Tourism Ireland

An interactive map generates a fan community of 8,500 in a month.

Background

The Ireland Board of Tourism in Spain wanted a quick way to establish a presence and build a fan base on Facebook. Without even a fan page, they knew they would need to generate some engagement and viral growth in order to get the word out to their target demographic, Spaniards aged 22-45.

Objectives

• Experience and learn the social media language
• Create a Facebook community of Ireland Fans in Spain
• Promote Ireland and its treasures through participation from fans
• Register people to the Turismo de Irlanda email newsletter via an opt-in form

Results

Friend2Friend created a Fan Page and an interactive map of Ireland with ten enticing activities such as castles and Irish pub. The application entices users to enter their comments about why they would like to visit Ireland, after which they were entered into a drawing for a trip for four to Ireland. User comments are shared with their friends across Facebook, spreading the message about Ireland through the target demographic.

The official Descubre Irlanda fan page grew to 8,500 fans in just a month, creating a community that Turismo de Irlanda can continue to interact and engage with. 70% of participants were within the target demographic. With 60% of participants commenting in an overwhelmingly positive response, more than 10,000 comments were posted about the 10 activities in Ireland. Fans continue to interact with the brand, commenting and posting their own pictures from trips to Ireland, and demonstrating that Turismo de Irlanda has indeed learned the language of social media. Almost 1,000 users registered for the Turismo de Irlanda email newsletter. Finally, the tag clouds generated by Friend2Friend for each of the featured activities gave Turismo de Irlanda valuable information about what their fans found engaging about each location in Ireland.