It covers all that any hotel or restaurant needs to know about getting started using social media tools for marketing, and it’s full of ideas and examples.
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I was working with a tourism-related client recently about incorporating more video into their website and destination marketing.
That inspired me to dig around in the Insights (analytics) section of the YouTube channel for another small CVB (Convention and Visitor’s Bureau) that I’ve worked with in the past, to see what sort of information I could glean.
Here’s what I found – perhaps it will help you with your own tourism videos.
** Views average 35 – 40 a day. We started seeing solid jumps in viewership as soon as we began posting consistently. Ranking on page one in Google SERPs (Search Engine Results Page) for desired keywords in YouTube Search took about 2 months, because we needed 3 -4 videos to really crank it and we released them slowly.
** Viewership is 64% male, largest viewership is people aged 45 – 54. There are a mix of people, but the top viewers are not younger people, contrary to video-watcher stereotypes.
** Most people find this CVB’s videos with YouTube’s search engine, or they click around on the channel page, or they come over to our stuff from related videos. The VAST majority, though, across all videos, find them with YouTube Search. I was surprised by how low plain ol’ Google search ranked as a way that people find our stuff, even with the importance of video to universal search.
** We do see people click and watch videos from the CVB homepage (where they rotate) but not a whole lot. On a few videos, they watched it more times on the homepage than on the CVB Facebook Page (where they are also posted) which rather surprises me, but then again a Facebook video may get buried quickly whereas it rotates up to the homepage more than once.
** The most popular video so far is an interview tied to a niche sport that held a training camp in town. The fan base is small but very enthusiastic, plus the featured team won a big tournament after the camp, which increased interest.
More data on this popular video:
—> Most of its views, like the others, come from YouTube Search. I’d researched specific keywords for that sport and added more as I saw them being used in search strings, which paid off in making the video easier for people to find.
—> 25% of the viewers of that video watched it on a mobile device.
—> It was embedded elsewhere but most views other than on the YouTube channel came from when we put it on the CVB Facebook Page (it helped that we tagged people in it plus the sport’s governing body.) The second largest number of off-channel views came from embedding it in a guest post that I wrote for a sports information and networking site. The third largest number of off-channel views came from people watching it in a post in a Ning group related to the sport.
Takeaways for you?
Have a plan going in that makes sense for your market, produce consistently and as often as possible, optimize your video for SEO, don’t discount the value of niche groups for spreading the word, make sure it looks good on a mobile device and allow the video to be embedded in places other than your YouTube channel.
Have you seen any interesting data from tourism video that you’ve done? Let me know in the comments – thanks!
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What should tourism and hospitality folks be paying particular attention to these days on the social Web? Where is the market moving and what are the trends?
These are big questions, but I’m going to give you my cocktail party answer. You know….what I’d say if I had to summarize, speak loudly over afterparty music and try to be Jack-Daniels-coherent.
Here’s most of what I shouted to Dana over a bourbon:
*** Mobile technology is a big deal, including mobile-based tech that crosses dimensions like QR codes and video tags on paper (or maybe even on historical markers) that become Web pages and videos when scanned by a smartphone. The world is moving towards everyone having a computer and the Internet in her/his pocket or purse; some of your communications must already be geared to that reality.
Your next move for 2011: get your website mobile-friendly. To drive this home, get your smartphone or someone else’s and try to navigate through several of your site’s pages using the mobile browser. Now imagine your visitors trying to do that, around all the ads and photos and Flash goop and whatnot. See? Fix that before you fiddle around with apps.
*** LBS (Location Based Services) with check-ins like Foursquare, Yelp, Gowalla and Facebook Places/Deals. We just talked about Deals in our Tourism Currents November newsletter. Deals is a game-changer because it combines mobile devices, the now-mainstream Facebook and tangible rewards for the admittedly rather odd practice of checking in.
Your next move for 2011: Look for one or two of your main attractions, hotels, museums, etc. on Foursquare, Yelp, Gowalla and Places. Ensure that the venue information is correct, and see if people are checking in, leaving tips/comments or taking photos (it’s just another way of listening to your visitors.) If there’s activity, see if you can integrate it into your other sites; Matterhorn Marketing shows you how to embed people’s Foursquare Tips and To-Do’s onto your own website or blog.
*** Video. I talk rather a lot about video for tourism (here’s the Video category on this blog) because I think it’s important. Imagery and videos can generally show off your destination better than text, and when properly titled, tagged and described they are very powerful for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) because there is less competition for them right now than there is for text.
Your next move for 2011: Get a small pocket video camera like the Flip or the Kodak Zi8. Hold off shooting in HD (high-definition) for now until you 1) have a tripod and 2) have a Mac or super-high-powered PC for editing. Play and experiment. Go someplace cool in your town and show why it’s cool, or grab an interview with a lively person who can explain it. Put that video on your Facebook Page and YouTube channel. Title, tag and describe it thoroughly. Start small and build, even with some fun Google Search Story videos. You’ll be glad you got in early.
What are your thoughts about how digital communications are evolving for tourism and destination marketing? Did I miss anything? Your thoughts are welcome down in the comments.
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I’ve been an AWC member since 2006 (my journalist Mom is an Member Emeritus, ever since it was an honors journalism sorority in the 1950′s) and it is chock-full of a lot of very networked communicators, many of whom are involved in some aspect of tourism or hospitality.
One benefit of our sponsorship is the chance to provide “collateral” – some swag, a printed handout or something – to be distributed to conference attendees.
Now, I was as clueless about this as I was about how to run a trade show booth on a budget, but after some thought I realized that no one wants yet another brochure or piece of paper with pretty pictures. They want useful information.
So, I rejiggered a simple Word document handout that I’d done for the Texas Travel Summit on social media resources for CVBs to attract conferences, and made it a more general “Tourism Currents favorite resources and tips for social networking.”
Why are videos and images important? Because they are great for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) if fully titled, tagged and described. There is less competition for them than for text in universal search.
None of these are blinding revelations, but if every person who gets one of our handouts learns some tidbit they didn’t already know, then we’ve succeeded in not killing trees simply to get our name out there. If they contact us for more training….well, so much the better!
Tourism Currents logo, URL, Twitter names and email address at top, helpful info, all on one page – BOOM. We’re done.
What sort of ideas do you have for printed collateral that best benefits your event sponsorship? I’d love to hear from you down in the comments.
*** Buzzard Bar Cooking Team Facebook Page – This is a fun gang of enthusiastic cooks who participate in chili and gumbo cookoffs and other culinary events all over the state. Nice use of photos on their Page.
Congratulations to the winner in the under $75,000 budget category: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department “Life’s Better Outside.”
The winners for social media marketing by events with mid-sized and large budgets?
Did you know that you can make your very own Search Story video like Google’s Parisian Love that played as an ad during the Super Bowl?
They are a lot of fun, and it’s not hard at all. Think of how you might make one to highlight an upcoming event or cool attraction in your town.
Here’s what I learned while making one:
Be already logged into the YouTube account that you’re going to upload it to (I used our Tourism Currents YouTube channel) and be ready with your password again when it’s time to upload.
Try to use more than one of the available search options (Web, blogs, images, maps, etc.) It makes the video much more interesting visually.
Use fewer words in the search box. They’re easier to read at the rapid speed of the Search Story.
Pick those words carefully and know ahead of time what search results will come in (there’s a Preview button for you; I think I wore mine out.) I had one innocuous search term bring back something to do with strippers (don’t need people seeing that in my video, thanks very much.)
Listen to at least a snippet of all of the available “soundtrack” music. Some might be a surprisingly good fit.
Don’t be afraid to go back and edit if you aren’t happy with the final result. We won’t say how many times I re-did the video below, or I’d have to put up an “Anal-Retentive” warning sign on the blog.
Once it is uploaded to your YouTube channel (done automatically and FAST by Google) go back into the Edit function on your channel and make sure the video is titled, tagged and described, which helps with SEO (Search Engine Optimization.)
It’s easy to see how social media and mobile devices have changed how meetings and conferences themselves are conducted (for more on that see Jeff Hurt’s Seven Tips to Make Your Conference Millennial-Friendly) but how about the idea of using social media networking to attract more conferences TO your town?
I’m speaking on this very topic at a breakout session for the Texas Travel Summit, and here are some of my thoughts….
First, The Fundamentals
1) This is really a networking issue.
Social media is simply another tool to network and connect with the people who schedule places for meetings. Be a helpful and informative resource, and get in front of meeting planners where they are, online and off.
2) You still must ask two basic, old-warhorse questions (social media does NOT change the need to ask them)
——–>> Who is your market for meetings?
——–>> What does your town have to attract that market?
3) Figure out who plans meetings. One good place to start is associations, and there is an association for just about every trade, industry and interest that you can imagine.
Where can you find decision-makers from associations? In the US, start with the ASAE (American Society of Association Executives.) Look for information about associations in your prospective meetings market.
Another place to look is event professionals and meeting planners.
Now, the Social Media Stuff
Here are some ways to connect with these folks, using social media.
1) Read their professional and industry blogs.
*** Start with the Alltop Event Planning channel or the Trade Shows channel. Find a few industry blogs, keep up with them, make comments and interact with the authors. Over time, let them know that your destination is the sort of place that they’d love for their meetings.
2) Connect on LinkedIn.
*** Go beyond filling out your personal profile (although a complete one is important) and also create Company profiles for your CVB and your Convention Center. Here’s the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority Company profile.
*** Find, join and be visible in Groups that relate to your market.
Start looking at Groups like the DMAI (Destination Marketing Association International) empowerMINT Group for CVBs and Meeting Professionals, MPI (Meeting Professionals International,) the Association Resource Group, PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association,) Event Peeps (for Live Event Industry Professionals,) Corporate Event and Meeting Planners and the IAEE (International Association of Exhibitions and Events) Group. Just pick a few for active participation or you won’t be able to keep up.
*** Pay attention to, and provide assistance when you can, in LinkedIn Answers – a Q&A section of the site – particularly in response to questions and activity in the Conferences and Event Planning section.
3) Go find the meeting planners and associations on Twitter.
There are two chats you should know about and possibly join when they happen….
#assnchat for associations is Tuesdays, 1-2 pm CST.
#eventprofs for event planning professionals is Tuesdays, 8-9 pm CST and Thursdays, 11 am-12 noon CST.
4) Show meeting planners your town and your conference venues with video and photos.
Videos can go on YouTube, Vimeo and your Facebook Page. Photos can go on Flickr and your Facebook Page.
Create videos that show conference facilities in detail, inside and out and a bit of the surrounding area. Cover transportation to/from it. If you don’t want to hire pros to do this, use a handheld camera like the Flip or the Kokak Zi8 and do it yourself. Another option is making videos out of photos using Animoto.
Create videos during a few events as they are in progress at your venues. Show actual people during an actual meeting, and include a few short interviews with people who like your convention center and your town. Have them sell your offerings!
It’s not a magic bullet. It is building relationships and networks with humans and it takes time. Social media is the tool you’re using to network. It’s a means, not an end.
Update: here’s the presentation as it was presented at the TTIA Texas Travel Summit 2010 – the slides about blogs, LinkedIn, Twitter and Videos/Images have embedded links that you can click through.
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This is a video tag sort of QR code; you can point your smartphone’s camera to it and with the right app (usually a barcode reader but in this case the Microsoft Tag app) some sort of content will pop up.
Content can be everything from some text describing the item that the code is on, to a URL that will open in your phone’s browser, to the coolest thing – a little video playing on your phone.
I can think of some imaginative ways to incorporate these into your downtown walking tour’s historical markers, for one thing. My Canadian friend Todd Lucier and I are on the same wavelength about QR codes these days….here’s his recent blog post QR Codes: making interpretive signs come to life.
What ideas do you have? Please share in the comments!
Are you responsible in some way for a festival or special event, and would like to get jump-started using social media to promote it?
I always advise including social media as an integral part of your overall marketing plan, not sticking it on as an afterthought, but sometimes you do need to push the train forward a bit even if all the track isn’t laid to the end.
Hey, it worked for the US Transcontinental Railroad….
If your festival or special event is coming up quickly, here are some things you can do to enhance your online presence, and then you’ll have a platform to build on more thoughtfully for next year:
1) Get a Facebook Page. Not a Group – a Page. Give more than one person administrative access to it. Your event logo is fine as an avatar. Put it in the Organization-NonProfit category; that’s probably the one that applies best to festivals. Fill out the Info section thoroughly, with event dates, location and times, simple directions from the main access points, links to your website and any other social media sites you have, and a contact email and phone number.
Put up a few Wall posts, especially some photos and short videos from last year’s event if you have them, and get the word out to your networks that some “Likes” of your Page would be appreciated. Once you get to 25, um, “Likers,” you can switch the Facebook URL to a more personalized one with your name.
Connect with your local CVB, DMO, state tourism office, town government, Chamber of Commerce and the businesses that sponsor your event, at a minimum.
2) Get a Twitter account. Make sure it’s something that approximates your event name, but is not too long (that uses up valuable characters and you only get 140 per tweet.) Make sure that more than one person can tweet from the account, and that you’re set up to tweet from mobile devices. Don’t worry about amassing a ton of followers right away; many won’t be the right folks anyway (unless you want to lose weight with acai berries.) You want people who care about and want to connect with your event.
See the Texas Book Festival – @texasbookfest – as an example.
Connect with your local CVB, DMO, state tourism office, town government, Chamber of Commerce and the businesses that sponsor your event, at a minimum.
3) Create a hashtag for your event. You don’t have to ask anyone’s permission to do so. A hashtag is a unique identifier for tweets related to your event, plus it can go in the descriptions of Flickr photos, YouTube videos, etc. Pick something short.
Make sure your followers know to use it; if you can get folks to use it, it will be easier to monitor your event as it occurs (I use hashtags all the time to follow conferences from a distance.)
4) Start thinking visually about coverage. Not a photo or video expert? Don’t let that stop you. Simply think hard about what sort of compelling visual opportunities may be coming up in your event….backstage excitement? Anything you can catch up close in rehearsal? Fun moments at the cotton candy concession? Get that digital point-and-shoot camera in your pocket and remember to use it liberally, including the video function that most of them now have.
Photos and videos are popular and evoke emotion and interest. They really amp up your Facebook Page and can also go up to Twitter via services like TwitPic and TwitVid.
If you have a smartphone, learn ahead of time how to shoot a photo and upload it from the phone to Facebook and Twitter. You can’t beat the ease and convenience of such coverage.
5) Tell your fans and supporters where to find you online. Put it up on posters, at the event entry and exit points, print it out on flyers and the festival map, announce it on the PA – let visitors know that you’d like to hear from them (before, during and after the fun) on Facebook and Twitter, and that they can post their best photos and video to your Wall.
I’ll be speaking at the 2010 TFEA (Texas Festivals and Events Association) annual conference this week about social media for special events; say hello if you see me there, or please leave a comment below if I missed a good tip.
In the continuing effort to convince visitors that the Gulf Coast is worth a trip right now despite horrific oil spill news, the Alabama tourism folks have a new July 4 weekend promotional video featuring chef Lucy Buffett (yes, Jimmy’s sister.)
It has a down-home, “support what you love” feel that I like a lot. Visitors can also consult status reports on the Beach Facts blog.
