Author Archives: Anne Hornyak

About Anne Hornyak

Tourism professional. Social media strategist. Amateur photographer. Washed-up flute rockstar. Owner to 2 birddogs. #tourismchat cofounder. Short-sentence writer. Hashtag abuser.
Mar26

The Future Mrs. Swoboda

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The Future Mrs. Swoboda

Sushi, a ring and a dinosaur. Perfection.

March 6, 2013. Itto Sushi – the location of our first date. Dave reserved the exact same table and arranged every detail of the big moment. Our dinner came out of the kitchen with a dinosaur on the platter with a small velvet bag and a ring box hanging from T-rex’s mouth.

He read me the most beautiful letter, got down on his knee and proposed. I said yes, of course.

I cannot wait to be Mrs. Dave Swoboda.

I'm a lucky girl!

Mar25

State DMOs on Pinterest: March update

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State DMOs on Pinterest: March update

CVBs are doing a great job on Pinterest but are the US state DMOs keeping up?

Kind of.

Out of the 46 state DMOs on Pinterest, 12 accounts were inactive last month and didn’t pin one single image from February 6 – March 4, 2013. And then an additional 7 DMOs that pinned 5 images or less during that same period. There were only 7 inactive accounts the previous month. Is this trend growing? Are DMOs losing interest in Pinterest?

Not all of them! Here are the most active state DMOs on Pinterest:

  1. Georgia – pinned 248 images (from February 6 – March 4)
  2. Texas – 144 pins
  3. Tennessee – 132 pins
  4. Ohio – 49 pins
  5. Missouri – 48 pins
  6. Nebraska – 42 pins
  7. South Dakota – 41 pins
  8. Arizona – 41 pins
  9. Maryland – 38 pins
  10. Utah – 33 pins

State DMOs typically have gained a decent amount of followers in a short period of time once they start promoting their account across their other social channels. The average state gains approx 50-150 followers each month. You’ll notice below that being an active pinner doesn’t always result in a strong growth in followers. For example, Hawaii gained 202 followers but did not pin any images in the same period of time.

Here are the top DMOs that gained the most followers from February 6 – March 4: Read the rest of this entry →

Mar15

CVBs on Pinterest: March 2013

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CVBs on Pinterest: March 2013

It’s been an ENTIRE year since I started tracking CVBs on Pinterest! Can you believe it? Me neither.

Since my first update (February 22, 2012), there has been amazing growth in the number of pinning CVBs.

On Feb 22, 2012, there were-

  • 34 US destinations
  • 3 international destinations
  • 8,041 pins
  • 640 boards
  • 15,575 total followers

On March 4, 2013, there were-

  • 437 US destinations
  • 209 international destinations
  • 150,094 pins
  • 6,992 boards
  • 1,594,531 total followers

Visit Savannah was considered as the leader back then and is still the leader in many ways today.

Here’s a full ranking of all US destinations.

And here’s a ranking of the US State DMOs.

Is your CVB on the list? Is it on my CVBs on Pinterest board? If not, leave a comment below!

Happy Pinning!

Feb12

CVBs on Pinterest: February Update

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CVBs on Pinterest: February Update

2013 got off to a great start on Pinterest. Many CVBs have seen incredible growth in followers and are being more strategic about their Pinterest efforts.

Los Angeles (18K followers) is starting to catch up to VisitSavannah Georgia (21K followers). Colorado Tourism, Beverly Hills, Visit Austin Texas and Pure Michigan all have over 5K followers each (as of Feb 12).

Fan Growth: number of new followers gained in January

Activity: number of images pinned in January

Total Followers: number of total followers, as of Feb 6

Leave a comment if your CVB is not in my rankings or on my CVBs on Pinterest board. What are you doing to pin more effectively?

Jan3

CVBs on Pinterest: January Update

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CVBs on Pinterest: January Update

2012 closed with 420 US CVBs and DMOs on Pinterest!

I posted a lot of stats last month so let’s just get into the ranking!

If you’re interested in how the State DMOs compare, check out this list:

And as always, if you know of any CVBs not on my CVBs on Pinterest board, please let me know!

Dec27

Things I learned this week: Dec 27

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Things I learned this week: Dec 27

Can you believe that 2012 is almost over?

  1. This year has flown by. I spent a third of it in bed with mono and have been trying to make up for lost time.
  2. I’ve almost entirely given up my music – playing and teaching flute lessons. It makes me sad but there are other priorities above it now.
  3. And most importantly, I met the love of my life halfway through this year. Along with Dave came 3 lovely nieces and a nephew, who have also stolen my heart.
  4. Pin of the week:

Dec20

Bourbon Balls

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Bourbon Balls

One of my newer Christmas traditions is to make Bourbon Balls and now you can make them too!

I typically quadruple this recipe, mostly because a large bag of walnuts can be divided into this ratio. You might want to start with only a single or double batch at first as they’re a little time-consuming to make.

Bourbon Balls ~ Delicious!

Bourbon Balls

  • 1 – 6 oz package semi-sweet chocolate chips (half a bag)
  • 3 Tbsp light corn syrup
  • 1/2 cup sugar + more to coat balls at end
  • 1/3 cup bourbon whiskey (or orange juice)
  • 1 cup walnuts, ground or chopped finely
  • 1 – 14 oz box vanilla wafers, crushed finely
  1. Grind / chop walnuts and vanilla wafers. (I use a food processor.)
  2. Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler.
  3. Add corn syrup and sugar. Stir well.
  4. Blend in bourbon.
  5. Stir in wafers and walnuts (I stir them in by batches as my double boiler is small. You probably could transfer the mixture to a large bowl before this step.)
  6. Form into 1-inch balls.
  7. Roll balls in sugar.
  8. Let ripen in tightly covered container for 4-5 days.

Read the rest of this entry →