Key Takeaways from Queensland Case Study

After almost a year of searching, the Wanderlust team found evidence that could prove that using social media in destination marketing could help deliver real results. 'The Best Job in the World' social media campaign case study was presented at the 2009 PhoCusWright Conference in Orlando, and summarized in a recent issue of The Wanderlust Report.

'Tourism Queensland's The Best Job In The World campaign offered many insights for marketers relying on social media,' stated Mark Shipley, President and Chief Strategist at Wanderlust. 'First and foremost, that this was social media campaign could not have succeeded without integrated marketing elements, including a website, advertising, public relations and a healthy dose of crisis management. But many other valuable lessons were learned along the way.'

User generated content will challenge your intestinal fortitude

The campaign requested applicants submit short videos describing why they were the best candidates. 'Coming to terms with user generated content takes a strong stomach,' said Shipley. 'Some of it will be pretty good. But most of it will be awful. Some of it will be controversial, maybe even downright offensive. Make peace with it and leave it alone. If you try to remove it, you will likely do more damage than if you just ignore it.'

Social media costs more than you think

According to Chris Chambers, no new marketing dollars were allocated for The Best Job In The World campaign. They funded the entire program by diverting the bulk of their annual marketing budget to the six week campaign and convincing their various partners to pool funds slated for other, more traditional tactics. Politics aside, this was a big leap of faith for a lot of people accustomed with doing things the same old way.

While the total budget for the campaign has not been disclosed, the advertising portion alone has been estimated to be $1.2 million. Add to that the cost of developing all of the creative, the website, the social media channels, the public relations effort and paying the winning applicant, and you have a pretty significant spend for a small tourism bureau like Queensland.

It takes more effort than you can imagine

In terms of human effort, Chris said they totally underestimated the time required to pull the social media effort off. In addition to the 34,680 videos, they also received over 20,000 emails. On their Facebook page, fans would respond to questions, but they had to moderate by actively listening and correcting mistakes and misinformation. And someone had to watch those 34,680 job application videos to pick the winner.

'The Tourism Queensland folks were totally overwhelmed and had to work crazy hours,' Shipley reported. 'They had prepared three or four people to watch 4,000 videos in a few half day sessions. It turned out they needed 35 to 40 people to vet the final 9,000 videos over the last weekend. In a panic, they enlisted volunteers from the community to help. Their advertising agency helped out, too,' he added.

Read more of Using Social Media In Destination Marketing in the Wanderlust Report, Volume 2, Number 1.

About Wanderlust
Wanderlust provides marketing, branding and management consulting to destinations, resorts and tourism attractions. We are experts at uncovering what drives people to choose where they go and building integrated marketing programs to attract them