The story of our Super Bowl Social Media Campaign that got 2.4 million people talking

Posted: January 31st, 2011

This is the story about the ‘Mystery Man’ campaign we ran on behalf of the Dallas Convention & Visitors Bureau last week. It’s a story of the power of social media, passionate communities and bringing people together. We knew it was a great idea but the results exceeded our wildest imagination.

Background

Social Media is about sharing and bringing people together. When the Dallas CVB asked us to design a campaign around Super Bowl XLV we thought ‘Why not use social media to get people talking to each other about Dallas?’.

At Think! Social Media, we work with the concept of passionate communities. These are groups of people connected through a shared passion. Engage a passionate community in the right way by offering something remarkable, and they will do the marketing for you through word-of-mouth.

The Big Idea

Needless to say, every NFL team has an extremely passionate community… and offering a chance to win Super Bowl tickets is pretty remarkable. Remarkable enough get people out into the street talking to each other.

We decided to send a Mystery Man to each city of the teams who made it to the Super Bowl. The first person to find the Mystery Man and tell him the secret phrase,  ‘Have you been to Dallas lately?’ would instantly win tickets to the big game, 4 nights accommodation, tickets to the NFL experience and some cash towards travel.

The Process

We researched NFL and travel/lifestyle bloggers in each city and asked them if they would like to participate.  As “Exclusive Bloggers”, their role would be to share daily clues about the location of the Mystery Man.  We were careful in choosing bloggers that have strong social media presences and very engaged readers.  We chose 5 in Green Bay and 4 in Pittsburgh.  Their role was crucial in tapping into the existing communities and raising awareness about the campaign.

The clues tied in to imagery and facts about attractions in Dallas and became increasingly specific as the weekend went on.   By printing the clues on photos they were easy to share through Twitter, and were eye-catching on the blogs and Facebook.

The secret password could only be revealed by ‘liking’ the Visit Dallas Facebook Fan Page.  A campaign Twitter account (@DallasSBHunt) was created to coordinate all activities, answer questions and share the latest updates.  In addition two hashtags (#SBHuntGB and #SBHuntPGH) were introduced to facilitate discussion around the contest.

Results

Sunday

The conference finals were played on Sunday January 23. We were prepared for each of the 4 cities. At the end of Sunday we knew the contest would run in Green Bay and Pittsburgh.

Monday

We finalized the details of the contest and sent out materials to the bloggers so they could prepare their first blog posts announcing the contest.  At this time we activated the contest tab on the Visit Dallas fan page which only had 600 fans.

Tuesday

By noon, the bloggers in each city had announced the contest.

Green Bay: Total Packers, Brent Farvre, Packers Club, Purple Pants Green Jersey, All Green Bay Packers

Pittsburgh: IheartPGH, Steelers Gab, Pittsburgh Sports and Mini Ponies

Slowly the word started to spread.  At the end of Tuesday, the fanpage had grown to over 1,000 fans and the followers of the campaign Twitter account began to grow.

Wednesday/Thursday

We continued to build awareness over the next few days. By carefully listening in on Twitter, tapping in to relevant communites and joining the conversations where appropriate we were able to rapidly spread word of the contest. By Thursday, traditional media had gotten wind of what we were up to and a few stations began to report on the contest on the the nightly news.  By the end of Thursday over 3000 people had liked the Visit Dallas page.

Friday

At 9am the Exclusive Bloggers announced their first clues and the contest began.  We quickly learned that we had struck gold in both cities. The streets were full of people searching for our Mystery Man, many tweeting as they went and following along on Facebook.  By Friday @DallasSBHunt was trending in both Pittsburgh and Green Bay.

Best of all, two whole cities were out on the streets talking to each other about Dallas.

That night, the hunt for the Dallas Mystery Man was the headline news on all the local stations. The Visit Dallas Fan Page had grown to 8,000 fans and the campaign Twitter account had well over 1500 followers.

Saturday

We were lucky that Friday’s clues had been vague enough for our Mystery Men to keep from getting caught, but by Saturday the amount of people on the street made it significantly more difficult to make it through the city unnoticed.

Just after noon our Mystery Man in Green Bay was found and not long after our man in Pittsburgh was caught as well.

The hunt was over, but the ride wasn’t. The winners were invited on news shows and the winner in Green Bay was invited on Breakfast TV the next day. Countless blogs, websites, radio stations and news papers were reporting on the contest and its winners.

Sunday and beyond

The winners in Green Bay turned out to be a very nice couple who are homeless and live in a local shelter. They were invited on Fox 11′s morning show to tell their story.  Shorty thereafter CNN picked up the story and we had reports from our contacts all over North America (even as far as Australia) who saw the campaign on the news.

The Results

We definitely succeeded in getting people talking about Dallas. We also proved that when you run a Social Media campaign within passionate communities, you don’t need a big media budget.  And, if the community is passionate enough, you’ll even make it on the news.

We grew the Visit Dallas Fan Page by almost 10,000 fans in three days. The fanpage received about 100,000 pageviews and generated over 500,000 news feed impressions.

But what we’re most proud of is the incredible positive reaction from the people in Green Bay and Pittsburgh. We received many messages from individuals telling Dallas how much they enjoyed the weekend.

We want to thank the Dallas CVB for giving us the opportunity to execute our crazy idea and give a big thank you to all the local bloggers and the great people of Green Bay and Pittsburgh. May the best team win on Sunday!

Posted in By William Bakker, Facebook, Remarkable stories, Social Media | 13 Comments »

Painted rocks can be remarkable

Posted: January 26th, 2011

I recently visited my mum in Australia at her new home in Port Macquarie.  When you walk around the coastal walking track, not only do you get to experience amazing views of the ocean, beaches and surf but there’s also huge painted rocks lining the path.

For years, people have been leaving their mark on the rocks.  Each one is brightly coloured with messages and pictures relating to peoples’ visits.  Here’s a photo of the sea wall on Flickr.  Over time, the paint fades and someone else takes their turn on the rock.  It’s kind of like a Facebook Fan Page Wall.

Here’s the rock I painted with my girlfriend, Lily and my neice, Sophie.  I painted the kiteboarder and they thought it was appropriate that there should be a shark chasing him… I disagree.

Not only is this tradition remarkable but it also gives people something to talk about after their trip.  How many people do you think take a photo of their rock and share it with their friends and family?  If you’re interested in some other examples of remarkable traditions, have a look at William Bakker’s blog on the power of traditions as a motivator for travel.

Do you have a remarkable travel story?

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Posted in By Rodney Payne, Remarkable stories | No Comments »

Social Media ROI in 2 Minutes.

Posted: January 22nd, 2011

I was looking over the new Post Cards Tab on the Cook Islands Fanpage when I saw this post from a fellow traveler. I thought of my friend who is a guru of the South Pacific Region and added her email into my reply.

Julie meet Julie. She thanked me for assisting her. I was happy to. Why most of what social media is about … conversations that help us get information that we are looking for.

This is the reply from my friend who is the travel agent.

Julie's Response

Why not? I try to help my friends in the offline world, why wouldn’t I in the online world, right?

To the Julie’s I hope it all works out. I will keep everyone posted to see if it works out.

It took two minutes. It would have been shorter but it took a minute to find Julie’s work email.

Does anyone else have a similar story?

Ben


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Posted in By Ben Vadasz, Facebook, Social Media | No Comments »

Building a Facebook Page: Four lessons learned at Mile Zero

Posted: January 19th, 2011

We asked Dustin Bodnyark from Tourism Dawson Creek to share his experiences with Facebook. The following is a guest blog from Dustin:

In October I had the opportunity to share with some of my tourism colleagues at the BC Tourism Industry Conference on some of the early successes of our Facebook page as part of the Think! Social Media workshop.  The following is a short overview of lessons learned and a few take aways to consider when deciding to build your own online community through Facebook.

1) Name the Page: One of the most important first steps is choosing what you’re going to name your Facebook Page.  When doing this ask yourself a couple of things, first what is the visitor interested in and who do they want to follow; a destination, or a tourism organization.  For us we debated on a number of names (1) Dawson Creek, BC, (2) Tourism Dawson Creek, (3) Mile 0 Alaska Highway.  At the end we opted for ‘Mile 0 Alaska Highway’ for a number of reasons.  The name had a further international reach with the inclusion of Alaska Highway in the title.  The Alaska Highway is what our visitors are most passionate about. Mile 0 Alaska Highway had the best search engine optimization (SEO) amongst the three choices.

2) Target a Niche Market: Don’t try to be everything to everyone or your fans will become disengaged.  The visitor wants relevant information.  In Dawson Creek , we target those who are interested in learning more about the Alaska Highway and we engage with people who have already completed the trip.  So far, one of our favourite fans is a 72-year-old grandmother from Florida, who provides insights on a daily basis.  This also helps to dispel the myth that only young people are on face book.

3)   Time Management: This is the question I get asked most: How much time does it take and how do I fit it into my already-busy schedule.

At Tourism Dawson Creek, we spend 30 minutes a day on Facebook.  Half first thing in the morning, and the other half right after lunch.  Not a lot of time when you think about it!  As William Bakker wrote in an earlier blog posting, “consumers are already talking about your destination or product online, so what are you doing to engage them.”

4) Be real: As destination marketers we are used to working in an environment where everything has to be glossy and polished.  We use professional photos, HD video, graphic designers, professional writers to write story content, and the list goes on.  This is not the case anymore, the visitor wants real conversation not something that is rehearsed and static, they want to see pictures and video clips that other visitors have posted that are raw and unedited but portray the actual experience. Most importantly they want this all in a very timely fashion.  A quote from Scott Stratten, “ If it takes you as long to reply to an inquiry or question on Facebook and Twitter as it would to send postage stamped mail…you’re doing it wrong”

Remember If we can do it, so can you..Good luck, have fun with it and all the best promoting your destination or business through social media!

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Posted in By Rodney Payne, Facebook | 3 Comments »

Why your friends are more important than Google.

Posted: January 17th, 2011

Your social graph is an online representation of your real-world connections. Your graph is made up of all of the people you know (Facebook friends, LinkedIn connections) and organizations you do business with (businesses that you ‘Like’).

Many commentators believe that in the near future, a consumer’s social graph will be much more valuable than search engine ranking. The reason is that the recommendations that we receive from people we are connected to in the real world are more relevant to us than search results from engines like Google that are ranked using the wisdom of the crowd.

My friends know me and understand me.  They know what I like. They are familiar with my past experiences. Facebook is just a convenient platform with which to connect with them.

I know precisely which members of my social network to ask for advice on whether to buy a Macbook Pro or a Macbook Air, which skis to rent or where to stay when I visit Argentina.  Asking people I trust saves me time.

Do you trust your friends more than Google’s search results?

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Posted in By Rodney Payne, Facebook, Google | No Comments »

What is the value of a TripAdvisor Destination Expert?

Posted: January 6th, 2011

First it was snow.

Then it was fog.

I was supposed to fly to Nanaimo from Vancouver by floatplane, but the winter weather wasn’t allowing it to happen. My Nanaimo social media workshop, as a result, was canceled. Twice.

Well, three times lucky, right?

Upon planning the third attempt at this workshop, I decided it would be best to scrap the floatplanes and instead take the ferry. Nanaimo, by the way, is the second largest city on Vancouver Island – an island that sits off the coast of Vancouver. It takes 2 hours to get there by ferry or 20 minutes by float plane. To make my plans even more foolproof, I decided I’d head over to Nanaimo the night before. As far as BC Ferries go, only the rarest of windiest storms could spoil their journeys, so it was a chance I was willing to risk.

Realizing I’d never stayed in Nanaimo before, I fired off an e-mail to our Nanaimo-based client for accommodation suggestions. He wrote back immediately:

“The Coast Bastion Inn is the nicest and it’s downtown, but the Buccaneer Inn is better rated and it’s by the Departure Bay Ferry Terminal.”

Hmmm. I’d be arriving early Tuesday evening from Departure Bay and had my workshop south of downtown the following morning, so both options were appealing.

I looked at their websites and noted that these accommodation choices were totally different ends of the spectrum – ultra-modern higher-end hotel vs. a one-of-a-kind family-run motel. I could easily enjoy both for completely different reasons.

I then went to TripAdvisor.

I went to TripAdvisor and did what most people do – I skimmed through the hotel reviews, only to discover that both of my options were good. The Buccaneer Inn’s rated #1 and the Coast Bastion Inn is rated #2.

I then went to the TripAdvisor Nanaimo forum and asked the following:

I got responses almost right away. The responses to my questions were detailed and sincere. Take a look!

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g154935-i1422-k4133044-Hotel_dinner_recommendation_for_tomorrow_night-Nanaimo_Vancouver_Island_British_Columbia.html

But what I really found fascinating were the posts by “BuccaneerDave”. He’s the TripAdvisor Destination Expert for Nanaimo, and being a Destination Expert myself, I was familiar with his genuine helpfulness and solid advice he’s given others in the past. But it was at that moment where I put two and two together:

BuccaneerDave obviously must work for the Buccaneer Inn.

If you know anything about TripAdvisor forum etiquette,  you’ll know that self-promotion and solicitation is forbidden. It’s just not kosher. Even if you attempt to write about your own business in the forums, anybody can flag it as inappropriate, thus removing the post permanently. As a business owner you can participate in the forums and be helpful in the forums – you just can’t talk about your business. It’s a delicate balance.

So with all this in mind, I was particularly interested to read his advice. This is what he wrote:

As per my previous experiences from what I saw in the forum, BuccaneerDave gave me valuable local insight on Nanaimo. His answers were all relevant to my questions, making sure they addressed my needs. But even more impressive was that BuccaneerDave was endorsing the competition and all those businesses within its vicinity.

In addition to the above reply, BuccaneerDave sent me a private message on TripAdvisor. The private message explained that he can’t talk about his property (the Buccaneer Inn) due to conflict of interest, but that he recently toured the Coast Bastion Inn (his competition) after their recent $7 million renovations and that, with its location downtown, it would be a perfect place for me during my short stay as it would offer the best experience of Nanaimo for somebody like myself – a single female exploring the city for the first time.

Well, talk about an ambassador! Putting your customer’s needs first before personal gain. Now that is truly commendable! That is what TripAdvisor Destination Experts are all about.

So my question to you is:

Do you know who your local TripAdvisor Destination Expert is?

Perhaps it can be you!

Until next time…

Robyn

Posted in By Robyn Hason, Social Media | 2 Comments »

What did Think! Social Media learn in 2010?

Posted: January 2nd, 2011

2010, that went by quick. In the briefest of summaries 2010 was a year of education; both for us and our clients.

We noticed early in the year that each of our clients had a myriad of questions about the implementation, promotion, benefits and changing technology of social media. We also noticed that many of you were asking the same set of questions.

2010’s most successful product was staring us in the face. Our clients were hungry to learn; wanting to know how social media fits into the overall marketing plan, what a social media strategy would look like, how to handle negative PR, what kind of resources (both financially and time wise) are required to successfully operate in the social media realm and much more.

We worked with industry leaders in e-commerce and tourism to develop a suite of tourism, travel, accommodation, tourism-related businesses and hospitality specific social media workshops. Our thanks to Paul Cubbon & William Bakker who were instrumental in design of the workshops. The original course has evolved approximately 127 times due to the speed of social media, more relevant content, dated stats, and new concepts. It will remain dynamic as long as we are helping people learn more about how social media can help their business.

In 2010 we conducted workshops with over 200 tourism organizations, covering content ranging from strategic planning brainstorms to social media 101.

The most gratifying moments for us come from seeing the most skeptical attendee in the room (and there is always one) finally ‘get’ social media. Educating an entire organization was like watching a giant weight being lifted off everyone’s shoulders because they could finally see why social media has a place and how they could collectively get started.

And what did Think! Social Media learn from all the workshops? A lot! Basically every workshop took a massive amount of time and energy to develop, why, because just like a destination, every attendee, company and organization is different. Each course required different research, materials and knowledge. There is no cookie cutter method to social media education and there never should be.

We learned just how unique the tourism industry is and how social media has a special role to play. Each destination has its niche that can be emphasized in social media. The exciting thing to look forward to in 2011 is that social media could be the tangible medium that brings ‘collaboration’ to the tourism industry, allowing destinations to collectively market on the premises of their niche strengths. We will elaborate on examples of this in future posts.

Another thing that we recognized is that people are excited to learn new things but the social media space is moving so fast that we need to be constantly updating ourselves with new technology, to refresh our knowledge and be motivated to raise the bar.

If you, your team or your members are looking to keep learning more about social media in 2011 please let us know about your specific requirements and we can discuss tailoring a workshop to your needs.

To everyone that was involved in a Think! Social Media Workshop in 2010, thank you very much for participating and I want to congratulate you all on taking Rodney’s advice of, “Start something small tomorrow.”

Please think about this over your break … what do you want to learn in 2011? Leave a comment, give me a call or come into our office and meet the Think! team.

Hope you had a happy New Years and we look forward to working with you in 2011.

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Posted in By Ben Vadasz, Social Media | 2 Comments »