The TwoSix team is back and ready to share what’s On Our Radar for June so that you can stay ahead of the always-evolving digital marketing landscape. This month, the TwoSix team discusses AI advancements, Pinterest Summer Trends, Facebook Channels, Google’s AI mode, and more! Keep reading to find out what we’re keeping On Our Radar for May 2025.

AI, with its impressive Large Language Models (LLMs), is significantly shaking up industries across the board, and the travel and tourism industry is certainly feeling its impact in several notable ways.

A growing piece of the AI process is “agentics.” This refers to an exciting area in artificial intelligence focused on building autonomous systems that can make decisions and complete tasks with minimal human intervention.

This rapidly expanding segment of the AI infrastructure is being implemented into businesses’ daily operations more and more. However, based on some recent personal experiences with customer support from Hulu and SiriusXM, it’s clear that we’re not yet at the point where machines can fully take over the decision-making process.

Considering the crucial role of customer service in the tourism and hospitality industry, we must carefully consider how to integrate artificial intelligence into our decision-making processes. The goal should always be to enhance customer service, not compromise it. Our focus should be on minimizing friction for customers and continuing to deliver them the best possible service, ultimately leading to stronger retention and loyalty.

Want to dive deeper into Agentic AI? Check out this comprehensive LinkedIn post by Leon Gordon, CEO of Onyx Data.

You can also watch this video clip for more insights.

And to stay on top of the latest AI trends, I highly recommend subscribing to one of my new favorite newsletters, The AI Rundown.

You’ve probably heard the term “attention is the new currency”. Attention is the new currency when it comes to getting results with your digital marketing efforts. One of the easiest and affordable ways that DMOs can create content that actually gains attention is to empower their marketing team with tools that make the job ridiculously easy. Say hello to your new best friend. The Insta360.

This is probably the most impressive camera I have ever used. No joke. It is made for DMOs and their mission of creating content that gets attention! Instead of paying thousands of dollars to videographers, why not create content fast and affordably? The Insta360 will allow you to do just that. Plus, you can use those saved dollars to promote your content through thoughtful digital campaigns!

To start, just look at what you can do straight out of the box:

Pretty impressive, right? A few things that I love about the Insta360 line of cameras are that you don’t need to frame shots, you just capture the entire environment and edit later from your smartphone. It captures a full 360 degrees of any scene.

Also, the Insta360 captures video up to 8K! Yup, that’s right. 8K resolution allows you to use the content pretty much anywhere you need it.

Next, you can use wireless audio devices to provide a crisp soundtrack. Additionally, it’s incredibly easy to use and edit thanks to an intuitive smartphone app that links directly to the camera. This omits the need to offboard huge files to your hard drive to edit in a full-blown editor. That’s a huge resource and time saver!

There are many more reasons, but lastly, you can attach a 3-meter “invisible” selfie stick that can capture shots that mimic the use of a drone! For real, shots that look like you were flying a drone through the downtown street fair, or above a drone-restricted national park or event. It’s seriously a gamechanger. The software edits out the selfie stick. It’s amazing.

Luckily for us all, the Insta360 X5 was just released, so there are great discounts on the highly capable X4 version right now. For around $500, you can have the camera and the 3-meter stick in your content creation arsenal.

Here’s your shopping list:

• Insta360 X4 Camera
• 3-meter invisible stick

Take your production a step further by adding the microphone kit for crisp audio and narration. We’ve talked before about the importance of dumping those cheesy music beds and trending sounds for narration and environmental sounds. At the end of the day, it will make your videos more compelling and digestible by adding valuable context.

Need a tip for a good microphone? I like the Rode series of microphones. Here’s a single-channel option to get you started.

They even make a custom mount for the Insta360 cameras so everything stays nice and tidy. The mount is super handy. Just make sure that you get the appropriate mount for whatever you buy.

Mic Mount for x4

I’m telling you, the Insta360 series of cameras are incredible. I’ve tested a bunch over the years, and this one checks all the boxes. I just barely scratched the surface here.

Don’t hesitate to pick one of these up for the DMO marketing team. You’ll be glad you did because it streamlines the ability to get that attention-grabbing content we all need. Don’t forget to share the content you create with your advertising agencies! Content that gets attention can only help you organically and can increase the ROI on the campaigns that you run.

We all know our attention spans are so low at this point they’ve got Flo-Rida concerned. Unfortunately, social media posts are rewarded the longer they keep users engaged with their content. For videos, that means those with higher retention rates get higher reach. If you watch closely, you’ll pick up on clever ways that well-performing videos keep us watching — without adding any additional footage.

One of the easiest ways to keep people watching is by zooming in. In this TikTok, an artist is playing a new song to their friends in a car. Instead of just one long video, they zoom in to different people to show off their reactions. These are drastic, but even subtle zooms can do the trick. They’re essentially keeping the background changing this helps to keep users engaged. Pattern interruption for the win.

Short cuts also work. Clean up those few seconds when nothing’s happening and you’ll be more likely to keep attention. Don’t give users a chance to stop watching. To demonstrate this, check out this video of a pregnant woman attempting to wake up her husband because her water just broke. Right at the beginning, she clipped up the parts after she nudged him, and he didn’t wake up. Dead space! Do the same and you’ll start seeing high retention rates. And remember, it’s not just for long videos! Anything other 4-5 seconds, start zooming and clipping.

Pinterest is packing (virtual) bags, because Summer 2025 is a time to get away. In keeping with its latest trends report, travel is on everyone’s mind, and users are searching for “slow travel aesthetic,” “solo trip essentials,” and “van life Europe” in serious numbers. If you had a mood board of wanderlust, this is it.

The trends speak to a longing that’s more than about booking a flight, instead, it’s an indication of a transformation in the way people want to experience travel. Think: slow afternoons, sense-filled encounters, and emotional memories rather than selfie opportunities. Pinterest users are not racing towards the next hot destination. Instead, they’re creating their own vibe-based trips, frequently focused on self-care, the outdoors, and nostalgia.

To marketers of tourism businesses, this is an open call to rethink their message. Rather than “must-see” lists, consider itineraries focused on rest and rhythm. Promote destinations that fit with this softer, more thoughtful travel approach. Even utilitarian content, such as packing lists or road trip routes can catch the dreamy, escapism-on-the-brain vibe Pinterest is highlighting.

With over 500 million monthly users and increasing influence on consumer behavior, Pinterest isn’t only forecasting how individuals will be traveling this summer, it’s actually creating it. The lesson? Brands willing to make an in-feed appearance at the right mood, message, and with a bit of magic could find themselves on a vision board and a travel itinerary.

New features are coming to the long-awaited Edits app. These include transition effects which I can only hope include an iconic star transition that riddled my middle school PowerPoints. A teleprompter display to help creators appear more natural and engaging. As someone who has stood in front of the camera before, it can be a nerve-wracking thing especially if you’re tasked with creating reels every week. The teleprompter speed is fully customizable. If you struggle remembering a script or utilize cue cards, this could really help maintain your focus and keep your eyes on the audience with the teleprompter running just below the front facing camera. When they do launch this app, I think it will be a great option for video creation. Excited to keep learning more about it and its features.

Something that has been very much on my radar lately is TwoSix Digital becoming a Mailchimp partner! We have been taking courses and getting certified on all things Mailchimp and email marketing related so that we can better serve you. With our new partnership, we will be the first to know of any new updates or capabilities within the Mailchimp platform, so we can make sure your email marketing is super fresh, modern, and using all the timeliest best practices. I am so excited to be able to learn more about the different ways to enhance your email marketing and will continue updating you all on the key email insights each month!

Click the button below to start chatting with us about how to improve your email marketing efforts!

On May 20^th, Google announced that its new AI Mode is available to everybody in the U.S.  (You probably received a pop-up telling you to check it out when you opened Google sometime in the past few weeks!)

This new feature has the potential to change how users traditionally interact with Google Search. Instead of serving up a list of links, AI Mode responds to a user’s search by combining information from several sources into a cohesive summary, often reducing the need to click through to individual websites. Users can then ask follow-up questions, entering into the feature’s conversational flow. It closely mirrors the experience of AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini, but with a tighter integration into search.

Google is already exploring how to monetize AI Mode, with ads on the horizon.
Google confirmed that it will begin exploring ways to incorporate paid advertising into AI Mode. However, advertisers foresee the format posing challenges. Because AI Mode prioritizes fluid conversation with the user, interrupting the experience with an ad and pulling them away from the conversation could be challenging.

Organic visibility in AI Mode is heavily influenced by traditional SEO.
While this new format changes how content is displayed, early evidence suggests that the sources Google pulls into its AI-generated summaries still correlate closely with top-ranking sites in traditional search results pages. This reinforces the importance of traditional SEO best practices — high-quality, authoritative content, link building, technical optimization, etc. — as we look to maintain visibility in this environment.

I recently received a notification to join a channel on Facebook messenger from Under the Radar. Once I approved the opt-in request, the first prompt message appeared asking all 2.2k members in the chat what Michigan beaches they wanted to visit. Users responded with various beaches all around the mitten state (within the 24-hour window for prompts) and reacted to others’ comments. It was a simple yet effective form of engagement within the UTR community—and made me consider a few places to visit myself!

This specific Channel feature from Meta is currently available to pages with over 10K followers. It’s a great way to get quick messages out to your followers, hear directly from them, and drive engagement. The Channel not only lives in Messenger, but also on your Facebook’s profile page under the Channels tab, which lets new and current followers join in at any time.

For the numbers-driven folks, Meta also provides their own Channel insights to show how many interactions you received (number of replies, days posted, etc.) so you can tailor your community management efforts and get the best results.

If you’re thinking about creating a Channel for your DMO’s page but you’re not sure what to share, here are a few ideas to help you kickstart it:

• A poll asking what time of year users typically love to visit
• Sharing behind-the-scenes photos of your team setting up for a big festival
• A prompt asking what activities users like to do in certain seasons
• An FAQ prompt that lets people ask questions about your destination—which can also help you create new blog/page content in the future!

With the ever-changing digital marketing world, we are here to keep you informed of new digital trends and what we are keeping on our radar each month. Have any questions? Contact us! We’re here to help.

Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter  to receive monthly updates on trends and insights in the digital marketing and tourism industries straight to your inbox!

Click the buttons below to connect with us on social media and stay in the loop on all things TwoSix Digital.