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Social Media Strategies for Destination Marketing Organizations
June 28, 2011
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About Me
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About Me
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Today We’ll Cover …
• Social media review
• What to say
• Dos and DON’Ts
• Crisis communications – The Unplanned
• Measurement
• Case study
• New Things To Try (if time allows)
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Social Media Review
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It’s Not Just for Little Susie
The ROI of Social Media
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Benefits of Social Media
• It’s FREE!
• Builds deeper relationships
• Increases brand awareness
• Broadens your network
• Helps SEO
• Increases website traffic
• Can help reach journalists/media
• Empowers fans to be viral ambassadors for your brand
Source: Social Media for Tourism Pros
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Time Management
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Time Management
• Break it up into these 3 pieces
• Listening = ¼
• Commenting/Communicating = ½
• Creating = ¼
Sources: http://chrisbrogan.com;
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Time Management
• Automate
• Schedule tweets/posts
• Link social media accounts
• RSS feeds
• Repurpose
• Use the force
Sources:http://comprendia.com
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So What Do I Say?
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So What Do I Say?
• FAQs
• Tutorials
• Organization news
• Events you’re attending
• Your own content
• Content from others
• Observations
• What you’re reading or watching
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Rules of Engagement
• Listen more than you talk
• Remember: It’s about them, not you.
• Always “listen” and interact/engage
• Provide value far beyond your particular site or service
Source: Social Media for Tourism Pros
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Formula for Success
70 20 10
Source: Social Media for Tourism Pros
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Formula for Success
• 70% of content = value-added, audience-based & not about you at all
• 20% of content = spontaneous interaction with followers, fans, or friends
• 10% of content = unabashed self-promotion
70 20 10
Source: Social Media for Tourism Pros
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Share Helpful Information
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Share Helpful Information
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Attaboys
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Things To Do
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Highlight Local Businesses
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Make Exclusive Offers
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Tie Into Holidays
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Polls and Contests
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Be the Concierge
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Ask & Answer Questions
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Best Practices
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Have a Compelling Bio
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Link To Everything …
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… on Everything
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Create “Terms of Use”
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Create Group Rules
If you agree to these rules, you can join the group
Only post pictures to this group for which you own the
original copyright or are in the public domain.
All pictures posted to this group may be used by the
Colorado River Trail in its various publications, both print
or online (including social media). We will credit you as
the photographer on any photo that we use.
Only photos depicting the Colorado River Trail region will
be accepted. We reserve the right to reject submissions
to our Flickr group displaying content we deem to be
inappropriate or offensive without prior warning. The
Colorado River Trail reserves the right to update the
Group Rules.
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Use Personality
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Use Personality
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Use Personality
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Use Dynamic Content
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Use Dynamic Content
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Promote Events
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Use Favorite Pages
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Tag on Facebook
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Get Great Photos with Flickr Groups
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Crisis Communications: The Unplanned
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The Unplanned
• Social media is a quick, easy way to react to unplanned events
• Affords the ability to react (in minutes) to hot topics
• Examples:
– US Airways/Hudson River incident
– Ft. Hood shootings
Source: Visit Baltimore Social Media Presentation
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Source: Southwest Airlines/Paula Berg
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The Unplanned
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The Unplanned
• Establish social media channels before a crisis.
– Build your relationships and credibility before you need to use them
Source: Southwest Airlines/Paula Berg
Less
on
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Measurement
Photo: Svenneman
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The Measurement Hierarchy
Goal >> Objectives >> Strategies >> Tactics
• Goal: To increase the brand footprint of the Austin Creative Alliance through participation in social media.– Objectives: – Increase newsletter subscribers by 15% in 6
months.– Establish a Facebook fan page with 500 fans by the
end of the year.• Strategies:• Designate a newsletter team to contribute articles.• Develop an editorial calendar.• Improve subscription tool on our website.
– Tactics:– Email the organization asking for writers.– Hold a training session for contributors.
Source: Brass Tack Thinking
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So What Can You Measure?
• Financial return– Conversions via unique links
– Sales via social media promo codes
– Social media-specific coupon redemption (e.g. Groupon, Living Social, etc.)
– Total coupon downloads (signals interest/intent to buy)
– Reduced per-call customer service costs
– Decreased customer attrition rate
– Cost per dollar raised
Source: Brass Tack Thinking
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So What Can You Measure?
• Value, Awareness, Customer Satisfaction– Increase positive sentiment over time
– Overall brand awareness across social media channels (via mentions)
– Number of referrals or recommendations
– Positive trends on key website stats (e.g. unique visitors, time on site, downloads, etc.)
– Increased lead generation through social media
– Clicks on shortened, unique links
Source: Brass Tack Thinking
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Umm … okay. How?
• Google Analytics: http://www.google.com/analytics• Campaign codes• URL shorteners
– Bit.ly– Owl.ly– Is.gd– BudURL
• Incoming links– http://backtweets.com
• Facebook & Twitter– Facebook Insights– http://klout.com– http://twittergrader.com– http://addictomatic.com– http://socialmention.com
• What do you do?
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Tourism Case Study
Photo: Cindi Matthews
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Del Mar Race Track
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Del Mar Campaign
• Boosted attendance by 4.2% in one season (27,000 people)– Strategic goal: Convert communication into track
attendance via social media
• 24,000 hits to the track website from Facebook alone
• 956 tickets redeemed from Facebookgiveaways
• 10,900 new social media fans/followers in one season
Re
sutl
s
Source: http://socialmediaexaminer.com
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Del Mar Campaign
• Hold special tours/giveaways for social media influencers
• Use Foursquare to reward loyal customers
• Hold a Fan or Customer Appreciation Day
Tip
s Yo
u C
an U
se
Source: http://socialmediaexaminer.com
Photo: iamdanw
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New Things To Try
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Social Couponing
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Social Couponing
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Social Couponing
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Social Couponing
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Location-based Apps
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Location-based Apps
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Location-based Apps
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Location-based Apps
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Questions?
Old School:• Phone – 512.473.3513
• E-mail – [email protected]
New School:• Twitter - @ColoradoRiverTr (work), @pagetx (personal)
• Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/ColoradoRiverTrail
• Flickr – http://www.flickr.com/groups/ColoradoRiverTrail
• Foursquare – http://foursquare.com/pagetx
• Gowalla – http://gowalla.com/users/pagetx (personal),
http://gowalla.com/users/ColoradoRiverTrail (work)
• Delicious – http://delicious.com/pagetx