Destination Branding through Social Media: Flanders Blogger Festival Case Study

1. Social media can be defined as websites which are built on Web 2.0 technologies in order to provide space for in-depth social interaction, community formation, and the tackling of collaborative projects (Bruns and Bahnisch, 2009). It is definitely an activity that is based on the notion of influence. Social media can be used to gather valuable information about how a product, service or brand is perceived in the marketplace Social Media & Destination Branding • Destination Branding • Aaker (1991, p. 7) defines brand as “..distinguishing name and/or symbol (such as a logo, trademark, or package design) intended to identify the goods or services of either one seller or a group of sellers, and to differentiate those goods from those of competitors”. Morgan et al. (2002, p. 335) identify branding as „the most powerful marketing weapon available to contemporary destination marketers

2. Generally, the objective of branding strategy is to create the perception that there is no other product in the market with those attributes. Thus, differentiation through branding lies at the very heart of the marketing concept Destination Branding • (1) support the creation of a name, symbol, logo, word mark or other graphic that readily identifies and differentiates a destination; • (2) consistently convey the expectation of a memorable travel experience that is uniquely associated with the destination; • (3) serve to consolidate and reinforce the emotional connection between the visitor and the destination; and that • (4) reduce consumer search costs and perceived risk. Collectively, these activities serve to create a destination image that positively influences consumer destination choice

3. The brand and image of a destination is very important because destinations with a positive and clear image enjoy stronger market positioning than those without (Cai, 2002). Brand Image • A consumer’s choice for a destination is significantly linked with destination’s image or brand. • Nowadays the building of destination brand and image is revolutionized because of the communication power of social media. • In social media the more we know about others, the more we may trust or distrust them (Valenzuela et al., 2003).

4. 23 Mediterranean countries were selected for a Facebook study (2009)

5. Richmond Tourism Case Destination Blogger Role

6. Destination Blogger Role

7. Destination Blogger Role

8. people vowing for specific bloggers

9. Case study: Flanders Blogger Festival!..

10. The Regions of Belgium. - Yellow: Flanders (speak Flemish a dialect of Dutch) - Red: Wallonia (speak French, purple speaks German), - Orange: Brussels (speak French but bilingual.

11. Project called ‘Flanders is a festival’. Within digital marketing, this is a really interesting case where Flanders brought a lot of bloggers within travel, music and lifestyle to Flanders to experience our festival scene The general aim was to increase awareness about Flanders as a tourism destination. With more than 260 festivals in Flanders alone, the destination has a very good music festival scene.

12. Case study: Flanders Blogger Festival!.. The main challenge that Tourism Flanders faces is to constantly work on creating awareness, as Flanders is a relatively unknown destination brand.

13. Case study: Flanders Blogger Festival!.. Endorsed branding is what Tourism Flanders wants to achieve. The digital strategy really focuses on that but in a very planned way. It focuses on making sure that people who have an influence within passionate communities like different parts of Tourism Flanders brand

14. The Blogtrip Key influencers within the community were chosen based on their online reach and their audience. Another important criteria is the used networks such as Twitter, Instagram, Blogs, Facebook,…. - Wifi throughout the Blogtrip - to increase awareness about Flanders as a tourism destination - potential influencers would match with the whole project, their personality and the passion - The blogtrip participants started to share interesting stories about what they experienced

15. Case study: Flanders Blogger Festival!..  The project was classified by the WTM as the.

16. Case study: Flanders Blogger Festival!..

17. Case study: Flanders Blogger Festival!.. • Biggest blogtrip in the world • 100 Bloggers from 13 countries • Key influencers in music, travel, lifestyle, social media • Personal program for every blogger: a unique festival experience + touristic tips • Selection ‘key influencers’ based on: • Online reach and audience • Used networks (Twitter, Instagram, Blog, Facebook, mix, …) • Personality & passion • Location and language

18. Case study: Flanders Blogger Festival!..

19. Case study: Flanders Blogger Festival!..

20. Case study: Flanders Blogger Festival!.. • Some numbers • Number of written blogposts: 257 • Number of unique visitors: > 7.500.000 • Total reach of blogposts: > 11.500.000 • Number of Facebook fans of all bloggers:> 300.000 • Number of Twitter fans of all bloggers: > 550.000 • 257 blogposts • 173 travel blogposts: reach of > 7.500.000 • 75 music blogposts: reach of > 3.500.000 • 9 lifestyle blogposts: reach of > 450.000

21. Case study: Flanders Blogger Festival!.. • 9.666 new FB fans • 13.394 stories posted by • 11.904 different people • Potential reach of 4.8 million • Number of unique visitors: 7.500.000 • Total reach of blogposts: 11.500.000 • Number of Facebook fans of all Bloggers: 300.000 • Number of Twitter fans of all Bloggers: 550.000