#SoMeT15US, organized by Destination Think, was held on October 14th and 15th at Harrah’s Theatre, New Orleans. The objective of this business conference was to assist different destinations & brands become stronger on social media and thereby add more value to the digital industry. To know more details about this particular conference, you can go through its webpage.

Here are some interesting tweets that emerged from #SoMeT15US:

#1. The essence of Marketing

Keep your marketing simple, subtle, "embrace what others say" about you, put the DNA of your people in your marketing @FCuypers #SoMeT15US

— Social Media Tourism (@SoMeTourism) October 14, 2015

Our Take: Frank’s tweet points out a basic but relevant point ignored by marketers frequently. At times products and services offered to the customers do not meet their needs or demands. Understanding the pulse, the minds of the people and emotional needs of potential customers is really important. Marketing, as a practice, needs to be flexible. Just as too many cooks might spoil the broth, complicating the process of marketing unnecessarily does not work well.

#2. The power of visuals

Images get 5x the engagement as text-based posts & the #1 thing that makes images memorable is people. #SoMeT15US

— Rachel Ann (@xRachelLew) October 14, 2015

Our Take: A picture is worth a million words and the same is true for social media. We take less time to process images as compared to text and that is why images get more engagement as compared to text. Using more graphics and photographs will drive up the engagement for your brand account. Adding people to photos works even better as compared to photos that don’t include real people.

#3. Intuitive Blog-posts- Your SEO Goldmine

"Our blog posts are the most valuable & underrated asset we produce because they have huge evergreen SEO benefits."-@LandLopers #SoMeT15US

— Molly Allwein (@molly_vstpgh) October 15, 2015

Our Take: Professional blogs of companies are either not updated frequently or totally neglected. Various studies have suggested that blogs can drive close to 50 percent more traffic on the website of a business. This underscores the importance and value of corporate blogs. SEO plays a significant role in the online world and blogs can play an important role in increasing visibility on search engines.

#4. Social Media is just inevitable

"Be careful what you wish for, the spotlight is now on us & we have to deliver."- @wilhelmus #SoMeT15US #endgame pic.twitter.com/5OTuW5vCtT

— Molly Allwein (@molly_vstpgh) October 15, 2015

Our Take: Nowadays it is hard to find people who don’t use social media. Even the baby boomers are actively using platforms like Facebook to share stories and find content that interests them. People don’t just look up for brands on Google anymore. They search for Facebook page or Twitter handles as well and that is why it is important to have strong social media presence.

#5. Reputation = Return on Investment

"Reputation is our ROI" says @seanmdixon at #SoMeT15US Crowdsource inspiration from consumer-written reviews and content

— ReviewPro (@ReviewPro) October 15, 2015

Our Take: Sean precisely summed up the use of social media for marketing. Brands often try to measure social media ROI in terms of sales or leads but that is a debatable approach. While social media can drive sales as well, it should primarily be used to build an image for the brand and give it a character with the right messaging. For travel brands, social media can be used to inspire a traveller to take a journey rather than selling a destination package.

Did you come across any interesting tweets around #SoMeT15US? Do share them with us.

The post #SoMeT15US Tweets that grabbed our attention appeared first on TravHQ.

This year is almost drawing to a close and the new year 2016 promises to be an equally exciting one for the entire travel industry. But before you start brainstorming for next year’s marketing plans, do check-out some very interesting events set to take place in the final half of 2015. Some of these events will attract thousands of attendees from across the globe. There are summits around travel technology, hotel tech, travel blogging, hospitality marketing and much more.

Most of them require pre-registration and in some-cases don’t be surprised if slots are already sold-out by now.

So let’s get started with our list of must follow travel industry events before you bid adieu to 2015:

1. #SoMeT15US (Social Media Tourism Symposium) – October 14-15 2015, New Orleans – US

Taking place in the west, Social Media Tourism Symposium, also known as SoMeT, is a conglemeration of destination marketers & destination brands where ideas for the future of travel industry are shared & discussed. Each year, the conference takes place in Europe, Australia and U.S. Also read: 5 Tweets from #SoMeT15AU that caught our attention.

Why attend? For the love of Social Media. For latest updates, follow the #SoMeT15US hashtag stream on Twitter.

2. TBEX Asia’ 15 (Travel Blog Exchange) – October 15-17 2015, Bangkok – Thailand

Image Credits: TBEXConf FB page

Yesterday, we had carried a story about TBEX, the world’s largest gathering of travel bloggers, social influencers and industry professionals. Later this week, TBEX Asia 2015 will take place at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in Bangkok. The event is a must attend for everyone into marketing & communications industry. It presents a fantastic opportunity to listen to expert travel bloggers across the globe, network & explore possibilities. Read more here.

Why attend? For the love of Travel Blogging. Follow the #TBEXAsia hashtag stream on Twitter for latest updates.

3. TravelRave 2015 (Asia’s Premier Travel & Tourism Week) – October 19-23 2015, Singapore

Image Credits: Hotel Tech & HMS Summit 2014

In the second-half of October, the action shifts to Singapore for TravelRave2015. If you have been reading our coverage of Web in Travel and Hotel Technology Conference, you can imagine that’s it going to be a really crazy week in Singapore. Infact, TravelRave has much more to offer. You can also participate in ITB Asia, happening at the Sands Expo and Convention Center.

Why attend? With so many events happening inside a week, you know the reason to attend this event. Highlight: Watch out for our live coverage & updates from TravelRave 2015.

4. WTM London (World Travel Market) – November 2-5 2015, London – Great Britain

Come November and all eyes will be glued towards London, as the World Travel Market gets underway in the first week. With a gathering of over 50,000+ attendees and 186 countries WTM presents the right kind of opportunity to show case your company’s products & services.

Special Attraction: For all travel marketers, the Travel Tech Show at WTM, promises to be one of the most exciting events.

World Travel Market 2014, ExCeL, London – Travel Tech Theatre – Thought Leaders and Innovators

5. Digital Travel Exchange Asia – November 16-18 2015, Bangkok – Thailand

Image Credits: DIA Tourism Facebook Page

Bangkok will come to centre-stage once again in November, when it plays host to Digital Travel Exchange Asia. The 3 day event will have a combination of hotel and travel marketers for Digi.travel Thailand Conference & Expo, HSMAI’s Digital Marketing Conference and the 3rd Annual DIA Awards Asia.

Why attend? With tailored programs for Asia pacific travel industry & hotel marketers, this program is a must attend for anyone in the APAC region.

Highlight: TravHQ is the media partner for this event.

6. The PhocusWright Conference, November 16-19 2015, Florida, USA

PhocusWright, a leading research powerhouse in travel industry will bring a 4 day world-class conference having an impressive line-up of speakers, cutting-edge workshops and endless networking possibilities. The event will also present attendees, an opportunity to discover the new wave of travel industry innovations.

Image Credits: PhocusWright Media Assets

So this completes our line-up of some amazing events in the remainder of 2015. We do hope you will find this list useful and will be attending some of these events in person. If you do know any events that we may have missed, please share them with us.

The post Hello, Travel Marketers! Here is your list of must attend events before you bid adieu to 2015 appeared first on TravHQ.