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.
There are a lot of different ways to call attention to your destination or attraction using video, so I’d like to start highlighting some of them on this blog to give you ideas and inspiration.
I found the video below on StumbleUpon, a public bookmarking site where people can literally “stumble upon” content (and share a thumbs up/down) by pushing a button on a tool bar.
Lovely people doing a silly dance and making their destination look like fun; why not? There’s even a mildly racy hot springs romance moment that the average CVB in the US wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole, but which I rather enjoyed.
You know I’m getting a bit more into video production for CVBs and tourism organizations, and I want to ensure that you understand how important it is to optimize your video content for SEO (Search Engine Optimization.)
I’ve been working with my local Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (CVB) in Round Rock, Texas to create some fun videos that give a personality to the city.
As I discussed in my post Look before you leap into HD video, it’s been a bit of a learning curve to “up my game,” but we’re just about there and today I uploaded the first three videos in a series that we’ll be producing for the foreseeable future.
The video below (here’s the direct link) is an interview with our Mayor. It has a few glitches that my perfectionist self wrestled with, but I’m reasonably happy with it and wanted to share it with you.
My business partner Becky McCray and I spent a few minutes during the South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) tech conference getting social with Jennifer Navarrete and Luis Sandoval, Jr. of the Tech in Twenty show.
Please excuse my apparent cud-chewing; I was popping throat lozenges to avoid coughing during the taping. Although I don’t get sick very often, the annual March SXSWi nerd whirlwind always seems to do me in. :)
The direct link to the show is here if you can’t see the box below. Thanks very much to Tech in Twenty for having us stop by, and to the ever-charming Albert Maruggi for being the videographer for this episode.
