Opportunities to use digital, online marketing tools are exploding throughout the travel industry, and Wyoming businesses need to "dip your toe in the new media waters" said a travel marketing expert Tuesday at the Wyoming Governor's Hospitality and Tourism Conference at the Parkway Plaza in Casper

Wyoming is well represented in the world of online travel marketing and promotions, said Ryan Bifulco, founder of Travel Spike in Atlanta.

He praised the online marketing of the Wyoming Tourism Council, the National Park Service and especially Yellowstone Journal Corp., a recent Webby nominee for best travel site on the Internet.

The world of new media brings together such elements as personal computers, the Internet, podcasts, iPods, RSS news feeds, Wi-Fi, chat rooms, blogs, and share sites for photographs, said Bifulco.

"Whatever you're doing that works in the old media," Bifulco said, "now you need to 'Webify' it."

Ryan Johnson, chief marketing officer for Yellowstone Journal, already has 50 audio podcasts about things to see and do in Yellowstone country that tourists can download for free from iTunes.

"We had a 45-minute audio podcast about flyfishing in the Yellowstone area," said Johnson, "and it was downloaded 37,000 times last year."

The podcast simply recorded a flyfishing lesson given by Cody-based fishing guide Tim Wade. The sound of running water, bird song and the swish of a rod captured plenty of attention, Johnson said.

Another popular element in the YellowstonePark.com site is trip notes, where visitors to Yellowstone record their adventures and discoveries of great cafes, museums, dude ranches and towns, said Johnson.

Working with YouTube, MySpace, Google and Yahoo, Johnson said he's sending free RSS news feeds about Yellowstone and podcasts all over the world.

Bifulco said it is no longer safe to assume that electronic media are solely for the young. He recently spent an airline flight sitting next to a 60-year-old grandmother, who, bored with the inflight movie, popped out her iPod and watched a television show she'd downloaded for $2.

"Why should you care? Because people like to make their own choices," said Bifulco.

"All you need is a good microphone and recorder," he said. "This is a David versus Goliath environment, because technology really has evened out the playing field."

Bifulco urged the travel and hospitality professionals to develop a digital strategy, improve their Web sites, and test and try new things all the time.

"You can geotarget an audience within 300 miles of Wyoming," he said. "You can convert your brochures to Web sites. You can target honeymoon planners or outdoor enthusiasts."