Social Media Case Study – Hocking Hills Tourism Association

Company/OrganizationHocking Hills Tourism Association social media case study

Hocking Hills Tourism Association

Industry

Travel and Tourism

Goals

  • Create an ongoing dialog with fans, travelers and potential visitors
  • Utilize social media to build a relationship with target audience and create awareness for Hocking Hills
  • Increase fans and interactions on the Hocking Hills Facebook page

Challenges

Setting clear guidelines and rules was a challenge for the online contest.  We had to ensure the participants were aware of the judging process, and the criteria for winning the weekend package.  With user voting, and Hocking Hills making the final judgement call on the winner, it was a challenge to keep participants aware of the process, and ensure the fairness of the contest.

To overcome this, we set specific guidelines and rules on the Facebook contest page.  We identified our process for selecting the winner.  In addition, we clearly stated the weekend package perks, so the winner was fully aware of what their prize would include.

What we did

In an effort to spur interest in the Hocking Hills by leveraging the “economical” idea of presenting Ohioans with an in-state vacation option, the Hocking Hills Tourism Association approached Webbed Marketing with a request to create a social media stunt or contest. The prize would be a three-day romantic getaway for two to the Hocking Hills, featuring perks and activities from many of the area businesses.

The creatives at Webbed Marketing created the “Hocking Hills Romantic Makeover” campaign that utilized Facebook as the platform for the contest. They created a unique way to leverage the Wall feature of Facebook and the ability of Facebook users to “like” wall posts.

The contest allowed users to share stories of the worst gift they have ever received. Thus, the winner would be most in need of a “romantic makeover.” Facebook users would visit the site and make a wall post describing the bad gift and their experience. Then, users would “like” a wall post if they thought it showcased the worst gift. At the end of the contest, the user with the wall post that received the most “likes” determined the winner of the contest. The full rules and disclaimer for the contest were included on the Facebook page, as well.

Outcomes/Results

This was one of our most interactive contests and created a much stronger awareness of the Hocking Hills.  This campaign kicked off a series of social network based contests for the Hocking Hills, increasing their presence in central Ohio.

  • Traffic coming to the Hocking Hills Tourism Association website from Facebook increased more than 300% during the contest (compared to the previous 22 days).
  • We contacted 43 bloggers at the beginning of September about the contest
    • 23 Columbus bloggers
    • 5 Honeymoon/Couples bloggers
    • 4 Hocking Hills bloggers
    • 11 Outdoor/Adventure bloggers
  • Four bloggers posted about the contest on their blogs. Pickups in Columbus Business First and Entrepreneur.
  • Google blog results increased from 0 in August to nearly 100 in October.
  • Contest Facebook page to promote contest and host entries and votes:
    • 887 fans
    • 151 total wall posts
    • 136 contest submissions
    • 559 total likes/votes
    • 4,242 total page views
    • Video
      • 291 YouTube views
      • 31 Facebook views

 

**Note this contest occurred before Facebook changed their contest policy to exclude these Facebook-based contests.