Tennessee is Blazin’ New Trails
Yesterday was a big day in Tennessee Tourism. Governor Phil Bredesen, along with the Commissioner of Tourist Development, Susan Whitaker, announced an initiative that will take Tennessee Tourism to the next level. The Discover Tennessee Trails and Byways is a statewide initiative that will cover all 95 counties in Tennessee with 15 regional self guided driving trails as well as feature five of Tennessee’s National Scenic Byways. During the press conference, the Old Tennessee Trail was announced as the first trail covering Davidson, Williamson and Maury counties. And, to

Build Your Destination Brand Online With A New Employee and Twitter
Perhaps the notion of “living your brand” is easier than ever now that we have social media tools like Twitter.  Recently, some tourism organizations have been creating nice exposure for themselves by advertising new job opportunities to work at their destination – all in the name of branding.  Apparently, the newest way to tell your destination’s story is to hire someone whose job description embodies the brand.  I love it.  The most widely talked about success story has been Queensland, Australia, who recently won the coveted Grand Prize at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival with an ad campaign seeking to hire for “The

It’s NOT Fair, Facebook!
Have you ever had something done to you and thought “It’s just NOT fair.“ Well, Facebook has recently revoked my publishing rights for the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development’s Facebook Fan Page. Yes, I got the warning email stating that I had 3 weeks to authenticate the page by either: 1. adding the Facebook Fan Box Widget 2. adding an email address associated with the brand, which could include a PR email address 3. add an additional email address associated with the brand or 4. if I did not have a way to authenticate the page, then I co

Content is King
This phrase is said time and time again for web development and it can’t be more true. If there is not enough relevant content on a website, it pretty much defeats the purpose of even having a website. The same rule is applied to your Facebook page, Twitter account and other social networking sites. If content is lacking, then nobody cares.  Social media is the place consumers are turning to for information, advice, and products. Companies and organizations that are successful on the social networks, like the recent

Design, Development, & SEO - Barcamp Nashville-2009
This weekend I had the pleasure of attending and speaking at Barcamp Nashville 2009 at Cadillac Ranch. It was my first time attending BCN and it completely exceeded my expectations. The event ran smoothly, the shirts were amazing, and the food was delicious. A huge thanks to everyone who helped put on Barcamp this year. The planning team did a great job! Also, a huge thanks to all the sponsors (great swag from magazines.com). My session was on