Pure Michigan Governor’s Conference on Tourism

Dave Serino PresentingThe 2015 Pure Michigan Governor’s Conference on Tourism was held in Grand Rapids earlier this week. The event was attended by travel and tourism marketers, CVB’s, hoteliers, exhibitors and everyone else in between. The conference provided the perfect backdrop for these people to come together to discuss and learn from different practices around the industry. The keynote was delivered by the first winner of NBC’s The Apprentice, Bill Rancic, who had some inspiration words for everyone in the room. Attendees were also treated to a great presentation on visual storytelling by Sheila Scarborough with Tourism Currents.

Michigan Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley was on hand to announce a venture between Pure Michigan and Google to provide 360-degree imagery of more than 40 locations across Michigan using a mounted camera called the Google Trekker. Check out the short video overview below to get a better idea of the technology and how it’s used.

Additionally, some exciting news and information on the state of Michigan tourism was presented by David West, Vice President of Travel Michigan. While we could provide an exhaustive list of some of the fascinating points made, some of the key takeaways mentioned:

  • #PureMichigan is the number one travel hashtag used in the entire world
  •  Pure Michigan ad campaign generated $6.87 for every $1 invested in 2014
  • A record 113.4 million visitors came to Michigan in 2014, spending a record $22.3 billion

Dave Serino TweetsTwoSix Digital was also represented by founder and strategist, Dave Serino. Dave gave a presentation called “How to Create Content that Converts & How to Build an Audience That Engages.” The presentation touched on a number of ideas and worked to inform people of some of the free tools at their disposal to help reach the right audience and get them to advocate for your brand.

In all, the event was a huge success in the eyes of attendees, which was made evident by the social media stats from the three day event which included more than 680 tweets and more than 6 million impressions. You can check out those stats and see what people were saying in the Pure Michigan Tourism Conference Twitter Report. We’ve also created a Twitter list with everyone from the conference who used the conference hashtag, #PMGCT2015. We will see everyone next year in Lansing!

 

Likes Decline, Mobile Boarding & Travel Surveys

Facebook Cleans up Page Likes and Adds New Tool

Topic DataBrand managers could see a drop in the number of Facebook page likes on their pages. The social network recently announced it would remove likes on pages that come from deactivated or memorialized (pages kept active for the deceased) accounts. Facebook says that most pages shouldn’t see a significant drop in the number of likes and the change should provide more accurate insights for brands.

On the plus side, a new tool from Facebook may provide more information to brand managers looking for information on what target customer demographics are saying about topics of interest. Facebook, working with Data Sift, developed what it calls Topic Data. Facebook says Topic Data “Topic Data shows marketers what audiences are saying on Facebook about events, brands, subjects and activities.” The tool launched earlier this week and has limited availability at this time.

UPDATE: Some of the pages managed by TwoSix Digital and other professionals in the industry we communicate with are ranging anywhere from a decline of .02% of their total audience to as much as 4.3%.

Mobile Boarding

If a new report is to be believed, 1 in 3 boarding passes for airplanes will be delivered by mobile devices by 2019.

Juniper Research claims the number of people using their mobile devices as boarding passes will continue to rise exponentially. Juniper notes that proximity sensors in devices through apps will likely become the dominant way we check in and use passes but, for now, bar codes displayed on devices will continue to grow in use and popularity.

Travel Survey Results

Travel marketers and industry professionals can now get their hands on the latest TripBarometer report from TripAdvisor. The report surveyed more than 44,000 travelers and hoteliers to get their thoughts and travel practices. You can take a closer look at the report – broken down into a handy infographic – here.

Additionally, you can also check out a new report focusing on millennials and travel was also released by Yahoo Travel.