My Periscope Perspective and Tips

wersm-twitter-buys-periscope-video-streaming-app-657x360When new technology comes out or becomes hot, I like to test it personally and then figure out how it can be used for the brand. I think of what I would do with it to promote the brand, how it will benefit the brand and do we have time to incorporate it and do it well instead of just doing it because everyone else is doing it. If this is another social network, I think about how it will be incorporated in our strategy and how we will get people to follow us on this new network and be relevant.

Recently, for the first time, I decided to add Periscope to our wheelhouse and do some live videos when we are out filming creating our YouTube videos for Visit Lake County. The first video I did was 2 weeks ago, and it was on Six Flags Great America making their announcement of a new coaster coming in 2016. I figured this was a pretty easy and I could potentially have a decent attendance, especially with some coaster enthusiasts. As it turned out, I was quite surprised with how it went and the amount of people who were watching us live and interacting us. 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

Visit Lake County Song Search
Dylan Kroll and friends around a bonfire filming a scene for the music video.

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