Pure Michigan: Changing The Conversation Using Social Media

Presented to:

Social Mitten

Prepared by:

Chad Wiebesick Director of social media & interactive marketing

Twitter: @WiebesickSeptember 25, 2014

@Wiebesick@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Michigan: Perception Isn’t Reality

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsR0DeY7f1g @Wiebesick #SocialMitten

The Early Years: Weak, Undefined Brand

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

People Don’t Trust Brands

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

People Are Bombarded With Advertising

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Key to Success: Make Fans the Hero and Share Their Content

We empower our fans to become brand ambassadors and tell the story themselves to their friends and family.

Follow the 80/20 rule: 80% is relevant content from fans and 20% is from you (self-promotion).

@Wiebesick @Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Ask Fans To Share Their Travel Stories With You

Reinforce your brand by using the same hashtag and name across all channels.

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Align Your Social Strategy To Your Business Objectives

Brand Goal: “Pure Michigan is majestic, mythic and magical – a place with abundant natural beauty and authentic destinations.”

@Wiebesick@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Pure Michigan Ranks #1 on Instagram

Pure Michigan is the #1 most popular travel brand in the world on Instagram as measured by the number of photos people have hashtagged #PureMichigan, ranking higher than Hawaii, Australia, Museum of Modern Art, Lonely Planet and Carnival Cruise Lines. 

@Wiebesick@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Find Influencers

@TonyDetroit = 300,000 followers and following 311 people

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Engage Influencers

• Select an influencer to serve as an Instagram Guest Photographer at popular events

• Sprint Cup NASCAR race August 21, 2012

• 75 million NASCAR fans nationally

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Instagram Guest Photographer

• Within 20 minutes of posting on Instagram, @TonyDetroit’s photos appear on the Popular Photo Page

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Instagram Guest Photographer • Please do:

– Minimum posts per day: 3– Maximum posts per day: 10– Location to be noted in tag or caption.– Name of photographer to be noted in caption (e.g.

Contributed by guest photographer @username).

• Please do not:– Post photos of explicit content or any activity that

could be deemed illegal– Any item(s) that do not represent the Pure Michigan

brand– Comment to fans or answer questions on behalf of

Pure Michigan

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Takeaway: Find and Reward Your Social Media Superfans

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Oops, He Didn’t Go Through The Logo Request Process

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Michigan Ranks #1 or #2 on More Social Networks Than Any Other

U.S. State

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

New York State Has The Largest Number of Facebook Fans

• Yet, only 0.9% of their fans are talking about the page.• The most popular age group are 13-17 year old teenagers.• Most of their fans live in New York City.

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

State of Florida Has Far Fewer Fans, But More Engaged

• Average age of fans are 35-54, a demographic more likely to have budget to travel.

• Most fans live in out-of-state, a more lucrative traveler.

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Takeaway: It’s Quality Not Quantity of Fans That’s Important

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Dec 6, 11:49 am

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

TravelWisconsin.com

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Dec 6, 2:45 pm

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Dec 6, 7:17 pm

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

What, If Anything, Do We Do?

• 1 tweet

• 11 retweets

• 1 story in Kalamazoo Gazette

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Dec 7, 11:45 am WhoIsTheRealMittenState.com

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Dec 7, 4:43 pmStatewide News

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Dec 7, 7:23 pmWisconsin Releases Another Mitten

Travel Wisconsin put up a new version of the mitten in the green and gold of the Green Bay Packers, boasting the football team's unbeaten record and ribbing their rivals, the 7-5 Detroit Lions.

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

“Is Michigan or Wisconsin the Mitten State?”Google AdWords

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Dec 7, 10:20 pmNational News

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Dec 13

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

The Mitten Drive Prompted More Conversations

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Dec 14, 2:20 International News

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Results:•Over 300 news stories from state, national and international radio, newspaper and TV •396 million media impressions•$17.7 million in earned media value

Takeaway: Utilize real time content marketing to be timely, relevant and to resonate with audiences

Within 15 minutes of Super Bowl 2013 grinding to a halt because the lights went out, Oreo sent this tweet.

Generated 15,000 retweets and 8,000 new Twitter followers.

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

BONUS: Name Michigan’s Great New Trail

• Michigan has more total trail miles than any other state.

• 2,000 mile trail from Belle Isle to Ironwood in the U.P.

• Submit your name to Facebook.com/MiDNR before Oct 13

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

BONUS: One Simple Thing Increased Social Traffic To Our Website by 188%

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Most popular state tourism web site in U.S. in 2013, seventh year in a row

1. michigan.org 5.68% market share

2. Virginia 5.21%3. Florida 5.00%4. Arkansas 4.86%5. Hawaii 4.56%6. Oklahoma 3.63%7. N. Carolina 3.37%8. Colorado 3.32%9. Minnesota 2.84%

Source: Experian Hitwise

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Most Popular Blog Story in 2014

This blog story received four times more traffic than the homepage of michigan.org.

Michigan.org had its biggest one-day spike in traffic in three months.

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Story Went Viral On Social Media

• 48% of traffic is “direct” vs 33% of traffic is “social”

• Really? It can’t be direct traffic because the story is too new for people to bookmark, and the URL too long for people to remember.

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Google Is Under Reporting Facebook Traffic by 40%

By default, Google erroneously and automatically attributes traffic from mobile apps like Facebook and Twitter as being “direct”.

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Use Google Analytics URL Builder To Track Social Traffic

Create unique tracking URL’s to properly credit social media mobile app traffic arriving at your website. http://www.michigan.org

Becomes

http://www.michigan.org?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=post

Becomes

http://www.puremi.ch/1kLHW4U

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Now, Our Social Traffic Is Properly Attributed

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten

Thank You

• Chad Wiebesick

• wiebesickc@michigan.org

• Twitter: @wiebesick

• Facebook.com/cwiebesick

• Linkedin.com/in/wiebesick

• (517) 335-1083

@Wiebesick #SocialMitten