Metz, The Social Concept

Is This Thing On? [KPIs of Success For Destination Marketing]

March 24, 2009

I seriously can’t believe it’s been 12 years since The Promise Ring’s Nothing Feels Good came out. That means that the 21-year-olds who cut that record are now, like, 33. Wow. My generation got old pretty fast. Last thing I remember, I was bouncing up and down in a Madison, Wisconsin basement watching Promise Ring play with Braid, The Get Up Kids and Mineral. (That show in October ’96 was probably the best rock show I’ve ever been to.) Jeremy , you were there too, right?

I’m keynoting the Western Association of Convention & Visitors’ Bureaus (WACVB) Tech Conference at the Oakland Marriott this coming Thursday, and I’ll be damned if I don’t deliver like the Promise Ring did that night. [Feel free to register , if you work for a destination marketing organization (DMO).]

There’s so much confusion and obfuscation over what passes for strategy on the web these days. And it’s not like I profess to be any kind of “guru” or anything. That word is total garbage. I just try and get up there and deliver useful information, in plain english, that everybody in the audience will understand, whether they’re a senior executive, or a marketing assistant. Let’s face it: if your presentation isn’t accessible (and doesn’t have a good beat), nobody’s going to dance to it.

My talk’s definitely in my “new style”. I really changed gears in the way that I do presentations about seven months ago. I ditched all the bullet points and long-winded slides. I realized that if people wanted a strategic document, they’d buy one, and that’s not what they’re coming to see when they come to see you talk. Essentially, when someone comes to a travel social web event, they’re looking to get an experience that they can’t get out of a webinar – it’s gotta be something dynamic and visceral, that they couldn’t get from reading a blog post. Putting up bar graphs and tables of which destinations are successful on Twitter isn’t going to cut it for this one – I’ve got to simply and clearly illustrate which dials indicate success.

So, in a nutshell, here it is, without much explanation. (You’ve gotta come by to get the full download.)

1. DMO (Destination Marketing Organization) Social Number

2. City or State Website Social Number (if DMO is municipal)

3. DMO Search Volume

4. DMO Ecosystem Search Volume

5. DMO Return-on-participation

6. DMO ROI

7. DMO Web Traffic

In the talk, I’m just going to walk through each of these (The “Magnificent Seven,” if you will). I’m going to basically spell out how to construct and monitor each of these KPIs, and how often it should be done. We’ll be doing a video of it, so get in touch if you’d like a copy. See you bright and early at the Oakland Marriott at 9, on Thursday, downtown Oakland.

BTW: A huge kudos to Promise Ring guitarist Jason Gnewikow , who brought amazing artwork and mind-blowing design sensibilities to the world of punk rock, back in the day, and kept it there.

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