FareHarbor Compass

Q: How can I filter through content on Compass?

• A: There are a variety of ways to filter through Compass content.
  • Main navigation: Use the main navigation and menu dropdowns to search by guide type (article, video, checklist, or webinar) or category/topic (ex. SEO, Virtual Experiences, Local Strategies, Email Marketing, etc.)
  • Search bar: Search for specific terms and keywords using the search bar to the right of the main navigation. The results will pull from both guide titles and on-page copy.
  • On-page filtering: Compass has a unique filtering system located on all category pages.

Q: There is “Recommended Content” on the home page of Compass – how is that populated?

• A: Good question! Upon logging in to Compass for the first time, the user will be prompted to complete a short survey about their digital marketing interests and current strategies. The answers to these questions helps us to better understand their interests and skill levels, and we use that information to serve up recommendations. The guides displayed under Recommended Content will be different for everyone who has taken the survey.
• If a user has not completed the survey the Recommended Content section is pre-set to display most popular and most recent guides, but lacks the personalization that the experience offers when the survey has been completed.

Q: How do I know what information a specific guide covers?

• A: The guide title is obviously a good place to start to get a general idea, but with the wealth of information on Compass we understand that you need a bit more information at-a-glance. Each guide displays metadata on both the guide grid and on the guide page itself.

  • The guide grid (below) contains information such as Skill Level, Categories, Guide Type, Read/Watch Time, and Last Updated Date.

  • More detailed information is included on the guide page sidebar meta data – and includes all of the above information as well as Key Takeaways for each guide. In this way you can get a quick snapshot of the learnings contained within each guide.

Q: Does only the main point of contact (client) have access to Compass, or are all dashboard users welcome to log in?

• A: All FH dash users with an email associated with their account can log in to Compass. Recommended content will differ by unique user preferences, even when there are multiple users within the same company.

Q: Can affiliate accounts login to Compass?

• A: Affiliate accounts are not able to access Compass content.

Q: How can I ask a question, report a bug or provide feedback on Compass?

• A: For general questions tag @compass or join the channel fareharbor_compass For website bugs on compass.fareharbor.com please report in the #fh-sites-bug-reports channel. If you have specific feedback or suggestions use the internal Airtable form.

Q: Can I find dashboard help on Compass?

• A: Compass content does not cover the dashboard. All dashboard questions & tutorials still live within Help Docs. The exception to this is a handful of webinars that had previously been recorded that cover dash related questions.

Q: How was Compass content developed?

• A: All Compass content was curated in-house by FareHarbor experts. There are currently no third-party contributions on Compass.

Q: How is new content displayed or highlighted on Compass?

• A: All new content is automatically pushed to display at the top of the taxonomy or category page where it lives (ex. SEO, Email Newsletters, Pay-Per-Click, etc.). New content is also flagged with a green “NEW” banner that displays at the top left of the guide grid. “New” banners remain displayed for 10 days post publication on Compass. Each guide displays a “Last Updated” date on both the grid list and on the guide meta data on the guide page itself. Last Updated defaults to the guide’s publication date, and is updated when we add new information to a guide.
  

Q: Currently all Compass content is only available in English. Is there a plan for internationalization of Compass?

• A: At this time we do not have a plan to translate Compass content. After weighing many factors we have determined that it’s best to focus our efforts on producing compelling English content that reinforces FareHarbor as a thought leader in the industry.*

FareHarbor Compass is a set of business-boosting resources for tours, activities & attractions, available exclusively to FareHarbor clients. Please use this template to put together your content brief. Make a copy of the master template, rename it with the naming convention:

Naming Convention for briefs: CMPS Content Brief | Title of Brief | FH Team | Author Ex. CMPS Content Brief | How to Perform a Content Audit | SEO | Jane Smith

Why do we need content briefs for Compass articles?

• Content briefs are invaluable to Compass because they help us pull together the vast amount of knowledge different teams have at FareHarbor to provide our clients with guides that will be truly useful and will help them grow their business.

• Getting input from different teams ensures that our guides provide value that clients won’t be able to find anywhere else. We don’t just want to compile information they can find anywhere on the Internet; we want to give clients expert tips that only FH can provide.

• You’re a subject matter expert! Because you live and breathe this topic, you’re the best person to help us structure this guide so we can understand what our clients need to know, how they can apply this knowledge to their business, and what resources will be the most helpful in writing this guide.

Important technical items to note when putting together a brief:

• Do not copy and paste full paragraphs from other websites.

  • If there is a specific article that contains useful information, please include it in the content brief template section “Inspirational URL”, with a link.

  • If there is a specific paragraph within the article that you would like to call attention to or request that the copywriters reference, either re-write the content in your own words OR if you copy/paste a paragraph make sure to clearly mark that the text has been pulled directly from another source by putting it in quotation marks so that the copywriters know to re-write.

• Using statistics to support your point is great! When you cite a statistic make sure to include the source in parentheses.

  • Ex. 70% of people who search online do so from a mobile device (Hubspot)

Questions to consider when putting together a brief

1. What are the kinds of questions that clients need answers to on this topic? These can be pulled from actual client questions, or things that we know as experts that our clients should know or need to know about a specific topic
2. What are the action items they can take after reading this article to get a start in the right direction? Include those action items
3. Do they need any specific tools or resources in order to take action? Include those tools
4. How does this article relate to & compliment other Compass guides? Educate yourself on existing Compass resources

Content Brief Template

Please use this template to put together your content brief. Make a copy of the master template, rename it with the naming convention:

CMPS Content Brief | Title of Brief | FH Team | Author
Ex. CMPS Content Brief | How to Perform a Content Audit | SEO | Jane Smith

If you have an idea for a guide you think would be great to have on Compass, we want to hear from you!

Current Compass Categories

(Topics will fall into one or more of these categories. Ex. an article on “Running Ads on Facebook” would be tagged in both “PPC” and “Social Media” categories)

• Business Growth Strategy
• Content Marketing & Blogging
• Digital Marketing
• Email Marketing
• Industry Insights
• Pay-Per-Click
• Reputation Management
• Search Engine Optimization
• Social Media
• Websites

Topic (and other) ideas can be submitted via the AIRTABLE FORM.

What makes a good Compass topic?

1. Topics that allow you to describe the value or purpose of engaging in various recommended business activities, or answer common questions on these activities
   • Examples: Social media tips & tricks for tour operators, How to reply to online reviews, Importance of local SEO, How do I optimize my website for in-destination bookings, Getting started with PPC, any industry insights or travel trends, etc.
2. Topics that allow us to educate our clients and leave them with actionable items to complete in order to achieve a goal – “Now take these steps to grow your social media following….”
3. Topics that are travel/tour/activity-specific, or can be tailored to be industry-specific, and can help them in their day-to-day operations as tour operators. The value-add of Compass to the FH portfolio is that we are the industry experts and we know how to help them grow their businesses!
4. Client case studies make for excellent support for a topic and as a way to demonstrate the value of one of the learning categories on Compass.
5. Exclusively dashboard focused topics do not live on Compass. Dash features can certainly be discussed where it is relevant to the topic, but things like Dash tutorials/step-by-steps will continue to live in Help Docs.

Questions to consider as you brainstorm topics

• What are the kinds of questions that clients need answers to on this topic? These can be pulled from actual client questions, or things that we know as experts that our clients should know or need to know about a specific topic.
  • We do not want to get too company or issue-specific with guides but rather to write on topics that appeal to many
• How will this help drive revenue and/or bookings for FH clients?
• How will this help drive client retention and improve client health for FareHarbor?
• Are there business-boosting action items I can recommend that clients take after having read this article? Include those action items.
• Do clients need any specific tools or resources in order to take action? Include those tools
• How does this article relate to and complement other Compass guides and Compass subject categories?

FareHarbor Compass is a website that contains business-boosting resources for tours, activities and attractions, available exclusively to FareHarbor clients.

There are four guide types featured on Compass: Articles, Webinars, Videos & Checklists. This doc outlines the requirements for a Compass Article.

Purpose of Compass Articles:

All Compass guide content aims to educate our clients and inspire them to self-service, and to help them grow their businesses online.

The articles on Compass are not meant to rank for SEO, as they are currently all behind a log-in and are not public-facing. That being said, articles should still be written with SEO best practices in mind (keywords, etc.). Our articles and references should include information tailored specifically to the tours and activities industry. Our clients should be able to see themselves in our content.

Our ultimate goals are to improve client health, reduce churn, reduce Support & AM support time (particularly tiers 0-2), and to have a positive impact on both our clients and internal teams.

ARTICLE LENGTH: Compass articles should generally be around 1,500 words. However, quality is more important than quantity. Length should ultimately be determined by whether or not the subject has been properly covered, and so can be longer or shorter than 1,500 words.

Article Structure:

1. Intro paragraph: Introduce the topic and outline what the guide will cover, who is it for, and what the major takeaways or learnings will be.
2. Heading structure: Use H1s, H2s, bulleted lists to break up the article.
3. Hyperlinks:
   • Create CTAs within the article by hyperlinking to additional internal content or resources.(link to another Compass Guide, page on the Compass site, or page on the FH Marketing site).
     • To do so please familiarize yourself with existing Compass guide topics, however our editing team will weave hyperlinks into each article during the editing process.
   • External hyperlinks may be included where they are relevant and add value.
4. Sprinkle in Pro-Tips: The Compass team will format all articles when they are input into the backend of the website, but please make sure to call out Pro-Tips and be thoughtful about including them in your article in the right places. Example Compass Pro-Tip:
   
5. Conclusion/wrap up: End article with a brief conclusion and a CTA that we can hyperlink to another Compass guide or page on the Compass site. Include an action item here if possible: “NOW DO THIS…”

Please check out the Compass website for live examples of article structure and layout.
https://compass.fareharbor.com/guides/articles/

Other things to note:

• Conduct necessary research: Compass articles should be rooted in our internal subject-matter knowledge, but of course, research and exploration will be necessary as each article is written, and to provide support and statistics. To that end:

  • Do not copy and paste content from other websites. If you find an outside article that contains useful information that you would like to include in your article, you must re-word the information and put our own spin on it, as well as find a way to tie it specifically into the travel, tourism and activities industry.

  • Include statistics:

    • When you cite a statistic, make sure to include the source in parentheses and bold the stat.
      • Ex. 80% of people who search online do so from a mobile device (Hubspot).

  • Feel free to include graphs or other visuals to accompany your article. These must also be properly sourced.

• Stay true to FareHarbor’s tone of voice & brand identity: Don’t worry, all articles will be edited for grammar, clarity and tone before publication, but please do be mindful of staying true to FH’s brand character when writing your articles.
  • For guidance on brand character and tone please reference the updated FareHarbor brand kit, with special attention to slides 6-8.