Colorado Tourism Offers Social Media Lifeline To Grounded Travelers

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Social media may take us to places we can’t normally go. Nowadays, it really has to because none folks can go anywhere.

As spring arrives in the U.S., a variety of hearty hikers, mountain bikers and golfers will be going to Colorado. With ski season arriving at an end amidst the countrywide lockdown caused by the Coronavirus, those outdoorsy folk can’t make it out to the Rocky Mountain wilds unless they’re already local.

To keep potential tourists engaged, the Colorado Tourism Office turns to its social media accounts and its own Colorado Calm program. The group of videos are intended to give a moment where viewers can relax and transport to the mountainous west. According to the posted explanation of #Colorod0Calm, the videos include “no branding, no links, no hidden agenda - just an honest moment of escape from their newsfeed.”

The videos appear on the tourism office’s YouTube page, with supportive announcements venturing out on Twitter. According to Dave Fluegge, Social Media Contractor for the Colorado Tourism Office, #ColorodoCalm was the state’s answer to an unprecedented problem.

“Even during past crises just like a wildfire or flood, we could actually talk about traveling to the areas of Colorado which were unaffected,” Fluegge explains. “We could exclude target audiences which were going through a crisis within their own area, but we're able to adapt and continue the messaging for the most part and refocus on other audiences and messages.”

With everyone on the globe affected by the Coronavirus pandemic, Colorado’s tourism officials had to avoid and truly ask what stranded travelers might want.

“On social media, we've always tried to (ask those questions), but we found a method to give tourists as near to that ideal content while still trying to go the business enterprise forward,” Fluegge says. “We took one minute to look at the online sentiment. We understandably saw fear and apprehension about the existing situation and what to come."

Fluegge adds the Colorado Tourism philosophy holds that the state makes people feel alive.

“We think it can help them breathe deeper and step away from their daily lives, relax in nature. We decided that since persons cannot happen to be Colorado, we would try to bring that feeling of aliveness and the calming aftereffect of our state to them.”

Beyond just throwing out random images of Colorado, the team looked to supply the themes would-be travelers would want.

“We have consistently seen comments thanking us for these videos, saying that the world needs more of the, or even that this is why a particular social media network was created,” Fluegge says. “Users have tell us that is what they want of these times, so much so that we have regularly beaten the average reach and engagement over the time period since our resorts closed and we moved to Colorado Calm.”

Furthermore to giving homebound Americans something pretty to see while social distancing, Colorado Calm is supposed to place the state on tourists’ minds when the existing travel ban lifts.
Source: https://www.forbes.com

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