There’s Nothing like Facebook

Tourism Australia recently announced that they have more than two million friends on their Facebook page. This represents a landmark achievement in destination marketing… our nearest global competitor has less than a third of the number of ‘likes’. It also confirms that Australia is a highly desirable destination. However Tourism Australia’s huge Facebook community is not just a testament to popularity. It contains a number of salutary lessons in marketing and promotion.

One of my first employers was a tough old rooster who had been in sales and marketing for over 30 years. He was a hardened campaigner, who had been there and done that. He was very good at dispensing home truths to his sales team – sometimes they left bruises. In amongst several ‘pearls of wisdom’ he shared with me during my apprenticeship, was one that has always tested true. ‘Repetition builds reputations’. For a sales and marketing strategy to be truly successful, you have to be prepared to stay the course.

Tourism Victoria’s Jigsaw campaign is a great example. It is the longest running destination brand campaign in the Southern hemisphere and it still delivers results. It helped turn around the fortunes of a state that 20 years ago was considered the laughing stock of Australian tourism.

Destination Melbourne produces a suite of visitor publications that generate significant revenue for our advertisers. After ten years, the Official Visitor Guide to Melbourne is now recognised as one of the strongest visitor publications in the country. This success did not happen overnight. It took a sustained effort over a number of years.

No matter what sales and marketing strategies you employ in your business, if you want to be successful, you have to be prepared to stick at it. Tourism Australia was not the first country to adopt a social media strategy, but it has been one of the most successful. Despite all of the criticism they have received from industry and stakeholders over the last 5 – 6 years, they have excelled with their social media strategy. The numbers don’t lie. Two million followers on Facebook tell the story.  

My old sales manager also said: ‘In business – if you are not going forwards, you are going backwards.’ Settling for the status quo is not acceptable, unless you want to lose money.

You can bet your last dollar that Andrew McEvoy and the team at Tourism Australia are not going to kick back and trade on past achievements… they will already have planned for serious growth. Social media will play an increasingly important role influencing the behaviour of visitors to Australia.

The big question is how do we as industry work together to maximise the return on their investment? They have created a channel for us to sell our wares to people who are already interested… It is our responsibility to convert.

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For information on how to leverage business from the digital marketing activities of Tourism Australia, Tourism Victoria and Destination Melbourne. We recommend the following links:

Tourism Australia

Tourism Victoria

Destination Melbourne