Influential travel bloggers with hordes of followers could be the key to tourism destinations like Townsville attracting viral fame on social media.
University of Queensland Faculty of Business Professor Pierre Benckendorff, an expert in the field of social media and tourism, said travel bloggers were now hugely influential and often had hundreds of thousands of followers.
“Some destinations are now actively engaging with bloggers and these are people who have massive followings on Instagram and Facebook,” Professor Benckendorff said.
“They are the new travel writers of social media and the opinion leaders because they have so many followers.
“The things that go viral are usually posted by these kind of influential people and hashtags are also really important because if the photo doesn’t have any other branding it’s the only thing that connects the destination back to that photo.”
Social media has become vital in marketing North Queensland as a desirable holiday destination with Townsville Enterprise embracing the world of travel bloggers and Instagram.
The #townsvilleshines hashtag has been used more than 100,000 times and Instameets held on Magnetic Island and in Charters Towers have showcased the region to more than 100,000 people.
Townsville Enterprise tourism and events director Bridget Woods said innovative marketing strategies like Instameets had gained huge support from tourism operators and Townsville Airport.
“Digital marketing platforms are providing significant opportunities to strengthen our local tourism industry by promoting our destination to a global audience,” she said.
“Digital channels also enable us to share destination content through tourism partners who have large consumer databases such as Tourism and Events Queensland and Tourism Australia.
“Locals are encouraged to help promote the destination by sharing their favourite experiences and activities in Townsville North Queensland through their own social media channels and using the hashtag #townsvilleshines.”