The Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO) and consulting partner Trove Tourism Development Advisors held three training sessions (November 16-18) on Digital Content Strategy for 15 National Tourism Organisations (NTOs) in the region.
The training is part of the Pacific Digital Tourism Transformation Project funded by the New Zealand government (NZMFAT Phase 2). The project aims to accelerate the recovery of the tourism sector in the Pacific and build a more resilient and sustainable industry leveraging digital capabilities. Trove began working with SPTO in July 2022 to develop tailored digital content strategies for all 15 NTOs and SPTO.
In acknowledging the importance of the training sessions, SPTO CEO Chris Cocker mentioned that digital marketing was essential for increasing tourism awareness, sparking online engagement, and helping travellers plan a visit to the Pacific in today’s technology-based world.
“The goal of these training sessions is to present the new content strategies and advise each NTO on creating and maintaining a successful digital marketing presence to increase awareness of and tourism to their destination. We are so pleased about the digital content strategy for the Pacific as it is central to the larger goal of building the capacity of our members in the areas of content, digital marketing and how to get the word out there to the right audiences,” Mr Cocker said.
Trove consultants Danny Cohanpour and Olivia Ward, during the training with the NTOs, focussed on a variety of areas, including:
• A New Pacific Islands Messaging Framework: How to “speak about” the Pacific Islands via digital content for visitors and travel trade
• New Market Segments and Audience Profiles: A detailed breakdown of audiences in the region and their needs and preferences for content
• Social Media Strategies: How to use each social media platform for what purpose and in what capacity (when and where to post, what to post, in what voice & tone, and to accomplish what metrics)
• Social Sentiment strategies: How to gather traveler sentiment on a destination from online channels using automated and manual methods
• SEO and Web strategies: How to optimize existing websites for Search rankings and visitor conversions while developing a blog and web content that engages and inspires visitors and travel trade
• Advanced conversion strategies: How to create content that converts visitors to booking
• KPIs and Measurement strategies: How to measure performance across three key verticals: awareness, consideration, and conversions for visitors
Mr Cohanpour highlighted that Trove and SPTO would schedule quarterly coaching sessions, beginning this January 2023, with each NTO to review how to implement critical recommendations within each destination’s marketing operation.
“For destinations, creating success in digital marketing requires a good grasp of best practices in content development and digital tools, and that was the major lesson learned last week. We look forward to more results from this program and are excited about the incredible impact thus far,” Mr Cohanpour said
