For those of you who live in Indiana, we’ve got a successful social network called Smaller Indiana. The site was the vision of Pat Coyle. I was lucky enough to have helped him co-found the site on the Ning platform. This week we’re celebrating exceeding 7,000 members online!
Pat and I spoke today at the Indiana Tourism Summit. We’re grateful for the opportunity and really appreciate all the attention. There were over 100 marketers there from convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs) all over the state. It’s an audience Pat and I have wanted to get in front of for quite some time!
One of the fantastic slides that Pat was able to share was how Smaller Indiana compared to other well-known networks:
Imagine that… Smoosiers look more to Smaller Indiana for business-related networking than they do to Facebook. It’s something I’ve known, having worked with many businesses (as well as experiencing Facebook’s ridiculous advertisements and poor ad revenue). Too many marketers and industry pundits highlight the big numbers of Facebook… causing businesses to push money and resources down the drain. People don’t go to Facebook to do business. Thankfully for us, they do go to Smaller Indiana!
So – if you’re a business in Indiana that’s tried advertising on Facebook, have you tried sponsoring Smaller Indiana instead to see the results? If you’re outside of Indiana, do you have your own regional business network online? We’ve been very successful here and would love to hear about it! Drop me a line on my contact form or on Twitter!
Summit Summary
This is an incredible audience… the caretakers of how our state is presented, promoted and viewed by tens of millions of visitors year-round. They work with incredibly low budgets (recently cut again) and even fewer resources. The outlook for this industry is fantastic, though. The pure nature of social media and the web have transformed how a CVB can promote online. When Pat has a project or a vision, he needs to look no further than the 7,000 engaged, creative and incredibly talented Smoosiers on Smaller Indiana. They love living and working in Indiana – and are the perfect trust agents to turn loose when promoting the region.
After we spoke, Pat and I enlisted about 10 CVBs and Council Members to start a Social Media Tourism Thinktank. Our objective is to build online and social media marketing campaigns that can be repeated and implemented throughout the state at the one-hundred plus CVBs. We’re excited about the opportunity and know that we can put some high-yield, low-cost solutions in place that harness Smoosiers to promote the state! All while reducing the burden on taxpayers and tourism employees.
