Category Archives: Social Media

Mar14

CVBs on Pinterest: March update

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Anne Hornyak

I first blogged about CVBs on Pinterest on February 22. Within these past 3 weeks, the list of US and Canadian CVBs has increased from 34 to 110. The number of international DMOs also increased from 3 to 26 DMOs.

For this post, we’ll just focus on US and Canadian CVBs and DMOs.

One of the more important Pinterest engagement metrics is the number of repins an account receives. This is almost impossible for me to calculate manually as I’d have to look at each pin and tally the numbers for each CVB. This is why I focus mostly on the number of followers and the number of pins. The number of followers can determine an account’s reach while the number of pins shows how active/dedicated the account really is.

As a side note, a few CVBs got a head start and secured their accounts really early in the game. Users followed these accounts even though there was/is little or no activity. This is why I prefer a combination of followers and pins.

It’s no surprise that Visit Savannah is still in the lead in both number of followers and pins. With 12,422 followers, they actually have almost twice the amount of followers of all the other accounts combined (7,151 followers). The second highest is Wyoming Tourism with 775 followers. All the other CVBs have less than 400 followers.

Visit Savannah (1,090 pins) also has over double the amount of pins of any other CVB. The next closest CVB is Visit Salt Lake with 504 pins. Just beyond that are Experience Columbus (442 pins), SeeMonterey (409 pins) and VISIT Milwaukee (399 pins).

Here are the top 25 accounts in terms of followers and pins:

Now let’s look a little deeper. Read the rest of this entry →

Mar13

Adding a Pinterest tab to your Facebook page

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Anne Hornyak

Adding a Pinterest tab to your Facebook page

Pinterest currently does not have an API available but there’s a fairly easy work around to adding your Pinterest account or a single Pinterest board as a tab on your Facebook page.

I found these instructions by Karen Moran and tested them on a Facebook page. Her How to add a Pinterest tab to a Facebook page post walks you through creating a Facebook app and then connecting it to the mobile version of Pinterest, either directing to your entire Pinterest account or specifically to one board. If I can do it, so can you!

Since it’s the mobile version of Pinterest, the tab is a little clunky but it works well and is a great solution until Pinterest’s API is available.

Here’s an example of my test page’s tab, connected to my Pinterest account. Clicking on the board will display the board’s pins within the Facebook tab. From there, you can click on individual pins but that’s where the spacing gets off. You can repin, like, edit (if looking at your account) or even add comments but you have to scroll across to see the entire pin. There also isn’t the option to go back to the board/previous screen so you have to right-click your mouse and hit back. Read the rest of this entry →

Mar12

International DMOs on Pinterest

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Anne Hornyak

International DMOs on Pinterest

Many international DMOs have recently started to use Pinterest as another platform to promote their destinations. Since my list was created in mid-February, there has been a significant increase — from 3 to 26 international DMOs on Pinterest, as of March 10.

Of these 26, there are only 10 DMOs that have solid accounts with 75 or more pins. The chart on the right depicts the top 10 international DMOs with the most pins.

Visit Norway is clearly leading the way with 300 pins, 18 boards and 162 followers.

In terms of number of pins, close behind Visit Norway are the following DMOs: Visit Peak District (299 pins, 15 boards), Visit Trentino (284 pins, 18 boards), Visit Melbourne (236 pins, 9 boards), Visit Abu Dhabi (191 pins, 12 boards), Tourism Vancouver (122 pins, 9 boards), Visit Tuscany (117 pins, 8 boards), Calgary (103 pins, 3 boards), Visit Jordan (98 pins, 13 boards) and Visit London (75 pins, 7 boards).

Below that are 7 DMOs with a decent start (23-43 pins each), 4 DMOs with less than 11 pins each and 5 DMOs that have inactive accounts with 0 pins.

In terms of number of followers, Visit Norway is still at the top with 162 followers.

Behind Visit Norway are the following DMOs: Read the rest of this entry →

Mar11

Pinterest Week

Posted on March 11, 2012 by Anne Hornyak

Pinterest Week

As most of you know, I’ve been dealing with mono for the past 11 weeks. It’s been a slow and frustrating recovery but I’m finally at the point where life is almost normal again. In celebration of this milestone, I’ve spent most of the weekend preparing posts for … wait for it ……. Pinterest Week!

What can you expect from me this week? Well I’m starting the week early and ending it late because there are just too many posts to fit in otherwise. These posts are not going to discuss how to use Pinterest because there are already plenty of those available. My Pinterest posts this week will focus on how the tourism industry uses Pinterest as well tips on how to add it to your current social media efforts.

Here’s the breakdown:

Today’s post is about brands on Pinterest and how you can stand out among all the images.
On Monday we’ll take a look at which international DMOs are using Pinterest and how they stack up. There are charts and even a map so be ready to get your geek on.
On Tuesday you can follow step-by-step instructions to add a Pinterest tab to your Facebook page. Yes, even before the Pinterest API is available.
Wednesday has the biggest post of the week and examines the list of US and Canadian CVBs (and DMOs) on Pinterest. For a refresher, read through the February 22 post. The list of CVBs is now at 110 so you can anticipate some great stats.
On Thursday is an analysis of the US CVBs on Pinterest by state. One state will be crowned as the most Pinteresting.
Friday’s post examines two Pinterest contests and hopefully will inspire you to run a Pinterest contest of your own.
And Saturday’s post will help you pull everything together with some examples of how to promote your Pinterest account as well as other social media channels. Think of it as a Pintegration.

Now let’s get started.

The best way to fully understand something is to watch what others are doing. Since most of you are in the tourism industry, you can take a look at the CVBs on Pinterest but you’ll see a lot of accounts that are doing very similar things. That’s great if you just want to fit it but if you want to stand out, you have to look at the bigger picture. Look at what big brands are doing and then tweak that to work for your destination.

I came across this Brands on Pinterest board several weeks ago and fell in love with it. It was actually the inspiration for my CVBs on Pinterest board. According to a recent blog post, there are over 250 brands on Pinterest and Mashable has listed the most-followed brands on Pinterest. Many of the brands that I’ve looked at have little or no activity which is actually a little disappointing to me. However, there are several brand accounts that stand out. Read the rest of this entry →

Feb22

CVBs on Pinterest

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Anne Hornyak

CVBs on Pinterest

Pinterest has quickly become one of the fastest growing social networks to date. With over 10 million users, this network should be considered as part of an organization’s social strategy. Want more stats? Check out this Pinterest infographic from Mashable or these demographics.

If you’re not familiar with Pinterest, it’s a virtual pinboard for organizing and collecting photos and videos. I’m not going to go in-depth about how to use Pinterest as Mashable put together a nice Beginner’s Guide and there’s also this massive post with instructions, tips and more demographics.

The facts behind CVBs and destinations on Pinterest

Through my research, I found 34 US destinations and 3 International destinations (Croatia, Cuba [does not appear to be the official DMO] and Jordan) with Pinterest accounts. The following comments and stats will only reflect US destinations and are current as of February 21.

There are a total of 5,013 pins and 390 boards from these 34 US destinations. These accounts have “liked” 764 pins and have a combined following of 14,970 followers.

Pins

Savannah has the highest number of pins (751), followed by Columbus (426), Arkansas (354), Monterey (334) and Lake County, IL (306). There are 16 DMOs that have over 100 pins on their account and 18 DMOs with less than 100 pins. My personal opinion is that an account should have at least 300 pins to be taken as a serious Pinterest user.

Boards

For number of boards, Arkansas takes the lead with 33 boards. Behind them are Monterey and Kissimmee, each with 19 boards, and Phoenix and Fargo-Moorhead, each with 18 boards. There are 14 DMOs with 10-17 boards each and 15 DMOs with less than 10 boards each.

As I was researching, I saw many half-filled boards but did not explore the average number of pins each DMO had on their boards. I think each board should have at least 30 pins in order to be useful to Pinterest users.

Likes

Not all DMOs are “liking” pins on Pinterest. This action is not as strong as a repin but is still an easy way to engage with other Pinterest users. There are three DMOs with over 100 likes: Ohio (198), Monterey (178) and Savannah (140). Mesa is the next closest with 86 likes but the majority of the remaining DMOs have less than 10 likes each. In fact, 13 DMOs have 0 likes.

Followers

Visit Savannah has an astounding 12,114 followers alone, leaving a combined total of 2,856 followers among the other 33 destinations. Don’t think that this means there’s an average of 86 followers per destination. There are 5 DMOs with more than 200 followers: Savannah, Wyoming, Corvallis, Indiana and Columbus.

There are 17 DMOs with less than 50 followers each. Most of these accounts are newer to Pinterest. 5 of these 17 DMOs have more than 100 pins each so even though they’re new, they’re very active.

The mother of all Pinterest boards (for the tourism industry)

If you’re as addicted to Pinterest as I am, take a moment and follow some of these DMOs. I’ve created this CVBs on Pinterest board to help. Each pin links to the CVB’s Pinterest account so following your favorite destinations is easy. Read the rest of this entry →

Feb20

QR Codes: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Anne Hornyak

QR Codes: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

QR Codes aren’t new but they’re becoming more mainstream now. Many brands and destinations are using them effectively but users’ expectations are starting to change.

What are they?

A QR Code (Quick Response Code) can be scanned by a smart phone and will take the user to a website, a vCard or compose an email. Most of the uses I’ve seen take users to a website. For some basic QR Code tips, check out this #tourismchat highlights post on QR Codes.

How to use a QR Code

Don’t just slap a code on something. Even though QR Codes are becoming more and more mainstream, it’s essential to provide some type of educational steps for those users who have never seen a QR Code before. Even if it’s a one-liner that says “Scan this with your smart phone.” If you have more room, tell users to download a QR Code reader on their smart phone.

How are brands using them? (the Good)

One of my all-time favorite stores, The Home Depot, uses QR Codes on their flowers and plants. Scanning the code takes you to a site that lists more information about the plant, such as the light, water and spacing needed. Check it out yourself! Click on the photo for a larger image. Read the rest of this entry →

Feb20

Best Practices for Facebook from #tourismchat

Posted on February 20, 2012 by Anne Hornyak

Best Practices for Facebook from #tourismchat

#tourismchat is a twitter chat focused on social media in the tourism industry. Our Nov 3 (2011) chat featured Facebook as the topic.

Even though Facebook is constantly changing (and I’m way behind in my blog), I wanted to share these #tourismchat highlights here. I think a lot of the tweets in this chat can help you build a solid strategy or inspire you to try new things on Facebook.

Q1: Is your page geared towards leisure tourism only? Do you have separate niche pages?

jennrush03 We just have the one page for our CVA that’s mainly leisure travel. Our other 2 facebook pages are for events we run.
scullyano We have one FB page for all leisure, meetings, groups, weddings, etc.
thefrontrowe Our page is predominantly leisure tourism, but also aimed at growing local advocacy.
maddenmedia A1: Facebook works best with B2C markets. Might be best to create a custom B2B app/tab dedicated to a specific niche on 1 page.

Q2: How often do you update your Facebook page? What time? Evenings/weekends too?

emilyforsha Plan is to move toward twice daily, morning and evening.
maddenmedia No more than three times a day, but we strive for one to two posts per day on pages we administer.
bobf_vstpgh We generally update no more than 2-3 times per day and try to keep several hours between posts.

Q3: What tabs do you have on your page? Welcome tab, booking engine, etc. Are you tracking links to these tabs? Read the rest of this entry →