Sharing Value, Investing in Video and How to Measure Digital Investment
Melvin is the founder of TravelDudes, a global community of experienced travelers who dig deep to find the best travel tips to share with the world.
Travel Dudes has amassed a Twitter following of more than 250,000 people and has similarly huge numbers on Facebook, Instagram and other social media channels.
Melvin is at the forefront of the conversation around influencer marketing in travel and partners with clients to create engaging content that reaches an audience of over three million travelers each month.
Summary
Melvin is a well-known figure in the travel industry. As one of the original travel bloggers, he has become a regular on the conference scene and regularly speaks about how travel businesses and media can connect for mutual benefit.
Given his many years of experience, he has lots to say and some really insightful input in this conversation, whether you’re on the media or industry side of the hedge.
We discuss the genesis story of Travel Dudes and how it has grown to become a hugely influential community. This includes the lessons Melvin has learned through the journey with loads of actionable takeaways.
Partnerships have played a big role in that growth, and Melvin shares his views on how to approach that successfully, along with their switch to focusing on video and how he has grown his ‘dream team’.
I’ve heard Melvin talk many times about measuring the value of what bloggers do, and this makes for great listening, especially if you’re a company wondering how to value the impact of any marketing or advertising you do.
Whatever your role in travel, I’m sure you’ll find this one really useful.
Enjoy!
0:04:00
What did you want to be when you grew up?
0:08:00
The journey from travel agent to starting Travel Dudes
0:12:00
Launching Travel Dudes
0:16:30
The transition to working on Travel Dudes full time
0:19:00
Was there a business plan for Travel Dudes?
0:23:30
How to share value with others and get them to share it with you
0:27:30
The different stages of blogging
0:32:00
What does Travel Dudes look like now – building the dream team
0:35:00
Finding good people
0:42:00
Melvin’s day to day activity
0:47:00
Positives and negatives of remote teams
0:48:00
Marketing
0:51:00
Community and how it’s helped them grow
0:53:00
Measuring and valuing coverage
0:57:30
Recommendations to a small business for working on campaigns
1:03:30
Creating video and good production
1:05:30
What makes partnerships work?
1:09:00
Traditional media vs blogging
1:12:00
Growing the personal brand
1:17:30
Alternative ways to promote your business
1:21:00
Creating The Social Travel Summit conference
1:23:00
Future plans for Travel Dudes
Links Mentioned
Travel Dudes
Dave Brett
The Social Travel Summit
Janice Waugh
“Being that naive gave us a lot of opportunities to run it successfully. On the other side just being naive isn’t helpful so you always have to be realistic as well. Find the middle level that combines both and that’s the trick to success.”
Melvin Boecher
Founder, Travel Dudes
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