THE WORLD’S BIGGEST SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM

In 2012, Australia was the most popular travel destination on Facebook, Google+ and Instagram.

In 2013, Tourism Australia has an ambitious goal to use the power of social media to make Australia the most talked about holiday destination in the world.

There are officially just three people with ‘social media’ titles at Tourism Australia. Yet look a little more closely and in fact the content shared comes from millions of people who interact and enthusiastically help sell the country.

44,403 1,495 5,470Gold Coast Tourism - Snapper Rocks, Coolangatta

Welcome to the World’s Biggest Social Media Team.

Inside: There’s Nothing Like Australia 3

Power to the consumer 6

TripEcho 8

Powered by fans 10

5 steps to creating the World’s Biggest Social Media Team 11

1: Create platforms that our fans can build on 12

2: Make our fans the hero 19

3: Surf waves 25

4: Create social stories 32

5: Test and learn 37

5 stages of travel 40

Growing the team in 3 areas 43

Fan favourites 45New Zealand

SingaporeMalaysia

Hong Kong

JapanChina

South Korea

India

ItalyFrance

UK Germany

USA

Canada

BrazilIndonesia

GHQ - Sydney

• Tourism Australia operates in 22 markets and 17 languages

• Its 200-strong workforce is split between Sydney (120) and 12 offices around the globe (80)

• Tourism is Australia’s second largest industry, worth $96bn and employing close to 1m people

• By 2020, the government wants to double tourism expenditures from AU$70bn to AU$140bn

In May 2010 Tourism Australia launched ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia’, a global campaign with a strong social element. It was the first time that social media showcased the range of diverse experiences up for grabs in Australia, as well as demonstrating the power of word of mouth.

The big idea being that its better to have all of Australia advocating through their travel stories.

Australians uploaded 60,000 stories and photos, sharing their favourite ‘nothing like’ moment with the world in what became one of the country’s biggest consumer-generated promotions. These stories now form an interactive, digital map, inspiring travellers ahead of their Australian holiday.

There’s nothing like australia

The world travels to experience difference

Word of Mouth is all powerful

For Tourism Australia ‘There’s Nothing Like Australia’ is both a campaign line and a brand truth. It was born from two key insights:

1. The world travels to experience difference and Australia is an extremely unique destination

2. Word of mouth has always been and will always be all powerful, particularly when it comes to travel decisions

RED CARPETS ALWAYS LEAD TO

SOMETHING special

DISCOVER TIMELESS ULURU AT AUSTRALIA .COM

Power to the Consumer

WEB 2.0

SOCIAL

MobileThe past 20 years have seen a dramatic shift towards consumer generated stories.

The shift started roughly in 2002 when consumers, not just publishers, could easily create content (think blogs, TripAdvisor reviews etc.). This ushered in a new era of tourism marketing, one that was honest, transparent and increasingly driven by the consumer.

User-Generated Content

With the rise of user-generated content Tourism Australia is well-placed to capitalise on this latest phase, particularly considering the growth in popularity of photo-sharing sites.

Fans to date have sent over 229k photos via Instagram and over 180k via Facebook to be used specifically by Tourism Australia on its social media platforms.

storytelling with the consumer

65,167 2,227 8,314Aquabumps - Perfection? - Cable Beach, Broome WA

48,848Justin Heitman - Can you see Heart Reef? ♥ 1,151 4,626

trip echoPre social media, if someone visited Australia their circle of influence was quite small. Maybe they would make a few phone calls back home, send a few post cards and tell a handful of people about their trip on their return home.

Today, in a networked, always on, real time world, a holiday in Australia can be broadcast via social media to an intimate few, hundreds, thousands and even very publicly to millions of people around the world.

With a digital shift driven by consumers we optimistically see unprecedented scale for word of mouth.

pre social today

(source: Travel 2.0)

“Social offers an accessible point of entry for companies in the tourism sector. 78% of our industry is made up of small to medium-sized enterprises, so a lot of them don’t have the time or money to spend on traditional marketing campaigns. Social has levelled the playing field for everyone and is an effective way for them to secure endorsement. If I own a hotel and someone tweets or posts on Facebook about my establishment, they’re advocating for my hotel. This makes everyone who comes through the door a potential fan and advocate. We see the same opportunity from everyone that visits our shores.”

Nick BakerExecutive General Manager, Consumer MarketingTourism Australia

40,941 770 4,924Katie Daly on Tasman Island Cruises)

Here is where the World’s Biggest Social Media Team has a crucial role to play: they field questions and interact with people who are starting to consider visiting Australia.

This kind of evangelism, facilitated through Tourism Australia’s profiles, packs a far greater punch than we could ever create on our own.

It’s the same story when a trip reaches the planning stages: when places to stay or eat out are recommended in a peer-to-peer fashion, it’s out of a genuine desire to share and help others enjoy their holiday in Australia.

The core social media team aims to win consumer trust by taking a back-seat approach, facilitating natural conversation and spontaneous recommendation between users.

Here’s how we do it...

powered by fans“Social is a massive platform where people can tell stories. Ultimately, we want our 4 million plus Facebook fans, the 23 million people who live here and the 6 million who visited last year to become ambassadors for the country. Everything we do in social is to make this happen.” - Nick Baker

5 steps to joining the world’s biggest social media team

create platforms that your fans can build on

step 1:

4,787 321 1,614Alexander Frings Photography - Double-rainbow in Byron Bay

The core social media team focuses on creating platforms on which fans can themselves build on.

This is a world away from regarding social as a channel through which to broadcast one message to the masses, and allows a number of perspectives to be represented in one place. This, in turn, conveys that a visit to Australia can prompt an infinite number of experiences.

Instead of pushing out one-off ‘social campaigns’ Tourism Australia creates 'always on’ platforms that involve fans and followers adding social context to every story being shared.

In mid 2011 Tourism Australia changed its Facebook approach and turned over the page to its biggest fans. The results was an explosive growth in reach and engagement.

“The possibilities are endless. When we saw the potential we quickly moved from a team that was producing static one way stories to dynamic multi angled ones codeveloped with our fans. “

Jesse DesjardinsSocial Media and Advocacy ManagerTourism Australia

Broadcasting

Invo

lvin

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Turning point

2m fans

4m fans

Fans and followers send in over 1,000 photos per day to be featured on Tourism Australia’s social media platforms.

What’s more, professional or semi-professional photographers are increasingly likely to share their shots as casual snappers, with some using those social platforms as a launch pad for their career.

Richard Hirst, a Sydney-based professional photographer, has built up his Facebook fanbase and has been hired by Nikon thanks to his shots being regularly featured on Tourism Australia’s Facebook.

This is testament to one of Tourism Australia’s core social media principles: make fans the heros.(more on this later)

Your best camera is the one you have with youWhile Tourism Australia receives incredible photos from professional and semi professional photographers (about 40%), the vast majority comes from thousands who give Tourism Australia a real time look at events happening across the country via Instagram.

“With mobile, you have only a second or two to tell a story. It once again changes the rules. Everything has to be short and punchy, intelligent, focused and massively relevant”- Jesse Desjardins

“5 years ago it would have been unthinkable for us to have photographers in the field sending us a thousand photos every day.” - Nick Baker

stories embedded in the history of our fansWhen Facebook introduced timelines for brand pages most companies flocked at the opportunity to talk about their history. To keep in the spirit of our approach (creating platforms that our fans can build on) we turned it over to fans who have been populating the timeline with their own family holiday photos, generating discussion on family traditions and holidays across Australia. Fans can see photos dating back to 1910.

Harry Willey - Coolangatta, QLD 1967

Australia’s tourism industry has followed suit, with a more and more companies embracing the concept of creating platforms that other people can build on. This, in turn, makes it easy for people to talk about their product or service and helps to publicise unforgettable experiences to new audiences in a peer-to-peer environment.

Pro Dive in Cairns, for instance, has installed free 3G wifi connections on their boats going out to the Great Barrier Reef so in between dives, customers can post photos and videos in real time.

“Whether it’s free WIFI or fan-generated social media content, companies that can recognise the power of introducing additional, participatory layers to their proposition are not just enhancing people’s enjoyment of their product, but are also helping their business in the long-term through people generating positive PR on their behalf.” - Nick Baker

make your advocates the herostep 2:

44,093 844 6,931Christine Amherd - “Chin up mate :)”

95% of content on Tourism Australia’s social media platforms is created by fans.

This means the social media team is focused on curating, not just creating, content that showcases the best of Australia.

This also means that the people whose content is being showcased on the day become experts joining the core team in leading the discussion and helping to answer questions from other fans.

Brad Chilby, Illawarra NSW: “I get hundreds of emails and enquiries through my Facebook fan page asking about visiting the Illawarra, places to see and things to do and I really enjoy sharing my local knowledge with them. The more photos I share with Tourism Australia the more my fan base grows and so does the interest in the region. Tourism Australia once shared one of my photos of Sea Cliff Bridge at Coalcliff in N.S.W and my fan numbers jumped by almost 400 fans in one day. It would normally take around 3 months to gain that many fans.”

Andy Hutchinson, South Coast NSW: “Best thing that's happened since I started sharing my photos is that I've started making a living out of selling them. I didn't think my photos were very good and had never considered selling prints before, but thanks in part to traffic sent my way via the Australia page and so many positive responses, I thought I'd give it a go. I've since sold prints and calendars all over the world  - if someone had told me that would be the case this time last year I'd have thought they were mad.”

Jen Rayner, Hobart TAS: “I love Australia and I love photographing it.  Tourism Australia's Facebook profile provides the perfect platform for me to share my perspective of Australia, with the rest of the world… I know how important tourism is to Tasmania and being involved in promoting my island gave me a great sense of pride.”

Carly Donohue, Perth WA: “My aim generally on a weekly basis is to get into the weeks fan photos posted by Australia. It is one of the best ways to market attention to a photo of mine. Alone it would be impossible for myself to engage all those in the world that like Australia photography to see my photos.”

Richard Hirst, Sydney NSW: “I have been inundated with emails from people around the world telling me how much they love my work and Australia. It is especially satisfying when I receive emails from friends of mine who live overseas and who have seen my photos posted by Tourism Australia.”

Why photographers share their photos...

Lauren Bath, Gold Coast QLD: “A lot of wonderful things have happened to me since I started sharing photos but my most exciting was the feature that Tourism Australia did on my shots. It was my first big photographic break.”

Harry Willey is an 81-year-old fan of Tourism Australia’s Facebook page.

Harry shrugs off the few negative comments which occasionally appear on the page and also shares his own experiences and extensive knowledge of Australia spanning decades.

“Harry is part of our social media team and is proof that Tourism Australia’s social media platforms aren’t exclusively targeting younger audiences. For over 50 years Harry has travelled all across Australia. In terms of expertise, it literally doesn’t get any better than Harry.” - Nick Baker

Visit the social media team at Tourism Australia and you’ll see an unusual photo of Luke Skywalker and Yoda.

“This photo reminds us to make our fans the hero every day. When we look at what other brands are doing in the social space, it’s still all about them, they are the hero, they are Luke Skywalker.

In Star Wars, Yoda is the wise one, he’s the one who has a deep understanding of where Luke should go and whispers this path in his ear. But throughout the film the hero is always Luke. This is our approach in social. When we make our fans Luke Skywalker they will pick up our stories and take it to places where it could never go on its own.

This mantra is always front and centre in everything that we do in social media.” - Jesse Desjardins

using the force

surf wavesstep 3:

55,626 2,576 12,410Russell Ord - “Massive swell”

While planning and content calendars have their place the team needs to always be ready to grab their boards and surf incoming waves.

The biggest advantage is that ‘Tourism + Australia’ are naturally some of the most talked about topics on social media in Australia with incoming waves coming in daily.

The challenge is choosing exactly which ones to surf.

We’re always ready for two types of wave: big waves and small waves...

5,765 246 1,287frothers.com.au | Bondi Beach, Sydney, NSW- “Duck”

Every day we hone our skills to be able to respond to news stories with an Australian angle, as evidenced recently on 21st December 2012, the last day of the Mayan calendar, which some were hailing as the end of the world.

By taking advantage of Australia’s geographic location we took it upon our selves to tell the world ‘Yes, we’re alive’ on Facebook.

The results? More than 180k likes and 7,000 comments. This also led to the page reaching more than 4 million fans. News of Tourism Australia’s Facebook comment also became headline news in the mainstream press.

big waves

"We'd like to reassure our fans around the world that Australia is very much alive and well, and still the perfect place for a holiday." - Media statement from Andrew McEvoy, Managing Director, Tourism Australia

“The ‘end of the world’ posts was a perfect example of the power and speed of social media. We’re proud of the capabilities we’ve built internally that allow us to respond to such opportunities. Our team was able to seize upon an incredible PR opportunity, which within minutes saw Tourism Australia’s Facebook site making news across Australia, and, within hours, across the globe.”

Andrew McEvoy, Managing Director

The core social media team also works closely with traditional media partners.

When a rescued Koala became a big hit on our Facebook page, we quickly contacted the media in Australia. The result was a feature in three major news outlets in Australia, the US and the UK in less than 24 hours.

One example of a small weekly wave is the Friday Fan Photos. Around 35 photos submitted by fans from a wide variety of locations are rounded up every Friday and then published as an album on Facebook.

Comments are relentlessly positive, with fans liking, sharing and reminiscing about their own memories.

‘It’s become a big thing and people are quite competitive to get their pictures featured. Professional photographers send us photos on a daily basis and people call the switchboard and send photos in the mail.’ - Jesse Desjardins

small waves

Small waves are our favourites because they allow us to hone our skills and to cumulatively always be achieving more.

You only get better at mastering the big waves once you’ve mastered the small ones.

“We are constantly searching for the absolute best content to showcase Australia. Our fans loved the idea of ‘glamping’ over the holidays. With the help of Paperbark Camp and the perfect image we were able to reach hundreds of thousands of people to share an incredible Australian experience. By crafting exactly the right post we were also able to increase Paperbark Camp’s Facebook page from 423 to over 7,900 fans, generating enquires and bookings from all over the world.” - Jesse Desjardins

Visual beauty and social media is a highly potent combination when it comes to driving interest in Australia.

“Platforms like Instagram and Facebook give people a 24-hour, constant, real-time loop which is forever suggesting a holiday in Australia over their next big purchase. It’s a constant way to reconnect with people who have already been here or who are dreaming of a holiday in Australia.” - Nick Baker

“If we’ve just had the most beautiful sunny day and our fans in the UK are just waking up to a blizzard we can quickly put out a gentle reminder of what they’re missing out on.” - Jesse Desjardins

Always on

make our stories socialstep 4:

5,284 414 724Karen Fitzgerald - Injalak Hill, Oenpelli, Arnhem Land, NT.

Every post is designed to not only tell a story, but also to give a story to tell.

On Facebook, for example stories are never designed just for the 4.1 million fans, they are also designed to get those current fans influencing their 457 million other friends.

“The majority of our fans have already been to Australia or they live here. Social allows us to put part of a story out there and say ‘here, you build on it’. If a photo gets shared ten thousand times, then there are probably ten thousand different angles to that story being told.” - Jesse Desjardins

Giving people a story to tell

Current fan baseFriends of fans

“A picture just sells it, and because Australia is globally recognised as being number one for natural beauty, photos are the best way to show it off. Social context adds comments and people saying ‘I’ve been there, I’ve done that.’ Then it’s magic. Through these simple fan photo features we can have the same reach as a traditional campaign every day.”- Nick Baker

40,445 1,358 4,915Adventure Photography Whitsunday

In 2012, Tourism Australia launched a Facebook app that allowed travellers to tap into their own network of friends for inspiration and ideas to plan and make the most of a holiday in Australia.

discover australia through your friends

The app was the first of its kind in the world.

Not only does it help you choose where in Australia to go, but also embeds Australia’s diverse stories in the social context of your friends who have already been. Making the travel planning process truly personal.

test & learnstep 5.

39,857 1,865 7,565Richard Hirst - Winter ice skating in Bondi

“When Google+ launched pages for brands our first intuition was to repeat something that worked on Facebook. 3 months into it we had about 30k followers, which we thought was good. One day we decided to experiment with facts about Australia and the engagement went crazy. In the following 3 months we grew to over 730k followers. We quickly learned that every platform has its own rules.” - Nick Baker

Watch Tourism Australia’s Facebook page and you’ll see that captions can be changed several times in the first instance that a post shows up on the newsfeed.

“It’s not uncommon for us to tweak a caption on a post a few times once it’s been published. Within seconds we started getting feedback from fans around the world. They tell us very quickly when we’ve hit the mark and when we haven’t.” - Jesse Desjardins

28 0 1Eugene Tan - Aquabumps

“Often we’ll let our fans come up with a caption for our posts. We can often get several thousand suggestions from fans all around the world. Not only is this a great way to engage, it’s also incredibly insightful for us to learn from. The creativity of some of our fans never ceases to amaze us.” - Jesse Desjardins

This never-ending influence through social stories is crucial when it comes to tapping into the first and last of the five stages of travel: dreaming, planning, booking, experiencing and sharing.

the 5 stages of traveldREAMING

PLANNING

BOOKINGEXPERIENCING

SHARING“Our job is conversion. When people are buying a holiday, there’s a phase when they go all over the place and are deciding if they actually want to go on holiday or if they’d sooner upgrade their bathroom or buy a new car.” - Nick Baker

dREAMING

SHARING

Tourism Australia’s research has shown that 24% of people who see their peer group’s holiday photos are inspired to go on holiday, while 11% want to go on exactly the same holiday enjoyed by their friends.

“Holidays are a cherished part of life where people reconnect and make important decisions. There’s a virtuous circle at work where post-holiday sharing steers the next wave of visitors to Australia who are at the dreaming stage.” - Nick Baker

“We use all sorts of metrics to track the success of our platforms and campaigns. Although likes, comments and shares give us some indication, the real value often in social is what the consumer is telling us and how it can influence everything else that we do. One of the best outcomes of our social media efforts is that we now globally have access to an incredible focus group who continue to inspire us every day.” - Nick Baker

The core social media team splits its time in 3 focus areas:

•working towards being the world’s most talked about travel destination globally

•focusing on platform-building instead of one-off initiatives to expand reach in partnership with fans and industry partners

•the team spends roughly 30% of its time working in other business units sharing insights and expanding the size of the team throughout the organisation and industry.

“Everyone at Tourism Australia plays a role in our social media efforts. The biggest mistake for our small team would be to work in a silo. Through collaboration there’s almost no limits.” – Jesse Desjardins

The team’s goal is to show how being open, collaborative, and, ultimately, having the utmost confidence in your product, attracts people to want to advocate on your behalf.

Platforms Partnerships

Insights

Growing the team

In 2012, China surpassed the UK to become Australia’s second largest inbound market after New Zealand.

While Australia has had success in the western world’s social media platforms, it is also one of the most followed destination on Sina Weibo, a microblog used by well over 30% of the Internet population in China.

“Through partnerships with Sina Weibo and Youku we’re once again having to adapt our storytelling approach. We’ve found that while the majority of the world used platforms like Facebook as an extension of themselves, consumers in China will often use them to project an image of themselves. A trip to Australia is an incredibly popular proposition which is clearly shown by the amount of conversation around some of this country’s natural beauty.” - Nick Baker

china

123,320 3,830 22,046City of Sydney Embrace 2013! Happy New Year from Australia xxx

FAN FAVOURITES

Tommy Clarke Photographer - Waiting to start the Bondi to Bronte Ocean Swim

/+Australia

/SeeAustralia

/+SeeAustralia

to join the team visit:

/SeeAustralia

No one can predict what the future will hold and how digital platforms will evolve.

But with over 6 million visitors last year, 22 million Australians and the help of the world’s biggest social media team, we are in the best possible position to show the world why There’s Nothing Like Australia.