A talk that I gave to IUPUI students on 10 April 2013. This is an export from the reveal.js presentation (so there are formatting issues.)

1. BEST PRACTICES IN
STATE TOURISM
WEB SITES AND
SOCIAL MEDIA

2. RANDY OEST
WILLIAMS RANDALL MARKETING
(Designer, developer, user experience expert,
content strategist)

3. THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING IS
PEOPLE
Not users, visitors, etc.

4. IN TOURISM THERE ARE GENERALLY
TWO TYPES OF PEOPLE
LOOKERS & BOOKERS

5. BEGIN WITH RESEARCH
Review Analytics (if you have 'em)
Conduct Surveys
Do Interviews

6. REVIEW ANALYTICS
What are people interested in? Where are they coming from?

7. CONDUCT SURVEYS
There is an art to writing good questions.
Use clear language that avoids jargon.
Avoid leading questions and don't make assumptions.

8. DO INTERVIEWS
For more extensive information, conduct interviews.
Can be done in person, over the internet. There is
frequently a shared screen involved.
Usually involve a reward, typically a gift card.

9. SURVEYS
VS
INTERVIEWS

10. NOW THAT YOU'VE
GATHERED YOUR INFORMATION...

11. DEVISE A PLAN

12. PROVIDE FEATURES THAT PEOPLE WANT
Things To Do
Lodging
Food and Drink
Events Calendar
Discounts

13. GETTING EXTRA VALUE
OUT OF YOUR CONTENT

14. TRIP IDEAS
Merges together various sections
(things to do, lodging, events, etc.).

15. AND IT TELLS A STORY

16. HOW TO GET YOUR
MESSAGE TO PEOPLE?

17. RESPONSIVE WEB SITE
VS
SEPARATE MOBILE WEB SITE
VS
A NATIVE MOBILE APP

18. RESPONSIVE WEB SITE
PRO: One site that adapts to everyone's device
CON: Content is less targeted to context

19. EXAMPLE
SUPER46.COM

20. SEPARATE MOBILE WEB SITE
PRO: Focused content on context
CON: Two Web sites to keep updated

21. EXAMPLE
VISITINDIANA.COM

22. NATIVE MOBILE APP
PRO: A place in the user's app list.
CON: Needs a compelling reason to exist.

23. YOU'VE LAUNCHED YOUR
WEB SITE

24. NOW THE REAL WORK
BEGINS

25. KEEP YOUR CONTENT FRESH
Search Engine Rankings favor Web sites that are active.

26. MONITOR YOUR ANALYTICS
It can provide valuable insight.
And sometimes surprise you...

27. HOW A MINOR FEATURE BECAME
A MAJOR SUCCESS

28. BEST OF INDIANA

29. ANALYTICAL TOOLS ARE ROBUST
Track engagment, goals, and conversions.

30. TEST YOUR STRATEGIES
Test, test test test more and test.

31. WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO
GET PEOPLE TO SIGN UP
FOR YOUR EMAIL LIST?

32. BLOGS & SOCIAL MEDIA

33. ARTICLES THAT TELL A STORY
Write a compelling headline
Have a voice
Divide into digestable chunks

34. A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS,
SO BE VISUAL

35. HAVE A DISTINCT CALL TO ACTION
Get a visitor's guide, sign up for our email list, etc.

36. SPEAKING OF CALLS TO ACTION...
Book A Hotel Room, Reserve a Table, etc...
Email signup on every page
Push to explore more content
Sharing widgets

37. BE WISE ABOUT SHARING WIDGETS.
IT IS EASY TO OVERDO IT.

39. SOCIAL MEDIA IS ENGAGING WITH PEOPLE
Not followers, subscribers, etc.

40. CREATE CONTENT THAT ENGAGES
Be interesting and relevant.

41. POST FREQUENTLY,
BUT NOT TOO FREQUENTLY
Finding the sweet spot is an art, not a science

42. MORNINGS ARE BETTER THAN EVENINGS.

43. KEEP IT CONCISE
80-140 characters max
Don't forget the visuals!

44. Oreo Cookie Follow
@Oreo
Power out? No problem. pic.twitter.com/dnQ7pOgC
1:48 AM - 04 Feb 13
16,056 RETWEETS 6,219 FAVORITES
“

45. Power out? No problem.
twitter.com/Oreo/status/29…
— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) February 4, 2013 ”

46. MORE THAN 14,000 RETWEETS
MORE THAN 20,000 LIKES ON FACEBOOK

47. TAKE AWAY POINTS
Research
Plan
Create and Engage
Measure and Test
Repeat

48. THANK YOU