Mediaboss Marketing

An innovative marketing campaign in the European city of Amsterdam has shed new light on the power of consumer-to-consumer marketing, writes guest columnist David Hornstein

If youve been to Amsterdam lately, youre likely to have seen the large three-dimensional I amsterdam letters in front of the citys famous Rijksmuseum. The letters were installed in 2005 as part of the citys rebranding campaign. By now, the sculpture is the citys most photographed item, being photographed over 8,000 times on a sunny day.

With smartphones and visual social media on the rise, the I Amsterdam letters are an innovative example of how destination marketers can harness the power of C2C marketing.

Heres why.

The social media revolution has turned the traditional one-way flow of destination marketing information on its head. Indeed much of the destination marketing organisations (DMO) power has been transferred to the public - the connected and empowered consumer who co-creates and shapes the destination brand.

Visual user-generated content such as tourist photography plays a particularly important role as social media is increasingly based on visuals. DMOs must address this fundamental shift in power and place social sharing at the heart of their campaigns. This means directing all efforts towards turning visitors and residents into brand ambassadors and viral agents.

Four ways that destination marketers can get visitors talking.

1. Provide attractive visuals that add meaning to peoples personal brand story: DMOs must find ways to get visitors to talk about them in their private social networks. It must be attractive (add value) to people to share destination information with their peers. Essentially, this is about story telling: when travelling, we use photography future memory-making but also to create compelling visual stories about our selves. These travel tales are often designed with the purpose of telling our personal brand stories things we would like everyone else to think about us. Common themes include basic statements such as I had fun or I had a unique experience etc. Through images on social media we essentially construct our own idealised selves and identities. If DMOs want people to share their destination brand material on social media, they must provide those attractive visuals that add meaning to peoples personal brand story.

2. Find the perfect photo: Every destination needs that one place-indicative photo. Think of the Eiffel Tower or Brandenburger Gate. The reason why these buildings are photographed and shared on social media time and again is because they contain the information of place. These images have PARIS or BERLIN written all over them and set the stage for the following images and travel narrative. These images are fundamental as they add context to our stories. Your destination doesnt have an Eiffel Tower? Oh well, I guess a snapshot of an airline ticket will do (but, duh, seriously).

Original post:
Social Media and Marketing