MOBILIZING YOUR TRUE BRAND,

with a little help from your friends

Corinne AllieDestination Cleveland

@rinallie

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The Decision The Fumble

Cleveland Joke Reel

Rustbelt revival … Cleveland makes a comeback.

“I think that troubled cities often tragically misinterpret what’s coolest about themselves. They scramble for cure-alls, something that will “attract business,” always one convention center, one pedestrian mall or restaurant district away from revival. They miss their biggest, best and probably most marketable asset: their unique and slightly off-center character.”

ANTHONY BOURDAIN

Be yourself.Everyone else is already taken.

Get Real.

While we have world-class art, culture and rock & roll, we never take ourselves too seriously. The result is irreverent and fun and always unmistakably Cleveland.You be yourself. We’ll be ourselves.

A Cleveland Anthem

The greatness of a city does not consist in its buildings either public or private, nor in its institutions & benevolences, but rather in the intensity and intelligence with which its citizens love the city as their home.

– Cleveland mayor Newton D. Baker Jr. in 1907

Make it shareable.

By the numberssocial media movement encouraging residents to TAG their unmistakably Cleveland images…

Delivered to nearly 700 million timelines to dateReaching more than 150 million social network users 89,000 unique contributors tagging approximately 195,955 photos on Instagram More than 245,087 tagged tweets

Buddy Bloggers

the idea

Six influencers from Cleveland planned itineraries and hosted six visiting

influencers from Destination Cleveland’s target markets.

From Aug 8 – Sept 6, 12 influencers with a combined audience of nearly

100,000 fans across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, converged

on Cleveland.

Representing niches from food and fitness and family, to lifestyle, LGBT and culture, these bloggers indulged, imbibed, and inspectednearly every facet of Cleveland’s

offerings.

1. the bloggers

• Finding bloggers isn’t like finding travel writers in a database. They’re not all going to be in the system.

• Google search, Twitter search, hashtag tracking, repeat. And then repeat again.

• Take time to really learn about your blogger before you reach out or risk coming off as inauthentic.

• Be flexible.• Be personal.• Most of all, be patient.

Influencer Search

2.Planning the visits

•Decide on dates•Book hotels•Support your locals in creating an itinerary •Secure attraction tickets working with partners where possible•Make restaurant reservations•Provide a thorough overview a few days before the trip•Purchase gas cards•Drop off swag bags at the hotel where your visitor is staying•As the trips approach, get ready to network online and curate content

To-Dos:

3.curating the trips

Buddy Blogger Videos

12 bloggers Told an authentic Cleveland story to their combined audience of 93,719 followers across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram + blogs

Generated 23 blog posts

Produced 6,774 online stories (tweets, photos, likes, comments, shares)

Responsible for 3.2 million #ThisisCLE Twitter impressions

The results:

If I knew then what I know now…•You’re going to need help. If you’re not the person who hosts traditional writers, talk to the folks who do.

•You could pay the bloggers, but it’s not necessary.

•They’re going to say yes.

•This is going to take some time.

•Be ready to engage.

•Share the numbers. Share the numbers. And, share the numbers.

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Corinne Alliecallie@destinationcle.org

@rinallie

Thanks!