With tourism in the dumps, Hawaii hotels are offering unprecedented discounts, freebies and other incentives in hopes of drawing tourists to the islands and survive the economic slump.
With tourism in the dumps, Hawaii hotels are offering unprecedented discounts, freebies and other incentives in hopes of drawing tourists to the islands and survive the economic slump.
The [...]

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You may have noticed recently that we’re in the midst of what seems to be a social media mania. You can’t pick up a newspaper or turn on the TV news without reading or hearing something about Twitter, Facebook or similar social media. Manias make me nervous.
First, this isn’t your grandma’s Internet anymore. Social media [...]

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This is now a familiar story: European privacy concerns and complaints against Google Street View. From angry mobs to European regulators, Google is confronting many more objections as it tries to visually map The Continent than it did in the US.
This installment involves German “data protection regulators” in Hamburg who object to the way that [...]

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Let’s say you’ve got a great product or service and you want to promote it using social media and you also know you can’t approach the social web as if it were old-style marketing.
Targeting prospects, talking about consumers and audiences, crafting and broadcasting your messages – that’s not the way it works. But as you [...]

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The recession is finally taking its toll on online travel, with a decline in revenues this year forecast by PhoCusWright, the travel industry research company.
PhoCusWright said the value of online leisure and unmanaged business travel bookings would drop 3% this year to $93 billion. The company said it was the first time since PhoCusWright began [...]

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Mark Hodson discovers which companies are using Twitter in a useful way – and those you needn’t bother with
In recent weeks, dozens of airlines, airports, tour operators and tourist boards have flocked onto Twitter. Not all are using it effectively. Here’s our pick of the winners – and the losers
TRAVEL COMPANIES TO FOLLOW
Lonely Planet has [...]

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Only 51% of bookers were capable of completing their tasks. While some of the reasons underpinning this low rate might have been outside the purview of the web experience, significant numbers of bookers reported problems with site navigation, the booking flow, and insufficient hotel/room information, all of which fall squarely on the plate of interactive [...]

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Little doubt remains about Twitter’s potential as a marketing tool, but a great debate exists about how, when and for what purposes Twitter should be incorporated into the marketing mix.
Its nimble nature already makes Twitter a great customer service, listening and general communication tool. Countless brands across many industries have put Twitter to use in [...]

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Every business today is looking to improve on the ROI of its online marketing. From placing more compelling ads, to strengthening the return on specific marketing initiatives, to increasing customer conversions… getting customers to go from the click to the buy is the real endgame for most marketers.
The explosion of search engine marketing (SEM) has [...]

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