Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the Georgia Governor’s Conference on Tourism. I had never attended another states Governor’s Conference on Tourism while I was working for a CVB in Illinois, as I only attended the Illinois Governor’s Conference on Tourism. I truly found it beneficial to go to another states Tourism Conference and learn about everything they are doing to attract visitors to their state, as well as network with other marketing and tourism professionals. Granted, I was attending the conference as a vendor (for my employer J Rudny, Interactive Design Solutions) and not as a marketer working at a Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB), I still feel there were things I got out of the conference to help me grow as a marketer.
Tourism
Facebook Live Tips and Ideas
I was finally able to do a Facebook Live video recently on an organization’s page. I was more excited about this than I probably should have been. I have been itching to do a ‘Live’ Facebook video ever since I heard they were launching it. I couldn’t wait for Facebook to feature live video beyond celebrities and verified pages, so that everyone can get in on the bandwagon. Live streaming has been around for a couple of years now, but really caught steam with Meerkat, and Periscope. Before I even used it, I thought this would be huge, especially when I was at Visit Lake County. Pages were already seeing an uptick in engagement when you uploaded a video directly to Facebook vs. posting the Youtube link. Read more
Why Start Healthy Digital Living Blog
Why start a blog called Healthy Digital Living? I had set-up a generic blog years ago, that I would randomly post things to. I concentrated so much on the brand and company that I was working for and didn’t really brand myself. In December 2015, I felt it was time that I started to get some of my thoughts and knowledge out of my head and on paper, as there was a lot going on in there and it would provide me with a place that I would lose or forget my thoughts. My wife was on a journey of weight loss and healthy eating and I kept hearing the questions that people were asking her about it. I kept telling her and myself, we should start a blog about it and educate people. But yet, I wanted someplace to share my marketing knowledge, from there Healthy Digital Living was born. Read more
A Behind the Scenes look at the Visit Lake County Song Search
You are only as good as your last month, or in this case your last year. A year ago, I was thinking of was to generate and create more awareness before our summer season and I got it stuck in my head that I could pull off a lip dup. At the time, it was probably my favorite this to work on. We created a music video tailored to Lake County, Illinois to the song, Best Day of My life by American Authors – https://youtu.be/iphhBSYiE44
Flash forward a year, well I definitely out did myself and launched a “music video that has gone viral with 74,000 views on Facebook and YouTube”, according to Bill Geist. Well, it was not as easy as that. It started out like any other passing water cooler talk in the office, “What are you going to do now to top Best Day?” I did not know at the time and wasn’t sure how to take that concept to the next step. I attended eTourism Summit last October and decided to sit in a music video session. Speakers from other destination spoke about what they did and how they used music to sell their destination. I took notes and wrote down some ideas that came to me. When I returned to the office, I told my boss I came up with idea to top ‘Best Day’, that included a way to generate website views during out off-season and increase the music section on our website. The idea sat with my until January, I then talked to my boss again, and this time I had the while idea flushed out. Granted there were some obstacles and hurdles along the way, otherwise, I thought it was a great idea. Read more