Blogger Trips have replaced media FAM trips but traditional thinking remains: you need the big guys – the Gary Arndts, the Nomadic Matts and the Wandering Earls – to properly showcase your destination. Connecting with 2,000 rabid fans of experiences that your destination offers is better than not being seen by 100,000 casual travellers. Mikala will show you why bigger isn’t always better and how best to find passionate bloggers whose community members hang on their every word, and create budget-friendly itineraries that result in a wealth of customized niche content. Blogger and content strategist Mikala Taylor will give first-hand tips on how to bring balance to your blog trips.
Mikala is a content strategist, editor, writer and photographer with 14 years of online content, social media and community management experience, and 20+ years of journalism experience. Before joining Think!, Mikala managed content and social media strategies for Destination BC, co-managed 10 editors and 450 writers at a general interest website and was an interactive producer for a TV channel in London, England. As a writer, editor and photographer, Mikala’s work has been published internationally in print and online. She is also the creator of irreverent music website BackstageRider.com. She is addicted to social media. Really, really addicted.
Public Relations can play a key role in an integrated marketing program. Within the travel industry sector its value is unmatched. Learn how to maximize PR in your overall integrated marketing strategy.
Storytelling in Content Marketing for Travel & Tourisme-Strategy
How to tell your story for Travel & Tourism. Learn the importance of Storytelling and how you can maximise the impact, engagement and scale of this content by encouraging your audience to generate it on your behalf.
Travel decision making is emotional. How a place makes us feel plays a large part in likelihood to visit. But it isn’t exclusively destination that’s driven by emotion; our emotional response to accommodation is also important and frequent.
In a marketplace where emotion is key, visual stimulation and inspiration is key to influencing traveller decision making. And, as Google’s Travel Study unearthed, most of us ‘begin researching online’ before deciding ‘where or how… to travel’. Predicted to top 2.9 billion users by 2020, social media represents a large portion of that digital audience, making it a key source of inspiration for many.
This week, Managing Director at Digital Visitor, Anthony Rawlins, took to the stage at the prestigious Association of Serviced Apartment Providers (ASAP) Conference in London. In his presentation, he discussed the ‘socially inspired traveller’ and how serviced apartment providers can use social media to engage visitors emotionally across channels.
Below is the presentation as it appeared on stage, from which you can expect to gain an understanding of:
The importance of emotion in travel decision making
How emotion is tied into choice of accommodation
The part digital and social currently plays in decision making
Specific examples on social media and Facebook
Social media advertising and background
Performance of social media vs. traditional media
In this webinar, we’ll talk about how to engage with your ambassadors. You’ll learn how to:
- Connect with your ambassadors
- Increase engagement
- Create a community feeling
And all in one hour, phew! :)
Watch the full recording here: https://youtu.be/y32P_O69Ceo
The full 'Influencer Marketing for the Hotel Industry' keynote seminar, first given at the National Hotel Marketing Conference in Burton-upon-Trent, UK (12th May 2016).
Attendee Outcomes:
- A comprehensive understanding of influencer marketing
- Best practice for working with influencers effectively
- Why hotels should work with influencers and what they can achieve/deliver
Key Presentation Takeaways:
- Influencer marketing is a way of engaging your target market in a deeper, more immersive and trustworthy way
- Influencers are among the most trusted ways of reaching an audience primarily interested in recommendations and consumer opinions
- Offers relatively low cost coverage and can potentially have a huge impact with consumers, resulting in compelling ROI
- Identify the right bloggers for your brand and build relationships; ongoing engagement and influencer activity has the biggest impact
- Influencer marketing can drive reach, data capture, content views, event attendees and, ultimately, sales
Contact information:
info@digitalvisitor.com
+44 (0)1179 111 420
Special Guest: Marcy Massura, Director of Digital Engagement, Weber Shandwick
As an influencer engagement specialist at one of the global leaders in public relations, Marcy Massura knows a thing of two about getting on the right radar screens. She will share her unique perspective of developing content and strategies for some of the world's most recognized brands and how small businesses can leverage these tactics to help in their cause in this ever changing digital world.
Public Relations can play a key role in an integrated marketing program. Within the travel industry sector its value is unmatched. Learn how to maximize PR in your overall integrated marketing strategy.
Storytelling in Content Marketing for Travel & Tourisme-Strategy
How to tell your story for Travel & Tourism. Learn the importance of Storytelling and how you can maximise the impact, engagement and scale of this content by encouraging your audience to generate it on your behalf.
Travel decision making is emotional. How a place makes us feel plays a large part in likelihood to visit. But it isn’t exclusively destination that’s driven by emotion; our emotional response to accommodation is also important and frequent.
In a marketplace where emotion is key, visual stimulation and inspiration is key to influencing traveller decision making. And, as Google’s Travel Study unearthed, most of us ‘begin researching online’ before deciding ‘where or how… to travel’. Predicted to top 2.9 billion users by 2020, social media represents a large portion of that digital audience, making it a key source of inspiration for many.
This week, Managing Director at Digital Visitor, Anthony Rawlins, took to the stage at the prestigious Association of Serviced Apartment Providers (ASAP) Conference in London. In his presentation, he discussed the ‘socially inspired traveller’ and how serviced apartment providers can use social media to engage visitors emotionally across channels.
Below is the presentation as it appeared on stage, from which you can expect to gain an understanding of:
The importance of emotion in travel decision making
How emotion is tied into choice of accommodation
The part digital and social currently plays in decision making
Specific examples on social media and Facebook
Social media advertising and background
Performance of social media vs. traditional media
In this webinar, we’ll talk about how to engage with your ambassadors. You’ll learn how to:
- Connect with your ambassadors
- Increase engagement
- Create a community feeling
And all in one hour, phew! :)
Watch the full recording here: https://youtu.be/y32P_O69Ceo
The full 'Influencer Marketing for the Hotel Industry' keynote seminar, first given at the National Hotel Marketing Conference in Burton-upon-Trent, UK (12th May 2016).
Attendee Outcomes:
- A comprehensive understanding of influencer marketing
- Best practice for working with influencers effectively
- Why hotels should work with influencers and what they can achieve/deliver
Key Presentation Takeaways:
- Influencer marketing is a way of engaging your target market in a deeper, more immersive and trustworthy way
- Influencers are among the most trusted ways of reaching an audience primarily interested in recommendations and consumer opinions
- Offers relatively low cost coverage and can potentially have a huge impact with consumers, resulting in compelling ROI
- Identify the right bloggers for your brand and build relationships; ongoing engagement and influencer activity has the biggest impact
- Influencer marketing can drive reach, data capture, content views, event attendees and, ultimately, sales
Contact information:
info@digitalvisitor.com
+44 (0)1179 111 420
Special Guest: Marcy Massura, Director of Digital Engagement, Weber Shandwick
As an influencer engagement specialist at one of the global leaders in public relations, Marcy Massura knows a thing of two about getting on the right radar screens. She will share her unique perspective of developing content and strategies for some of the world's most recognized brands and how small businesses can leverage these tactics to help in their cause in this ever changing digital world.
Communication preferences have changed, but have your stewardship plans followed suit? This presentation focuses on the 7 things you can put in place to create an online stewardship program like a donor welcome series, impact messages and video.
This is an updated presentation that was originally given at BBCON in 2013. Many of the examples are using the Luminate Online platform.
How To Successfully Promote Your Year-End Fundraising CampaignCauseVox
After seeing thousands of campaigns here at CauseVox, we know that promoting your fundraiser the right way can help to ensure a successful campaign. This is especially the case as the year comes to an end and your fundraising efforts ramp up.
Webinar details:
Thursday, October 20, 2016
12:30pm ET / 9:30am PT
During this 30-minute webinar, we will share what we've learned over the years as the most effective ways to promote your year-end fundraising campaigns. Following, we'll have a live Q&A session to answer your questions and help you uncover the best promotion tatics for your campaign.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
The best ways to segment your supporters during year-end
Why you need a multi-channel approach to drive success
Best practices to leveraging email, social media, advertising, and more to promote your campaign
DANIEL EDWARD CRAIG - Strategic Social Media - BTO Buy Tourism Online 2013 - ...BTO Educational
BTO - Buy Tourism Online
Day TWO
4 dicembre 2013
Daniel Edward Craig
http://www.buytourismonline.com/eventi/craig/
Torna a BTO – Buy Tourism Online dopo due anni Daniel Edward Craig per parlarci di Social Reputation.
C’è un detto in pubblicità che la metà dei soldi sono sprecati, solo che non si sa quale metà.
Lo stesso si potrebbe dire dei social media.
In questa sessione cercheremo di tagliare i rumori di fondo e concentrarsi sulle strategie per sfruttare il potere dei social media, per aumentare consapevolezza, soddisfazione dei clienti e revenue.
Introdurremo le novità sui social media e SEO, le ultime da TripAdvisor e Facebook, gestire le aspettative, i social media come canale di servizio clienti, e misurare il ROI.
Speech VISIONI:
Daniel Edward Craig
Founder Reknown
Intervista a Daniel Edward Craig:
RJ Friedlander
Founder & CEO ReviewPro
Emma Taveri
BTO – Buy Tourism Online 2013
Post-visit marketing communications to drive loyalty and repeat visits. See how hotels, hospitality businesses, tourist attractions and destinations can learn about the customers, get valuable visitor feedback, build personas and create loyalty brand advocates.
How to make "not boring" travel advertisingJason Spies
At BARKER, an independent data-driven creative company, we believe that ideas are more powerful than tangibles. An idea has the power to bring people together, to make people rally around a project, to shape the future for generations to come, long after the tangibles have disappeared. Ideas have the power to organize a complex structure and have it all work in the same direction, and with a single purpose.
This is what many travel related companies, brands and destinations need, a powerful idea. To be identified, not just with beautiful sunsets, white sand beaches or emerald green water, but with what it stands for. For most, this is an unconventional way to go about tourism communications and alignment with travel industry professionals. But we believe it is the most powerful way to bring everyone together.
Converge 2014: Strike the Right Chord with Prospects: Lessons from Country Mu...Converge Consulting
Strike the Right Chord with Prospects: Lessons from Country Music
BARBARA COWARD AND KATHY HAGENS
Did you know that country music is a $2 billion-dollar industry? It all goes to show that tugging at the heartstrings of ordinary people about ordinary life is big business. While we're not suggesting that you incorporate messaging about heartache, pickup trucks, and on-stoplight towns in your marketing materials, there are a number of takeaways that can help you grow enrollments. For example, it's all about being authentic, a good storyteller, and developing an emotional connection with your candidates. We'll walk you through ways - and examples - to take your prospect messaging from gold to platinum!
If increasing enrollment is a mandate at your institution—step one is marketing, step two is recruitment. There is little point in doing one without the other. We hope you will join us for this workshop that focuses on putting the steps together!
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Draw prospects closer to a Call to Action through messaging that shows that you understand their dreams and challenges.
Differentiate your program through personalized and targeted email campaigns.
Use analytics to measure the ROI of your marketing dollars.
How to boost your brand with ambassador marketingSpeakersbase.com
Learn everything about using Ambassador Marketing to spread the word and promote your brand and business.
In this webinar, you will get:
- An understanding of ambassador marketing and how it can help you promote your brand
- The logic behind ambassador marketing and why it works
- Real-life examples of companies who are already benefitting from ambassador marketing
Watch the full recording here: https://youtu.be/TrDnkWpKWy0
Influencers: The Opportunity and Responsibility | Saralyn SmithJessica Tams
Delivered at Casual Connect USA 2016. From guild leaders, to cosplayers, to YouTube content creators and Twitch personalities, the opportunities for players to grow and wield influence over brands expands every day. What are the best ways to support influencers in various stages of their life-cycle? How do we protect their authenticity? Who owns the relationship? And while it's not sexy, are you protecting consumers adequately via FTC regulations?
Social Media And Brand. Start with a strong brand, understand your audience, hang out with them, listen to what they have to say and then provide them with brilliant content from a brand they love.
This was presentation was delivered by www.eskimosoup.co.uk we are a marketing company with teams of web designers and developers, graphic designers and online marketing - SEO experts.
Influencer marketing, instagram marketing, and branding the ultimate slide de...Joe Teo
To get the full presentation on Instagram Marketing, Influencer Marketing, and Branding, follow this link to get the full presentation with speaker's notes: http://bit.ly/2MjZmhS
What do the world's most successful marketers at Edelman, Food52, Brit + Co., Dick Clark Productions (and more) say about the latest marketing trends? We took notes on keynote speakers' talks on the most current marketing trends to date and we're sharing these hot insights with you!
Communication preferences have changed, but have your stewardship plans followed suit? This presentation focuses on the 7 things you can put in place to create an online stewardship program like a donor welcome series, impact messages and video.
This is an updated presentation that was originally given at BBCON in 2013. Many of the examples are using the Luminate Online platform.
How To Successfully Promote Your Year-End Fundraising CampaignCauseVox
After seeing thousands of campaigns here at CauseVox, we know that promoting your fundraiser the right way can help to ensure a successful campaign. This is especially the case as the year comes to an end and your fundraising efforts ramp up.
Webinar details:
Thursday, October 20, 2016
12:30pm ET / 9:30am PT
During this 30-minute webinar, we will share what we've learned over the years as the most effective ways to promote your year-end fundraising campaigns. Following, we'll have a live Q&A session to answer your questions and help you uncover the best promotion tatics for your campaign.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
The best ways to segment your supporters during year-end
Why you need a multi-channel approach to drive success
Best practices to leveraging email, social media, advertising, and more to promote your campaign
DANIEL EDWARD CRAIG - Strategic Social Media - BTO Buy Tourism Online 2013 - ...BTO Educational
BTO - Buy Tourism Online
Day TWO
4 dicembre 2013
Daniel Edward Craig
http://www.buytourismonline.com/eventi/craig/
Torna a BTO – Buy Tourism Online dopo due anni Daniel Edward Craig per parlarci di Social Reputation.
C’è un detto in pubblicità che la metà dei soldi sono sprecati, solo che non si sa quale metà.
Lo stesso si potrebbe dire dei social media.
In questa sessione cercheremo di tagliare i rumori di fondo e concentrarsi sulle strategie per sfruttare il potere dei social media, per aumentare consapevolezza, soddisfazione dei clienti e revenue.
Introdurremo le novità sui social media e SEO, le ultime da TripAdvisor e Facebook, gestire le aspettative, i social media come canale di servizio clienti, e misurare il ROI.
Speech VISIONI:
Daniel Edward Craig
Founder Reknown
Intervista a Daniel Edward Craig:
RJ Friedlander
Founder & CEO ReviewPro
Emma Taveri
BTO – Buy Tourism Online 2013
Post-visit marketing communications to drive loyalty and repeat visits. See how hotels, hospitality businesses, tourist attractions and destinations can learn about the customers, get valuable visitor feedback, build personas and create loyalty brand advocates.
How to make "not boring" travel advertisingJason Spies
At BARKER, an independent data-driven creative company, we believe that ideas are more powerful than tangibles. An idea has the power to bring people together, to make people rally around a project, to shape the future for generations to come, long after the tangibles have disappeared. Ideas have the power to organize a complex structure and have it all work in the same direction, and with a single purpose.
This is what many travel related companies, brands and destinations need, a powerful idea. To be identified, not just with beautiful sunsets, white sand beaches or emerald green water, but with what it stands for. For most, this is an unconventional way to go about tourism communications and alignment with travel industry professionals. But we believe it is the most powerful way to bring everyone together.
Converge 2014: Strike the Right Chord with Prospects: Lessons from Country Mu...Converge Consulting
Strike the Right Chord with Prospects: Lessons from Country Music
BARBARA COWARD AND KATHY HAGENS
Did you know that country music is a $2 billion-dollar industry? It all goes to show that tugging at the heartstrings of ordinary people about ordinary life is big business. While we're not suggesting that you incorporate messaging about heartache, pickup trucks, and on-stoplight towns in your marketing materials, there are a number of takeaways that can help you grow enrollments. For example, it's all about being authentic, a good storyteller, and developing an emotional connection with your candidates. We'll walk you through ways - and examples - to take your prospect messaging from gold to platinum!
If increasing enrollment is a mandate at your institution—step one is marketing, step two is recruitment. There is little point in doing one without the other. We hope you will join us for this workshop that focuses on putting the steps together!
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
Draw prospects closer to a Call to Action through messaging that shows that you understand their dreams and challenges.
Differentiate your program through personalized and targeted email campaigns.
Use analytics to measure the ROI of your marketing dollars.
How to boost your brand with ambassador marketingSpeakersbase.com
Learn everything about using Ambassador Marketing to spread the word and promote your brand and business.
In this webinar, you will get:
- An understanding of ambassador marketing and how it can help you promote your brand
- The logic behind ambassador marketing and why it works
- Real-life examples of companies who are already benefitting from ambassador marketing
Watch the full recording here: https://youtu.be/TrDnkWpKWy0
Influencers: The Opportunity and Responsibility | Saralyn SmithJessica Tams
Delivered at Casual Connect USA 2016. From guild leaders, to cosplayers, to YouTube content creators and Twitch personalities, the opportunities for players to grow and wield influence over brands expands every day. What are the best ways to support influencers in various stages of their life-cycle? How do we protect their authenticity? Who owns the relationship? And while it's not sexy, are you protecting consumers adequately via FTC regulations?
Social Media And Brand. Start with a strong brand, understand your audience, hang out with them, listen to what they have to say and then provide them with brilliant content from a brand they love.
This was presentation was delivered by www.eskimosoup.co.uk we are a marketing company with teams of web designers and developers, graphic designers and online marketing - SEO experts.
Influencer marketing, instagram marketing, and branding the ultimate slide de...Joe Teo
To get the full presentation on Instagram Marketing, Influencer Marketing, and Branding, follow this link to get the full presentation with speaker's notes: http://bit.ly/2MjZmhS
What do the world's most successful marketers at Edelman, Food52, Brit + Co., Dick Clark Productions (and more) say about the latest marketing trends? We took notes on keynote speakers' talks on the most current marketing trends to date and we're sharing these hot insights with you!
Overview of the latest thinking in marketing and audience development for the cultural sector. Developed and delivered by Heather Maitland in association with Audiences North East.
If you haven't got one and are already using social media - Stop!
You could be wasting time, money and creating the wrong impression for your business.
This is a business basics look at where to start, who you should be following, what you should post, when and how often.
If you're interested in me helping you to plan the right Social Media Strategy for you business, give me a call 0770 410 594
Learn Inbound 2016 > Content Marketing's Jerry Maguire MomentSimon Penson
Learn Inbound is Ireland's foremost digital marketing conference. It was also the platform from which Zazzle founder Simon Penson launched a new campaign against the current 'misuse' and 'misunderstanding' of what content marketing is, and how it should be delivered.
Social Marketing and Leveraging InfluencersBolaji Okusaga
Today, consumer expectation is on the rise and technologies are changing at a dizzying pace. At a time like this, we take a look at the place of influence in Social Media Marketing.
My Refresh Austin April Prezo on: What is the buzz about Social Business? Is it the same as social media and is it here to stay?
Be entertained as Elizabeth Quintanilla shares her unique approach to tech, business and social media. Learn her distinct point of view of "Social Business" and learn about a valuable concept that should be in every tech, entrepreneurs, biz leaders, analysts, and marketers toolkit. Learn why all of us now wear multiple hats such as customer support, PR, marketing, and more in this current environment of Social Media. Remember Social Business helps you work smarter not harder all the while (if well implemented) more effective.
Presented by Elizabeth Quintanilla, Chief Marketing GunslingerMy Refresh Austin April Prezo on: What is the buzz about Social Business? Is it the same as social media and is it here to stay?
Be entertained as Elizabeth Quintanilla shares her unique approach to tech, business and social media. Learn her distinct point of view of "Social Business" and learn about a valuable concept that should be in every tech, entrepreneurs, biz leaders, analysts, and marketers toolkit. Learn why all of us now wear multiple hats such as customer support, PR, marketing, and more in this current environment of Social Media. Remember Social Business helps you work smarter not harder all the while (if well implemented) more effective.
Presented by Elizabeth Quintanilla, Chief Marketing Gunslinger
Learn what works for others & get ideas for your business.
Do you know that the internet can help your business grow but you don’t know where to start? Do you feel that you need to spend too much time or money to get results?
See this seminar to find out:
• The myths and realities of internet marketing
• How successful business use the internet to get more customers
•What you can do right now to attract and retain more paying customers
•How to avoid wasting time and money doing things that don’t work
For more visit: http://codesm.com
Rainmaking 101 - 3 ways to get your initial customers to market for youTribetactics
Find the customers that most need your brand and inspire them to spread the word about you.
Here are 3 ways to get your initial customers to market on your behalf, a minibook by TribeTactics.com
An essential read for small businesses and startups focused on growth.
Sharing your brand on Facebook. How do you do it? What are Facebook insights? How do you optimize your Facebook page? Do you need a Facebook page or a profile for your business?
The travel, tourism and hospitality industry is one of the most dynamic industries in today’s global economy. Tourism is typically one of the top three sources of revenues for cities, states and countries worldwide
Similar to Bigger isn’t always better – How passion, not numbers, rule blog trips: Mikala Folb, Destination Think! (20)
Millennials are an entire generation shaped by digital technology. This is a generation that values experience over talk and is motivated by their desire for social consciousness. In Sandee Jordan’s presentation, discover how to convey your online marketing message to the youngest and most tech savvy audience on the internet.
Sandee began working at Simpleview in 2012 and serves as one of the company’s SEM Analysts. In her role, Sandee works with clients to continuously refine and evolve their websites through constantly improving traffic quality and volume, increasing bookings, building databases and meeting client goals. She gained more than ten years of marketing experience from assessing client web traffic patterns and developing online marketing strategies in San Francisco and New York.
Scott Caufield manages the Midwest region at TripAdvisor where he helps destinations and non-profit attractions gain exposure to the site’s 375 million monthly travelers. Fifteen years of digital advertising experience has enabled Scott to work with hundreds of clients in the travel sector to help them navigate the ever-evolving world of online marketing. Scott is a member of several professional travel associations, and speaks to groups across the Central US on how to get the most out of TripAdvisor.
Videos let you tell stories of your destination in a way that text and images just can’t. Luckily, creating video in 2015 isn’t nearly as difficult or expensive as it used to be. In this session you’ll learn 25 tips and tactics that will help you up your video game. We’ve included some smartphone-specific tips, but there will be takeaways regardless of how you’re shooting your video.
Jeremy A. Williams is the Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Candidio and 12 Stars Media and works hard to develop the right marketing strategies to move the companies ahead. Jeremy spent more than six years at the Indiana Office of Tourism Development and his since been recognized as one of the top 10 tourism professionals on Twitter (@jeremyawilliams).
Kristian Sonnier is a communications professional who has specialized in the strategic management of public, media and community relations for the past 21 years. In that time, he has developed deep experience in special event and crisis communications planning and execution.
Mark Romig is President and CEO of the New Orleans Tourism Marketing Corporation. They co-presented on marketing after a crisis at #SoMeT15US.
In 2011, when Ontario, Canada established tourism regions in order to spur the provincial tourism economy, most of those new regions invested in creating and promoting new brands. Regional Tourism Organization Four Inc.(‘RTO4′) went the opposite direction. First, the organization chose a name that couldn’t be more obscure and second, committed to a process of critically assessing all its initiatives based on a strict model of goal – strategy – measurement.
The regional tourism board focuses on helping the destinations in their region to become highly effective in their marketing approach through product development and differentiation.
Today the team works with operators in their region to market their businesses more efficiently through a combination of digital tools and strategies that have a proven ROI.
This is RTO4 – a destination with a highly relevant approach to modern destination marketing.
In this keynote, CEO, David Peacock, shared the history of how RTO4 became a tourism development incubator and their vision for a new approach to destination marketing that is suitable for the connected and distributed economy.
In the closing keynote of #SoMeT15US, William looked at the overall state of destination marketing and put this in context with the broader opportunities he sees for Destination Marketers. As part of his presentation, he introduced an exciting new standard we developed with six DMOs around the world that finally answers the question “What’s the ROI of social media?”
To get notified when William's whitepaper on this topic becomes available, sign-up here http://destinationthink.com/.
William Bakker is Chief Strategist at Destination Think!, a global marketing agency focusing exclusively on the tourism industry. He is considered a leader in the world of digital destination marketing and speaks at conferences around the world.
Social transformation is happening throughout the business world whether you’re part of it or not. At #SoMeT15US, we heard from Mark Rybchuk, Hootsuite’s Specialist, State & Local Government and learned how this transformation is important to Destination Marketing Organizations. Get practical advice to get empowered to sell social change into your organization and takeaway key strategic considerations specifically for DMOs as you scale social media across departments from his presentation. Beyond marketing and communications, hear how you can optimize social media effectively in other departments like Customer Service, Sales and HR. The presentation concluded with a fireside chat with Destination BC to showcase how DMOs leverage the power of social to drive business objectives.
Melissa Washington helped demystify the use of LinkedIn in the world of destination marketing. LinkedIn is usually not the first social media platform thought of when it comes to helping promote a destination. LinkedIn should be in your social media tool box and Melissa will share why and how in her session. She is an early adopter of LinkedIn, joining in 2011 (LinkedIn started in 2010). She has used this dynamic platform for selling, researching, marketing, job seeking, recruiting, and collaborating.
The main topics Melissa focused on were:
- How to use LinkedIn to promote your destination
- Having your employees become your brand ambassadors
- Targeted news updates
- Build connections for meeting and event organizers
- BONUS – Never make a cold call again
Eagle, Colorado has a passion for mountain biking, and they’re using it to their advantage. Destinations can achieve wonders by focusing on what they do best to differentiate from the crowd, and Eagle is proof. They’ve even traded their foot paths for a mountain biking trail system!
Learn from Amy Cassidy how the remarkable Town of Eagle’s trail system draws in visitors within the mountain biking niche. Eagle focuses on mountain biking, but along with the mountain biking “lifestyle” comes a host of other amenities for travellers, such as breweries, coffee shops, events, races and a general healthy attitude of embracing the outdoors.
LoveSpringfield.co is an experiment in crowdsourcing by the Springfield, Missouri Convention & Visitors Bureau. In his presentation, Sean Dixon will discuss the story behind the project, the insights and learnings that were gained from the stories they collected, and how that information will impact their future marketing efforts as an organization.
Sean Dixon is the Interactive Media Manager for the Springfield, Missouri CVB. In his spare time, he enjoys being a father, photographer, video gamer, and software developer. He holds an MA in Communication and a BS in Mass Media from Missouri State University.
“If you dislike change, you’re going to dislike irrelevance even more.” – Eric Shinseki
Navigating disruption isn’t easy, especially without effective tracking, measurement and reporting tools in place. “Destination brand” can be defined as the collective sum of shared stories about a destination. Big Data now allows destinations to easily track, measure and report meaningful digital metrics about destination brand, marketing and storytelling efficacy. Having a transparent, honest lens into these digital metrics helps organizations focus on performance-based initiatives and also builds digital skills capacity. Assisting key demand generators to deploy digital operations dashboards is a tactic with measurable results.
Zac Gribble is an entrepreneur at heart with several business ventures brought to fruition since graduating from business school in 1996. His current mission as Director of Media Technology with Regional Tourism Organization Four Inc. (‘RTO4′) is to help build an entrepreneurial mindset within the world of destination marketing and management that focuses on experimentation, agility and adaptability. As the tourism industry continues to navigate the massive technological disruption from the web, social media, mobile, wearables and proximity awareness, Zac envisions a brave new world ripe with opportunity for tourism organizations willing to shift towards adaptive KPIs and a culture of innovation.
Budget, resources, and visibility of social in business is growing every year. Marketers are now integrating social strategies into all campaigns and programs as a core channel. This increased focus on social requires the need to measure its business impact, changing how marketers measure and report on their social activities and successes. In this session, hear from Ben Cathers, Senior Strategic Solutions Consultant at Hootsuite to learn the tactics leading marketers are using to measure social attribution in their business and how they tie social back to marketing KPIs and overall business objectives.
Ben is a Senior Strategic Solutions Consultant at Hootsuite. He sells, pitches and manages the initial and expansion rollout phases for some of Hootsuite’s largest government rollouts such as The Canadian Government, State of Massachusetts, State of Maryland, City of Boston and New York City.
The majority of meeting and event planners don’t know what a convention and visitors bureau is, much less how to use one. They tend to be social media dilettantes and lurkers. So how do you reach them? What kind of key performance indicators do you need to track? What elements of your leisure strategy can be repurposed for the meeting, incentive, conference and exhibition market? And how can you do all this with your limited budget and staff?
Do you ever think that agencies are lucky to be able to work with such a wide variety of clients? If you’re in an agency, do you ever dream of how you could change your client’s approach if you were in the trenches? Grace Goodman will discuss the transition from agency life to being client-side at a DMO. She will talk about challenges she faces in merging the worlds of agency and DMO life and will share how the knowledge she gained from her agency days influences what she works on now – helping Destination DC improve its digital strategy – by focusing on content marketing, social media, email, web strategy and user experience.
As any marketer knows, when it comes to content, quality trumps quantity. But quality content takes time and resources that many organizations just don’t have. To ensure you’re providing your social community the best possible timely content on the frontlines, you need to be backed by efficient workflows to streamline coordination and collaboration between teams while also ensuring a secure publishing environment.
In this session, hear more from Ben to learn best practices and tactics for safe and effective content management including social scheduling, hashtag monitoring, message assignment and permissions and simplifying content curation.
Kelly Kingman is passionate about helping people think and communicate more visually. Combining careers in publishing, design, digital content and graphic storytelling, Kelly shows marketers how to harness the power of pictures and words to make messages engaging and stickier.
As a graphic storyteller, Kelly captures and visualizes information in real-time and teaches individuals how to use simple images to ideate, collaborate and communicate more effectively. Combined with a publishing and digital marketing expertise, she specializes in simplifying and visualizing messages so they spread farther, faster in an increasingly image-driven social media landscape.
In her workshop, Kelly showed you how to take one post idea or a handful of bullet points and turn it into a plethora of shareable, memorable content.
By adding a visual layer to your content, you can super charge your content creation efforts. It’s like putting a megaphone to your words! And you don’t have to be an artist to use these techniques.
This in-depth (and creative!) session will cover:
• How to turn one idea into 10 pieces of content (without writing 10 times as much)
• How to greatly increase sharing and “stickiness” by harnessing the power of visual media
• No design team required: the few basic principles and tools anyone can use to create visual content
Destinations and tourism marketers now have a valuable opportunity to obtain guest intelligence from the social web and online review sites in order to:
- Better understand visiting travelers through public reviews
- Know specifics of what guests like and dislike about their hospitality offering
- Benchmark guest satisfaction levels between cities or regions
- Assist operators in improving the guest experience through providing tools and education
Transforming a DMO in a customer centric organization implies a double movement: no digital transformation without a human transformation. In his presentation, Frank Cuypers will discuss how a DMO should think like a festival.
Frank is one of Europe’s leading experts on destination marketing and will bring an exciting international perspective. This will be a very informative and eye opening presentation that will force you to think outside the box.
Frank has been consulting and transforming the DMO Visit Flanders for four years. He is a Associated Professor of Marketing at the University of Antwerp and also teaches City Marketing at Karel De Grote College.
He is a firm believer in a new way of marketing destinations who argues constantly with people who still confuse marketing with promotion.
Lauren Bath was back on the stage at SoMeT again this year! Lauren’s presentation covered her in-depth experience in the tourism industry as an Instagrammer and advice on undertaking these sorts of campaigns. Lauren also spoke to delegates about how to effectively work with influencers, emerging industry standards, making the most out of a social media campaign and what your budget will get you.
Lauren is a chef turned photographer due to her early success on the popular social media platform Instagram.
Becoming Australia’s first “professional Instagrammer” two years ago, has seen Lauren extend her skills from destination marketer to social media educator, consultant and strategist.
Also delving into project management, Lauren is a wealth of information on social media campaigns, their KPI’s, working with influencers and more.
Senior Strategic Consultant for Destination Think!, Aaron Nissen is a digital native, who in his 11 years of experience, has worked on just about every kind of web project imaginable. Aaron was formerly the Director of e-Strategies for Travel Alberta where he managed an annual budget of $3.8 Million. He has served three years on advisory committees for Canada e-Connect and Online Revealed Canada.
As part of Travel Alberta’s Management Committee, Aaron shared responsibility for setting the organizational strategy. He was responsible for building digital strategies that considered both internal and external stakeholders. Aaron has extensive experience working with large DMOs, Governments, and consortia partnerships.
Aaron has been asked to speak at a wealth of conferences and Annual General Meetings, such as TIC BC, Canada eConnect, Cariboo Chilcotin Coast Tourism Association AGM, Tourism Kelowna AGM and the Travel Alberta Industry Conference.
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Discover Palmer, Puerto Rico, through an immersive cultural tour that unveils its rich history and vibrant traditions. Experience lively festivals, savor authentic cuisine, and explore local markets. Visit historical landmarks, museums, and stunning colonial architecture. Engage with friendly locals, enjoy live music, and hike scenic nature trails, all while participating in cultural workshops and discovering unique artisan crafts.
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Bigger isn’t always better – How passion, not numbers, rule blog trips: Mikala Folb, Destination Think!
1. Bigger Isn’t Always Better –
Working With Digital Influencers
Mikala Folb, Content Strategist, Destination Think!
2.
3. I know digital influencers 3
Flanders is a Festival
Tourisme Montréal
#ExploreBC
Queensland,
Whitsundays, Antwerp,
Ostend, Cleveland,
Manitoba, and more
4. The “Now” of destination marketing4
Other
people’s
stories
Your stories
5. 5
Influencer trips are
part of something bigger
To create the right marketing strategy for your
DMO you need to:
define your target audience
match the right experiences to them
8. 8
The new world of mouth
“Your pics looked
amazing, I think
Iceland is going to
be next on my list
after Spain”
– Leah, Destination
British Columbia
9. Why Work With Bloggers? 9
Represent a rare marketing opportunity
Know niche audiences and passionate
communities
Perceived as authentic, trend-setters,
and adventurers
Can activate a community and
generate positive ROI
20. 20
200,000 vs. 2,000
Traffic
Traffic’s nice. But maybe
a traffic really only goes
to a few articles because
of good SEO, or they got
a exposure somewhere
else.
Loyalty
Look for bloggers who
have influence and
whose readers TRUST
them and almost rely on
them for good content
and tips.
22. 22
9 Criteria for
Blogger Selection
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Value to the Blogger
Reach/Size of their Audience
Audience Demographics
Influence in a Niche
Connection to Other Influencers
Quality – Style of Writing/Photography
Speed of Content Creation/Communication
Use of technology and tools
Personality
23. 23
Even MORE suggestions
Be proactive - don’t wait for them to
contact you!
Go beyond bloggers: Twitterers, IGers and
Videographers – what else can people
offer? What fits the objective?
If you’re paying them, put together a
contract, and get all their contact details.
Trust your gut. Compare experiences
offline and online.
26. Use your staff
Somewhere in your staff is a
music expert, a foodie, or
sports nut. There’s a person
with kids, or an intern who
knows what’s hip.
TALK TO THEM
28. 28
Things bloggers like
Your time
Their own time
Clear expectations
An itinerary matched
to their interests
Transportation
Wi-Fi
A per diem*
29. 29
Things DMOs like
Time to do the project correctly:
Influencers are a finicky breed. They all have a million
questions. Budget for this time.
Stakeholder involvement:
Get in touch with businesses on your itineraries, and
other stakeholders in the niche. Send out an email to
your database and encourage them and tell them how
to engage by following the blogger’s trip or hashtag,
replying, posting or RT’ing.
ROI: Of course! We’ll talk about this shortly.
30. 30 A welcome pack on their hotel bed with the
aforementioned stuff is always good
During the trip
Be available to them for questions or let them know
that your expert in the niche is available
Engage with them on your social channels
and make sure your team knows how to, too
31. 31
The trip’s over. Now what?
Gather their data
Learn from their content
Use their content – emails, blogs, channels, website
Encourage stakeholders to do the same
Build lasting relationships
Continue the conversation
33. 33
Service Design
Bloggers are seasoned travellers and experts in their
niches. They are telling you more than you think:
- Did they not write about something?
- Did they hint at an unhappy or subpar experience?
After a trip, invite them to a positive debrief.
This is your opportunity to learn and feed
back to your industry.
34. NOW let’s talk
about ROI
You won’t really know what
your return is until you do
the trip. Influencer trips are
iterative, just like media
trips used to be.
(Sorry.)
37. Visit Flanders 37
“We have realised an ROI of 1 on 100, which means
that for every real, financial Euro we got 100 virtual
euros back - virtual because we speak about free
media publicity.”
– Frank Cuypers, Dir. International Markets at Visit Flanders
Advertorial
Value
Impact Value
(actions)
Number of
Readers
Conversational
Value
X X =
38. 38
Tourism Ireland
Created the Social Equivalent Advertising Value (SEAV)
Based on:
Post impressions: Views of brand posts in a social medium.
Page impressions: Views of a brand owner’s social platform.
Personal actions: Consumption of brand content through an
action such as a click on a photo or video or a link.
Public actions: Liking/commenting/recommending posts
conspicuously so they’re exposed to other networks
40. 40
THANK YOU!
For further information please contact:
Mikala@ destinationthink.com
Twitter: @MikalaThink
Editor's Notes
I just got back from Iceland where I went for a music festival and general touristing. I instagrammed 250 photos ranging from sunrises to sunsets, to geysirs to and glasses of beer, to bands, buildings, street art and hot dogs. In one week, on my own accounts, more than 20 people told me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook directly that they were now adding Iceland to their list of “places to go.” Some even started planning trips.
But here’s the not so great news; even though a member of the local DMO knew I was in town, had been reminded of my arrival, none of my material was shared via Visit Iceland and they engaged with only one photo. And their fun Facebook page, which has more than 100,000 people on it, stopped posting entirely a week before the festival started. So I’m here to talk about how you can work with digital influencers and not miss a single opportunity. I have some insight into this because….
I WANT TO SHARE SOME OF THE LEARNING FROM SOME OF INFLUENCER TRIPS WE’VE WORKED ON or that I have attended because I also run my own music blog that has a small group of passionate, influential and incredibly dedicated followers.
If anyone’s heard or seen any Think! presentation before you’ve probably seen this diagram. It’s that important and it’s really that simple. This should now be the basis of your strategy for destination marketing. You no longer tell the stories about your destination. Other people tell the stories about your destination and you engage and amplify and learn from them. Influencers can play a large part in that storytelling.
Bullet points!!!! 2 slides – 5 steps
Have them tell the stories for you, on the right channels that speak to the right people.
Do you want to inspire people to go to your destination by being showcased in a large outlet? Do you want them to consider new aspects of your destination? Do you want to educate them about different aspects and niches in your destination? Build relationships with the new media? Or do you simply want incredible photos, video or content to use on your channels in future? All of these need to be taken into account and focused on when selecting the right influencers. Not everyone will give you everything.
Like how we now get travel tips from our friends, digital influencer and bloggers can help spread word of mouth. Because digital influenders aren’t really getting paid, they’re doing what they love. And passionate people want to inspire others. People who are excited to travel will influence others to think about your destination in a different way.
That is, at its very basest, what your ROI will be.
And as you could see from my pics before you don’t have to have a volcano or a geysir to do it. You just have to have remarkable and interesting experiences and plug them into the people who are most obsessed with them.
Donna Moritz from Socially Sorted spoke at #SoMeT13AU used a great quote from Apu Gupta. This is the SOUL of marketing right now. It’s not about
about short-term thinking and Bums in Beds. The role you play is part of a longer-term destination vision.
So how do you find the right story tellers? Find the passionate ones. It’s not just about readership, it’s about passion. Truly passionate bloggers, who speak to a smaller group but are experts in their fields, often have louder voices.
They’re also excited/surprised/energised to be there. Excitement means a blogger may end up posting more than you might have expected. When my colleague, Robyn, who also has a popular blog under the name “BCRobyn” was the official blogger for a Travel Manitoba campaign in which she travelled the province for a month – she wrote a whopping 34 blogs.
They’re not site visits.
They’re aren’t about showing a writer the general highlights.
They’re not about packing full the itinerary
Some bloggers work slowly, others publish a ton of content. Some want to be part of a group, others want to be on their own.
And while we’ll talk more about ROI later, you can’t think of them in terms of ad equivalency rates.
When working with bloggers, the key to a successful blog trip is focusing on a key niche, not trying to get them to see everything at once.
If you don’t know what remarkable, exceptional experiences and niches your destination is offers, you likely won’t connect with a digital influencer and their audiences
Why? You can’t be everything to everyone anymore – you have to dig into what your destination does best, and you have to get noticed.
Is it Fashion in Antwerp? Sailing in the Whitsundays? The Aurora in the Northwest Territories? Or is it Marvin Gaye in a tiny Belgium seaside town? In 1981, Gaye fled to Europe under the advice of his promoter and cleaned up from drugs and spent some time here. Oostend now offers Gaye walking tours, an app and invited local soul music writers and afficionados to explore the town and enjoy the fare. NOTHING IS TOO SMALL for a niche audience. It just needs to be exceptional.
NO! I was chaperoning a blogger for Tourism Montreal – we were there for 18 days to experience their music, and we were both thereas bloggers because of the music niche but we showcased all aspects of the city – food, neighbourhoods, film and architecture. The thing that gets you on the plane is different to the other things you happen to experience when you’re there. That’s the reason why niches work.
So which influencers to choose?
In 2013, Gary Arndt, considered the top US blogger and from site EverythingEverywhere, he’s been profiled on USA Today, he gets 100K a month, travelled to 44 different countries. When I asked him back in September what he had planned for the next two months he rattled off 12 different countries. In two months. No wonder he just last week announced that he was going to take a break. Got a Unesco Heritage Site that isn’t one of the 284 he’s visited? Maybe you’ll entice him. We once tried to invite pro photographer and G+ influencer for a remarkable customized trip in Queensland, tailored to his interests, offering to fly him first class, and basing the trip around his busy schedule…he referred us to his assistant and in the end declined because the opportunity didn’t hook him.
The Dung Beetle the world’s smallest but strongest animal. It can push 1141 times its body weight. And while most of us might think that pushing uh, crap uphill is a metaphor for Monday mornings, I’m here to tell you can’t underestimate a small but singularly focused animal.
Wandering Earl, listed as a top 25 travel blog in 2012 by Time Magazine has a Klout score of 58. I have a Klout score of 60. Which means I get better Klout perks like moisturiser samples and razors. SoMeT is another example of a small, scrappy and passionate community – our last 5 conferences were top trending topics nationwide.
It’s like reading a newspaper (do you remember those?) 200,000 people may hold it in their hands, but what percentage read every article? Feel some connection to what’s inside? Actually care?
WE chose Sasha for the campaign because of the size of her magazine’s audience. CoS has thousands of page impressions scattered and they publish a half-dozen stories or more that go live each day. They have 76K Twitter followers and 300K page daily page impressions, and they created a section for us but our stories were in among a whole lot of other content. The writer only had 2500 follower but CoS was Rting her material everytime she published. I have 3,000+ but my followers were way more influential and passionate in the niche we were there to represent.
Find bloggers who are socially savvy – who understand the channels that you want them to engage on.
It’s okay if you don’t know everything!
When I was in New York It wasn’t the major sites that impressed me, it was walking the High Line.
When I was in Bruges, it wasn’t the film or the windmills that impressed me it, was a tiny, weird museum that not even the head of Online Marketing at Tourism Flanders knew about.
When I was in Austin Texas for the world’s largest music festival, do you think it was the fact that I just met Sean Lennon? Nope, just last week I was still telling people about the Moonshine and Corn Syrup Ice Cream I had. Don’t take your destination’s offerings for granted. So how do you build the best itinerary?
Introduce the blogger coming to town. Tell your community what they’re interested in. Tell the blogger to feel free to engage with comments. Make locals feel like their invested in the blogger’s trip, and special.
In Montreal and Manitoba, for example, blogger trips were planned with the input from Montréal’s online community as well as the readers of the two blogs. By including the community in the planning stages, we were able to engage users early on.
For a blog trip in Cleveland we matched 12 local bloggers in a variety of niches to food, family, LGBT, fitness, lifetstyle and the result is that a) they amplified each others’ messages and b) they spoke to both local and targeted location audiences.
Take some time to chat with them, let them know about your objectives. In Flanders: Jeremy Larson didn’t want to let the team down and published way more content. This is different from chaperoning!
Time off is critical. And it’s not wasted time. Most bloggers are used to being independent. Feel free to drop suggestions of how they spend their time, but let them choose. Antwerp: told me about restaurants and cool shops that I could check out “if I wanted do.” But don’t fill every part of their day.
Clear expectations doesn’t mean outlining exactly what you want them to write, but you can certainly guide them. “Always use the hashtag! “it’s great if you tag restaurants etc” and please send us a list with all your stats and content within 2 weeks etc.
An itinerary matched to their interests – in some cases, we’ve even asked a few of the top bloggers we liked and wanted to work with about what they were most interested in!
Transportation – make things easy for them. Give them a transit pass, a handful of bus tickets, a map or point them in the direction of the best transit apps
Wi-fi – CONNECT them. Let them share in the moment, while they’re excited about it! Some will want to post in the moment, some will save them to the end, some will wait to add stuff to the blog.But let them have wi-fi – it’s a subtle means of saying “ we want you to share as much as you like.”
There’s a lot of debates over “paying bloggers”. Then we get into paid advertorial coverage. But many are taking time off of dayjobs, or their families. We’ve found that by setting budgets that incorporates a per diem, it doesn’t feel for them that they’re in your pocket, but it sweetens the deal.
SHORTEN
When I travelled to small-town BC I was most excited about seeing a herd of deer running off the road, just as we exited the airport. To a local, that’s common everyday. DO NOT TAKE ANYTHING FOR GRANTED. There’s a tremendous opportunity to be had with the content. Learn from it.
It took four years of pre-production for Lord of the Rings before Peter Jackson saw his films on screen. But if you’re wise like Gandalf, and put your efforts into matching a good itinerary with a great blogger, and getting your community and stakeholders and blogger ready for your trip then you’ll likely meet objectives and even exceed expectations. Blog trips are like movies – spend all your time in pre-pro so that you can run he thing in a weekend.
OH BUT IT IS! If you do it right, it’s hugely valuable for your destitnation, You don’t have to go start big – try inviting one influencer for a weekend/m
Source (Flanders): http://www.wtmlondon.com/page.cfm/action=library/libID=2/libEntryID=31/listID=2#sthash.IIb98OIH.dpuf
30 Million Euros from 94 bloggers, and I was 16th in the list, earning them approximately 80K Euros. Little ol’ me.
Blogger Lauren Folkman from Lion & Maven in Chicago. She had only about 1800 followers across Twitter, FB and Instagram… but registered nearly 340K impressions on the #ThisisCLE hashtag.
You don’t need big-time bloggers or New York Times writers (and you certainly don’t want to combine them) on a trip. You don’t need big budgets. You need to connect your exceptional experiences and passionate people at your destination with passionate people who want to come to your destination. It’s WIN WIN WIN WIN.