You've conquered Facebook, now what? Tourism and Chamber professionals have an incredible amount of free marketing tools through social media channels. Sorting through the various networks and determining the best path to social media success can be challenging. Limited budgets, lack of staff time, and other issues can be overcome with a better understanding of the tools and success stories on social media. Although this presentation is geared toward Western North Carolina - with actual data and examples - any tourism or chamber professional can learn how to get the most out of Facebook, Facebook graph search, Facebook ads, Pinterest, YouTube, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn Company Pages, and Instagram. Take a look, and if you have any questions, contact us at www.innsights.com or info@innsights.com

1. You've Conquered Facebook,
What’s Next?
A Social Media Guide for Chambers of
Commerce in Western NC

2. Traveler Internet Trends
The Internet was used by approximately 90 million American
adults to plan travel during the past year with 76 percent of
online travelers planning leisure trips online. (TripAdvisor)
● Search engines
● Destination Websites
● Social Media
○ People are more likely to trust a friend’s advice than that
of an advertiser
● Researching review sites like TripAdvisor and Yelp.
○ People are more likely to trust a stranger’s advice than
that of an advertiser
○ The top three decision making factors for U.S. travelers
are: price (76%), location (68%) and online reviews
(44%). (USTravel.org)

3. Social Media Trends
Travelers have become very socially connected, across
all age groups.
% of internet users who use social media by Age (Pew Internet)
· 18-29 83%
· 30-49 77%
· 50-64 52% fastest growing segment
· 65+ 32%

4. Key Social Media Sites
U.S. (Based on Traffic) Locally (Swain Co.)
Based on Followers, Engagement, and Virality
Facebook Facebook
YouTube Pinterest
Twitter YouTube
LinkedIn LinkedIn (Company Page)
Pinterest Twitter
Instagram Google+
MySpace Instagram
Google+ (MySpace not utilized)

5. After Facebook, What's Next?
● Optimize your Facebook Page for Graph
Search
● Consider a Facebook Ad Campaign
● Pinterest
● YouTube
● LinkedIn Company Page
● Twitter
● Google+
● Instagram

6. What is Facebook Graph Search?
It's a new search engine within Facebook that
is about to be launched. Search results for
users will be based on their Facebook
interactions and that of their friends, including:
● Recommendations
● Likes
● Comments
● Shares
● Ratings
● Check-ins

7. Get Your Page Ready
● Include basic information, such as your address, hours,
phone number, and details in the About section.
● Encourage connections from customers: likes, check-
ins, ratings, and recommendations.
● Ensure you're attracting the right people and having
them interact with your content.
● The About section is indexed in Google, so you will
want to make sure it is very descriptive and
keyword-rich. Make sure to link to your website is in
this field, so people can easily find your website since
this field is so prominent.

8. Increase Interaction
● Photos get as much as twenty times more
engagement than any other post type.
● Utilize smart phones (iPhone or Android)
with the Pages Manager application for quick
and easy photo postings.

9. Facebook Advertising
Grow your fan base and bring new travelers to
your Facebook Page. It is a very efficient use of
marketing dollars because these fans will
continue to see your posts coming through their
news feed, whereas a typical pay per click
campaign only takes them to your website one
time.
· Targeted
· Budget Friendly
· Trackable – excellent analytics

10. Swain Co. Stats - Facebook Ads
Reporting Fan New Organic New Fans Days in Daily Ad Total Spent Cost Per
Period Growth Fans From Ads Campaign Budget Fan
January 31 - 516 $ 5.00 $ 135.00 $ 0.34
February 26 117 399 27
February 27 - $ 10.00 $ 280.00 $ 0.29
March 26 1,117 145 972 28
For February and March, we targeted 2 demographics: scenic drives, and family
travel
In April, we increased our budget by another $5/day and added a new demographic
for outdoor activity, primarily whitewater-related.

11. If you’re running a FB ad campaign, dress up
your timeline for new visitors who are making a
decision as to whether or not to like your page
• Cover photo – make it pop!
• Highlight photos to make them stretch
across the timeline
• Pin a beautiful image post to the top.

12. Pinterest
I rank Pinterest as the second most important
social network for tourism-related businesses.
Behind Facebook, and ahead of Twitter,
YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+, and Instagram.
Why?
Pinterest continues to experience exponential
growth since its launch in 2011. The platform
had the highest increase in audience and time
spent of any social network across all devices
such as PC, mobile web and apps.

13. Pinterest Statistics
● 48.7 million users globally.
● Draws more referral traffic than Google+, LinkedIn, and
Youtube combined
● 44% of Pinterest traffic is US based, higher than more
established social networks.
● Primary uses in order:
o Recipes/Food
o Crafts and Home Decor
o Women’s Apparel
o Travel Planning

14. Pinterest Statistics
● 80% of Pinterest users are women.
● Content is searchable: Users can search for content by
keywords, hashtags, or categories.
● Over 80% of pins are repins; That just shows how
important it is to pin creative, original content for content
marketing.
● Most users on Pinterest never pin, but only repost
content – YOUR content - In fact 80% of content on
Pinterest are Repins. These repins should include a link
back to your website.

15. What is Pinterest?
● A pin is a photo with description and link to
your website. If you add the Pin It button to
your website, people can use it to pin your
website photos to Pinterest. Then lots more
people can repin those things or click back
to your website.
● Pinterest helps people discover things in a
simple, visual way. Pinners might find
something they love while browsing your
boards, scrolling through a category you’re
listed in or searching for you directly.

16. Get Started With Pinterest
● Consistency is key: Make it your goal to share an
image on a regular basis.
● Create a few boards to get started. The very best
boards are inspiring, with beautiful images that draw
people in. They're also about a specific topic, like
waterfalls or the Blue Ridge Parkway.
● Add the Pin It Button to your Website
● Promote it on your Facebook Page and other social
media

17. YouTube
● YouTube now has more than a billion unique
users every single month.
● Nearly one out of every two people on the
Internet visits YouTube.
● Monthly viewership is the equivalent of
roughly ten Super Bowl audiences.
● YouTube is a Google product; YouTube
channels (business accounts), video titles
and descriptions rank very high in Google
search.
● YouTube videos are easily shared and
embedded.

18. YouTube
● YouTube recently changed their About section, allowing
a large cover photo, and links to website and other
social media.
● YouTube videos are easy to create with mobile
devices, GoPro cameras, flip video cameras, etc.
● Professional appearance is not important; relevant and
short content is.
● YouTube just introduced a new feature to allow you to
create a slide show video within youtube from your
photos.

19. LinkedIn Company Page
● Over 200 million users, 74 million in the U.S.
● LinkedIn has a more educated and affluent
audience than some of the other popular
social media sites
● Primarily a business to business networking
site, LinkedIn also ranks very well in Google
search.

20. LinkedIn Company Page
LinkedIn Company Pages allow you to highlight your
Chamber with:
● Status updates
● Detailed pages on up to 25 products or services (think
dining, cabin rentals, Blue Ridge Parkway, etc.). Each
detailed page can include a link to your website, plenty
of room for keyword-rich descriptions, a video, and links
to special offers pages.
● Large cover photo images

21. Why Use Twitter?
● Your competition is using it.
● Boost your marketing efforts.
● Reach a very large audience.
● Add to your awareness factor.
● Over 200 million active users.
● Link Facebook posts to automatically post to Twitter.
You have 140 characters to get your message across to
your followers, and include a link to your website.
Twitter user is primarily male, aged 18-29.

22. Why Use Google+?
● 343 million users
● Because Google+ is so heavily interwoven in
everything Google does, people know that
they need to be present and active on the
network. We do know that Google indexes
individual posts.
● Improve SEO and help drive traffic to your site

23. Instagram
● What is it? It’s a fast, beautiful and fun way
to share photos. Period.
● Snap a picture with a mobile device,
choose a filter to transform its look , then
post to Instagram. Share to Facebook and
Twitter. It’s free.
● With over 100 million users, this mobile-only
app is available for the iphone and Android.

24. Other
● Keep an eye on TripAdvisor and research your
destination. Often you will find traveler questions within
a travel forum for your area. Step in and answer
travellers questions; even if they've had other
responses.
● Search for, claim, optimize, and verify your listing on the
following mapping sites. This will improve visibility for
your visitor center on both desktop and mobile devices:
○ Google Maps
○ Bing Maps
○ Yahoo Maps
○ MapQuest

25. Key Takeaways
● Photos, photos, photos. Think weather, seasons,
events, and scenic.
● Here and now – keep it relevant to what is happening
today, or will happen in the very near future.
● Assign ambassadors wherever possible to document
current happenings with mobile devices.
● Relevancy – keep it real and know what your audience
likes by studying your Facebook insights..
● No sales pitches Keep it light, fun, and informative.
● No time for social media? Have a plan. Keep it simple to
stay connected and grow awareness. Or take it to the
next level to fully engage your audience and make it go
viral.