Vacation is a time to relax, or a time to seek out adventure. It’s a way to let go of your stress and live out your fantasies. That is, if the stress and pain of planning the vacation doesn’t kill you first.
Whether you want to relax on the beaches of Hawaii, roam the English countryside, or visit the temples of Thailand, you’ve got to be informed, organized, and ready for what lies ahead. To that end, social and web tools can help. From utilizing wikis for collaborative planning to using social networks to share the YouTube videos you record, social media is a useful partner in experiencing the best vacation possible. This short guide highlights some tips, tools, and advice on how to use the social graph to plan and execute the perfect excursion.
Part 1: Research
The first step whenever you are planning to travel is to do your research! Research is key to choosing a location, picking a hotel, and figuring out where you should visit. One of the best ways to get good information is to read the insight provided by others. This is where social media can play a vital role to getting the best information possible.
While there are hundreds of social media websites you can visit for information, here are recommendations to get you started:
Nextstop: Nextstop, which we recently reviewed, provides a ton of simple-to-understand, user-generated guides for getting the most out of any locale.
Where I’ve Been: Not only is Where I’ve Been a popular Facebook (
) application, but it’s also a stand-alone social network as well. Use it to get in-depth information on different.
Wikitravel: Perhaps the largest collection of user-generated travel information on the web, Wikitravel provides good information on where to go, what to expect, and even information on the culture.
TripAdvisor: One of the best-known sites in travel, TripAdvisor has millions of reviews that will help you pick out the gems and avoid the disasters.
The key is to look at a wide range user-generated content and reviews to get an overall picture. For more detailed information and social tools for research, check out our article HOW TO: Use Social Media for Travel Research.
Part 2: Planning and organizing
Picking a vacation spot might just be the easiest part of the battle. Tackling the daunting task of planning, organizing, and building a vacation plan can be the stumbling block that makes the excursion fall apart. Yet social and web tools are ideal for saving this information, creating itineraries, and sharing them with others. There are a couple of things you can do to help make the collaboration easier.
First, if you’re going on a vacation larger than just your family, then you’ll want to collect everyone’s research and thoughts onto one page. Setting up a wiki for the vacation is a great solution for this issue. It will help make sure nobody’s ideas are lost. Set up one at Wikidot, PBWorks, Wikia, or Wetpaint. Want a simpler option? Then Google Docs (
Planning a vacation should not be a solo effort. Working with a spouse, the kids, and friends not only lightens the work load, but makes the vacation a greater shared experience. Make collaboration a painless process by using time-based tools like Google Calendar and CalendarHub, both of which can remind you when tasks are due. TripIt (
Finally, remember that Facebook, MySpace (
Part 3: Using social media on the ground
Social media’s usefulness in vacation planning doesn’t end when you step off the plane. Even the best-planned (or impromptu) vacation will require adjustments. Here are a few tips and tools for when you need to find a great restaurant on-the-ground or are looking for advice from locals:
Go mobile: iPhone and Android (
) apps are your friends. Having GPS-enabled and informative applications while on-the-go can mean the difference between finding the great treasures of Italy or getting lost in the alleys of Brazil. Be sure to check about data plans in the area you’re visiting – you don’t want to pay enormous roaming and data fees after all.
Some apps need online access, while others will work regardless. So even if the phone is off, there are a great deal of applications that can make life easy. We suggest having ZAGAT TO GO, MapsBuddy, and Yelp (
Check tweets in the area: Did you know that Twitter (
Another idea: use Tweetie’s local tweets function to find residents who may be willing to help. Just be sure not to tweet to unsavory characters.
Use location-based social networks: Location-based social networks, while still fresh and new, are a great way to find friends and friendly strangers around you. Check out Loopt and BrightKite (
Part 4: Documenting and sharing
Tools like Flickr (
Don’t forget to share your multimedia with your friends and family, as well. You know they will ask, so make it easy for them to find it by posting the photos and links via your top social networks.
Hopefully with all of the tools and information highlighted in this short guide, you will have a no-stress vacation that you can remember for the rest of your days.
This is a guest posting by Andy Beal, co-author of Radically Transparent: Monitoring and Managing Reputations Online and CEO of online reputation monitoring tool Trackur. He outlines ten tactics that could prevent your company suffering its own online reputation meltdown.
Do you know your weaknesses? No, seriously! I don’t mean the “we try too hard to please our customers” bunk. Do you know the flaws in your products, the areas of your service that suck, or the member of your management team most likely to stick his foot firmly in his mouth?
If Kryptonite had known their locks could be picked with Bic pen, they might have been able to react faster to the meme that spread like a virus. You might not be able to correct your company’s flaws but, by being honest about them now, you can better prepare should they become the topic of a reputation attack.
2. Assume everything will make it’s way to the web
You should assume that every phone conversation will be taped, every internal memo leaked, and every hallway conversation shared with a blogger. No matter what policies you put in place, not matter how many times you tell a journalist something is “off the record” you should utter only the words you’d want to see on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.
This is at the essence of being radically transparent–the message you share behind closed doors should match the one you share with employees, customers, and investors.
3. Create a great online impression; dress to impress!
You already know that a great suit can help you impress a VC or win that new client account, but what about the way you dress-up your web site? I see so many companies suffer from a poor reputation, only to discover they’re abusing their biggest reputation asset–their own web site content.
Prospective customers, future employees, investors, and journalists are just a small sample of those that will turn to your own web site when determining the reputation of your company. Make sure they find all the information they could possible need and then throw-in the stuff they might normally look for elsewhere. Link to reviews of your products, highlight praise received by bloggers, upload your videos and podcasts, and make sure all content is RSS enabled and social media sharable.
4. Choose your blog voice carefully
If you want to do wonders for your company’s online reputation, you should definitely consider joining the blogosphere–that’s almost a no-brainer reputation management decision. A blog will allow you to hold conversations with your customers and gain valuable feedback. What’s not quite so easy to get right is the style of blog that will best help your business.
Unless your CEO has the charisma and thought-leadership of Jason Calacanis or Jonathan Schwartz, letting him lose on WordPress (
5. Hangout at the right social network
Look, just because MySpace (
Find the “centers of influence” for your reputation–the social networks where you’ll most likely find conversations about your company–and create your social network profile there. If you really want to tap into the most appropriate social network, consider building your own. Companies such as Ning.com are empowering companies to create their own social network–sheep throwing optional.
6. Send blogger’s love letters, not PR pitches
Do you know why Jeff Jarvis’ infamous “Dell hell” blog post started a reputation blogstorm for Dell? One factor was Dell’s lack of previous conversations with Jarvis–and other computer bloggers. Lesson learned. If you look at Dell know, they’re keeping in touch with influential bloggers, commenting on their posts, and treating them with respect. Now when Dell’s products don’t live up to expectations, the fallout is less severe and bloggers are more apt to speak to the company first, before hitting “publish” on that reputation-crushing post. How does that compare to your normal mass-email PR pitch?
7. Build your Google (
Google’s not just a search engine, it’s a reputation engine. When a prospective client wants more information about your products, a journalist needs background on your business, or an investor seeks details about your history, it’s Google they ultimately turn to for information. I speak to so many companies that screw-up their reputation, then try to cleanup the mess by trying to push down the evidence on Google.
It can take many weeks–sometimes months–to create new content that will rank on the first page of Google for your brand. Don’t wait until your already knee-deep in a crisis to decide you need to build positive content for Google. Do it now–while you’re not fighting reputation fires–and it will likely keep out future negative listings.
8. Monitor your online reputation as often as your email
The web has empowered individuals to share even the smallest of complaints online. In fact, with sites such as ePinions, RipOff Report, and the Consumerist, your customers complaints are practically encouraged.
When a laptop’s battery caught fire at a gate at LAX, Lenovo knew within an hour that reports where circulating the web that the laptop was a Thinkpad. Thanks to their reputation monitoring efforts the company was able to act quickly and prevent a reputation crisis. Lenovo quickly identified that the battery wasn’t manufactured by them and was able to spread that message before it hurt consumer sentiment towards the Thinkpad line.
Their are lots of online reputation monitoring tools to choose from, but even a simple Google Alert is better than nothing.
9. Ostriches are not great role-models
If you find yourself facing a stampede of angry bloggers, with the mission of calling you out on your company’s foul, sticking your head in the sand does not make them go away. You might initially convince yourself that the problem will simply disappear and besides, what harm can a blogger do anyway? In all likelihood your denial will buy you just a day or two before your scandal makes it to the inbox of a New York Times journalist. Game over.
Instead, the moment you see any reputation attack you should take action. It might only need a comment from you in the blogger’s comments section, or it might require your own blog post or video, announcing what steps you’re taking to resolve the issue. The key is to respond quickly, address the situation, apologize if needed, and prevent it becoming the lead story in the evening news.
10. Three words to remember
I’ve written thousands of words on the topic of building a great online reputation, but I’ve managed to condense everything down to just three words for you to remember: sincerity, transparency, and consistency.
Sincerity means wanting to hear from your customers and the desire to truly provide a positive experience with your company. Transparency involves tearing down the walls of corporate rhetoric and PR spin–the more you share with your customers the more you’ll win their trust. Consistency is a vital component for any reputation management efforts. Your customers will forgive your isolated failure, but if you’re not consistently living-up to your brand promise, they’ll find a company that does.