How Social is Your DMO? – US Tourism Office Edition, Q1 2013 Edition

Posted: March 20th, 2013

We are almost to the completion of Q1, 2013 and what does that mean? It means the publishing of the How Social is Your DMO? – United States Tourism Office Edition, Q1 2013.

This report marks the 15^th effort to benchmark the web and social media presence of state destination marketing organizations in the US. We have truly enjoyed seeing DMOs evolving in this ever-changing world, and can’t wait to see how they grow in the future. The March 2013 data is now available to help you compare your state’s efforts to others across the nation.

While reviewing the Q1 2013 rankings, you will again see some familiar names in the top ten. Michigan once again leads the pack as the top destination with Florida, Colorado, Hawaii and Virginia rounding out the top five respectively. Virginia broke back into the top five after being edged out to seventh place in Q4 2012.

Congratulations to some big movers this quarter: South Dakota moved up 14 spots, soaring to 20 from its previous ranking of 34. Louisiana – previously at 12 – and Wyoming – previously at 14 – both broke the top ten and jumped into a three-way tie for number 8 along with the state of Ohio. Nevada improved its position to 17 from 23, while Pennsylvania rose from 21 to the number 18 spot. Arizona also made a notable move, edging up to 28 from 32 in Q4.

We also want to congratulate the following DMOs for impressive categorical scores in Q1 2013:

Hawaii said “Aloha” with an impressive Facebook score of 57 points.
New York’s interaction on Twitter has pushed the Empire State to the top this quarter with 53 points.
When it comes to blogging, California is producing some great content and representing the west coast with an impeccable score of 19 points.
Pure Michigan’s utilization of Google+ has not only earned itself some pure SEO, but a clear victory with 16 points.
Not that the beauty of the Great Lakes State or the Golden State need filters, but their Instagram profiles have helped Michigan and California tie for the top spot in the category with 8 points.

You can view the full rankings for March 2013 here. Keep the comments and feedback coming, as we will continue to consider them in future measurements.

For more info be sure to follow us on Twitter at: @ThinkSM or visit us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ThinkSocialMedia.

Tags: How social is your DMO, tourism social media report, US DMOs
Posted in By Dave Serino | 1 Comment »

How Social is Your DMO?-US Tourism Office Edition, Q4 2012 Edition

Posted: December 13th, 2012

As the year is coming to a close, we will take a look at the final US State DMO Social Media Rankings for 2012. The How Social is Your DMO? – United States Tourism Office Edition, Q4 2012 rankings have been released and the data is now available for you to see how your state’s DMO measured up at the end of 2012.

Since social media is ever changing, we have again made a few adjustments to the algorithm. Both Pinterest and Instagram were included due to their increasing popularity and online influence.

This quarter, congratulations are in order for Michigan as they grabbed the number one spot and pushed the reigning Florida to number two with Colorado, Hawaii and California rounding out the top five.

The digital marketing efforts of many DMOs improved this past quarter, as there were plenty of “movers” in the Top 25. California moved up seven spots to number five from 12. Illinois also jumped seven spots to number 19 from 26. Indiana raised eight spots to number 23 from 31. Massachusetts soared ten spots to number nine from 19, and Georgia climbed ten spots to number 11 from 21.

Here are some other honorable mentions from the Q4, 2012 results:

California flourished in online photography taking first in the Flickr category and tying for first with Michigan in the Instagram category
New York led the way in the Twitter category
Hawaii ranked number one among DMOs for their Facebook efforts
California also took first place in the blog category
Michigan held strong with the highest ranked Google+ page

To view the full rankings for November 2012 please visit this link. Keep the comments and feedback coming, as we will continue to consider them in future measurements.

For more info on social media and tourism, be sure to follow Think! Social Media on Twitter at: @ThinkSM or visit us on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/ThinkSocialMedia.

Tags: How Social is Your DMO?-US Edition
Posted in By Dave Serino, Facebook, Social Media | No Comments »

How Social is Your DMO?- Quarter II, 2012 -US Tourism Office Edition

Posted: May 14th, 2012

The Quarter II, 2012 How Social is Your DMO? – United States Tourism Office Edition rankings have been completed and published. And, for the fourth consecutive quarter, Florida has claimed the number one spot.

There were a few changes in the formula and weighting scale again this quarter. We have added Google+ and Pinterest into the measurement formula. We have also adjusted the scale for growth in terms of “Likes” and “Followers” via Facebook and Twitter. We also took a closer look at engagement in both of those applications.

We have added an “Engagement Percentage” for Facebook based on the new data that is publically available with the release of Timeline. See our past post for more on that here. Some Quarter Two highlights:

- The Top 5 are: Florida, Michigan, Virginia, Oregon and Colorado

- The “Movers” in the Top 25 include: Hawaii, moving to 6 from 14; Ohio, to 8 from 13; Oklahoma, to 9 from 16; Massachusetts, to 16 from 36; Wyoming, 19 from 26; Missouri, 23 from 28; and Utah at 23 from 30.

Congrats to the state of New York – number 7 in the rankings this quarter – for being the first US state destination to break the 1-Million “Like” mark last week. That is an incredible accomplishment!

Other accomplishments to note:

- Hawaii was the leader in our Facebook ranking scale.

- New York graded out best in Twitter.

- California leads the way in Flickr.

- Florida holds the number one spot in YouTube.

- Michigan had the best Google+ presence.

- New Mexico, who just missed the Top 25 with a number 26 ranking, leads destinations on Pinterest.

One other addition in this report is our All-Time Historical Rankings, which shows the ranking of each destination since we began our ranking scale in July of 2009.

Please review the summary for specific changes in the measurement formula. To view the full rankings for April 2012 visit this link. Please keep the comments and feedback coming, as we will continue to consider them in future measurements.

For more info on social media and tourism, be sure to follow Think! Social Media on Twitter at: @ThinkSM or visit us on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/ThinkSocialMedia.

Tags: How Social is Your DMO?-US Edition
Posted in By Dave Serino, Social Media | No Comments »

US State DMO Facebook Engagement Numbers for May 2012

Posted: May 2nd, 2012

Since Timeline went public on fan pages in March, a few page metrics other than “Likes” are now available for public view. Along with the number of “Likes”, we can also view the number of “People Talking About This” on each individual fan page. You can also view the most popular week of activity on the page, along with the city source and age group of the “Likes”.

A few weeks ago, we decided to add those metrics into the formula for our “How Social is Your DMO?” ranking scale. As we were preparing the USA Q2-2012 rankings, we decided to spend a few extra minutes and compile a list of the 50 US states in order of Facebook engagement and release those this week. Click here for the list of the 50 US states official tourism fan page engagement percentage ranking, which was determined on Tuesday, May 1, 2012.

The Engagement percentage is measured by the total number of “People Talking About This” divided by the total number of “Likes.” There were only three states that had an engagement percentage larger than 10% in the top 5. They were: 1) Texas at 28%; 2) South Dakota at 13% and 3) Maryland at 10%. California, Connecticut and Kentucky rounded out the top 5 – all tied at 7% each.

A majority of the 50 state DMO’s – 36 of them – all fell within the 1% to 5% range. And, of the top six states listed above, only Connecticut had more than 100K in total “Likes.” Connecticut’s page has 100,588 “Likes” while Maryland, who ranked third in engagement, only had 6,458 “Likes”. This is a great example that bigger is not always better.

We all know and understand that this measurement is a moving target and it can literally change hourly – based on a viral post or a successful ad campaign – but it is another interesting metric to watch and measure over time. It would be very interesting to track this data on a weekly basis for a year to get a more accurate profile of overall Facebook engagement for a destination fan page.

Tags: engagement
Posted in By Dave Serino, Facebook, Social Media | 9 Comments »

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