Linchi Kwok, Ph.D.

Do you know many websites are built on a WordPress (blog) theme?  Oh yes.  People are very likely reading blogs when they browse contents on the internet, and blogging can be very effective in marketing communications and making sales.  Yet, how does blogging different from Facebook or Twitter updates?  What can we expected from a good blog post? Blog is definitely different from Facebook, Twitter, or other social media sites.  Blogging is more than just an update.  There is no set limit on how many characters a blog post can have, allowing people to publish longer and more in-depth discussion.  Plus, bloggers can embed other social media contents in a post (e.g., pictures and videos). I started blogging about four years ago.  When I first started, I did more “sharing” than “creating.”  I shared the news articles that I found interesting and relevant to my target audience.  My blog posts read more like summaries of relevant ne...

Today, 52% of the population have smartphones, of whom over 94% are expected to use smartphones in searching for local business, according to a recent newsletter I received from the California Lodging Industry Association.  Many OTAs (online travel agents such as Expedia.com and Priceline.com) and entrepreneurs are getting into the “app business,” and they are doing very well (as suggested in the Bloomberg video ).  Hotels and restaurants for sure would also like to have a piece of the pie.  Indeed, many hotels follow the SoLoMo (Social, Local, and Mobile) movement and have introduced many mobile apps.  The big hotel groups, for example, all have mobile apps, allowing customers to search and make reservations using mobile devices; but at the same time, there are also other apps for different hotel brands within the same hotel group and even apps for individual properties.  Moreover, there are concierge (service) apps for luxury and u...