The document outlines best practices for social media strategies aimed at travel destinations in North America, highlighting the importance of planning, engaging audiences, and measuring results. It emphasizes the need to innovate and integrate various digital tools while focusing on building advocacy among locals and utilizing SEO strategies. Key takeaways include the importance of creating conversations, fostering long-term relationships, and ensuring efficiency in resource allocation.

1. Social Media Strategies for Travel North America 2011Spotlight on Social MediaBest Practices for Destinations

2. Who Am I?Director of Social Media and Web Analytics at MMG Worldwidesocial media clients include Colorado Tourism Office, Barbados Tourism Authority, Branson and Myrtle Beach CVBover 10 years of digital marketing experience in the travel industrybackground in public relations, marketing communications and search marketingFollow Me on Twitter @RobertPattersonTweet the presentation using #smtravel11

3. MMG Worldwideoffices in New York, Kansas City, Denver and South Floridafully integrated advertising firm specializing exclusively in travelbranding + designweb + mobile developmenton + offline mediasocial media + preCRM + field marketing

4. strategic approach

5. listen + evaluatemonitor what is being said about your destinationtrack volume of mentionsqualify mentions by travel and tourism for relevancymonitor sentiment around your online conversationsidentify influencers and advocatesreview web analytics to see how social media is impacting your websiteselect what metrics your organization will trackcreate baseline metrics to measure against

6. listen + evaluate

7. strategy + creativedetermine your destination’s objectives and goalsidentify the voice of your destinationsegment your communications by consumer interestsplan your communication frequencystructure your communicationsand editorial calendarsstay true to your brand in communications and creativestrategically name your social media profilesinclude calls-to-action in your creative

8. strategy + creative

9. engageuse your “voice” to speak to your audienceask for feedback from your audiencecrowd source your marketing initiativesrespond to comments and communicationsempower your destination’s residence as advocatesencourage destination industry partners to participateinclude calls-to-action to convert passive audience into actively inspired travelers

10. engage

11. measure resultssocial media growthreferral visits to websitewebsite visitor engagementgoal conversion and leads generatedonline buzz generatedconsumer sentimentcompetitive analysisROI (return on influence)

12. return on influence (ROI)ROI = (Calculated Investment Gain - Investment Cost)/Investment Costcalculated gainswebsite referralsleads generatedsocial media leads generatedad equivalency of communicationsresearch valueshare of voicecontent shared

13. competitive analysis

14. be innovative

15. innovatestay up-to-date with social media channel changesfocus on “test and learn” approach to achieve maximum response and ROIembrace new technologies and platforms that make sense for youintegrate social media efforts to leverage maximum exposurecontinually measure, monitor and optimize all channels based on goals and objectivestry new ideas…some will fail, others will not

16. innovation opportunitiesharness the power of “local”integrate web, mobile and tablet with social mediatest QR codes to send offline ads to social mediaincorporate social media into rich media adscreate social media co-op opportunities with industry partnersunderstand the power of video and branded entertainmentthink big for big results

17. be resourceful

18. find efficienciesplan out your editorial calendar in advanceprovide industry partners with access to your messaging strategyrely on in-destination residents and past visitors as advocatesschedule your targeted communications and focus your day-to-day efforts on becoming an invaluable travel resourcefind the tools that help you get the job done more efficientlyconduct a semi-annual audit…can you be more efficient?

19. empower advocates

20. build ambassadorsstart with your office, industry partners and local advocatesempower your advocatesfind local photographers willing to share their work for recognitionuse local experts who specialize in niche activities and attractionsuse monitoring tools to find word-of-mouth testimonials and share themintegrate social media sharing across web, mobile, social, emails and media

21. boost seo

22. search engine optimizationuse relevant and highly utilized keywords in your communicationssearch for those looking for travel inspiration through keywordsuse keywords in your photo/video titles, descriptions and tagscreate in-bound links to your website to increase link popularityintegrate social media feeds and develop connect pagesuse PPC to drive visitors to your connect pagelink to your YouTube videos on your website using keywords

23. search engine optimization

24. presentation takeaways

25. top 5 dosplan, strategize and create goalsinnovate, test and optimizecreate efficiencies, then allocate financial and labor resourcesempower advocateswork closely with your SEO professional

26. top 5 don’tlet your intern be your social media strategic leadspeak at your audience…create a conversation with themforget the importance of brandingoverlook justifying your social media expendituresthink short term…think long term

27. discussion