North of Boston Tourism Conference

On Friday I spoke about social media, specifically Facebook, and destination marketing at the North of Boston Tourism Conference. It was a pleasure to present in a session with Juli Lederhaus (on the left) from the Hawthorne Hotel and Judi Window (in the middle) from The Granite State Ambassadors. We had a lot of fun talking about social media and using it to connect with you, our visitors and guests.

Juli writes an amazing blog - and was the catalyst for this blog - about the Hawthorne Hotel. She also writes the Hawthorne's wedding blog, so if you're planning a wedding in Salem check that out for great ideas and inspirations. Judi has started AskNH on Twitter, which was inspired by 'Twisitor Centers" that are popping up on Twitter. AskNH is different insofar as it relies on you, the visitor, Tweeting your questions about NH and then you will get responses from Granite State Ambassadors. If you're going to New Hampshire, it's a great new resource. (New Hampshire, by they way, is less than one hour north of Salem.)

I spoke about Destination Salem's presence on Facebook (are you a fan?). We are also on Twitter, and you can subscribe to this blog if you don't already. Let me know what you think about all of our social networking. Send me your questions and I'll happily answer them. Send pictures and I might even post them. I can be reached at kfox@salem.org, or you can comment on this blog post.

The entire conference was excellent, with sessions on making historical destinations relevant, group travel, international travel, understanding your customers, and how the tourism industry is adjusting to the new economy.

Without getting into too much industry speak, I want to send out a THANK YOU to all of you who have continued to travel - even if (especially if!) you have modified your travel habits because of the the economic instability of the past 18 months. Wherever your travel takes you, and for whatever reason, it is appreciated. And if you haven't visited Salem in a while, come check it out. There's an awful lot going on in this bewitching seaport.