Phoenix Loves Social Media

Phoenix - Facebook and Beyond

Does your city have a Twitter account? How about a presence on Facebook? The folks over at the Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau are in the midst of rolling out a new outreach campaign to promote Phoenix that spans the social media landscape.

And they're going about building participation it in a very smart way.

The Greater Phoenix CVB is using their Facebook page to create connections with Valley residents by way of an offer to win multiple-night stays, dinners and spa visits at local resorts. Correctly answer a trivia question first and you can win a two night stay at the Royal Palms and a candlelit dinner for two at T. Cooks?

Not bad huh?

Imagine the Possibilities

You might ask yourself - what does the CVB get out of this, or any number of partners who either have or will be associated with this new campaign in the coming weeks (Ritz-Carlton Phoenix, Arizona Biltmore, Fairmont Scottsdale, etc)? If they're doing it right and collecting demographical information, as well as e-mail sign ups, then the CVB will be in a position to build a lifecycle marketing campaign utilizing email, social media or even SMS mobile messaging, well into the future. Its also worth mentioning that social media campaigns like these are great for just building new communities online. Create lots of fans and they'll carry the message for you - a win/win.

The Greater Phoenix CVB's approach is to establish an outpost on the majority of popular social networks. Facebook is a hub, as well as their blog "The Hot Sheet." But they are also on Twitter, You Tube and Flickr.

The Flickr page has a ton of great photos posted by the CVB. They could go a step further by creating a photo pool that encourages others to submit their best shots. Likewise, the YouTube channel seems to have a lot of self produced content. Once this gets opened up (can someone say video contest?) it will be more compelling, but hey its a great start. The world of social media is unexplored territory for most businesses, to say nothing about most cities!

So bravo to the Great Phoenix CVB and their foray into social media. See? One more reason why Phoenix is better than your city!

About the Author: William Smith

William brings 10 years of interactive marketing experience to Off Madison Ave and serves as the agency’s Search Marketing Manager. In addition to his responsibilities managing pay-per-click and search optimization for clients, William is the agency’s resident twitterholic, and works with the social media department to develop innovative ways of using the medium for marketing.

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