Foursquare is fast becoming a popular social networking site with more than 700,000 “check-ins” each day. As networks like Foursquare gain popularity with users, we all start asking ourselves how we as businesses and brands can capitalize. Well, here’s a start.

If you don’t have a Profile on Foursquare, start one. Every business who is looking for foot traffic and repeat visitation should be on this community. Check Foursquare.com first to find out if your business is already listed. If it is, you can click “Claim Your Venue.” Don’t forget to promote your Foursquare presence inside your store or business. The web site offers downloadable PDFs and window clings for display. Essentially, users can access the business from their smart phone and “check-in” when they arrive. A user can see connected friends who may be at the same location or nearby, share and fine insider tips, coupons and ultimatly earn points. The more points a user earns, the more badges are received and the higher a status is met. The top point-receiver is crowned “Mayor.”

This engaging and competitive community is a brand driver. Users may not be aware that they have such an influence for others but they do. The goal of every user on Foursquare is to become Mayor of their favorite local businesses…restaurants, shops, bakeries, etc. Because a user must check in from the business itself, it requires a lot of frequent visitation. Nearly every business and brand is built on repeat visitation and brand loyalty. At the same time, businesses can reach out to Foursquare Mayors and frequent visitors with real rewards and discounts. You have the choice of whom to reach out to. Find that user that has a good amount of friends that can be encouraged to visit also. But don’t forget to save the best deals for the Mayor.

This Just In!! Twitter Places was just released allowing the ability to geo-tag tweets on the fly from a browser. Foursquare users can integrate their account with Twitter Places so when you click on a Twitter Place, you can also see check-ins. Twitter is also releasing an API functionality that lets developers integrate places into their applications. Even more reason to jump on Foursquare now if you haven’t already.

So, have you come up with a reason not to be on Foursquare yet?

The internet has forever changed the travel biz. Online travel planning is a booming business, and it’s growing exponentially. So, it’s only natural that Facebook would eventually acquire a travel related social site, and so they have!

TechCrunch reported yesterday that the almighty FB acquired nextstop, a social travel recommendation site.  According to TechCrunch, “The startup, which launched in early 2009, mixes social recommendations with search and adds a reputation system and elements of gameplay.”

Nextstop will be shut down as of September 1st, but apparently the founders are working on a way to make the content accessible through a creative commons license, and allow current users to upload their content to other social sites.

Have you used Nextstop? How do you think Facebook will integrate this type of technology into our day-to-day usage?

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again – search is no longer just about the engines. Proof? Twitter is now the world’s fastest growing search tool. According to Biz Stone (co-founder), the site sees 800 million queries per day. That adds up to more than 24 billion searches per month, which is “more than Bing (4.1 billion) and Yahoo (9.4 billion) combined,” according to Fast Company. Wow.

The article also states, “To put that in perspective, a study by Nielsen last year concluded that Bing was the fastest-growing search engine in the U.S. after it ballooned over 22%. Now it seems Twitter has taken the title.”

Of course, Google is still King with 88 balloon searches per month. Nonetheless, 24 billion is pretty impressive for our favorite microblog.

This trend is bound to continue. People don’t just want to search the web for info, they want to search the communities where the influencers and the “in-the-know”ers hang out. If a crisis or natural disaster occurs, chances are extremely good it’ll hit Twitter many minutes before it hits Google. Such is the nature of the citizen journalist.

For marketers, this means it’s ever more important that you have a voice on the key social networking sites, and that you constantly monitor the conversation about your brand. Vigilance, people! Additionally, this means SEO is of the utmost importance, and not just on your website, either. Stay tuned for more information on that topic in future blog posts.

As someone who is always doing some kind of social media, it’s always nice to see engaged users. Usually that’s a string of comments on your latest post on Facebook or a large number of retweets on Twitter. What happens when what you have posted ignites into a ball of fire? What you started wasn’t offensive, just real. Engaging users in a “real” comment string might backfire. Take for instance this comment string from Mountain Creek on Facebook.

What is confusing is that these comments are not related to the fact that the original post was offensive or hurtful in any way to the Resort’s Fans but the comments from users that “Like” Mountain Creek are insulting the Resort in which they claim to be a fan of?? Are you confused? I am.

Mountain Creek somewhat doused the fire when they commented mid string and recognized what a tough crowd their fans were. What would you do in this situation?

My 10-year high school reunion is fast approaching. And what strikes me the most about this landmark occasion? The fact that it’s not so surprising anymore, thanks to our old friend Mr. Facebook.

Granted, it will still be fascinating to see all my old friends in person, given that I haven’t seen most of them in a decade (scary!). But it’s not like it would have been five years ago, when I would have been clueless about their whereabouts, their appearance and their status. Nowadays, I know exactly what most of my high school friends are up to, thanks to the joys of Facebook. And vice versa.

Undoubtedly, there will be a few shockers. The rare success story who chooses not to be on Facebook, etc. But generally, we all have the lay of the land these days. Gone are the times when everyone would congregate, nervous and excited about discovering the changes to their former classmates. Gone are the times when Romy & Michele could hope to pose as the inventors of Post Its – Google anyone?

Has Facebook ruined high school reunions forever? Well, social media has certainly changed the way we relate. Even my mother has connected with scores of former classmates through Facebook, so were she to see them again, even after many decades, the thrill may be partially gone. No more anonymity. And yet, the Facebook phenomenon will make conversation so much easier. I can ask about husbands, kids, jobs and all the little life tidbits I already know.

What do you think? Has Facebook changed the way you think about reunions or long-lost friendships?

Because part of what we do involves discovering the hottest new social sites – and we believe in sharing the wealth -  we’re introducing you to the joys of Foodspotting today.

Foodspotting, if you haven’t heard about it, is the latest social media craze for foodies and travelers. Basically, users upload photos of food from various restaurants, food stands and establishments throughout the world. The photo appears with the name of the dish and the specific location, and the majority of them are definitely droolworthy!

Additionally, users can mark each item with “Want It” or “Nom It”.  Foods are then categorized as “The Best”, “Most Wanted”, etc., and you can search the site by city, by type of food, etc.

For DMO marketers, this isn’t the sort of site where you would setup an official destination profile, however, encouraging locals to get involved with the site is a great way to increase exposure for local restaurants and the gourmet delights in your city.

As the foodie scene grows more prominent year by year, what better way to get travelers to your destination than to make their mouths water?

I’m a big believer in the power of social media – both for good, and evil. What do I mean? Well, social media is not to be trifled with. It’s crucial to be careful with what you say and do online, because it can always, always come back to haunt you.

Generally, the guidelines are common sense. The old adage certainly applies here: “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Don’t post things online that you wouldn’t want people to see … even when you think your profiles are private – they’re really not. They can still be fodder for court proceedings.

According to a report by the Associated Press, outlined by Mashable, Facebook is becoming a key source for divorce case evidence these days.

“All in all, the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers says that around 81% of its members have had to deal with — or have themselves used — evidence from social media sources, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube,” Mashable reported.

So, you might want to keep snide comments, incriminating photos and the like off your social networking profiles. After all, they might come back to bite you – and would it really be worth it? Always, always think before you post!

Since the dawn of social media, ROI-focused marketers have been attempting to put a price tag on the value of Facebook fans and Twitter followers. But is it possible to truly break social media fans down into dollars and cents?

According to a new study by Digital consulting firm Syncapse and research company Hotspex, as reported by eMarketer, a Facebook fan is worth an average of $136.86. This number applies to the site’s 20 biggest corporate brands.

So, for destinations, the monetary value might be somewhat different, given that you’re not selling a direct product, but an experience – a visitation. Either way though, the same logic applies. According to eMarketer:” The study found that people spent significantly more on products they were fans of, compared with consumers who were not fans. In the case of many of Facebook’s most popular food and beverage marketers, fan spending was more than double that of non-fans.”

While some other companies have broken down the monetary value of a Facebook fan into vastly different numbers ($3.60, $6.79 to name a few), I would err on the side of a higher number, given the significantly increased likelihood that they’ll make a purchase.

These numbers mean fans certainly are worth their Facebook weight in gold. And for marketers looking to monetize, I can’t emphasize enough that you should offer discounts, incentives and a direct call to action. If they’re likely to spend twice as much as a non-fan, well, give them something to spend it on! Offer them something of value, and they’re more likely to book a trip. And not only that, they’ll pass the recommendation along to friends, creating more likely visitors. Hence the inherent value of social media.

Well, it’s official. Twitter has rolled out its newest advertising model – promoted trending topics. This morning, upon logging in, you might notice the Toy Story 3 trending topic with a “promoted” label beside it. Yes, Disney purchased the first promoted Tweet – go figure.

We’ve become accustomed to promoted Tweets, since Twitter rolled them out in April – and frankly, I don’t find them intrusive or annoying. I think it’s a smart advertising tool. But one thing I have to ask … is purchasing a promoted trending topic worth it when the content behind it isn’t so hot? The Toy Story 3 Tweets aren’t exactly mind-blowing, and there aren’t a whole lot of them. In fact, most of the Tweets that popped up this morning were either in another language or Re-Tweets of the same phrase from @ryanfaller.

The great part about trending topics in general is that you can expect to find tons of content behind each one. Hence the point – these are the things people are buzzing about. When you place a pseudo trending topic, you’re likely to find a lack of content there, given that these topics aren’t really as popular as Twitter wants you to believe.

Personally, I think a promoted trending topic is a little too false. The whole point of trending topics is to show us what other people are talking about. And if people aren’t talking about it – it shouldn’t be a trending topic, period. Promoted Tweets make much more sense, and frankly, I’d think they’d return a much better ROI for advertisers. What are your thoughts on Twitter’s new advertising experiment?

At the NAJ Summit East conference this morning, Jennifer Barbee spoke to the audience of tour operators and destinations on the East Coast about international search and social strategies. Specializing in marketing strategies for destinations, JB’s presentation spoke to the power of SEO across multiple platforms outside of the web site…Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Press Releases, Flickr and more. JB also feels very strongly that a multi level search strategy is necessary when marketing your destination both domestically and internationally. With such topics as “Search Marketing is Forever Changed.” and “Don’t Write Keyword Checks Your Site Can’t Cash”, the discussion was flowing as the latest trends in international search strategy and social dominance was covered. Thanks to all the attendees that attended Jennifer’s presentation at NAJ Summit East this morning!