrelevant, is throwing the baby out with the bath water. It is the "business model" that must change, not how and why the content is developed.
Continue reading "You too can be published -- but can we believe you?"
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