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In a move to refresh its tourism sector, Ashburton District Council has allocated ratepayers’ money toward engaging content creators and influencers to promote the region.
This strategy aligns with larger trends seen across New Zealand and aims to enhance the visibility of Mid Canterbury as a travel destination.
Ian Hyde, group manager compliance and development at the Ashburton District Council, emphasises the importance of measuring the effectiveness of these campaigns.
“Ashburton District Council takes a data-driven approach to evaluating the long-term impact of influencer district promotions. We assess a range of key indicators over the medium-long term such as: website statistics, social media metrics, levels and quality of tourism business inquiry, visitor spending data and brand recognition across media platforms. These combined data points help assess whether the promotions translate into sustained interest and economic benefits for the region.” he says.
The selection process for choosing content creators is equally thorough.
Ian says “Influencers are selected based on a clear alignment between their audience demographics and our target visitors. Criteria includes audience location and interests, engagement rates, interaction with followers, content style and storytelling ability as well as past success in promoting similar destinations or experiences.”
This targeted approach is to ensure that the messages resonate with potential visitors. To sustain the interest generated by these campaigns, the council has laid out several strategies.
Ian says “To sustain interest beyond the campaign, we use a range of methods: repurposing and sharing influencer-generated content across our owned channels and with local operators. We support local tourism operators with marketing initiatives that enhance visitor experiences and encourage repeat visitation. We maintain ongoing engagement with audiences through targeted marketing campaigns and leverage campaign momentum to attract media coverage and additional collaborations.”
Lilia Alexander, a travel content creator involved in promoting the region, shared her insights on connecting with her audience.
“To engage with them (audiences) and because of my long-term experience in creating content in the social media world and then also in creating tourism content, I feel like I have an eye for capturing things in a way that I know or believe that the audience would be drawn to.” I guess that would be my strategy around that, is just capturing it in a way that I know the audience finds visually appealing and they’re more likely to like it, save it, send it to their friends and then ultimately more likely to then go in and visit that tourism business.” she says.
Balancing authenticity and promotional content is crucial for content creators like Lilia and she says “The way that I capture things generally, when it comes to social media videos most of that is filmed on iPhone so that’s super accessible. The goal of my page is not about me trying to be vain or trying to like get followers for myself it’s more that I love sharing cool things in places that can inspire people to go out and see more and do more, so that’s my goal of all the content that I create.”
