In this short presentation Arik Hanson gave at the Explore MN Tourism Conference on Feb. 6, 2019, he talks about tips and strategies tourism organizations can take to move their content game to the next level.

1. ACH
Taking Your Social Content
Strategy To the Next Level
Arik C. Hanson
ACH Communications
Feb. 6, 2019

2. ACHACH
ABOUT ARIK
• 20+ years experience;
solo since 2009;
@arikhanson
• Blogger, podcaster,
e-newsletter maker, board
member, event organizer

3. ACHACH
Most fun researching a deck EVER!

4. ACHACH
Agenda:
• Current state of social content in tourism
• Current state of social content (outside of tourism)
• Where are Minnesota Tourism orgs seeing success
with social content?
• 4 content tips for 2019
• Social content trends to monitor in 2019 and beyond
• Questions

5. ACHACH
Current state of social content in tourism

6. ACHACH
Heavy on sunsets, landscapes and food

7. ACHACH
Curating UCG is common

8. ACHACH
Lack of people shots
• Recent Convince & Convert study: 96 of 100 top
posts in 2018 from travel/tourism orgs were photos
of nature
• Common elements of success:
• Nature
• Winter
• Sky
• Water
• Architecture
• Animals
• NO PEOPLE!

9. ACHACH
Formats: Ahead of the curve with use
of Stories

10. ACHACH
Channels: It’s all about Insta
Facebook: 33
engagements
Twitter: 13
engagements
Instagram: 174
engagements

11. ACHACH
Current state of social content
(outside of tourism)

12. ACHACH
Channels: Instagram is taking over
Facebook as the new social home base
for brands

13. ACHACH
The New York Times is even
predicting it!

14. ACHACH
Numbers tell the story.
• Instagram just surpassed 1 billion users. The only
other platform not named Facebook to do it.
• 71% of U.S. business now use Instagram
• Instagram is THE platform for influencers–80%
prefer the platform for brand collaborations
• 59% of 18-29 year-olds use Instagram

15. ACHACH

16. ACHACH
Meanwhile, over on Facebook…
• Facebook saw a 5.6 percent decline in
users between 12 and 17 years old.
• They also saw a 5.8 percent decline in
users between 18 and 24 years old. This is the first
time Facebook has seen a decrease in users since
its inception.
• Facebook usage dropped–for the first time ever–
from 67% to 62% among Americans 12+ years
of age.

17. ACHACH
Numbers don’t tell the whole story:
• Facebook is an increasingly toxic place for many
users. #DeleteFacebook is real.
• Facebook took a beating in the media in 2018.
• Facebook has completely lost it’s “cool” factor
(and guess who’s gained it!).

18. ACHACH
Facebook: 87 engagements per post
Instagram: 11,974 engagements per post

19. ACHACH
Facebook: 215 engagement per post
Instagram: 1,408 engagements per post

20. ACHACH
Facebook: 980 engagements per post
Instagram: 9,148 engagements per post

21. ACHACH
That’s 10 TIMES the engagement on
Instagram from Facebook!

22. ACHACH
Formats: It’s all about (Instagram) Stories

23. ACHACH
It’s already happening—with success

24. ACHACH
Consider the numbers:
• By last count, Instagram Stories now has 500 million
daily active users. That’s more users than Reddit,
Twitter, and Pinterest.
• Stories have also reportedly increased the time
users spend on Instagram, with an average of 32
minutes per day for those users under 25 years old,
and 24 minutes for users 25 and older.

25. ACHACH

26. ACHACH
And, Insta continues to invest:
• “Story Highlights” – create branded graphics for your
page and save your stories permanently by
category.
• “Swipe up” – for verified business accounts with
10,000 or more followers. Gives brands the ability to
drive traffic to owned web properties and sites.
• Enhanced metrics – Host of in-app metrics for
Stories including impressions, engagements, taps
forward, taps back and exits.

27. ACHACH
Opportunity for 2019…

28. ACHACH
You know who’s doing this REALLY well?

29. ACHACH
Trends: Video continues to ramp up

30. ACHACH
80% of posts in January were videos.
83% of posts in December were videos.

31. ACHACH
45% of Harley’s 55 Insta posts in
January were videos

32. ACHACH
Where are Minnesota Tourism
organizations succeeding with
social content?

33. ACHACH
• St. Paul Pride!
• All about sunsets
• Uniquely St. Paul
Visit St. Paul

34. ACHACH
Como Park & Observatory
• Using Pinterest to drive more weddings
• 1,600 monthly visitors; 228 followers

35. ACHACH
Visit Winona
• Facebook Live series
• Public voting, consistent host

36. ACHACH
Lake of the Woods
• I caught the big one!
• Curating vs. Creating

37. ACHACH
5 social content marketing tips for 2019

38. ACHACH
Tip #1: Different content for different
phases on different channels
• When visitors are researching the trip:
• Stat: 52% of Facebook users say friends’ pics
inspire their travel plans; PIN STAT?
• Channel: Pinterest, Facebook
• Content: Show off your best attractions,
restaurants and events
• Example: Visit Duluth

39. ACHACH

40. ACHACH
Tip #1: Different content for different
phases on different channels
• When visitors are ON the trip:
o Stat: 74% of all travelers use social media while
on vacation
o 97% of millennials share pics while traveling
o Channel: Instagram
o Content: Give them “postcard” opps
o Example: Visit Winona

41. ACHACH

42. ACHACH
Tip #1: Different content for different
phases on different channels
• After visitors have made the trip:
• Channel: Facebook, Instagram
• Content: Don’t forget to share your pics/albums
• Example: Glensheen Mansion

43. ACHACH

44. ACHACH
How many times have you seen *this* happen?

45. ACHACH
Tip #2: Amp up video on biggest
platforms
• Why?
o Over 500 million (half a BILLION) people are
watching video on Facebook every day
(via Forbes).
o Video posts on Facebook have 135% greater
organic reach than photo posts (Source: Social
Media Today)
o People spend 3 times longer watching a live
social video compared to one that has been
prerecorded (Source: Social Media Today)

46. ACHACH
Even the biggest tourism orgs have
opportunity
• 31 posts in January
• 1 video
• 31 posts in December
• 1 video

47. ACHACH
Even the biggest tourism orgs have
opportunity
98 posts in Jan. * 8 video posts

48. ACHACH
And, make sure it’s vertical!

49. ACHACH
Tip #3: Influencers as distributors +
creators

50. ACHACH
Or, employees!
@glensheendan

51. ACHACH
Tip #4: Re-prioritize your distribution
strategy

52. ACHACH
Double down on Instagram

53. ACHACH
Move away from Twitter
21 engagements on
Twitter
2,380 engagements
on Instagram

54. ACHACH
Hold steady,
but be ready
to move, on
Facebook
Still working for many
brands…for now

55. ACHACH
Tip #5: Get serious about Instagram
Story content

56. ACHACH
Add polish and professionalism with
Highlights

57. ACHACH
Create your own “Story Styleguide”

58. ACHACH
Develop a format formula

59. ACHACH
Keep an eye on these trends in 2019

60. ACHACH
Trend: Social media marketing increasingly
going private

61. ACHACH
The stats tell the story: Messenger
use WAY up

62. ACHACH
WhatsApp users have doubled in just
two years

63. ACHACH
And, messaging growth will continue

64. ACHACH
At the same time, again, this:

65. ACHACH
Other signals
• Instagram investing more in its direct messaging
capabilities
o Video chat
o Poll functionality
o 250,000+ active users (as of 2017)
• Facebook testing the notion of deleting the
SHARE button
• Private and secret groups seemed to gain
momentum on Facebook in 2018.

66. ACHACH
Plenty of opportunity.

67. ACHACH
Is one-to-one the future of social?

68. ACHACH
Trend: Organic reach is dead (or, IS it?)

69. ACHACH
OK, yep, it’s dead.
• Facebook organic reach rates now right around 1%
• Facebook engagement rates down by as much as
50% in 2018

70. ACHACH
Wait, maybe it’s not…

71. ACHACH
Less is more. WAY more.

72. ACHACH
Instagram (and Facebook) Stories

73. ACHACH
Curate user-generated content across
social platforms

74. ACHACH
For now:
• Are you posting too much? 8-12 times a month is
more than enough for most organizations.
• Could you identify your employee/local/visitor
content producers and curate content for social
platforms?
• Could you supplement coverage of live events more
with Instagram Stories?

75. ACHACH
Trend: More focus on overlooked and niche
social media sites

76. ACHACH
The “Big Four” still dominate, but…
• Quora
o 190M users
o 400,000 topics now exist on Quora
• Nextdoor
o 200,000 active neighborhoods
o 90% of U.S. neighborhoods are active on
Nextdoor
• Reddit “Front page of the internet”
o 300M users
o Average visit: 15 minutes, 47 seconds

77. ACHACH
And, of course…
• 250M active users
• 175B+ pins
• 1 in 2 millennials use
Pinterest every day

78. ACHACH
How does Pinterest Pay Off?
• Platform plays to tourism’s strengths (visuals!)
• The ultimate vacation/travel research tool
• One of the best long-tail search engines on the
web

79. ACHACH
Case in point:

80. ACHACH
arik@arikhanson.com
Blog: arikhanson.com
Podcast: TheTalkingPointsPodcast.com
E-news: http://www.arikhanson.com/subscribe/