I don't know about you, but I am getting exhausted trying to keep up with my social media. It is moving into my travel time so I am trying to evaluate why I'm doing it and if I can find any return on investment (ROI) that makes it worth doing.

I have recently learned a few facts I'd like to share with you as you too evaluate your reasons for participating in social media.


FACTS:
• By 2010, it is projected that over 50% will use smartphones to plan travel. Virginia currently has a free mobile visitors guide.

• 80% of Tweets are mobile

• There are 300 million Facebook users (and it has good security)
• The most effective way to use social media is to cross promote through all channels- Twitter, Flickr, You Tube, Facebook, etc., but to have those links all defined in one location. The speaker mentioned the value of the ripple effect- send out many small things but all with a connection to the destination (or attraction).
• You Tube is the Internet’s 2nd largest search engine behind Google.

• It’s good to use social media as a tease to drive to a Web site or other place for conversion
• It's always good to partner with others to form deals and values when it comes to promoting through Twitter and other social media.

Next I'm looking at ROI

Have you found any specific reasons social media has given you great value?