There are agents who use social media and there are those who are dubbed ‘the gurus’ – a small group who can tell the entire story of a destination or a hotel through just a few photos and captions.
They’re the masters of the ‘double-tap’, but just how do they do it?! We hope to help shine a little light during this unique agent famil to California.
Eight of Australia’s most socially savvy agents have won a spot with Visit California and United Airlines to go on the first-ever agent famil with KARRYON designed specifically around spruiking the state’s most insta-worthy destinations.
The group of agents – who can count tens of thousands of Instagram and Youtube followers between them – will all fly to San Francisco this week for an action-packed road trip around the Golden State.
Armed with their iPhones, GoPros and plenty of photo filters, once in San Francisco they’ll hit the ground running and ice skating with a visit to Union Square’s iconic ice rink before making several more important ‘grammable’ stops at Coit Tower, Pier 23, the legendary Haight Ashbury district and the city’s world-famous Exploratorium.
One of Visit California’s goals for this road trip is also to highlight some of their regional, less-known destinations in the northern part of the state, which will see Dana along with the other agents driving north from San Francisco into Sonoma County and into breathtaking Shasta Cascade Wonderland in upstate California.
“Not only is sharing this information engaging for our clients, but it’s also vital to keep other agents on trend too,” Dana said. “I was recently in Barcelona and was able to share photos and my feedback of an incredible hotel I stayed at within our closed FB group for the other 550+ TravelManagers.”
California has the largest and most viewed social media presence of any tourism board in the US and they make huge strides in using the platform to showcase their destinations.
KARRYON founder Matt Leedham said this trip would help to set the benchmark for agent fams into the future.
“This is the first trip of its kind and we’re super excited about the adventure ahead. Sending a group of social savvy agents who are experts in finding those hidden destinations will allow Visit California to connect the dots for a whole new group of Australian travellers who are looking for an off-the-beaten-track West Coast US holiday in 2020.”
Matt Leedham, KARRYON founder (@worldofleedham)
Each of the eight agents – Jake Cassar (@thiswildtime), Tessa Wong (@travel.with.tess), Claire Sheridan (@claiirebella), Charlotte Bolter (@charliebolter), Lena Nielson (@TheDiaryofaDreammaker), Dana Brown (@wildheartedworld), Peta McConachie (@postcardsfrompeta) and Kate van Bennekom (@KultureKate) – all have their own unique content and travel styles but the one thing they have in common is that they all use their own personal stories to build intimate connections with clients.
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Leave the lights of Vegas behind and experience this magic light in the Valley of Fire. 🔥
Dana thinks this should be the number one priority for all agents who want to use social media to sell a destination.
“Going into 2020 the majority of our clients live online. Being active on social media is the most inspiring way for us to share content and educate our clients on what is possible in our world while engaging and building a connection with them in real-time.”
Dana Brown (@wildheartedworld), TravelManagers
KARRYON will travel with the group this week to capture the best behind-the-scenes moments from each day of their road trip, where the agents will also give KARRYON readers some special real-time social media tips and tricks along the way.
Follow us online or visit our Facebook or Instagram @karryontravel feeds to find out more.
To recreate this same itinerary for your own clients, or for yourself check out: https://www.visitcalifornia.com/au/feature/northern-california-explorer