Social Media Strategy Launches for Planners and Suppliers; Technology Partnership Connects Customers, Embraces Open Communication
MIAMI–(EON: Enhanced Online News)–Cruise event specialists Landry & Kling Inc. have announced a strategic partnership between their company Seasite.com, the first cruise portal for meetings and events, and i-Meet.com, the professional and social network for meeting and event planners and suppliers.
“Facebook and Twitter are important to our overall social media strategy, but with our new Seasite online community, we’re giving our customers and users an expanded experience in i-Meet’s global community”
The partnership introduces a unique, online community on i-Meet.com for Seasite.com users and prospects worldwide. Leveraging i-Meet’s fast-growing network and social media platform, Seasite’s online community will feature industry leading technology, group special interest “hot spots”, and provide a way for people to connect and interact with over 20,000 industry professionals around the world.
“Our customers have expressed an interest in a community-based social platform to complement Seasite’s cruise sourcing and planning tools,” said Jo Kling, CEO of Seasite.com. “We are excited to be partnering with i-Meet and its meetings industry-specific social network approach; we can now deliver a unique experience to our customers that’s in line with the way people do business today.”
“It’s really a very natural progression to introduce social networking to cruise meetings customers,” said John Pino, i-Meet’s Founder and CEO, “and marrying Seasite’s cruise sourcing technology with an online communications and collaboration channel enabled through i-Meet’s global community of planners, buyers and suppliers will create advantages for everyone.”
“Facebook and Twitter are important to our overall social media strategy, but with our new Seasite online community, we’re giving our customers and users an expanded experience in i-Meet’s global community,” said Jo Kling “This is an industry first that will allow our users to network with other professionals and communicate what’s on their minds.”
The partnership will allow the growth of active mini-communities for i-Meet and Seasite.com members based on their areas of interest. The groups will be hosted and administered by Seasite’s expert cruise industry professionals. “Friend-ing” others, “following” suppliers, and subscribing to and publishing blogs will round out the experience.
About Landry & Kling and Seasite.com
Landry & Kling Inc., cruise event specialists since 1982, recently introduced Seasite.com, the first online cruise platform for meeting professionals. Seasite is an industry sourcing tool to search, select and plan group cruises, with access to 35 cruise lines in one site, meeting-friendly search criteria, e-RFP’s, meeting/function room capacities, dining details and other unique tools available nowhere else. Visit www.seasite.com or www.landrykling.com.
About i-Meet
Created by the Founder of StarCite, www.i-Meet.com is focused on building the industry’s most relevant worldwide online community for the meeting and event industry. With 20,000 members from 130 countries around the world to date, i-Meet brings social networking, web 2.0 tools, work flow and relationship opportunities, and industry intelligence to its members and suppliers. Visit i-meet.com.
Permalink: http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20100505005291/en/Landry-%26-Kling/Seasite/cruise-meetings
Tags: Cruise Portal, Eastern Daylight Time, Event Planners, Facebook, Global Community, Kling Inc, Leading Technology, Media Platform, Media Strategy, Meetings And Events, Meetings Industry, Natural Progression, Open Communication, Social Network Approach, Social Networking, Social Platform, Sourcing Technology, Strategic Partnership, Technology Partnership, Twitter
Meeting and event planners are always on the lookout for ways to spread the work about upcoming events. Social networking is more important than ever before and includes more than just face-to-face interaction. Facebook, Live Journal, blogs, and Twitter are wonderful methods of connecting with clients. Twitter probably generates more and quicker responses to a question or announcement than any other method of communication.
Tweets, the 140 character text-based posts sent to the author’s followers, are quick, concise time savers. It is much easier to text a tweet to a large group than to send a comparable number of emails. The tweet can share a thought, ask a question, or even direct the group to a blog post announcement of an upcoming event. Retweeting, passing along a message to someone not part of the core group, spreads the word of your next meeting even further.
Twitter is more efficient than email. You can send a message to an individual just as you can in an email, or to your followers, which is comparable to sending carbon copy (cc) email to a group. Notices of incoming tweets speed to your group’s computers or cell phones and many people check for tweets many times a day.
We'll continue to explore the Twitter revolution in Part 2.
Tags: Blogs, Carbon Copy, Cell Phones, Comparable Number, Core Group, Email, Emails, Event Planners, Followers, Interaction, Large Group, Lookout, Method Of Communication, Social Networking, Time Savers, Tweet, Twitter, Upcoming Events
Webinars are the latest marketing and communication tool. They are a way of engaging clients, and attracting new clients. If you are considering hosting a webinar (online seminar) here are some things about webinar production you should consider:
- Planning – A webinar should be well thought-out to suit both your company's needs and those of your client. You can be creative, but keep in mind your goal – is it a strong marketing push for new clients or an educational and training piece for existing clients or internal employees?
- Promotion: It is essential to market your webinar event well in advance of the broadcast. This can be done with e-mails, posting a notice on your website, or through social media networking such as Twitter and Facebook. Once again, be creative – if your customers call in for customer service, add a message to the loop that plays while callers are on hold.
- Production: You will probably want to outsource the actual production of the webinar for the best quality results. The webinar may be broadcast in two ways; live and on-demand. Many live broadcasts are often setup for on-demand broadcasts after the initial live broadcast.
Webinars are a popular and effective marketing tool for meeting and event planners if prepared and promoted properly.
Tags: Best Quality, Communication Tool, Customer Service, Effective Marketing, Employees Promotion, Event Planners, Facebook, Live Broadcast, Live Broadcasts, Marketing And Communication, Marketing Communication, Marketing Tool, Meeting Planners, Quality Results, Twitter, Two Ways, Webinar