Eventually, though, should one decide to take a vacation there comes the question about what to do about your social profiles, especially if you use them to promote your business. Will people stop following your Twitter if you don’t post for a few days? Will the ranking results of your blog be affected if you don’t update as regularly while you’re gone? Perhaps worse yet, will anybody notice you’ve been gone at all?

When taking a break from work, should weaning off Twitter and Facebook and other profiles apply as well? A long weekend, for example, shouldn’t merit too much concern – you may miss a few gems from favorite “Tweeters”, but depending on the regularity of their posts it may not take too long to catch up on their news. Facebook allows you to parse friends into different lists, so if there are people you wish to follow more closely you can set that up easily and check the site sporadically if the urge to log in to the Net usurps the call of your destination’s amenities.

If you plan a lengthy break from work, which may include time in places where the Internet is not accessible, you may consider preparing advance promotion tactics to keep visitors and readers informed of your business. Blogs provide the ability to queue posts to release on scheduled dates, allowing you the flexibility to map out future material. Twitter widgets such as TweetLater works on a similar model, assuming you have not imported an RSS feed into your account.

If you work alone, you may also wish to consider hiring a temporary “ghost Twitterer” to handle keeping your online persona alive while you enjoy your vacation. It’s not uncommon for celebrities to have people tweet in their stead, and a quick glance through an online freelance database will reveal hundred of freelance writers and SEO agents ready to bid on your work.

Depending on the length of your absence from the office, smart advanced planning can keep you socially active on the Internet even if you aren’t logged in. Take advantage of the tools available to you to keep your social status thriving.

Kathryn Lively is a freelance writer specializing in articles on social media optimization and Virginia web design.

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Who Should Use Twitter to Promote Travel?

The short answer: if you run any business related to travel and tourism, you should have a profile. Every instance of news, every ticket sale or new product available, every question fielded by a prospective visitor should be handled in the open forum of Twitter. The more you have to share, the better the chances of attracting followers searching for relevant information. Don’t be concerned, either, about the 140 character per post limit – simply augment posts with links to your main sites and other points of action like reservation forms and newsletter opt-in pages.

Who should use Twitter in the travel industry? Here’s a short list:

• Convention and Visitors Bureaus: “Tweet” your calendar of local events, announce seasonal deals on travel packages, and engage visitors and locals alike in feedback to improve your town’s tourism.
• Tourist Attractions: Do you operate a museum, park, or landmark? Let people know where you are and what’s happening. Send links to photo galleries and videos to entice visitors to put your attraction on their itineraries.
• Lodging: For owners of hotels, bed and breakfast inns, and campgrounds, Twitter keeps you in touch with travelers looking for last minute lodging.
• Transportation/Tour Operators: Post schedules and event announcements. Answer questions about available tours and network with organizations about group events.

An active account that engages other Twitter users can increase readership, and ultimately traffic, to your destination.

Kathryn Lively is a freelance writer specializing in articles on SEO for travel websites and professional SEO writing services.

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Depending on your skill level and knowledge of the site’s purpose, writing the content may be the simplest or most challenging task in achieving your promotion goals. Once you have the information written and made live on your site, exposing it through social media is perhaps the easiest thing to do, and it doesn’t take long to generate a buzz. Here are four ways you can help light the fire.

Add links to social media sites on your Web pages – If you make use of a blog program through Blogger or WordPress to supplement your site content, you’ll know there are widgets available to help you advertise content for social media. Icons and links implore readers to add the content to Facebook or Twitter, all you have to do is click a link to make it happen. If you know a bit of HTML code, though, you can set up links on static Web pages for people to use to add your content to social networks. Decide which social sites you want to focus on the most, then get the code to create the links.

Import your RSS feed into Facebook – Whether you have a personal Facebook account or a fan page related to your Web site, you can use your profile to promote your work. Facebook’s Notes application allows users to import the RSS or XML feed of a blog or site, and will upload the content of the feed into your profile. Then, every time you add to the feed, it’s updated on Facebook and your friends are alerted. If you don’t use a blog for your site, you can create one just for use of the RSS capability for social media, then track referrals from Facebook and Twitter to see how effective it is.

Bookmark your content – Every time you write an article for your blog or site, add it to your social bookmark collection. Whether you prefer Delicious or Digg or any of the myriad of competitors, generating that buzz can help bring more attention to the rest of your site. Get friends and employees to set up similar accounts and help promote the links.

Write more content – For an author, the best way to promote a book is to write the next one. This tip applies to just about anyone using article or blog marketing to optimize Web sites…keep on writing! The more content you offer, the better the opportunity for showing up in search. A visitor may catch one article and come back to read more, and buy more.

Maximize your content through social media – writing, linking, and bookmarking. It’s a great way to maximize your business and your profits.

Kathryn Lively is a freelance writer specializing in articles on SEO writing services and local PPC advertising.

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In short, if you blog, does it make sense to feed the blog’s RSS into Twitter and Facebook, and anywhere else it may fit? Is there the risk that somebody who follows all three of your profiles will become bored or irritated by the repetition and drop you altogether?

The answer is hard to determine, as one can’t truly determine how social media optimization will work for everybody. What works for Company A could backfire for Company B. However, there are pros and cons to repetitive content that can be explored and considered by those interested in getting the most out of their social media profiles.

Duplicating Content: Advantages

Tools exist that allow you to feed your blog posts into your Facebook profile and your Twitter account. Though there is no discernable way to feed a blog into MySpace’s blog, widgets can be set up to present an RSS version on your material on your profile. The main advantage to having everything connected is that you can create content at one source and distribute it easily to several places with the click of a mouse. There’s no need to log into several profiles. With the addition of bookmarking tools on your browser menu bars – for social bookmarking sites like Delicious and Digg – you can reach diverse audiences with your content.

Also, optimizing specific keywords to link back to your main site can be helpful in boosting your search rank.

Duplicating Content: Disadvantages

If you spend enough time in the Twitter and Facebook worlds, you may tend to read from other users of their dissatisfaction of some profiles. While it’s a given that anybody who sets up a social profile is advertising to some degree, to simply set something up as a droning feed may be a turnoff to some users. “Social” is optimal word in social media, so if you do have these profile it is encourage to use them beyond their RSS functionality and converse with the people who choose to follow your exploits.

It may take some experimentation to find the perfect balance between your content and the way it is presented. Study how you use social media, and learn what works and what doesn’t.

Kathryn Lively is a freelance writer specializing in articles on Virginia web design.

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If your primary function for the Internet is promote your business, it is imperative to have a web blog connected to your site. Whether you host the blog software on your domain or use a third-party host like WordPress or Blogger, regular use of the blog to optimize keywords for your main site can be of some help in boosting your search rankings.

What should you write? Regardless of the purpose of your website or business, the blog should have a down-to-earth, friendly appeal. Though it is to be utilized for promotion, perhaps alerts on sales and new services, it shouldn’t be constantly used as a means to hard sell visitors every time they come to read, lest they be turned off altogether. Keep a good mix of blog posts active; talk about what you do and what you offer, but take the time to hold an online conversation with visitors. Post about local happenings, use pictures or embedded links to related videos, and try to stimulate feedback from visitors.

Combining these efforts with social media networking can improve traffic to your blog as well. Open accounts with Facebook and Twitter, for two, and use them to refer people to new articles on your blog. Sign up for social bookmarking sites like Delicious and Digg, and save the URLs of specific articles and posts you feel have a wider appeal. The more “word of mouth” enthusiasm you can generate, the better for your stats, and business. You just may find that blogging can bring you a decent income as it leads people to your main site.

Kathryn Lively is a freelance writer specializing in articles on Virginia web design.

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