Dave Serino Blogs

"How Social is Your State DMO?" - January 2010 Rankings

 The January 2010 rankings of “How Social is Your State DMO?” have been completed and they are published here. 

A few notes on the rankings:

-For the third consecutive time, Michigan is number one followed by Tennessee, who moved up four spots. Oregon dropped one spot to number three, Virginia moved up from six to secure fourth place and Pennsylvania rounds out the top five.

- Movers of note include:  Tennessee, who is at number two from 6th place; Virginia, who moved from 7th place to 4th; and Colorado which is now ranked 6th, moving up from 13th place; New York has vaulted from 32nd  to 16th place; Oklahoma has gone from 37th to 24th place and Massachusetts from 46th to 33rd.

- Colorado gets acknowledged for being the most improved. The state has made the biggest moves since the rankings started in July of 2009.  They opened in the 29th spot, moved up to 17, then 13 and, in January they hit the 6 spot. Congrats!

To view the full rankings for January 2010 with a sharing friendly link, visit: http://budurl.com/HowSocialStateDMO4

Please keep the comments and feedback coming, as we will continue to consider them in future measurements.

The next state DMO study will be done in April.  We haven’t seen drastic changes in the monthly evaluations, so we have decided to conduct the state tourism office evaluations quarterly. For more info be sure to follow Dave Serino on Twitter: @GammetGuy and fan Gammet Interactive on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/Gammet

"How Social is Your State DMO?" - September 2009 Rankings

The September rankings of “How Social is Your State DMO?” have been completed and they are published here.  We continue to receive excellent feedback and increasing interest in the rankings. And, we have seen several DMO’s enhance and improve their social position since the initial rankings- which is very encouraging.  Please keep the comments and feedback coming, as we will continue to consider them in future measurements.

Regarding the process, our statement saying that “social media is continually changing and evolving” was validated again this month.  So, in response to that evolution, we made the following adaptations:

-Panoramio changed the way that they count photos and display search results. In response to that, we incorporated Google Maps image display following a state keyword search into our formula on this report–replacing the original Panoramio scoring.  

-There were also some difficulties with the Hubspot Facebook Grader tool and we could not get consistent results.  Because we didn’t have an alternative, we eliminated it from the formula–hopefully for this month only.

In line with last month, the evaluations and measurements were done over a 4-day period 

A few updates on the rankings:

-For the second consecutive month, Michigan is number one followed by Pennsylvania and Oregon – both deadlocked at number two.

- Movers include Nevada vaulting from number 10 to a new spot at 4; Illinois moving into 7th place from 16; and a big leap from Utah, jumping from 30 all the way to number 12.

To view the full rankings for September 2009, link to http://budurl.com/HowSocialStateDMO3

And, another item to note. When we did our first rankings in July, only 19 DMOs had links to their official social media outlets from their home page. In the September rankings, we found 31 DMOs with links or icons to their specific social media outlets – an increase of 63% in a three month period. Only 19 DMOs are left who haven’t recognized their organization’s official social media presence on the front page of the web site.  This is one simple enhancement that can make a world of difference for online consumers.

We will be posting the next ranking in early November – prior to DMAI’s Destination Management and Marketing Institute, November 11-13. The conference will feature a special e-Marketing/Social Media education track for the second consecutive year.  More on the conference can be found here.  You can still register to attend or follow the event on Twitter by using the hashtag - #DMMI09

"How Social is Your State DMO?" - August 2009 Rankings

The August rankings of “How Social is Your State DMO?” have been completed and they are published here.  We have had some great feedback on the initial rankings and we would like to thank everyone for their interest. Please keep the comments coming, as they will continue to be factors in future measurements.

Initial updates:

-The ranking formula weight was adjusted to recognize the continued growth of Facebook and Flickr. 

-In-links to the site were added as a measurement into the formula and we utilized the Yahoo search engine to measure them.

-All of the evaluations and measurements were done over a 4-day period 

A few updates on the rankings:

-Michigan is the new number one. The in-links measurement, growth in their Facebook Fan page and the addition of a blog all helped them vault from #7 to #1.

-Michigan lead with way with in-links back to its michigan.org domain with more than 250,000.

-Michigan has a large lead in Facebook, followed by Tennessee and Nevada.

-Arizona leads the way in Twitter, followed by Oregon and Indiana.

-Several states were tied for the number one spot in Flickr with a score of 18. We will continue to evaluate and adjust the scoring weight on Flickr as it is the largest in pure volume of content.

-Florida and Michigan were tied for the top spot on YouTube presence.

For the full rankings, link to - http://budurl.com/HowSocialStateDMO2   

Now, on to a few disclaimers:

-Gammet Interactive is a Michigan based organization, but does not directly consult on or work on any of the social media programs conducted by the state of Michigan or any of the other 49 states.

-If we missed a state’s presence on a specific social media site, the measurement may have come before the organization had a presence on that site or we could not locate the specific page or link. Please forward us the link and we will happy to include it in the next ranking.

This is also called social media for a reason. Your thoughts and comments are important as we tweak the process.  Looking forward to hearing from you! 

How Social is Your Michigan DMO?

Based on our “How Social is Your State DMO?” platform, we have compiled the first rankings for the state of Michigan.  

All 48 Convention and Visitors Bureaus in the state were evaluated and ranked.  One key item to conducting an accurate measurement is the window of time window which the evaluation takes place. We are working hard to improve efficiencies and have ranked this group in a 10-day period, compared to the 21-day period of the first state DMO study.  The future goal will be to complete the measurement in 3-days or less to be sure it is as accurate as possible.

As far as the Michigan rankings go, here are a few highlights:

- Grand Rapids – www.visitgrandrapids.org – has secured the number one spot, edging Detroit – www.visitdetroit.com - by 9 points.

- The Upper Pennisula – www.uptravel.com – has significant traction in terms of Facebook presence, soaring above all other state destinations.

- Grand Rapids - www.visitgrandrapids.org – and Lansing – www.lansing.org – lead the way on Twitter.

- Grand Rapids – www.vsitgrandrapids.org – and the Upper Pennisula – www.uptravel.com - both scored well on Flickr.

- Detroit – www.visitdetroit.com – has a commanding lead in YouTube videos.

- Sault Ste. Marie – www.saultstemarie.com – and Grand Rapids – www.visitgrandrapids.org - scored the highest in terms of blog presence.

To view the entire “How Social is Your Michigan DMO?” study and rankings, visit this link - http://budurl.com/HowSocialMIDMO .

UPDATE-8/19: The rankings for the Ann Arbor CVB were modified to recognize their blog presence through their news feed and updates section. We have acknowledged this information as adequate content with other organizations and want to remain consistent in this set of rankings.

How Social is Your State DMO?

Over the past year, I’ve received countless questions about “Which tourism organization does the best social media marketing?”  After reviewing the social media presence of many state, local and regional destination marketing organizations, I could never reach a conclusion on who does it best.  What I found was, many organizations do some things really well, but there were very few organizations that do everything well.

In response to that continual query, I worked out a 12-point algorithm with more than 28 different categories to measure.  The primary points were chosen and weighted due to the social media outlet popularity and its impact on tourism.  

We then attempted to apply the algorithm to all of the official destination marketing organizations in the country. What we found was, without specific urls, page links on sites like YouTube, or user names on Twitter, the scale of that project was not realistic.  We were spending too much unproductive search time without accurate results.

We then chose a clear subset of data, the 50 official state tourism offices. Hence the title, “How Social is Your State DMO?”  Even though we had a clear target, many organizations still either did not have an official social media presence recognized on their web sites or did not have a presence on the social media outlets we measured.  In an effort to confirm the organization’s social media presence, we  set up a consistent, four-step search process with relative keywords in an attempt to find the “the official YouTube page of the destination”.  

After a measurement period of 21-days and a few weeks of checks and re-checks, we came up with our rankings.  If you follow this link- http://budurl.com/HowSocialStateDMO -you will be able to see the rankings we developed for the top 50 state tourism offices and see the scores recorded for each individual state in our “How Social is Your State DMO?” project.

Now, on to a few quick disclaimers.  If we missed a state’s presence on a specific social media site, the measurement may have come before the organization had a presence on that site or we could not locate the specific page or link.  It would be nice if we could begin developing a comprehensive list of all social media outlet pages that can be shared with colleagues and peers.  

We don’t claim that this is the one and only “report” or “ranking”.  We think it may be the first published comprehensive measurement for destinations’ presence on social media sites, but it is just the beginning.  Each time we do this, the algorithm will need to be adjusted based on growth and I am sure we will add or change some of the measurement criteria.  We have a lot of ideas on how this can be done with convention and visitors bureaus, hotels and resorts; but it can’t be done without your feedback and input.   It is called social media for a reason and your thoughts and comments are important as we tweak the process.  Looking forward to hearing from you!

E-Marketing Insight Program - Day One Preview

We’re in Providence and getting ready to kick-off the 5th Annual e-Marketing Insight Conference at the Renaissance Hotel – kind of a cool property, an old Masonic Temple converted to a hotel.

     

I had the great pleasure to work with about 20 destination marketers yesterday afternoon during a segment on Strategic Internet Marketing at the Certified Destination Management Executive program. We tackled a number of issues, but the underlying theme was to understand what is available to you in terms of online marketing and social media, and then, determine what fits into the profile of your visitor.    One thing was very clear - due to the multiple mediums, segmentations are shrinking and marketers have to work very hard to meet the consumer’s needs.  The vast majority of the group acknowledges the direction we discussed is very accurate, but there are struggles with execution, proper budget allocations and internal staffing limitations.   I came across an article this morning that complements our discussion.

The e-Marketing Insight program officially begins at 1:00 pm on Wednesday.  David Bratton and Erin Francis Cummings, of Destination Analysts will lead-off the conference.  They  are making the cross-country journey from San Francisco to talk about online travel trends and explain the process of consumer web site usability studies.   David will provide some additional insight on the semi-annual State of the American Traveler Report and discuss other trends influencing online travel planning.   Erin will provide attendees with a live version of a consumer usability study – which may be an tourism educational conference first .  Attendees will have the opportunity to see consumers work through a destination web site in real-time. 

The second session will be conducted by Tania Leichliter, of AdGenuity Marketing Solutions, Inc. which is located in nearby Boston, MA.    Based on her experience at Travelocity and current knowledge built in her own consulting practice, Tania will teach attendees how to effectively deliver their destination’s online marketing message through advertising and partnerships – along with some key advice on working with networks and online agencies.

Blog updates will becoming live from the conference tomorrow afternoon , along with some "tweets".   We will list some of the other Twitter user names tomorrow so you can follow us from where ever you are.  Looking forward to Day 1! 

e-Marketing Insight Conference Next Week in Providence, RI

Next Wednesday, we will kick-off the e-Marketing Insight Conference in Providence, RI.  It will be the fifth consecutive year we've conducted the program.   Each year, the conference content and presentations evolve to cover the most pressing trends in online travel marketing.  

This will continue in 2008.   The program will have six different presentations, featuring eight presenters. The content will include web site usability, online advertising, analytics, online travel trends and social media.   Well known DMO world speaker, Bill Geist, will close out the program with the the DMO Web 2.0 Awards, highlighting some of the best practices in online destination marketing.

The conference will also be held in conjunction with the Destination Marketing Association International's Annual Marketing and Management Institute.  This will give attendees the option to attend additional sessions and enjoy group meals with colleagues and networking activities.

Registration is open to all DMO's - state and local - will be open through the end of this week.   We won't be leaving a light on for you, but we are more than happy to hold a seat for you.  Visit this link to register.

And, if you can't make it, be sure to stop by the blog for updates through the conference.  I will be postings session recaps, some interviews and photos.   There will also be additional "Tweets" throughout the conference.  Follow us on Twitter - "GammetGuy".

Events and Attractions Selling Rooms

A few weeks ago, I did some work with a well-branded hotel located in a not so well-branded destination.  The challenge posed to me was the return on the organization’s online marketing investment.  Low clicks, low conversions, non-existent ROI.  Was it the creative, the offer, the content?  Maybe, it was all three.

The primary message delivered in the initial ad was a great weekend rate,  at a very nice hotel in a not so great destination.  Now, let’s not take the destination to task. The more we dug, the more we found fun and exciting things to see and do.   And, one lesson that I have learned from my past experience, travelers will venture into new and uncertain places where unique opportunities await.    So, we started with making some changes in the ad content.  We decided that the best option would be to theme the offer  around specific activities available in the city that were fresh and exciting - then we introduced the pricing.

Next, we spruced up the landing page, incorporating photos of the event/attraction with like-people enjoying these activities.  We also added links on the page that were directed to the event/attraction web site.    After all the selling was complete on the landing page, we presented the offer and call to action.   To date, we are seeing a 31% increase from the initial campaign in click throughs from the ads to the landing page.  The organization has also seen an increase in click throughs from the landing page to the reservations engine.  All of this was a result of changing the primary focus of the message from the hotel specific rate to a promotion that was centered on an event/attraction.

Another interesting case study – with very similar methodology – is noted here.   Enter Grandlife – a  New York City guide for creative locals and guests of the Soho Grand and Tribeca Grand Hotels.   A web site and monthly e-newsletter done by the hotels, but promoting the destination – first!  What a concept!  This is unique in many ways:

• It breaks the hotel/resort industry mentality that people are traveling to the hotel first – destination second.  We all know it is common sense and there are only a few places where you travel to stay at a hotel, but as you saw in my earlier example, it is a reality.
• It is real progressive thinking – especially for being a unique, boutique hotel in top-tier destination.  The Soho and Tribeca Grand are two of those few hotels on a list of hip Manhattan must stays, but they are not resting on their laurels. They are using an effective strategy to stay top of mind with the consumer.
• Fresh, monthly content utilized in more places than one.  Not only are they distributing this content via an e-newsletter, but with the GrandLife site they are also providing the search engine bots with new, keyword dense content that fits very well into the algorithms and raises page rankings.

The results are better-educated consumers who are more familiar with the travel product and additional avenues to reach new consumers.   As a hotel, this may be an approach to consider for future marketing and sales promotions.  It works well alone, in partnership with sister hotels in the same destination or in co-operation with the local DMO web site.

Philly's Streaming Podcasts

The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp. and local CBS news radio station affiliate KYW-AM have partnered to launch “Hearphilly.com” -  a combination of KYW podcasts and reports from the tourism marketing agency.   The Internet broadcasts include several well-known KYW news reporters and will be updated daily with reports on events and attractions in the Philadelphia area.

A very interesting play in the tourism industry for a few reasons.  The practical reasons are the distribution opportunities and online traffic.   Try searching your favorite city and see how the local media outlets dominate the results.   And, when I do web site statistical analysis programs for DMO’s, media outlets frequently rank very high on the list of referring domains.

Then you have the coolness factor. High quality, streaming podcasts of your destination running world-wide, 24-7.  Way to Go Phila!  BTW – must admit I’m a bit bias, as it is the birthplace of yours truly!