The Nevada Commission on Tourism hired Proof Integrated Communications and its sister company, Burson-Marsteller, to help rebuild its social media presence, and to re-position its consumer-facing brand, Travel Nevada, to better highlight Nevada as a unique, thrilling and quirky travel destination. In creating the NCOT social media campaign for Travel Nevada, the team faced two core challenges – national target audiences did not understand offerings outside of Las Vegas and Reno-Tahoe, and Nevadans did not want to travel within the state. According to prior research, the perception of Nevada was that “the state is a dry, desolate desert with nothing interesting to do or see outside Las Vegas or Reno-Tahoe. Gambling and nightlife are the only reasons to go to Nevada." The team was determined to educate target audiences of unique and exciting attractions and events throughout the state as a way to address this primary challenge. During research the team discovered a secondary challenge on the Travel Nevada Facebook page, NCOT’s largest social platform. The page began by initially attracting a large base of “friends" from geographies irrelevant to the brand creating an unqualified and unengaged fan base. The team knew that cultivating a qualified fan base would improve social media presence and catapult messaging to desired target audiences. To position Nevada ahead of competitors in the tourism landscape, to reach target audiences, and ultimately to spark tourism and revenue, the team at Proof determined that the traditional and social media strategy should focus on seven buckets: “Road Trips," “Modern Western Culture," “The Easy Get Away," “Arts, Cityscapes and Culinary," “History & Heritage," “Outdoor Adventure," and “Events." One tactic that was executed to maximize on regional and intrastate travel, was the creation and promotion of road trip travel itineraries for Southern and Northern Nevada that lived on TravelNevada.com and was promoted across all social properties. We also partnered with BuzzFeed and sent a team out on the road to visit and create custom content. This content lived on BuzzFeed and across all of Travel Nevada’s social media properties and was promoted with the hashtag #NVRoadTrip. The campaign was extremely successful with an increase in Twitter followers from 6,800 to 13,400, and an increase in Facebook likes from 50,000 to 119,680. Social channels grew and online engagement deepened. In all, online conversations increased from 900 daily posts to 3,212. Additionally, daily neutral/positive sentiment increased by 840%. Visitation to Nevada’s destinations increased, along with traveler’s time and money spent while vacationing. Travel Nevada ensured that travelers’ experience did not begin and end with Nevada’s physical borders. Our team at Burson-Marsteller and Proof Integrated Communications conducted a true digital and social reinvention of NCOT’s consumer-facing brand, Travel Nevada. Our rebranding efforts consisted of a website relaunch, native advertising via a BuzzFeed partnership, digital advertising, and a strong and successful social media make-over. The website relaunch (www.travelnevada.com) brought to life the new tagline: “Nevada: A World Within. A State Apart." The new site engaged visitors in the Nevada experience and allowed for potential travelers to discover aspects of Nevada they never knew, by focusing less on Las Vegas, and more on Nevada’s landmarks, cities, and cultural activities. Meanwhile, our BuzzFeed partnership offered custom, photo-centric content that inspired social sharing and commentary from its readers. The website and BuzzFeed content helped to drive travelers to NCOT’s social media sites, where our team further engaged travelers with interesting and intriguing content that spurred conversation. The team also developed a content calendar to ensure a steady stream of engaging and relevant posts. Lastly, the team managed the “Discover Nevada" online contest. An annual Facebook contest that asked users to vote on their favorite places in Nevada, spurring in-state travel and educating other Nevadans on what makes their state so unique. The campaign was incredibly successful, resulting in $2 billion earned media impressions, $50 million in media value, and riveting conversations across social and digital platforms. Online conversations increased from 900 daily posts to 3,212. Additionally, daily neutral/positive sentiment increased by 840%. Visitation to Nevada’s destinations increased, along with traveler’s time and money spent while vacationing. Twitter followers increased from 6,800 to 13,400, and Facebook likes increased from 50,000 to 119,680. Social channels grew and online engagement deepened. Visitors from Facebook to the website spent longer than average on the site, approximately 3:27 minutes. When comparing year-over-year, the Travel Nevada site experienced a 16% increase in engagement (PV/UV). After the relaunch, each visitor consumed three page views, an increase from 2.6 prior. The site also experienced a 13 point decrease in bounce rate. All in all, the team was successful in reaching its goals of educating and engaging the target audiences and building a qualified fan base.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/5dztdw2re7dwgvz/Shorty%20Awards%20TN%20Support%20Material.docx https://www.facebook.com/travelnevada http://travelnevada.com/ http://www.buzzfeed.com/nevada
