The initial line up for the 2012 RockNess festival in Dores from 8th to 10 June was announced today. There are some old faces and some new faces with more acts to follow as we get nearer to June. Three day tickets are on sale from today at booklochness.

Bored with dark nights and post-Christmas abstinence? Us too! That’s why at Visit Loch Ness we’re giving you the chance to win a scrumptious luxury hamper from Scottish Hampers. Packed with delicious Scottish goodies, it’s the perfect antidote to the winter blues, and a well-deserved slice of gourmet indulgence after a month of January dieting.

To be in with a chance to win the gorgeous “Thistle” food hamper, and to stay up to date with the latest news, updates and events in and around Loch Ness, then all you have to do is sign up for our monthly newsletter before 29th Feb 2012. You can do this by entering your email address into the newsletter box which can be found at the bottom left of all Visit Loch Ness pages.

We’ll announce our lucky winner by email soon after the competition closing date of 29th February.

Postage overseas extra.

Is Social Media the best thing since sliced bread, the saviour of your business, the best marketing tool you have ever used? or is it mostly hot air a bustling community with nothing to spend but lots to say??

Some food for thought here gleaned from my experience - Social Media can work for big companies employing experts and using it as a part of their overall marketing strategy. It can work too for small business with owners who possess a thorough knowledge of their industry and who can personally dedicate lots of time logged into Facebook Twitter etc. But even with industry and product knowledge it requires a lot of skill and natural ability to engage the community without openly marketing the product.

My honest feeling about it is that hard earned money, or budget is far better spent on SEO and Pay Per Click where you can precisely measure ROI (Return On Investment). It is virtually impossible to get accurate ROI figure for paid social media work. Yes you may drum up 3,000 friends/followers on Facebook but if you look closely most of those "followers" will be either Social Media experts hoping to sell you even more SM! or friends of friends, acquaintances and other small businesses similar to your own, but how many of them will ever buy anything from you?

You might feel disapointed and wonder where all that money went if having paid a Social Media specialist to get you all these Facebook friends when you have empty rooms! .

In a nutshell, if you are paying for it make sure you are able to see a ROI at the end of the campaign. Above all beware of strangers bearing gifts! the SM market place is awash with advisors consultants specialists, experts! a word of mouth reccommendation is the least you should get before taking on  paying for Social Media work.

If you can do it yourself excellent, there is nothing to lose but time. If you are big company give it a go and if you dont get a reasonalble return you can cut it out of your budget and try something new, something like Google+ which looks set challenge Facebook and to change search forever by integrating it's social media into its search engine results. Now that sounds interesting!  

Check out - Visitlochness.com Google+ Page