A social marketing success story as Tourism Queensland deliberates over the top 50.
You know that fabulous job on Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef? I wrote about my application here on Roaming Tales the other week and about the job and the reef more generally on EcoSalon. I’ve also been tweeting about it pretty much non-stop – thankfully my Twitter followers are a patient and supportive bunch!
Well, applications closed last night and Tourism Queensland is due to announce its top 50 in a week from now. But I’m declaring early victory for myself, for Tourism Queensland, and for everyone involved. Here’s why.
Tourism Queensland
As a marketing campaign for the Great Barrier Reef, this has been a HUGE success for Tourism Queensland. After an enormous rush of last-minute video submissions, Tourism Queensland has now accepted 34,000 applications. That’s 34,000 people who took the time to make a 60-second video and have pretty much had the reef on their mind for a good chunk of the past seven weeks. Plus, they’ve told all their friends about it, it’s been all over the blogosphere and social media networks, and it’s attracted plenty of mainstream media attention too. They’d had over a million page viewers at the Best Job in the World website within days – the current traffic stats must be astronomical. To put it in context, the reef attracted 1.84 million visitors last year – many of them domestic tourists from within Australia.
Applicants
For everyone who applied, I think it’s been an overwhelmingly positive experience. Many applicants have bonded on a social network set up by Susie Parish, one of the applicants. It’s also been an opportunity to learn new skills – for me it was video editing. I put my video together on iMovie and found it much easier than I expected. Regardless of whether I get the job (and I hope I will!), I’m inspired to do more podcasting and video blogging this year.
Me
I would be thrilled to make the top 50 and I do believe I am a very strong candidate, even in a field of 34,000. It’s now in Tourism Queensland’s hands but regardless of what they decide over the next week, I am enormously proud of what I have achieved with this video and my campaign. I believe I put together the best application I could but I also demonstrated my ability to harness social media to market myself. I can’t truly take credit for that because you are all free agents – but I am gratified and proud of the support you all gave me and the fact that I was able to organise and direct it to productive channels.
I had 150 people join the ‘Help Caitlin Get the Best Job in the World’ group on Facebook – not bad considering the niche appeal of the subject matter and the fact that many people joined who I don’t actually know. Thanks in particular to Tom Allen, Lynne Moores, Amy White and others for getting their friends to join.
Dozens of my Twitter followers have retweeted my calls for votes or sent supportive messages to Tourism Queensland’s Twitter account @queensland on my behalf – among them, @mollyblock @travelinggreen @tashjudd @digitalmaverick @elliottng @jemimakiss @101ofawolf @writingtravel @definethis @awakey @keithemmerson @jayprich @globtrav @emiliaf @figandcherry (I’m sure I’m missing people!).
People also submitted and voted up on my post on sites such as StumbleUpon and Digg, which was much appreciated. Some of my fellow travel bloggers wrote posts on my behalf, such as Susie of Arabia, who is in the running for the 2009 Bloggies, and Romano of Switzerland (in German).
The result is that my video did extremely well. I ended the first round with four stars and over 1,000 page views and there were only a handful of other videos to match this achievement. In fact, when I checked this morning, there was only one other from the UK – Shayne from London. I also have 4 stars on YouTube (separate rating system).
The ‘most viewed’ category is dominated by videos that were uploaded early and as you can imagine, there’s a cumulative effect because being displayed on the ‘most viewed’ page gives you exposure that in turn increases your page views. It doesn’t necessarily mean these are the most popular videos – for example the most viewed video on the site has over 41,000 page views, which is massive, but its average rating is only two stars, which is somewhat less impressive.
The ‘most popular’ category on the other hand was a bit of a movable feast because it’s really hard to sustain your star rating once your page views start to climb. Occasionally the page would feature a video with five stars but they tended to have fewer than 10 page views – meaning that only the applicant and their close friends and family had voted so far. Usually, throughout the past six weeks, the most popular videos would have four stars.
I’m very proud of managing the double-whammy of sustaining four stars and increasing my page views over the 1,000 mark. I think this is a real testament to my strength as an applicant because the video explained why I’m qualified but the social media campaign I ran to get those votes helps PROVE why I’m qualified.
The number one thing Tourism Queensland needs is someone who can write, take photos, present well on video and engage with an audience – I’m hoping that I demonstrated this through my application. However, the second most important thing in my opinion is that they need a blogger who can network and build an audience – if content is king, then marketing is queen. Tourism Queensland can certainly provide technical and marketing support but there is no substitute for the passion of a blogger marketing themselves, reaching out to other bloggers and online audiences. I think it would be entirely misguided to assume the marketing of the blog could be left to the people in the office – that’s not how things work in new media.
Of course anyone who has applied in the past few days hasn’t really had the opportunity to demonstrate themselves in this way and yet may be a fantastic candidate. I got my application in early on purpose, specifically so I could mount this campaign and it’s paid off for me in terms of the sense of achievement, regardless of whether I make the top 50. I’m sure Tourism Queensland will be reviewing each application on its merits, but I do hope they will take a moment to look at the bigger picture.
So a big THANK YOU to everyone who supported me and my fingers are crossed for the next stage. I’m going to keep quiet for the next week but it does look like the site is still registering votes and page views, so do feel free. The traffic would have died down now that applications have closed, so now’s your chance if the site wouldn’t load for you last week.
Hello Caitlin,
I agree that Queensland Tourism has executed an excellent campaign for themselves.
1.84 M visitors from Australia alone?! Wow! After this campaign, I am sure that even with the state of the economy these days, more people will have Hamilton Island / Great Barrier / Reef / Queensland / Australia in the back of their heads as a top destination!
With regards to your application, I have seen your video and rated it and supported it as much as I could. I hope you win, as you deserve it so!
Thank you, Jen! So many people have supported me, it’s been really fantastic. I appreciate your support and votes very much and you’ll definitely have to come along to the inaugural Hamilton Island Travel Bloggers Conference if I get the job! To clarify the statistic, the reef received 1.84m visitors last year worldwide but a large percentage would have been from Australia. – Caitlin
It sounds like you are a very strong contender indeed. I’m keeping my fingers crossed! What a dream job!
Thanks Susie! Given that there are 34,000 applications, I’m not holding my breath – but I must admit I’m keeping my fingers crossed too. – Caitlin.
i think you have done a fantastic job to get this far and should be really pleased. I hope you go all the way and get the job – it would be amazing!!!
Good Luck
dt
Thank you! I’m quite chuffed regardless of outcome – though the job itself would be awesome! – Caitlin.
fingers and toes crossed. Looking forward to interviewing you and promoting your campaign when you are named in the top 50.
Caitlin, Oh, sorry for the mistake in the stats. I’ve gone cross-eyed, I think
I hope you win! You deserve this! You already have what it takes and more. Plus you’re Australian…who would know more about Australia than an…Australian!
Thanks, Jen. There are some fabulous – and funny – videos out there so I’m realistic but I remain hopeful! – Caitlin.
You’ve more that proved you’re up to the job, as your video clearly demonstrates. And my fingers are crossed that you’re through, and then through again.
So how has the experience changed you? I mean, being ready for the call to drop everything, collect everything else together in your life and head off round the world, as you are now – how has it affected your ambitions and sense of adventure?
Hi Mike! It’s a good question. Quite honestly I’m not sure it’s changed me in that way as I’ve always been prepared to do that and I’ve actually done so many times in the past. I was an exchange student in Germany for four months when I was 15 and we went on a two-week school trip to Russia. I volunteered on four-month community development projects in Costa Rica when I was 20 and then again Guyana when I was 22. And my boyfriend (now fiance) and I quit our jobs, packed up everything and moved here to London from Sydney five years ago. So it feels like it would be a natural fit.
While they might be tempted to give the job to someone who’s never travelled, I think this would be a mistake. I think a sense of adventure and willingness to give things a go is essential to do the job well and make the most of the opportunity.
If I did get the job and went to Hamilton Island for six months, there would be huge changes ahead for me – it would be an intense experience and I’d meet a lot of new people so of course I would soak up all that. It would be a very public-facing job and I would have to get used to that and being an interviewee rather than an interviewer. My partner would come with me so it would be interesting to be the one earning the money for a while. It’s pretty much a dream job in its own right, but it’s only for six months – however I think being the chosen one could really open a lot of doors. Mostly though I would just really enjoy being on the island, swimming every day, and sharing the beauty of the place with the world.
- Caitlin.
A fantastic achievement, indeed. I’ll see what I can do with iMovie. Make up my own version of that Ayers Rock footage I shot last weekend.
You got five stars from me, but that was only partly because you’re a BC/LJ/FB buddy. Other web invites to view and vote came in, but weren’t much chop compared to yours. In fact some videos were embarrassing in how obviously they were also-rans.
Yours was bright and brainy.
But I’ve seen some of the other candidates, and my, but you’ve got some talented competition!
Well done you for great stats and a great campaign.
As for Tourism Queensland, well what a brilliant idea! Honestly, $150 000 doesn’t buy all that much advertising nowadays, but this has gone way over the top in exposure! And people will be lining up to book tickets just to meet the celebrity blogger/caretaker. You get the job, expect a visit from Kerri and I!
Pete, Queenslander