Part Three: What Should You Talk About?

Think of social media as advertising, but in a more personal way. This is about building your brand as a trusted source–for travel tips, for information on the area, for insider’s knowledge. Once followers trust you for that, they’ll be more receptive to your marketing message. Now, let’s go over what exactly you should talk about.

Rules of Engagement:

1. On Facebook, plan one post per day. No more than two posts per week can be self-promotional. And, at least one of those should offer a deal–two for one drinks, kids eat free, buy two nights, get the third free, etc.
2. On Twitter, plan to tweet 10-12 times per day, spaced out to no more than one tweet per hour (Later on, I will discuss using a scheduling tool so the tweet goes out automatically at the appointed time), with no more than one in ten tweets self-promotional.
3. Remember: Social media is about the engagement – a two-way conversation. Tweet and post about what’s important to your readers, solve their problems, be relevant, inform and entertain them.
4. And remember your partners. Tour operators can offer some social media love about the great attraction customers will see. CVBs can tout cool things members are doing. Add that company’s Twitter handle to your tweet in the expectation the partner will re-Tweet to its followers, expanding your message and your reach.

Stay tuned for next week’s topic on “Prompts for Writing Great Tweets and Facebook Posts”

If you have any questions for Kim Orlando, or would like to reach out, email her at korlando@travelingmom.com. You can also follow her on Twitter, @travelingmoms.

Kim Orlando, blogger and founder of TravelingMom.com, is back this week with more social media advice. However, this time Kim shares her thoughts on how to lead your followers once you’ve got them hooked. Click here if you missed last week’s post on “Why You Must Adapt to Social Media”.

Part Two: “So You’ve Got Followers. Where Should You Lead Them?”

Once you have friends, fans and followers, how do you lead them to visit your destination, buy your product or patronize your company?

1. Engage them. Ask your Facebook fans. Converse with Twitter followers. Invite people to share their stories.
2. Entertain them. Quotes and quips are the most often re-Tweeted tweets on Twitter. Offer tips, advice and words of wisdom.
3. Educate them. Look for people who need help and offer your expertise. NOT your product, your expertise. For example, if someone needs to know what to do with teens in Kentucky, offer ideas that go beyond your property. But remember, this isn’t pandering, it’s building relationships.
4. Enlighten them. Let them know what you can do for them. If a customer tweets a problem, answer quickly, sympathetically and helpfully.

We all know that there isn’t enough time in the day. So make time! The time invested can be minimal. Set aside 30 minutes a day to spend on social media, 15 minutes at the start of your day and 15 minutes at the end. Why? In the morning, you can start the conversation–ask a question, offer a tip, etc.–and at the end of the day, you can close the loop with followers.

You know how it feels when you write a letter to a company and get no response, right? Don’t let that happen to your customers. Never let any tweet, Facebook post or other social media engagement go unacknowledged for 24 hours.

Stay tuned for next week’s topic on “What Should You Talk About?”

If you have any questions for Kim Orlando, or would like to reach out, email her at korlando@travelingmom.com. You can also follow her on Twitter, @travelingmoms.

During Travel Exchange ’13, Kim Orlando, blogger and founder of TravelingMom.com, gave a mini-presentation on the show floor on marketing your business with viral videos and gave a quick tutorial to the audience. (If you missed out, you can listen to the audio clip here.)

For the next four weeks, Orlando, will be featured right here on NTA’s Do Big Things Blog. Her no-nonsense guide to why social media is important in growing your business and why it’s crucial to survival, begins here:

Part One: “Why You Must Adapt to Social Media”

The top 3 reasons your destination or company is not using social media:

1. No time.
2. No interest.
3. No knowledge.

And the top 4 reasons why it’s time you got over yourself:

1. Social media is where your customers are.
2. Social media is advertising, only more personal.
3. Social media is free (sort of).
4. Social media grows exponentially–if your customers love you, they will let their friends and followers know. Same if they hate you–so you’d better be where they are so you know what your customers are saying.

You know social media is where you need to be. So how do you get there without making yourself crazy?

• Start where you’re most comfortable. If you already use Facebook every day to keep in touch in your personal life, start a fan page for your destination or company.
• Leverage your own personal and professional networks. Ask your Facebook friends, invite your entire email address book. Then add the link to your email signature, your business card and all communications so it’s easy for people to find you on Facebook and/or follow you on Twitter.

Stay tuned for next week’s topic on “So You’ve Got Followers. Where Should You Lead Them?”

If you have any questions for Kim Orlando, or would like to reach out, email her at korlando@travelingmom.com. You can also follow her on Twitter, @travelingmoms.

Now with sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and personal blogs, it’s easier than ever to share photos straight from your phone directly to the Internet.

So, if you want a photo that stands out among the rest, not to mention learn a few basic photography skills, follow these eight simple (and fool proof) tips for great photo results every time.

Use the guides on your device to help place the subject (iPhone screen pictured).

1. Rule of Thirds
This is the single most important rule for a pleasing composition in any photograph. Start out by dividing your frame into thirds, both vertically and horizontally (if you’re an iPhone user, simply turn your Grid to “on” in the Options menu). Then, pick a strong center of interest (an object or subject) and place it at one of the four intersecting lines on your grid. Once you’ve created your composition, snap your photo!

2. Angles
Taking a photograph at different angles can give a unique point of view and can create interest for the viewer. Remember, variety is good, so make sure to take multiple photos and then select the best one. Here are a few suggestions:

• When taking a scenic shot, select an angle that will allow a leading line, such as a road, path, fence, or river that will lead into your picture. Make sure the horizon is straight and positioned either high or low in your frame (never in the middle).

The road leads you straight into the horizon.

• When taking a photo of an object or a space, experiment by photographing down from a chair, balcony or staircase. You can also kneel, lie down or look up to achieve a different viewpoint.

Taking a look up provides a dramatic look at the sky, framed by the trees.

• When taking a photo of a person or subject, including small animals or children, it’s important to position yourself at their eye level to avoid distortion.

3. Background Noise
Busy backgrounds, or noise, can easily steal attention from the subject or focal point in your picture. A busy street or office settings are just a few examples. A simple solution to avoid this hiccup is to move closer to fill the frame with your intended subject. This will eliminate any background distractions and capture the details you originally desired.

There’s so much going on in this photo that the focus is lost.

4. Lighting

There are two types of lighting to any photograph: Ambient light and a simple flash. Ambient light can be any existing light in and around your surrounding area (sunlight, moonlight, natural light, a lamp, overhead lights, etc.) If you are taking a photo indoors, it’s important to use only ambient light whenever possible. This includes opening windows and shades or turning on lamps and lights. If you’re photographing outdoors, make sure the sun is at your back and not too high in the sky. Early morning and late afternoon are the perfect hours during the day for any natural photographs.

Natural light adds more beauty to an already beautiful cake.

5. Adding Depth
An easy way to achieve depth is to find a natural frame in the foreground of your scene. This can easily be a tree, an overhanging branch, a window, a door or arch. By adding a frame in the foreground of your image, you instantly create depth to any scene. In contrast, if you take a photograph of a larger subject, a building or monument for example, make sure to include something in the foreground to add dimension and size comparison, such as people, trees or cars.

Lots of examples of depth in this pic, enhanced by the use of the mirror.

6. Don’t Use the Zoom Function
Though many mobile cameras now have a zoom function, you should avoid using it. Different from the zoom function on traditional cameras, mobile zoom decreases the quality of your photo. For the highest quality results on your device, capture what you see on your screen.

If the red cup is what you want, just get closer to the red cup.

7. People
Taking a photo of someone can be relatively simple. Make sure to take a full body shot or a head and shoulders shot, never an in-between shot (for example, from the knees up or from waist up). Also, don’t be afraid to get close when taking a head and shoulders photograph to fill the frame. When photographing people, it’s a good idea to take a few quick shots in a sequence. This way, people become relaxed and look more natural after the first shot.

Not getting a full-length shot here would have taken away from the fun poses.

8. Smartphone Apps
Smartphone photo applications can be your friend when it comes to adding the finishing touches to your image. Below are a few apps we highly recommended downloading. (If you’re using an iPhone, search in the iTunes Store; for Android users, look in Google Play.)

• Instagram (This popular photo sharing app is a great way to connect and instantly share your photos with friends. If you decide not to use the editing portion of this app, it’s always a great way to generate ideas and see what others are posting.)
• Photoshop
• TiltShift Generator
• Vintique
• Picfx
• Luminance
• Aviary

Before and after.

Prior to his first GR meeting in 1995, Mark’s opinions and views on government were quite different; he didn’t see the need to be a part of it. But he took the opportunity to participate through NTA, anyway. After sitting in the committee room a few times, he recalls, thinking to himself, “my goodness, there’s a whole lot more to this than I realized.”

Simply put, his involvement in NTA government relations opened his eyes to how things really work in Washington. “It’s a relatively, healthy and painless way to contribute to something that’s terribly important,” he says.

• Listen to Mark describe his first time on Capitol Hill.

This April 10-11, you too can experience the power you have to make a difference. Join your fellow colleagues from across the country to meet on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to discuss issues directly affecting the tour and travel industry. Click here to learn more about Destination: Capitol Hill and to register.

If you plan on attending or want information on how to talk to your legislators, listen to the audio links below for key pointers from Jim Santini, former NTA legislator and U.S. representative for the state of Nevada. Here’s what he has to say:

• On honing your message down and carving it up.

• On following through once you’re back at home.

• On unlocking the legislative door.

A list of NTA’s legislative priorities is here in the March issue of Courier magazine. You can also read more advocacy tips and tricks from Jim here.

Meeting with the board were Abby Howard of Pennsylvania Association of Travel & Tourism, Alyssa Rader of Dutch Apple Dinner Theater, Nicole Sutton of American Music Theatre, Sheila Contento of Crowne Plaza Reading, Kelsey Dixon of Heritage Hospitality, Jenny McConnell of Gettysburg Convention & Visitors Bureau, and not pictured, Ian Reddekopp of Earth Bound Tours.

Yesterday, NTA Board Member Cathleen Johnson of Edelman gave a presentation based on Edelman’s “8095” generational study to the NTA board of directors at their meeting in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. (Johnson will also lead a seminar at Travel Exchange, “Pathway to Understanding the Millennial Generation,” at 8:15 Thursday morning, Jan. 24.) Her presentation at the board meeting was followed by a focus group Q&A session with a group of Millennial who work in the tourism industry.

Here are some takeaways from the day to think about when creating your messaging (you can get a fuller look at this generation at Cathleen’s seminar).

The Millennial Mindset

Takeaways from yesterday’s meeting on Millennials, also known as Generation Y (the generation born between approximately 1980 and 1995, though birth year parameters differ by source):

From the Research

• By 2025, 75% of the workforce will be Millennials.
• Millennials don’t buy as much stuff in general. When they do buy, they tend to 1) buy in groups due to social buying sites like Groupon and 2) not pay full price.
• They travel in groups for shared experiences, but they don’t think of it as “group” travel or tourism.
• Sustainability is not just important, it’s necessary to this group.
• This group is inherently digital; they didn’t have to learn it. Theirs is a one-click world: If you bore them in the first click you’ll lose them.

From the Focus Group

• Remember that this generation is also made up of individuals.
•  Giving back / doing good is a way of life for this generation. They need to see where their money and efforts are going, and they can with technology and new cause models.
• Their travel is about how they’re going to change the world. They want to change the world and have the bragging rights. Inspire them to get them interested.

How are you speaking to the various generations in the landscape at the moment? Let everyone know in the comments section.

Convention week is a big week and you have a lofty goal: squeeze in as many business-building opportunities, appointments, seminars and fun as humanly possible. Right?!

To help you realize that goal (Do Big Things!), here’s a personal checklist for achieving an ideal week at Travel Exchange. This chronological, jam-packed agenda will help you tick off activities throughout the week that shouldn’t be missed, but still give you a little room to breathe. After all, Travel Exchange is the biggest joint show of the year to buy, sell, partner up, create, brainstorm, learn from each other, swap stories, share goals and build your business!

[If you haven’t registered yet, visit www.NTAonline.com/Convention, or call +1.859.264.6540 or 800.682.8886 (U.S. and Canada only).]

The November Courier features Travel Exchange To Dos for tour operators (check it out here!) And if you’re a supplier or DMO, here are some tips for exhausting the convention and heading home satisfied and energized for a prosperous 2013.

Travel Exchange To Dos for Suppliers:

• Capture memorable moments and spend fun quality time with tour operators on a sightseeing tour.
• Experience the Rocket Garden while at the Kennedy Space Center for the Ice Breaker.
• Get inspired by Robert Springer’s speech at the Opening Ceremony.
• Join my peers during Talk Times (and vote in the board elections!).
• Hand out 500 business cards throughout the week.
• Meet up with my DMO to get sales leads.
• Snag a bragging-rights seat at the always-popular Broadway Luncheon.
• Connect with and meet good friends—old and new—at the wine and cheese reception before Dine Around.
• Set three alarms and a 6 a.m. wake up call for the Tuesday morning 5K Fun(d) Run.
• Meet with my colleagues and share ideas in the supplier category breakouts.
• Applaud the winners at the Awards Reception Dinner Tuesday night.
• Provide great itinerary builders to operators in the Fast Pitch session.
• Engage my brain and collect ideas in educational seminars.
• Talk business, negotiate and finalize new contracts with tour operators in my Exchange appointments.
• Support a good cause (and dance the night away!) at the Tourism Rocks Party.
• Hit the snooze button at least once…
• Catch up on association activities at the Annual Business Meeting luncheon.
• Celebrate a perfect Travel Exchange week at the New York Street Party at Universal Studios Florida.

Travel Exchange To Dos for DMOs:

• Capture memorable moments and spend fun quality time with tour operators on a sightseeing tour.
• Experience the Rocket Garden while at the Kennedy Space Center for the Ice Breaker.
• Get inspired by Robert Springer’s speech at the Opening Ceremony.
• Join my peers during Talk Times (and vote in the board elections!)
• Snag a bragging-rights seat at the always-popular Broadway Luncheon.
• Introduce my area’s new product to tour operators in Destination Pavilion appointments.
• Pass sales leads on to my suppliers!
• Hand out 500 business cards throughout the week.
• Connect with and meet good friends—old and new—at the wine and cheese reception before Dine Around.
• Set three alarms and a 6 a.m. wake up call for the Tuesday morning 5K Fun(d) Run.
• Applaud the winners at the Awards Reception Dinner Tuesday night.
• Share ideas with my colleagues in the DMO category breakouts.
• Engage my brain and collect ideas in educational seminars.
• Support a good cause (and dance the night away!) at the Tourism Rocks Party.
• Hit the snooze button at least once…
• Catch up on association activities at the Annual Business Meeting luncheon.
• Celebrate a perfect Travel Exchange week at the New York Street Party at Universal Studios Florida.

What about you? Do you have any helpful convention tips? Share them in the comments section below!

How to Lock your iPad

Don’t want anyone else messing with your iPad? Lock it with a password.

1. Navigate to Settings > General  > Passcode Lock.
2. Tap “Turn Passcode On”.
3. Enter a 4-digit passcode, and the same again to confirm.

Each time your iPad is turned on, you’ll have to enter the 4-digit passcode to access your iPad.

Auto-destruct! (kind of)

If you have sensitive data on your iPad, you can enable a feature that will erase all the data on the device if someone inputs the incorrect passcode 10 times. Navigate to Settings > General > Passcode Lock > Erase Data.

How to Lock Screen Orientation

What if I want to lock the screen orientation so that it doesn’t rotate every time you move? Easy.

1. Double-click your iPad’s Home button to see a row of icons at the bottom of the screen.
2. Flick right until you see the Orientation icon.
3. Hold the device to the orientation you want and tap the icon to lock it.

To unlock it, tap the Orientation icon again.

How to Rearrange Icons

When you install new iPad apps, the system stacks up the icons automatically. But you can arrange them anyway you want on the home screens or on the Dock.

1. Touch and hold any icon on your screen until the icons start wiggling (don’t be alarmed).
2. Drag an icon to a different spot on the screen or to the Dock, which allows for six icons.
3. You can also drag an icon to the left or right edge of the screen until it starts sliding, then drop the icon on a different screen.
4. Click the Home button to finish.

How to Remove an App

Installing apps is pretty easy, and removing them is easy too.

1. Touch and hold an icon on your screen until the icons start wiggling.
2. Tap the X sign on the icon of the app you want to remove.
3. Select the Delete button to confirm.

Note: If you have synced your apps with the iTunes on your computer, uncheck the deleted app in iTunes or it will be restored to your iPad when syncing.

How to Create, Rename and Remove Folders

Some people like to keep things organized, and that can be difficult with multiple screens full of icons. You can easily create folders to group similar apps together.

1. Touch and hold any icon until the icons start wiggling (again, don’t be alarmed).
2. Drag an icon over the top of another. Your iPad will automatically create a named folder, with the two icons placed in it. You can then drag similar apps to the folder when needed.
3. Click the Home button to finish.

And folders can be renamed—simply touch and hold the folder icon to make it wiggle, tap it to expand, then edit the folder name after selecting it.

Removing a folder is just as easy—make the folder icon wiggle, tap it to expand, then clear all items inside the folder either by dragging them out or deleting them one by one. The now empty folder will remove itself.

Stop Asking to Join Wi-Fi Networks

If you’re tired of messages asking if you’d like to join Wi-Fi networks, navigate to Settings > Wi-Fi and turn off “Ask to Join Networks”. You can still join networks from this same screen, but you will no longer be asked on a constant basis.

Turn Battery Percentage Off

If you find the battery charge percentage distracting, you can turn it off very easily. Navigate to Settings > General  > Usage and turn it off there.

Take a Screenshot

By pressing Home and then the Sleep/Wake button, you can capture a screenshot of your iPad. The screen will flash and you’ll hear a click, indicating that a photo has been taken. Your screen shots are saved automatically in your Photos gallery.

How to Split, Merge, Dock and Undock a Keyboard (iOS 5 only)

If you’re holding your iPad with both hands, you know it’s difficult to thumb type either in both portrait and landscape views. With iOS 5, you have the option to split and undock a keyboard.

• Touch and hold the Keyboard key, then choose an option to split or undock a keyboard. Repeat the steps to merge or dock it.
• Or, use two fingers to unpinch the keyboard to split it, and pinch to merge it.

Use Caps Lock

To type in all caps (you know, in case you need to yell on Facebook), simply double tap on either shift key.

Copy and Paste

Copy and paste text by tapping and holding down, and then choosing Select to select the exact portion of text you’d like to copy.  Then tap Copy, go to a different app, tap and hold down again, and then tap Paste from the menu that appears. And if you want to select an entire paragraph, simply tap four times.

How to Type Faster with Multiple Spaces

Instead of typing a period at the end of each sentence and follow by a space, you can double-tap the space bar, or tap once with two fingers, to get the same result.

While the iPad doesn’t have a Tab key, but you can tap the space bar with three fingers at the same time to get three spaces, four fingers to get four spaces, and all five fingers from five spaces.

How to Turn Off Auto-Correction

If you find auto-correction annoying, you’re not alone. That’s why there’s an option to turn it off.

1. Navigate to Settings > General  > Keyboard.
2. Turn off “Auto-Correction”.

How to Undo and Redo by Shaking

When you accidentally cut away some text and need to undo your last action, you can tap the Undo key on the Number keyboard. To redo, switch to the Symbol keyboard, then tap the Redo key. And as a possibly fun alternative, you can shake your iPad to undo and redo, like this:

1. After deleting some text, hold your iPad firmly with your both hands and give it a quick shake, and the Undo button will appear.
2. To redo, shake it again, but don’t drop your iPad!

Use an Apple keyboard

Missing a real keyboard? If you have a Bluetooth enabled keyboard, it can be used with your iPad.

How to Change an Email Signature

If you want to get rid of the default email signature, “Sent from my iPad,” you can replace it by following these steps:

1. Navigate to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Signature.
2. Clear the signature “Sent from my iPad”, or replace it with your signature or name.
3. Tap the “Mail, Contacts, Calendars” button when done.

How to Download PDFs to iBooks via Browser

The app iBooks is free to install and it supports the PDF format. When you download and read a PDF file in a browser on your iPad, you can transfer the PDF file to the library for reading in iBooks. When you have a PDF open, tap the screen and select “Open in iBooks”. The PDF will automatically be added to your library.

Adjust Screen Brightness

Just double-tap the Home button and swipe right until you see the brightness indicator, then adjust manually to suit the needs of your eyes.

Use Your iPad as a Picture Frame

By pressing the Picture icon in the lower-right corner of the lock screen, your iPad will display your photos as a slideshow.

Show Traffic Conditions

Open Maps, press the dog-eared page icon in the lower right, and then turn on the “Traffic” overlay. If your iPad has an Internet connection, Maps will show real-time traffic conditions in the displayed area. Green means traffic is going at the posted speed limit, yellow means traffic is slower than the posted speed limit, and red means traffic is stop-and-go.

Do you have any iPad tips or tricks you’d like to share? Include them in the comments below!

Why she contracted more than $3 million on NTA’s convention floor last year.

“NTA was the perfect place to finalize and literally put the ink to paper and make it official, because we were face to face and we had the opportunity to sit together and go over any concerns or questions, make the final agreement and each walk away with a hard copy of the contract.”

Finalizing $3-million in business is doing a pretty big thing, but it’s more than that. It’s about doing even bigger things in the future.

“We are in this business for sustainability and for growth. We’re not in it just to do business today. It’s extremely important to be out there knowing what’s new, knowing what’s different, brainstorming with other colleagues and even friendly competition about the industry and about the future,” said Aniseh.

And that’s where the beginning of that $3 million began. It didn’t happen in one day. It happened by being out there, building business relationships.

In “How to Build Better Business Relationships,” Inc. Magazine contributing editor Darren Dahl provides these tips for building stronger business relationships:

• Encourage honest feedback.
• Listen more than you talk.
• Make a routine.
• Be honest.
• Take notes.
• Give more than you receive.
• Be proactive.
• Be real.
• Turn blunders into opportunities.
• Make it personal.
• Meet face-to-face. (The power of face-to-face meetings was a running theme throughout Aniseh’s conversation with us.)

What do you do to “be out there” and build business relationships? What are you doing right now to build for the future? Please share in the comments section below!

Either way, you’re making the most of your days. That’s because you know there are countless opportunities packed in to every second:

While that video uses NTA’s convention to illustrate the point of this post, it might also be a reflection of how you spend your time in the office. In Barbara Bowman’s, “31-Steps to a Highly Effective NTA Convention,” we found three timeless tips for doing big things:

12. Be a good listener.
15. Build relationships.
23. Pace yourself and use your time wisely.

So, how do you make the most of your time? What tips do you have for others who are on their way to doing big things?