In talking with our guests I find that some are happy to take a hiatus from their laptop or ipad while traveling in their RV but increasingly I see that many RVers are very involved with social media... facebook, twitter and pinterest... and wouldn't think of missing their routine of checking with friends and family and even business contacts with these tools. Something we see see more and more of online is an educational tool called an infographic. These are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics present complex information quickly and clearly, using signs, pictures, maps, journalism, technical writing, and education. This may seem unrelated to RVing but they can be very helpful as a marketing tool if you have an internet based business as a means to support or subsidize your full-time RV lifestyle.
Here's an everyday example of
how infographics can be helpful>>>>
You may already be familiar with these but if not, be prepared to see these appear more and more as they flood the more visual sites like Pinterest and Facebook.
Want to make one? Don't be intimidated. If your computer has PowerPoint, you can make one of those fancy infographics with a free tool from HubSpot. You need to have a company and website to be able to fill out the short form to download this free tool. If you don't have a company or website and you'd like to try experimenting with infographics, email me and I'll forward you a copy of the tool I downloaded with complete instructions. Remember, your computer must have the Microsoft Office PowerPoint software. (Note, this is just one option. There are other programs and templates to use and some of them have a download fee.)
You'll love this template, which gives you three choices: a step-by-step infographic, an informational infographic or a data-packed infographic.
The example here is pretty involved but yours doesn't have to be this elaborate. Start out small until you get the hang of it. These wildly popular infographics are great for pinning on Pinterest, accompanying a blog post or to send to your friends or family. Anything you want to teach or explain, crafts, DIY projects, "ways to support your life on the road" or "how to take good photos of birds" lends itself to this new phenomena.
You can also create pie charts, doodles, flow charts, bar charts, maps, word clouds and those fun little sticky notes.
If you're up for trying this new tool and you put a copy somewhere online, like a blog, website or travel journal, share your experience with us in a the comments and a link to results of your labor. I, too will be experimenting and will share my work as it progresses.
Happy infographicing!
Much of this information is reprinted from "The Publicity Hound's Tips of the Week," an ezine featuring tips, tricks and tools for generating free publicity. Subscribe at http://www.publicityhound.com/ and receive by email the handy cheat sheet "89 Reasons to Send a Press Release."
Teri Blaschke is the
RV Park operator of family owned HiddenValley RV Park in San Antonio, TX and writer of the park blog “A Little
Piece of Country in San Antonio.” Teri contributes to various other blogs with
a focus on either travel or social media and how it relates to the outdoor
hospitality industry but her passion is serving the RV travel community by
providing a memorable RV camping experience and growing the Hidden Valley RV
family. Connect with Teri on Google+, Facebook
and Twitter@HiddenValleyRV
No comments:
Post a Comment