Destinations Council Destiny Awards > Social Media Campaign

Hurricane Irma Recovery Organic Facebook Campaign

About This Entry:

On September 10, 2017, Naples, Marco Island and Everglades City, Florida received a direct hit from the Category Three Hurricane Irma. The hurricane made its second Florida landfall on Marco Island and tracked farther inland than anticipated, sparing the island’s beaches from the large storm surge that was anticipated. While the destination did sustain damages from the hurricane, most hotels and resorts were up and hosting first responders in a matter of days and welcoming vacation guests by the first of October.

Although recovery efforts such as beach cleanups and electrical outages were quickly addressed, national news focused on imagery of devastation throughout south Florida. Post-storm national media coverage repeatedly used video and information from when the storm was raging in the area, and no real-time views of the area’s beaches and attractions in the weeks after the storm.

Because tourism is the leading driver of the destination’s economy, it was extremely important that the CVB actively produce messaging that would showcase the destination in real time. The CVB’s objective was to overcome negative perceptions about the destination post-hurricane and inform potential visitors of the quick recovery process and reassure them it was not only safe, but a good time to return and that Florida’s Paradise Coast was as beautiful as ever and ready to welcome visitors to the destination.

In addition to paid digital media placements and a sponsored influencer campaign, the CVB’s social media team produced and executed a highly effective organic social media campaign focusing primarily on Facebook posts utilizing photos of beaches, hotels and attractions taken post-storm and a series of Facebook Live broadcasts showing followers and their friends what the destination looked like just weeks after the storm.

The key to the organic campaign’s success was the real-time engagement with followers. The team was able to honestly and quickly answer a multitude of questions about the destination and show live views of still-beautiful beaches, hotels and more.

Campaign Strategy:

In addition to paid digital media placements and an influencer campaign, the CVB’s produced and executed a highly effective organic social media campaign focusing primarily on Facebook posts utilizing photos of beaches, hotels and attractions taken post-storm and a series of Facebook Live broadcasts showing followers and their friends what the destination looked like after the storm.

The key to the organic campaign’s success was the real-time engagement with followers. The team honestly and quickly answered a multitude of questions about the destination and showed live views of still-beautiful beaches, hotels and more. This greatly influenced destination fans to plan trips, as seen in the positive visitation report for October.

Beginning two days after Hurricane Irma the in-house CVB PR and digital team traveled the destination collecting photography and video to use in organic social media posts. A policy was established to post only post-storm imagery. This generated high engagement from fans and the team realized there were many people concerned and confused about the destination. Post-storm news reports showed photos and video from the height of the storm as it passed through the area, and imagery showed only negative impacts, but not the areas, including beaches, that were beautiful.

The destination launched its Facebook Live recovery initiative by partnering with Chad Crawford, host of the syndicated “How to Do Florida” television show. Having recently completed a shoot for a Naples episode, Crawford included the destination on his "How to Help Florida" Facebook Live tour of the state's impacted coastal regions. Three Facebook Live broadcasts took place on September 26 featuring Naples Beach and Pier and Marco Island.

A schedule was created for a series of Facebook Live broadcasts timed to include key reopening dates for top hotels and attractions. The team used a combination of hosted interview formats and live beauty shot episodes, like sunsets overlooking Naples Pier and the Gulf of Mexico.

More than 40 non-ads organic Facebook posts showing post-storm imagery with the area's "Paradise Coast is Clear" messaging and Facebook Live broadcasts occurred in October. These became standouts even compared to paid social and digital placements.

Results:

The month of October 2017 was a record-breaking month across the destination's social media accounts, hitting all-time highs for overall impressions, new followers, and engagements. A total of 3,643,460 impressions were garnered, the majority of which came from Facebook. The high number of impressions is due to the success of the Facebook Live videos that were published post-Irma and boosted organic posts. The Facebook Live videos were largely responsible for the record high 33,332 engagements and 18,489 link clicks. One of the top performing Facebook Live videos was a visit to the Third Street South shopping and dining district and Naples Pier with interviews with the Mayor of Naples, bartenders and others with a reach of 36,493.

Another result was a serious boost in visits and indications of intent to travel on the destination's website, which grew by double and triple digits. Conversions such as ordering a visitor guide were up 158 percent. Web visits for October 2017 increased 57 percent over October 2016. Organic traffic to the site increased 30 percent. The highest increases in web visits were from key drive markets including Miami, Tampa, Orlando and West Palm Beach.

The most important result came with the quick return of vacationers to the destination in October. Visitation data shows 69.9 percent of visitors were in the destination for vacation. This was a critical boost to area attractions. The remainder of hotel guests were storm responders and recovery workers, most of whom did not have time to visit attractions. Visitation for October 2017 was down only 1.1 percent over October 2016. Economic impact from visitors was up three percent, and the satisfaction level of guests was 95.1 percent.

Why This Is A Finalist: 

Addressing a perception gap is always challenging. This is particularly true in this case, given that the hurricane hit the region just weeks before the start of the tourism season. Executing a campaign and achieving results within three to four weeks was quite impressive. This was the best campaign reporting the judges saw for the entire category. The description, innovation, cross-platform usage, reporting—all were very well done.

The Facebook Live streams clearly achieved the desired outcome and boosted visitation. The program’s real time nature, both through the answering of audience questions and through Facebook Live, would have led to the credibility and authenticity required to assuage concerns. The campaign benefited from having a baseline of previous number visitation and spend numbers. That said, the results were impressive with a net positive contribution to the region’s economy.