Ever wondered how social media can be used for more than posting selfies or animal videos? If used correctly, social media can take the sights and sounds of a tourism destination or event and market it to thousands — if not millions — of people within a few hours..
“Get Your Geek On,” a workshop at Rural Round-Up 2017 presented by Catherine J. Heeg of Customized Management Solutions, showed that using social media platforms to create content is simple, effective, creates relationships and can reach potential customers.
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Videos are probably the most viewed type of content, said Heeg. In just a few minutes a story can be told that is emotional, provides a solution, and includes the right touches of humor, quirky ideas and surprise to help it get shared a thousand times over.
The tools are in our pockets, Heeg explained, as smartphones photograph and record video that can be transformed into short videos by apps such as Flip A Gram, Adobe Spark and Magisto.
“Right now, video is the hottest thing going,” Heeg said. “Any type of video you produce, whether it is 360 video or from still images, it will get you more reach and engagement” and it’s easy to produce.
Every week “78 percent view video online” while 55 percent view video every day, said Heeg. It can be used across many platforms to get the most mileage out of it.
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Depending on the strategy for some tourism spots, if there are diverse audiences, different streams can be created to reach a specific target, Heeg explained.
Among the social media platforms, Heeg described Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat, the latter of which is gaining use among larger companies recently because of its younger target audience, said Heeg.
“As we look to the future, there’s some really cool things happening out there,” Heeg said.
Guy Clifton of Travel Nevada already uses Facebook to get messages out about current events, and learned about some new apps he can use from the workshop.
“It’s something that’s evolving,” Clifton said. “Museums and other agencies are starting to see the value of it.”
Clifton also noted that people recognize if sites are maintained well or not at all. “So it can be really effective, but you have to do constant upkeep on it and stay active,” he said. “People notice that.”
Northeastern Nevada Museum Director Donald Westfall also attended the workshop and said he saw there were more opportunities to provide “more interesting visuals” on their Facebook page.
“We could be more active with it, is the impression I’m getting from this,” Westfall added. “There are more components that I have not utilized.
Rural Round-Up concludes Friday morning with a general session and breakfast buffet and a workshop titled “What’s New at the Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs” starting at 8 a.m. at the Elko Convention Center.
Guest Authored By Toni R. Milano. Toni is a Journalist for the Elko Daily Free Press. A 5 day per week newspaper with news and coverage of Elko County, Nevada. Follow Toni on Twitter.
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“Rural Round-Up concludes Friday morning with a general session and breakfast buffet and a workshop titled..
“What’s New at the Department of Tourism and Cultural Affairs” starting at 8 a.m. at the Elko Convention Center..”
Authored by:Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at GetMoreHere.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends. My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)
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