May held some positive results for the region which are exciting to share. It is encouraging to see that Western Australian’s have a strong appetite to travel in their own backyard, and continue to value the Margaret River region as a premium holiday destination. In terms of dispersal, the messaging to explore your own backyard, and then go further, is a good one, as we can encourage visitors to explore parts of the region that are beyond the hero destinations and experiences. An example of visitor interest can be seen in results shared with MRBTA from Expedia Group and Wotif, where accommodation interest for the Margaret River region on wotif.com over May is up 970% and up over 1115% with families when comparing results from the previous month.
Quick snapshot from the month of May below. Any questions, please contact Acting Marketing & Communications Manager, Sophie Mathewson [email protected]
Media
- Network 10 and 7 coverage: With the borders between Perth and the south west opening up, the region was hit with national media coverage showing businesses returning to a new normal and managing expectations for the visitors over the first two weekends. Catch up on channel 10 and channel 7 footage.
- Urban List: Cassandra Charlick wrote a piece for Urban List that was circulated via their social media channels ahead of the June long weekend.
- The Australian: National print coverage featuring Meelup in an article on Great Australian Roadtrips.
- Scoop Magazine: The region’s walking tracks and trails featured in a dedicated article in Scoop that was shared across their social pages.
Web
Website page views were up significantly from the previous month, increasing by 373%. Popular pages included What’s Open, accommodation and wineries & breweries.
What’s Open Landing Page: In response to the announcement of borders between Perth and the south west opening, the Essential Services landing page was adapted to respond to enquiries coming through via MRBTA’s web chat, phone calls and social media. Visitors were expressing a strong demand to know what businesses would be open so that they could plan their stay.
The membership team worked extremely hard to build a tagging system into the website so that business listings could be included under the six separate What’s Open category pages – Shopping, Local Produce, Cafes & Restaurants, Wineries & Breweries, Accommodation, and Tours & Attractions. Inspirational content below follows the user journey, with the landing page sharing the Rediscover compilation video, and our region’s people through a Food Heroes series
If you are not listed on any of the What’s Open pages but would like to be, please email Membership Manager Jasmin Rouw: [email protected].
Consumer EDM
A consumer EDM to a Perth targeted audience of 30,560 people was sent – encouraging visitors to view the What’s Open landing page, and sharing inspirational road trip content. The edm was opened by 25.9% of recipients, and of those, 16% clicked a link taking them to margaretriver.com.
6 New Blogs Shared on the home page
- 48 Hours in Cowaramup & Gracetown
- Spotlight On: Bina Maya
- 5 Classic Road Trips
- Local Hero: Ian Mutch
- Local Hero: Santana Thorburn
- 7 Days of Autumn
YMRR Magazine
The winter and spring magazines have been put on pause. Will keep members updated about whether production for the summer magazine commences soon.
Social Media
Social media was a great indicator across May of the increased interest in travel to the region.
Instagram and Facebook engagement tracked well. Instagram engagement was up by 55.9% from the previous year. Popular Facebook posts had a reactions increase of 119% and 16% increase in comments showing positive engagement.
Popular posts included announcements made about the easing of restrictions, big swell after the storm, and wildlife imagery.
National Reconciliation Week
A homepage banner on margaretriver.com was featured, reminding visitors of Reconciliation Week and our traditional land owners, the Wadandi (Saltwater and Forest) people.
Content Planning
With border restrictions now easing between Western Australia’s regions, we feel confident with our winter content plan. Please see the winter marketing opportunities and get in touch.
In terms of your own content, what we are hearing from other destination travel authorities, is that the messaging seems to fall into three categories:
- Kindness, Kinship and Culture (using personal tone of voice and welcoming cultural imagery and assurances of health and safety to motivate visitors).
- Remind, Reminisce and Reconnect (aimed at pre-disposed interest and repeat visitors such as the Perth market).
- Introduce, Imagine and Inspire (adventurous, inspirational, bucket list content)
Think about working these categories into your own content planning, as well as the themes from Tourism WA’s ‘Wander Out Yonder’ campaign.
Ongoing Activity
The next 4-5 months allow us the room to work on some projects behind the scenes. We are still in the process of building our evolved consumer website. To retain our position as an industry leader and the number one destination authority, margaretriver.com requires a significant upgrade to improve performance and user experience. With a mobile-first approach to design, the new site will focus on:
- Simplified site architecture
- Contemporary design
- Pre-determined templates for content types (articles, itineraries, landing pages)
The project will provide the opportunity to remain competitive in the digital space and improve brand reputation.
Other work underway in the coming month will include:
- Continued work growing our new asset library HIVO