Photo by Mario Mancuso under Creative Commons
by Wendy Lou
National Travel and Tourism week starts Sunday, May 4th and runs through Monday, May 12th. For those in the industry, this presents a great opportunity to join in on a nation-wide conversation through social media. The theme for this year is "Travel Effect". According to the U.S Travel Association, the theme is aligned "with the current industry-wide campaign to prove the benefits of travel."
One of the methods for tracking conversations through social media is the use of hashtags. Hashtags are simply words or abbreviations preceded by the pound (#) sign. This creates a link that, when clicked, will search posts using the same hashtag.
Why should I use hashtags?
Join the conversation! If you use a hashtag in a post, your post will show in the results for those who click on the hashtag to see the conversation. This means increased visibility for your brand and an opportunity to engage with other users in your industry. Hashtags are now in use across most social media channels, including Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, and Pinterest.
The hashtags for this year's National Travel and Tourism Week are #NTTW and #TravelEffect (see the conversations on Twitter below).
