Carnival Cruise...OOPS! ... Did I Say That?

Not even twenty four hours after releasing its new social media policy for Travel Agents (due to take effect in 2010, Carnival Cruise Lines is recanting its position, stating that the restrictive policy will be amended.

“It wasn’t our intent for the social media guidelines to be as far-reaching as the current wording would indicate,” says CCL spokeswoman Jennifer de la Cruz.

“We are re-examining the wording and will be making some adjustments so it is more clearly explained what requires written approval and what doesn’t.”

In the policy, as it is presently written, Carnival Cruise Lines intends to introduce a new travel agency policy that bars partners from using any Carnival trademark or intellectual property on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, LinkedIn or a blog – any social media website, really – without prior written approval.

Although de la Cruz is not certain how Carnival Corp's other North American brands will respond to the amendment, she states that the amendments will apply for CCL's policy only.
“Clearly, the wording was over-reaching and that wasn’t our intent,” de la Cruz says, adding that the travel news site, Tnooz's, story spurred the about-face.

As per an article on this same subject by Dennis Schaal, a writer for Tnooz, "CCL has long restricted travel agents’ use of trademarks in marketing and promotional materials, in part to clamp down on unauthorized discounting. Transitioning that policy to social media is where the cruise line apparently ran into some problems".

While it’s understandable that Carnival would want their partners to be transparent about the relationship they have with the Carnival online, does this policy go too far?

What's your thoughts?  I like to hear them?

Let Video Brand Your Business...

When it comes to using video as a platform for marketing and branding your business- and, if you're 'lucky' - producing a viral hit {imagine if, the over 33.5million...yes, that's MILLION- hits that this video generated, were your potential/actual clients/sponsors/advertisers?  You do the ROI}- you can certainly take your lead from today's brides. These ingenius social media mavens, have, through the magic of You Tube, unabashedly share with the world {literally} pieces of their wedding dream. From surprise 'first dances' to the imaginative wedding party processionals, these couples have transformed an American institution into a personal brand! Their video viral successes have scored them their 'fifteen minutes' of fame...otherwise known to those of us in business as - FREE PR- on several morning news talk shows and evening magazine show. 

Suffice it to say, that, as business owners, you have already begun to make the correlation of the 'curious' viewers being your target audience and the thousands of hits being equivalent to the sponsorship opportunities for advertisers {think:: ROI}.  And we won't begin to talk about the almost limitless branding possibilities of what the FREE PR would do for our businessess....

Not real sure how to use video to market your business?  Here are some ideas from my friend, John Jantsch, over at Duct Tape Marketing ::
             

  ■ Interview customers and capture testimonials and success stories

  ■ Interview employees as they discuss what they do and how they help customers

  ■ Record a greeting from the CEO – don’t sell, just let them know your story

  ■ Use video as a call to action in your email campaigns 

  ■ Add video to your Google Maps profile, Facebook Fan Page, and LinkedIn profile

  ■ Create product and service training videos showing customers how to succeed

  ■ Record FAQs with real prospects or customer posing the questions

  ■ Interview your key strategic referral partners

  ■ Create all manner of “how to” video and screencast to help demonstrate your expertise

I'm sprinting to put these suggestions into action.  How about you?  Besides, what do we have to gain?
I want your thoughts...leave them.

Nouveaux TeuxDeux App...

Got this delightful tidbit in my inbox this morning from Swiss Miss.  It seems that one of their staff, Tina,  has been scouring the 'place that apps are grown' in search of the ideal 'To Do' List!...without successful.
So what does a girl do when she can't find what she needs?...... she collaborates with one of her 'geek' genious' and creates her own  {FREE} App!

'Apt'ly named TeuxDeux "the idea was to build a bare-bones, but visually compelling and highly usable to-do app based on Tina’s personal ideal work-flow.

Features include::

week overview

check off done tasks

delete tasks

move tasks

someday bucket

They want to share it with all you.  So try it and let them know what you think via email::  feedback@teuxdeux.com

             View the tutorial below and then subscribe here !

TeuxDeux Demo from TeuxDeux on Vimeo.

...Twelp !!!

{via here::special thanx}

I did it!
'It'  equals stopped procrastinating and completed a Twitter account.  Although the account is more for my business - I am following a few social media mavens.   So this is my dilemna - now that I have this account, what am I suppose to do with it?  What are all of those symbols?  How can I post those links within my 'tweet'?  What is a 'list' and why should I have it?

This is just a short list of the many questions that I have about this twittering thing! 

Me, {being me} did the thing that I always do... when I have questions...{No.  Not Google.}  Being the blog-lover that I am, I turned to my blogging community.  After digging for two days, I stumbled upon this original post.   Although the author, Debbie Ellis,  wrote the post with the intent on sharing with her readers how to 'use Twitter to attract prospects and engage customer', I found that this step by step 'how to' is the perfect beginner's manual for getting me on my to understanding how this Twitter thing works. 

The post first addresses the 'how, what, why' of Twittering--this was helpful in reassuring me about this new journey that I have started.  But, then the post got into the meat and potatoes of  what I need...

The necessary steps to use {there are 13 steps outlined}::
Here are a few...

1. Create 50-100 tweets that fit your brand and objective {this helps me on tweet content}

2. Open your user account with your business name as your user ID {my business name was already taken, so I had to go with my 'signature' email name...I'm finding that it is a brand within itself}

3. Create a unique background that represents your company [I've got to work on this one.  My logo makes for a 'busy' wall}

4. Make sure that some of your tweets have links back to your website {ahhhh...link love.  How to you include an active link in the tweet - and do it within 180 characters}

There are nine more information packed steps... read the post in its entirety

Social Media + Engagement = Increased Financial Performance

 {pic via here::special thanx}

The Altimeter Group, released a study earlier this year, in July- titled “ENGAGEMENTdb: Deep Brand Engagement Correlates with Financial Performance.”
The study looked at  how 100 of the most valuable brands engaged in 11 different online social media channels {i.e., blogs, Facebook, Twitter, wikis, and discussion forums }.
Engagement was measured by, both, the breadth and depth of  involvement.  Content and interaction, i.e., response to blog comments.  Each brand was give a numerical score.

The top 10 ENGAGEMENTdb brands with their scores are:

1.Starbucks (127)
2.Dell (123)
3.eBay (115)
4.Google (105)
5.Microsoft (103)
6.Thomson Reuters (101)
7.Nike (100)
8.Amazon (88)
9.SAP (86)
10.Tie - Yahoo!/Intel (85)
    ** Scores for overall brand engagement ranged from a high of 127 to a low of 1.

What researchers concluded was that ,clearly,  engagement directly correlates to financial performance.
The companies with the greatest breadth and depth- the top preformers  "on average grew 18% in revenues over the last 12 months, compared to the least engaged companies who on average saw a decline of 6% in revenue during the same period. The same holds true for two other financial metrics, gross margin and net profit".

The study also examined the best practices of four companies:: Starbucks, Dell, SAP, and Toyota.  These four key traits were discovered: {1} Emphasize quality, not just quantity, {2} scale engagement, make social media part of everyone’s job, {3} doing it all may not be for you — but you must do something, and {4} find your sweet spot.


Read  the nineteen page report or visit the main site.  Take the survey to find out  where your company ranks in the area of engagement across the social media channels.  Get real interactive with the site feature that affords you the the ability to see the rankings in different ways, from highest to lowest scores, alphabetical, etc.

Altar 'Tweeting' {aka:: 'Excuse Me While I Update My Status...}

We've seen plenty of Twittered marriage proposals, but a recent video posted to YouTube takes the cake for the most unconventional Twitter and Facebook updates. During their wedding ceremony these two lovelies update their Twitter and Facebook status.

These two understand the importance of keeping the important ones in their lives updated on the status of their lives - at the time of the 'happenings'.  Take your lead from them, and be sure to stop and Twitter/Facebook about your businesses current 'hot' topic!