Record-breaking tweets

Social media was booming last year and still is, with Facebook reaching 800 million subscribers and 100 million of us actively using Twitter. Short communication has never been easier. Real-time coverage of events has shaped the way we consume news and we’ve seen a big increase in the volume of tweets published every second.

In May, the capture of Osama bin Laden created a record of 5,106 tweets per second. But a much more light-hearted announcement generated a new record on 28 May with 8,868 tweets per second; the news of the pregnancy of Beyoncé. However, a whole new level was reached when the 20,000 tweets per second mark was crossed in Japan, on 9 December, during the television broadcast of the famous cartoon by Hayao Miyazaki, Castle in the Sky: 25,088 tweets per second!

Source: digimind.com

Destination Marketing = Passion, Impact, Innovation

Destination marketing is defined as: a proactive, strategic, visitor-centered approach to the economic and cultural development of a location, which balances and integrates the interests of visitors, service providers, and the community" (Destination Marketing Association International).

Destination marketing is practised around the world at both national and local levels. Destination management organisations are responsible for a defined area and seek for opportunities to attract and influence visitors. Traditionally concerned with the overall promotion of appealing images to attract tourists, destination marketing is increasingly concerned in managing the balance between tourism and the environment. Destination marketing aims at creating positive images to promote tourist destinations for social and economic benefits. A destination can be a geographically defined area but it also varies in scope depending on the perceptions of tourists.

Tourism destination marketing involves many stakeholders and is a complex product offer. Complexity and interdependency among stakeholders have resulted in the creation of many local tourism marketing alliances. Why is destination marketing so complex? To name two examples: a destination is not a single product like an airline seat or a hotel bed. It is a combined product, made up of many individual products, such as bars, hotels, visitor attractions, restaurants, etc. It is difficult to present a brand image of the product that will incorporate all elements and appeal to all target markets. Furthermore, destinations offer different groups of products to various markets at different times, it is very difficult for destinations to identify their competitors and target group. This is a problem because identifying competitors and striving to beat them provides a strong focus for marketing activities in other sectors.

Below video shows you some interesting facts and figures on destination marketing.



Sources: Tourism Insights, Science Direct, Destination Marketing Association International

KLM answers every tweet and post in person

KLM launched KLM live reply; a service whereby every tweet and post will be answered within the hour, 24 hours a day. To promote this service, KLM switched for one day from normal Facebook and Twitter replies, to "living" replies with their own staff. In 12 hours over 60 questions were answered by 500 KLM employees. See the video below to get an impression!



Interested? Click here to see more.

As of the 1st of September "Schiphol Magazine" will be issued for the first time. The glossy magazine (for free and in English), will have a circulation of 100.000 issues that will be distributed monthly at the airport. Schiphol Magazine will publish articles on special and exclusive destinations, extreme sports, books, movies, fashion, gadgets and more! Also a special "behind the scene" feature will be one of the topics of the magazine. Furthermore, travel experiences and stories will be shared.

It is a great tool to reach (potential) customers, to create awareness and understanding and to improve and maintain the relationship with the public. Schiphol takes the opportunity to tell their story and to share ideas and experiences which they think are valuable for their customers/visitors. I believe the magazine can grow and expand over time, which can result in great outcomes for the Schiphol Group.

Holidays are full of happiness AND stress!

Research have shown that holidays will bring you not only joy, happiness and valuable memories, but also a lot of stress! (video only available in Dutch).

Social media @work improves productivity (and much more!)

Feeling guilty when visiting Twitter or Facebook at work? Don't be! Research of the University of Cophenhagen (2011) showed that the usage of social media at work has a positive effect on concentration and productivity. Tip for managers: Don't block the internet, but replace coffee breaks for internet breaks, where employees can surf on the web during working hours.

There are more reasons why stimulating the use of social media at work can benefit business:

1. Younger employees, the so called Y-Generation, values social media as one of the most important technologies of today. Therefore, they expect their employers to have the same vision and they will choose an employer who does have that vision. Valuing this vision, will make the workplace more attractive for new generations.
2. Social media is used by employees to contact their co-workers. This will improve internal communications and an improvement of decisiveness.
3. The use of personal social media channels at work for the execution of work related tasks, leads to a higher commitment of the employee in relation to work and organization.

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If Facebook were a country, it would be the world's 3rd largest

Did you know that...

Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the U.S.A.? Social media is the number 1 activity on the web? If Facebook were a country it would be the world’s 3rd largest? That 80% of the companies use social media for recruitment? That Ashton Kutcher and Britney Spears have more followers on Twitter than the entire populations of Sweden, Israel and Switzerland, Ireland, Norway and Panama?

We no longer search for news, the news finds us...

Will the trend in intranet be NO intranet anymore?

I'd like to make you aware of a very inspiring, interesting and critical article on internal communication.

You can click here for the article (only in Dutch).

Must See - The Social Network

Not (yet) believing in the world of social media and its major effects? Check out "The Social Network"; a movie about the rapid growth of Facebook in only a couple of years.

Social Media 2.0

We all know that social media is an instant hype. Twitter, Facebook, Hyves and LinkedIn are used by millions of people all over the world. Research about social media gives scientific insights on the role, purpose and meaning of social media. Therefore, organizations, communication-PR professionals and marketeers can apply the knowledgde gained from research within their own company.

Research showed that half of the companies in the US start with the integration of social media within their organization, without a plan or strategy. Making a blog or twitter account does not cost any money and is very easy to do. The effects of these "free" applications can have less effect than carefully tailor made social media applications that suits the company. Organizations do see the benefits of the use of social media internally, but do not have enough resources to produce an effective social media strategy. Besides this, "old fashioned management" do not even want to make (a little) money free to invest in social media.

Companies with young employees can definitely benefit from the implemenation of social media within the company. Blogs can show the real feelings, problems and other issues that employees face during their daily work, Twitter can be easily used to spread important information within 2 seconds, Yammer can be used as a forum where everyone can give input and feedback on whatever is going on in the organization and LinkedIn can be actively used for recruitment and sharing knowledge.

Besides using social media internally, it has external benefits as well. When visitors of the website of an organization see that the company is actively involved in social media, it sends the message that the organization is keeping up with the trends as they are nowadays and are open for new ideas. It shows that the company has an open culture, involves their employees, gives them a voice as well, and is fresh and young. It might be difficult to start with applying social media in business, but social media will become and is the future, it cannot be denied anymore. To keep up, organizations need to apply social media rapidly, otherwise they will get behind, so don't think about it, just do it!

Organizational communication gets high priority

For the coming years European communication professionals will expect that organizational communication will get a higher priority within organizations. As a result of the economic crisis, organizational communication has become more important. Employees do not feel secure about keeping their jobs anymore. Furthermore, reorganizations and other forms of organizational change are happening more often. For example, organizational communication can buffer the effects on job insecurity and stress. Moreover, organizational communication can directly contribute to the organizations' goals and the realization of the companies' policies.

According to several communication professionals there are important challenges in relation to organizational communication, which are:

1. The connection of organizational communication and the organizations' policies.
2. Facilitating organizational change.
3. Controlling information overload.
4. Making use of social media, giving employees the opportunity to give feedback on ideas and initiatives of the management by using social and interactive media.
5. To increase the perception of the credibility of the management according to the employees. Employees need to believe in the management again.

Research has shown that there is also a "to do-list" for communication professionals with the following activities:

1. To train the management in their communication skills. Better communication is needed between the management and the employees.
2. Making use of authentic communication messages instead of smooth management talk.
3. Facilitating online communities in order to create a dialogue within the organization (for example between the management and its employees or between several departments).
4. Seperating facts from gossip and rumours
5. Replacing text for video messages
6. Trying to decrease the amount of information channels.

In my opinion, clear organizational communication is an essential part of every organization. When everything is organized internally in terms of communication, you will defenitely see the benefits that is has externally.

Destination marketing: Promoting a dream

Destination Marketing Organizations or Convention and Visitor Bureaus/Tourism Boards promote the long-term development and marketing of a destination, focusing on convention sales, tourism marketing and service. The organizations are the masterminds behind campaigns marketing an “entire” destination to meeting professionals, business travelers, tour operators and individual visitors. They represent the hotels, facilities, attractions, restaurants and other providers serving travelers. Nowadays, many countries are launching their destination as a genuine brand in order to keep up with the high competition in the tourism industry. The tourism industry is known for selling "dreams", because they sell an experience and an intangible product.

Spain is operating on the Dutch market for years and is the number two holiday destination of the Dutch. They are highly investing in their marketing campaigns in order to create a fresh and diverse image of the country. It wants to show the tourists to not only be a party and sun destination (think of Ibiza, Mallorca, Marbella, Costa del Sol), but a destination with a rich culture and beautiful flora, fauna and architecture (think of Sevilla, Madrid, Andalucia and the other, mostly unknown sides of Mallorca and Ibiza). Below you can find one of their campaign ads.


Another destination that is investing in their international marketing activities is Jordan. Jordan is one of the most peaceful and stable countries in the Middle East, but the number of inbound tourists is not as high as they want it to be, due to a bad image that has been created years ago. Therefore, they increased their marketing budget rapidly. Below one of their ads.


Of course, a country can promote itself very well, but if a destination is going to be popular, it depends on the willingness of tour operators to offer the destination including the package (flight, transfer, hotel) to the consumers. In order to do so, tour operators are invited to the destination to visit several sites, hotels, venues and to participate in excursions. Furthermore, good press can give a destination a boost as well. Also organizing (sport)events such as the Olympic Games will benefit a destination in terms of tourist arrivals. South Africa is organizing the World Cup 2010 and is promoting itself as the ultimate holiday destination and as the adventure capital of the world. Adventurous it is, because the country has one of the highest crime rates in the world. The message South Africa is trying to put out there, is a little ambiguous. On the one hand the country is known for its rich culture, heritage and wildlife, which they are definitely emphasizing in their communication. On the other hand, notwithstanding government anti-crime efforts, violent crimes such as carjackings, muggings, "smash and grab" attacks on vehicles and other incidents are regularly reported by tourists. Not to speak about the slums which are dominating several areas of the country. There's a major gap between rich and poor. It can be said that South Africa is selling a dream, by ignoring the ugly side and stressing the beautiful side of the country. Why shouldn't they, it just a matter of impressive marketing. A question that can be asked is: is destination marketing an honest and transparant way of communicating or is it misleading and just a unrealistic dream?

Using Hyves, Twitter and Facebook in Politics

During the 2008 elections in the USA, a lot of youngsters voted in comparison to previous elections due to the use of Facebook by politicians. Obama was the king of social media. He gave young people the chance to participate and communicate actively. Besides this, Facebook was the ultimate way to reach thousands of young people. Dutch politicians thought: if Obama can do it, we can do it too. The most popular Dutch politicians on Twitter are Alexander Pechtold (D66) and Maxime Verhagen (CDA)(http://politiek.twittergids.nl). The most popular politician on Hyves are prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende (CDA) (http://jpb.hyves.nl)

Research have shown that the youth is sceptical about the populistic way politicians are trying to reach them. Today a special twitter and hyves debate is going on in order for politicians to keep up with the trend of social media. Both debates were a fiasco, it was impossible to have a debate going where it is only possible to type in not more than 140 characters on Twitter and on Hyves the messages were processed so slowly, that no one could follow what was actually said. Job Cohen (PvdA) even switched on his Caps Lock, which made all his comments come in capital.

It is known that youngster do not have many interest in politics. Only 20% of the Dutch youth says to have enough knowledge about Dutch politics and 25% of them thinks that politics have an actual influence on their daily life. Although a lot of young people are making use of social media, the question is if the use of social media by politicians is related to the voting behaviour of youngsters. My research has shown that when youngsters between 12 and 18 are using social media and are interested in politics they use social media as well in order to gain information about political issues. If they are not interested in politics but are using social media for personal activities, they will not use social media to gain information about politics and they will not be persuaded to do so as well. We can say that the use of social media by politicians in the Netherlands might have a slightly effect on the youngsters who already are interested in politics, but probably not as much as politicians would hope for.