Use Your Klout for Access to the Admirals Club

Klout and American Airlines (AA) have announced a partnership that allows social media influencers access to AA’s exclusive Admiral’s Club.

A Klout score over 55 will allow you to gain access to 37 of the airline’s lounges in 22 different cities, and you don’t have to fly American to be eligible, as would normally be the case. Guests reap a variety of benefits, ranging from complimentary wine to shower suites at select locations.

If you fall a little short of 55, don’t worry! You are entered into a drawing for the potential to win prizes including all expenses-paid trips to Seattle, along with products from other brands that have partnered with Klout such as Sony, Chevrolet, and Microsoft.

Klout utilizes social media analytics to measure your online social influence. Upon analyzing 400 variables throughout your multiple social networks, it determines a score between one and 100, with 100 representing the most influential.

It’s become more apparent that the hospitality industry has a lot to gain from social media influencers. Getting the right people into their exclusive lounges means more traffic to their websites via Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, along with increased brand exposure.

Other airlines in need of significant image boosts would greatly benefit from partnering with Klout to gain insight on what kinds of amenities an individual takes into consideration before booking their next flight. Other mobile apps that ease flyers and create a more positive association with their airliner have already seen some headway.

With the decline of amenities in most airlines due to economic restraints, companies must resort to other avenues of representation or else suffer complacency. What better way to strengthen bonds between brands and their influencers than to put them in the cockpit of their initiatives?

What kinds of airline perks would you like to see offered next?

Instagram Launches Photo Indexing, Photos of You

Instagram has established itself as a piece of a vast digital mosaic that businesses and companies have used to gain insight on how trends emerge. Since acquiring the infamous photo-sharing app in early 2012, Facebook has adapted one of their key tagging tools to Instagram called “Photos of You.”

Until now, the only way you could tag a friend or your favorite restaurant was to add their handle in the comments section. Now, you’re able to tag friends and venues by hovering over the photo itself, much like Facebook.

These photos will then be indexed in its very own profile section on the tagged individual’s profile, allowing anyone to be able to see photos they have been tagged in by simply searching their name. As a result, a convenient listening tool for brands has emerged, creating the ability for businesses to track how they are seen by an online community.

To businesses in the hospitality industry, this means additional real estate for loyal fans to represent the company’s image.

Restaurants will be able to collect real-time data from the photos that are tagged at their venue. They’ll see what dishes are more popular than others, as well as what their customers find favorable in the ambiance or interior decor. What guests find thoughtful or unobtrusive in a hotel suite will now be more accessible to owners to implement solutions.

Instagram will also feature an easy way to untag photos of yourself to mitigate any apprehension from users, leaving only the best photos intact. This adds a level of storytelling that will create meaningful associations between brands and their influencers.

Photos of You streamlines the ability to see photos tagged by anyone in the format of a collage instead of notifications. Additionally, photos taken of you by a friend will not only be seen on their Instagram feed, but now in yours as well. This eliminates the gaps in your activity that otherwise wouldn’t be seen by your followers.

There is great potential for user-generated traffic that will reveal what kinds of photos are tagged. These in turn can be used to pioneer better campaigns that focus on specific demographics and themes. Combined with other Instagram marketing strategies or a social media marketing platform for Instagram, brands can use analytics to leverage Instagram as a business tool.

Will this tagging feature impact the way you use Instagram? Tell us how!

What Brands Can Learn From Taco Bell

On April 3, I attended the 17th annual Restaurant Industry Conference at UCLA. Hosted by UCLA Extension, the conference focused on brand relevance and evolution. The lunch keynote, Greg Creed, CEO of Taco Bell, discussed how his brand has transformed itself in several essential ways without losing the loyalty of its core customer.

Many of the points that Creed touched upon may serve as valuable insight for a variety of brands.

The humorous Australian opened with a core distinction between what food used to be and what it is now.

Food used to be fuel, but now, it’s an experience. 

Taco Bell: Cool Ranch and Doritos Tacos
He addressed two key insights for any brand:

  1. Current customers want you to be more relevant
  2. Potential customers want you to be better (otherwise, they’d already be your customer)

For example, Taco Bell’s journey to be more relevant was encompassed by the Doritos locos tacos, which created the best year they’ve had. He emphasized the significance of being able to both be better and more relevant as well as be able to answer and execute. Creed also mentioned an ambitious goal – the brand hopes to double in size in the next 10 years. This is a bold goal, but they’re being transparent about it so that they’re held accountable.

Taco Bell: Going Way Past Awesome

Creed discussed how Taco Bell has become the first brand to be in the top five in terms of both speed and accuracy. Brand clarity, knowing what your brand stands for, is essential to this. Any business should understand why they exist and what they stand for.

For Taco Bell, success criteria is defined by whether an initiative is uniquely Taco Bell; resonates with and represents all stakeholders; is repeatable; and conveys the essence — in this case, “MAS.”

Taco Bell: Live Mas

This helped birth the idea of their Super Bowl commercial (which went against everything they were advised to do), along with the expansion of their breakfast offerings.

He also touched upon the importance of taking care of your staff.

The Customer Experience

Creed noted that people are going to judge companies based on how they treat their employees, and act accordingly. Taco Bell’s employees were the first to try and share cool ranch tacos. While this cost the company a lot of money, it created brand advocates of employees.

They are also keeping all employees at 30 hours or greater to ensure they have and keep their healthcare benefits. While other brands are publicly cutting hours to avoid healthcare costs, this move was perceived as the “best decision” they could have made in this situation.

Creed closed with this noteworthy quote:

There is no standing still. You’re either going forward or backward. If you’re standing still, you’re going backward, as others are going forward.

 

What are some of the ways you’re moving forward?

Rubio’s Debuts Online Merch Store on Cyber Monday

The restaurant chain known for its fish tacos, flavorful seafood dishes, and devotion to the ocean, is now bringing its Southern California flair to clothing, drinkware, lifestyle accessories and more.

Rubio’s Restaurants is debuting its online merchandise store, in honor of Cyber Monday. Featuring a variety of Rubio’s gear for all ages, the items in the new online store represent the brand’s passion for coastal living and dedication to quality.

Created and designed by an in-house team of artists, the Rubio’s online store offers t-shirts, sweatshirts, baby onesies, kids clothes, tanks tops, aprons, reusable shopping bags, canvas totes, water bottles, coffee mugs, phone cases, stickers, key chains, license plate holders, flip flops and much more.

“At Rubio’s, we are dedicated to creating delicious, chef-crafted recipes and memorable experiences,” said Ralph Rubio, founder of Mexican food brand. “There was so much passion and attention to detail that went into the creation of the Original Fish Taco recipe and, once completed, I hoped that Rubio’s guests would see it, taste it and love it as much as I did. Now, after almost 30 years, I’m still in awe of the devotion our guests have for Rubio’s and that’s why we’re thrilled to launch an online store that delivers more of the Rubio’s culture to our guests.”

The online merchandise store is one of the brand’s many initiatives that will be rolling out as the restaurant chain celebrates its 30th anniversary.

Founded in 1983, Rubio’s opened its first store, a walk-up location, in the San Diego community of Mission Bay. Since then, Rubio’s has sold more than 150 million fish tacos and continues to expand its menu with innovative recipes inspired by the sea.

Fans can also join in the conversation and be among the first to hear about upcoming events, including Rubio’s 30th anniversary celebrations, on Facebook at  and Twitter.

Ways Travel & Tourism Can Use Social Media

Just what can a travel brand do with social media?

Here are a few thoughts to spark inspiration and evoke conversation. This is just the tip of the iceberg!

Manage your brand and image

  1. Listen for mentions of your brand.
  2. Crisis communication.
  3. Uncover and get to know the influencers of your brand.
  4. Listen when no one is talking.

Gather industry intel

  1. Listen to how ‘the other guys’ are doing it.
  2. Pay close attention to the language of your target audience.
  3. Use social media as a means to research the market.

Build a community

  1. Foster interactive safe spaces where fans and friends can comment and engage.
  2. Tell your story through a corporate blog.
  3. Find personal connections and engage.
  4. Identify with your customers.
  5. Take advantage of user-generated content such as pictures, videos, and guest posts.

Create a Peer to Peer environment

  1. Initiate social recommendations versus simply giving them.
  2. Provide space for a forum or facilitate a tweet chat.
  3. Don’t ignore the customer review.
  4. Encourage and lead in crowd sourcing.

Be fun and rewarding

  1. Create Facebook apps such as location-based maps, quizzes, and games.
  2. Loyalty reward programs just for ‘liking’ your page will be seen and shared by friends of your fans.
  3. A Social Media VIP program is a great way to reward your biggest fans.
  4. Competitions with prizes like airfare or a sunny getaway will get lots of traction and shares when done well.
  5. Check-ins on apps such as Foursquare and Yelp are fun and useful.

Stand out and be noticed

  1. Instagram pictures shared by your guests and staff alike give you a personal and visual touch.
  2. Create compelling YouTube videos.
  3. Organize pin boards on Pinterest of experiences you offer.
  4. Use SEO to ensure you get the most and best traffic to your site.

Provide exceptional customer service via social media

  1. Respond to customer service issues as they come up.
  2. Recognize and respond to inquiries using the platform your customers prefer.
  3. Uncover your brand evangelists.

Make money

  1. Utilize a listening platform for sales & lead generation.
  2. Use Twitter to post last-minute deals and sell off otherwise vacant spots on trips or rooms in your hotel.
  3. Use Twitter and Facebook to push special promotions that you can easily track and manage.
  4. Implement a paid campaign or take out an ad on Facebook.
  5. Use keyword searching/targeted listening to find would be travelers who are looking for the very service you offer and strike up a conversation.

Often we tend to complicate strategy and overthink the must-dos.

It’s helpful to take a step back, and simplify our plan of attack.

This post was contributed by Jenn Seeley. Jenn is a Community Engagement Specialist at Radian6 specializing in the world of travel. What that really means, is she monitors the happenings in travel and tourism where social media is concerned, watching for industry trends, and creating helpful content to share with an awesome community of professionals. You can read more of her content here and connect with her on Twitter.

 

How Restaurants Can Make the Most of Facebook Timeline

When it comes to Facebook, users have learned that one of the only constants is change. The site’s most recent change was a big one – making the switch from profile pages to the Facebook Timeline.

With the timeline, a Facebook brand page now provides much more than just exterior information such as the who, what and where, and actually goes deeper into a business’ story.

For restaurants, the timeline offers a great opportunity to present their culture, food, atmosphere and history, all while continuing to engage customers.

Below are tips for making the most of Facebook Timeline for your restaurant.

Choose the right cover and profile picture.

The new timeline is set up much differently than the old layout, with a large banner image (or cover) at the top, and a timeline of events and stories that follow as the visitor scrolls down the page. Your cover image is the first thing people see when viewing your Facebook page, so it’s important to make sure it clearly conveys your restaurant’s image (so to speak).

The sandwich shop Which Wich, for example, uses a large, enticing image of one if its sandwiches, while Bar Louie displays a collage that presents the restaurant’s food, cocktails and atmosphere. Both pages use the restaurant logo as its profile picture.

Keep important info at the top.

Below your cover photo and profile picture is a brief “About” section alongside a bar of thumbnails that displays your photos and apps, or “Favorites.” The “About” section is short and sweet; visitors can click through to read a more detailed summary, but it’s important to be able to convey your restaurant’s message concisely to assure those passing through are also able to assess what your brand is about.

Because the apps section is at the top, you can use it as a type of navigation that drives visitors to a landing page for further action – for example, installing a customized app that allows them to view your menu or order online.

Show your restaurant’s history.

With the timeline, you can add milestones and events to the past and enrich your restaurant’s story.

Chick Fil A Facebook

Chick-fil-A’s Facebook Timeline goes back to 1946, when it was founded, and displays an image of the very first restaurant. It then goes on to highlight milestones in the restaurant’s history, such as the invention of the Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich and the establishment of the restaurant’s Team Member Scholarship Program.

Bringing attention to these high points shows how your restaurant has changed (or hasn’t changed), grown and withstood the test of time.

Build your brand.

This part of your Facebook page remains the same as before – you still can (and should!) utilize the timeline to build brand awareness by posting relevant, interesting content. If your restaurant focuses on whole, organic, local ingredients, post content that educates your readers about sustainable foods. If you want to convey your restaurant’s commitment to customer service, post content that shows a behind-the-scenes look at how your staff goes above and beyond to serve customers.

Be creative – Facebook, after all, is supposed to be fun.

Use images to promote your restaurant.

The new Facebook Timeline is extremely visual. Use quality images to promote your restaurant’s food, atmosphere and events. You can highlight, or “star,” certain images to make them widescreen, which is perfect for drawing attention to timely food and drink specials.

If you provide catering or wedding services at your restaurant, be sure to include images of events that let your customers see exactly what you are capable of. If a celebrity recently ate your restaurant, take a photo and post it on your timeline!

Keep followers engaged.

Facebook’s main purpose is to connect and socialize with others. Keep your visitors and your customers constantly engaged through conversations, polls, questions and contests. Let them know what’s new in your kitchens, and get feedback on new foods and drinks on the menu. Invite them to share their stories and photos on your timeline. The more people are connecting with and talking about your restaurant on Facebook, the better.

This guest post was contributed by Jacqui MacKenzie. Jazqui is a writer for Straight North, an Internet marketing Chicago firm that specializes in social media, SEO, Web design and more. She writes for a wide range of clients, from podiatry website template providers to specialists in custom food manufacturing. Check out the Straight North Blog, or follow @StraightNorth on Twitter. 

Cheers to Instagram

Between Instagram rolling out to the Android market in early April and its purchase by Facebook a week later, it was only a matter of time before social-savvy businesses began tying the photo editing and sharing app into social media-based initiatives.

Not only is Maggiano’s Little Italy encouraging users to follow their own Instagram account, they are also asking diners to share photos taken at the restaurant on Twitter with the hashtag, #Maggianos.

This isn’t the first time the Italian restaurant has effectively used social marketing – last summer, they sent out another excellent message to their mailing list encouraging fans to like them on Facebook.

Again, Maggiano’s has done an excellent job tying in social media to their latest initiative.

Rather than a basic message announcing their happy hour offers (that they’d probably have sent out anyway), they opted to go this route and tie in a timely social component.

And, to incentive users to participate, they’re going to choose several winners to receive $100 gift certificates throughout the month of May.

Kudos to Maggiano’s for staying being innovative with their marketing strategies.

I’ll definitely be sharing photos of my cocktails next time I’m there for happy hour!

 

Love, Art, Hashtags, and Season Passes

Love Artwork at Va Welcome CenterThe state tourism office of Virginia is working to share the message that love is at heart of every Virginia vacation.

To do so, they are partnering with tourism destinations across the state to have the word “love” pop up in many different and unexpected places.

On May 5, Kings Dominion, a popular amusement park near Richmond, will be the latest place in the state to have LOVE pop up, and with it, a chance to win one of 25 season passes being awarded by the Virginia Tourism Corporation.

The “Virginia is for Lovers” oversized LOVE artwork will make its debut at Kings Dominion to promote family vacationsWhen the gates open on May 5, park goers will go on a scavenger hunt for the LOVE artwork, which will be placed somewhere in the park.

The first 25 people to locate the LOVE artwork, post a picture of it to the Virginia is for Lovers Facebook page or on Twitter using the #LOVEVA hashtag, along with the message “love is at the heart of every Virginia vacation”, will win a 2012 Kings Dominion season pass.

This is a great way to incentive social sharing while subsequently enforcing the brand message!

The LOVE artwork, which is 16 feet long and more than six feet high, is part of the Virginia is for Lovers campaign and promotes the message that love is at the heart of every Virginia vacation.  The artwork has made stops at Virginia Welcome Centers, attractions and localities throughout Virginia.  It has become a favorite photo opportunity for visitors as well as local residents wherever it has gone.

Photos taken by people from across the country can be seen on at www.Facebook.com/VirginiaisforLovers and on Twitter by searching #LOVEVA.

“Our iconic Virginia is for Lovers brand is about love – pure and simple, and has been for more than 40 years,” said Rita McClenny, interim president and CEO of the Virginia Tourism Corporation. “Virginia’s amusement and theme parks are one of the most popular experiences that draw families to Virginia each year. The LOVE artwork at Kings Dominion will promote Virginia as an ideal destination for families looking to completely connect on a Virginia vacation.”

“Kings Dominion is all about family fun and entertainment,” Kings Dominion vice president and general manager Pat Jones said. “What better way to show your love for Virginia than creating memories with your family at Kings Dominion. Snap a picture with the Virginia Tourism Corporation’s LOVE artwork and at the same time enjoy all the thrills we have to offer.”

Trip Heartmann, the official mascot of Virginia is for Lovers, will be standing by at the LOVE artwork to help the lucky winners celebrate and to pose for photos with park goers.  The LOVE artwork will remain on display through May 6.

All Nippon Airways Introduces New Route in Style

All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s leading airline carrier, recently announced that its “Inspiration of Japan” service brand will be introduced to the Los Angeles-Narita (Tokyo) route beginning January 2012. It will also be launching from San Francisco, CA in December.

Under the “Inspiration of Japan” umbrella, ANA is gradually renewing its international products and services with the motto, “Innovative, original and inspired by modern Japan.” They embrace the challenge of constantly innovating and keeping pace with the changing tastes and preferences of valued customers, as well as consistently exceeding their expectations.

To celebrate and spread the word, ANA hosted a showcasing event last week at the JW Marriott in Los Angeles that featured First, Business and Economy class mock-up seats displayed along with several presentations. The night also included hosted food and beverages plus numerous members of the ANA staff on-hand to personally talk with guests, share information and answer questions.

Invitees included travel agents, members of the media, and a number of social influences connected to the brand’s Los Angeles-based brand ambassadors. Using the hashtag #ANALAX (reflecting the airline’s new service to LAX), attendees were encouraged to tweet about the event and share information, photos and more. They did just that, and it resulted in 5.4 million brand impressions!

Not only are events like these creative, but they’re also excellent marketing for several reasons:

  • They really evoke a human element to the brand — inviting people to experience it first-hand leaves a much more intimate impression than if they were to simply read about it.
  • While there’s some outward costs for sponsored food and drink, etc., you’re in turn getting 5.4 million personal impressions. It’s no doubt cheaper than traditional advertising for that substantial a reach.
  • When the goal of the brand is “embrace constantly innovating,” shaking up marketing strategies and the way you engage with consumers is a definite plus!

I was fortunate to be able to attend the event and thought it was fantastic. I respect that ANA trusted their brand ambassadors to invite “real” people (and possible consumers) to “sample” their product, and definitely have a personal association with the brand that I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to attain.

Getting to personally sit in the first-class seats was really awesome. There is a ton of space, and the seats are staggered so that everyone has an aisle seat. They also shift all the way back while the area just in front where your feet can rest (even while sitting up-right) moves forward, stimulating a literal bed to sleep on for the long flight. There is also a thorough, gourmet food and beverage menu available; widescreen LCD touch panels not only for entertainment, but for people to hook in their own iPods or portable devices to enjoy their own videos, photos or music; office space via newly-installed sliding tables and more.

Looking forward to flying ANA!

Get the Most From Your Google+ Business Page

Google+ opened up the floor brand pages today and it’s great to stay ahead of the curve and get your page up and running. This new template allows for businesses, brands and places to make personalized pages as an additional platform to spread information. If nothing else, having a page is a great SEO benefit as it creates an additional space on the web that lists your information.

Filling out the profile isn’t much unlike filling out a Facebook page, and all the fields are relatively straightforward.

There are a few tips to get the most out of your page and make sure people know about it and are able to find you.

google plus business pages

As Google suggests, it’s a great idea to begin cross-promoting your page amongst your other social channels. These networks are where your social-savvy audience resides, and so it’s important they know that you’re also now present in this new space.

Google also makes it really simple to add a widget to your website allowing your site visitors, who may not be present in other social spaces, to know you’re now on G+. It’s very clean and Google provides the code for you to use with your specific link. I added mine in with my Twitter one which was incredibly easy and ties right in.

You’ll also be provided the link to your page which allows for the easy cross promotion noted in step one of the above list. Keep this link handy, as you’ll probably want to refer to it easily in the future without having to fuss to find it each time.

Next, build your circles! This is where the “social” aspect will tie into the Google+ experience: in order for you to follow other brand to eventually interact with them, you want to follow (or, here, “circle”) them so you can keep up on what they’re posting. From there, you can +1 (the G+ equivalent to “liking” something on Facebook) a post or leave a comment on it.

Create different circles for different types of profiles based on whatever niches are relevant to your brand. For example, I focus on hospitality-related content mainly so I made circles for different hospitality genres: hotels, restaurants and retail. Then, since I love keeping up with the latest news, both broad and related to technology and social media, I made corresponding circles for those as well.

This is beneficial for several reasons:

  1. It shows support for other businesses. And if you scratch their back, when it comes time, they’ll scratch yours in return. If you come across information you find useful, acknowledge that to its provider. Everyone enjoys knowing they’ve helped out someone else.
  2. It spreads the word about YOUR page. I’ll use Search Engine Land (SEL) as an example. Say you go and +1 SEL’s post. Just as with Facebook, visitors to SEL’s page will now spot your name on the post in which you +1ed or commented. You’ve just subtly, and inadvertently, in a way, advertised yourself, and your presence on Google+.
  3. If shows that you’re active; that you “get it.” There are many companies that set up pages and then simply stream autofeeds, robot posts or traditional, spammy information solely about their brand and nothing else. This is not social marketing. Actual social media marketing practices involve being social.

Google’s also just introduced a new feature called “Direct Connect” making it easy for users to locate their favorite brands on Google+.

google direct connectWhile this is a new feature that’s still limited and in the testing phases, it should really simplify things once it becomes more mainstream.

Keep in mind, too, when maintaining your Google+ profile, that you want to make your posts public. There are a lot of concerns about privacy online but the point of business pages, unlike personal ones, is that they’re accessible. Since you’re using it as a promotional tool, there’s no reason to limit it to a narrow scope of people.

That being said, do keep me mind it may sometimes be suitable to tailor certain posts to certain audiences. Alluding to my circles above, say I’ve just written a new post specifically pertaining to hotels that doesn’t really apply to the retail or dining audience. I can post that article specifically to my ‘hotel’ followers, to the specific audience it’s designated for, so it’s not bugging those to which that particular content may not be relevant. It’s kind of a pay-it-by-ear situation depending on what your particular brand is about and how defined your following is, as to whether you should always go public vs. occasionally more centered, but just keep both sides in mind and assess which route is best on a case-by-case basis.

Is there anything else you’re nervous about regarding getting started on Google+?

To Your Health, Happiness and Deliciousness

Culture the Yogurt SocietyThe food truck culture has exploded over the past year, and most use social media to get the word out about upcoming events and locations. That said, only a few are really using social media to its full advantage.

One truck, however, that is doing a noticeably great job with customer relations, marketing and branding via social channels is Culture, a yogurt truck from Mikey Farah, the creator of Berry Chill, a former brick-and-mortar shop based in Chicago.

The truck, also based in Chicago, deems its tagline “the yogurt society,” a great, welcoming motto to attract hungry visitors.

Not only is Culture a tasty indulgence, it’s also good for you. They’ve eliminated the artificial chemicals and replaced them with live active cultures, which can increase your metabolism, help boost your immune response AND freshen your breath (smooch, anyone?)

Delicious fresh-cut, fruit toppings are also available, such as mangoes, strawberries and pineapples; and dry toppings including granola, mochi and popular cereals can be added as well. Their incredibly diverse menu caters to any taste, and the explicit “truck finder” portion of their website makes it easy for those craving sweets to locate their whereabouts.

Furthermore, they have a Tumblr page which also includes a variety of information, and is consistent in appearance with their branding, clearly displayed on their truck, website and other promotional materials. The blog includes news, challenges, photos and more. This is a great way to set a fun vibe around a product, and keep an engaged audience.

Culture frozen yogurt truckIf you visit Culture’s Twitter and Facebook pages, it’s easy to note that they’re not only promoting their locations as many trucks do, but actually responding to and engaging with fans. Their custom Twitter background also includes more information about the truck’s mission along with general health information about their yogurt.

Culture sets an awesome example of how food trucks can really take their social media to the next level.