As state revenues continue to decline and consumers remain tight-fisted with their leisure dollars, state agencies that promote tourism have stepped up their campaign tactics to more effectively use email, social media and even 3D imagery to entice visitors.

Social Media

Michigan recently partnered with Fluency Media to develop a presence on the web. The result - the Pure Michigan Facebook page  - now has more than 25,000 fans.  The site gives fans such information as where the fish are biting and what greens are running fast. It also allows users to create ads as part of campaign.

Colorado recently closed the first phase of an online contest to promote tourism in its state, called "Snow at First Sight". It selected three winners from Atlanta, Australia and Hawaii who have never seen snow before to visit the state and then blog about their travels on social media sites including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr.

Email Campaigns

States are also turning to more sophisticated email marketing campaigns. For example, an eCard campaign for the "2009 Festival of Blossoms", developed by eBrains for Door County Wisconsin's Convention and Visitor's Bureau, generated a click thru rate of 39%. In another case, Silverpop, worked with UK Rail Company East Coast, using "share to social tools" to spread marketing messages about the company's services.

"In a recent 'one-way fares' campaign, hundreds of customers shared the offer on their social networking pages on Digg, Facebook and MySpace," says Sara Borland, brand and communications controller East Coast. "Seventeen percent of posted links garnered at least one open, and 33% who opened a post then clicked. These are people we may never have reached otherwise."

3D Imagery

Idaho's state's Division of Tourism - which has one of the smallest tourism budgets in the US - is rolling out new system dubbed SiteSeer3D Gold that allows prospective visitors to virtually fly over the state and check out attractions, lodging and scenery, which are rendered in 3D imagery.