It’s no secret that with increased travel over the summer period comes an influx of fresh, user-generated content of your destination for you to leverage across your marketing efforts.
And of course, because your team deserves to have some fun too (get your out-of-office message queued up and make a plan to disconnect!), we have some tips for how to work smarter and stay ahead of the trends that matter this summer.
Let’s get into it!
Breathe new life into older content
Before you start working on a new piece of content, take a look in your archives to see if you already have something that could be repurposed to fit with a new campaign. Adding new images, stakeholder mentions, updating dates, and adding new event details could be all your content needs to be ready for your new initiative.
Make sure to post your content on all your content channels and use various content formats to stretch the life of your piece. For example, your DMO may host a podcast or regularly produce YouTube videos of your team visiting local points of interest. You could have the audio from those podcasts or videos transcribed and published as a blog post on your website for people who may not have the time or ability to watch or listen. Your audiences consume content in different ways so you should cater to that!
Tap into your local creators!
One challenge we hear from nearly every DMO is that there’s never enough capacity to do it all when it comes to covering all your marketing bases. The thing is, there are often dozens of local creators around that you can leverage to do the hard work for you.
The stories people have of your destination is what makes it so unique. Creators are best suited to find and share these stories because they have connections and access to people and places that DMOs sometimes don’t. That leaves your team with more time to use that content strategically to ensure that it’s ultimately helping bring more economic impact to your community.
Looking for more short-form video?
Get in touch with our team to learn how CrowdRiff Creators is helping DMOs create short-form video at scale for their destinations.
Learn moreYou don’t always need video assets to build great short-form videos
Surprised? It’s true, slideshows are all the rage too! Variety is the spice of life, and the same is true for your short-form videos. While there’s always going to be a level of brand integrity you’ll be looking for when sourcing content, you can leverage UGC assets you already have in CrowdRiff and use them to assemble fun, compelling, short-form videos.
One of our favorite examples of this is from Travel Drumheller, who knocked it out of the park with this high-energy Reel that leverages UGC photos.
And don’t forget to tap into current trends! The current “get ready with me” trend could be a great way to complement your hiking content while sharing top know-before-you-go messaging. Best of all, it’s really easy to produce, especially if you already have assets from other hikes.
Chances are, you probably have tons of content that is or will be applicable to current and future trends. It’s faster to reuse content instead of wasting time creating from scratch if you want to jump on trends before they fade.
Offer peak season travel tips, directions, and FAQs in easy-to-digest videos
We know that Instagram and TikTok are changing the way people plan their travels, so why not include your most informative content in these formats too! Place videos on your ‘Getting Here’ pages to supplement written directions and pin them in your social channels for maximum visibility when you need it most.
Refresh galleries from last year
Did you have galleries for major events last year? Instead of making a whole new gallery, circle back to your top summer activity pages, blog posts, and events and freshen things up with newer assets.
It’s also a great opportunity to showcase any new businesses or double down on calls to action to help drive traffic to bookable experiences.
Update your saved searches
With so much great UGC being uploaded every hour, you don’t want to miss a single piece of it! Check back in with your saved searches to keep tabs on events in your area. Start requesting rights now to build galleries of annual events and be ready when they roll around this year.
Plan your summer content calendar now
Get ahead of important holidays, both statutory and the lesser-known fun ones, so you can make the best of summer knowing your content pipeline is publishing with ease! We’ve even compiled this annual content calendar to help you plan important dates in advance.
Amplify your sustainability messaging
With peak season comes increased concerns about sustainability. Leverage UGC and Creators to put your most important messaging in the same places where users are finding inspiration–directly on Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts.
