FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Public/Media Relations Manager
228-388-2993
media@coastalmississippi.com
Coastal Mississippi Wins Best Social Media Presence Award
At MTA Governor’s Conference on Tourism
COASTAL MISSISSIPPI (December 2, 2020) – Coastal Mississippi was honored with the Best Social Media Presence Award at this year’s Mississippi Tourism Association (MTA) Governor’s Conference on Tourism, held in Coastal Mississippi. This award is given to a tourism entity that has effectively created a social media presence beyond Facebook, utilizing at least two additional social media platforms providing examples of design, style, content and usability. Coastal Mississippi proved its success through interaction with fans, increases in likes and website traffic.
In spite of challenges presented by last year’s freshwater intrusion and subsequent algal bloom, and this year’s unprecedented impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Coastal Mississippi saw an impressive year-over-year social media growth of 25.76%. During a time of decreased travel, Coastal Mississippi continued to keep the destination top-of-mind and invited its audiences to discover the region virtually, by continuously spotlighting industry partners, sharing inspirational content, developing virtual tours and scenic drives, and creating innovative ways to experience Coastal Mississippi from the comfort of home until visitors were ready to travel again.
Coastal Mississippi saw increases in media impressions by as much as 370% from the previous year. Facebook was the most proactive platform and in an over a two-week timeframe, Coastal Mississippi’s Facebook page saw an increase of more than 3,000 page likes. Its successful incorporation of visually diverse content types, like website content, short-form video, Facebook Stories and live videos, helped the organization reach more than 13,000 users per post. However, more impressive than the Facebook output were the strategies for Instagram and LinkedIn, with an emphasis on high-quality visuals and user-generated content. Coastal Mississippi’s Instagram account surpassed 12,000 followers and experienced a 34.21% year-over-year growth. LinkedIn proved to be invaluable as well, providing a platform for reaching and engaging users within the business and meetings industry. Spotlighting hotels and amenities, attractions, services, and campaign messages, with one of is featurettes, LinkedIn had more than 18,000 impressions and 417 reactions; overall, it was successfully utilized to market the selling points that differentiated Coastal Mississippi from its competitors.
“These recognitions should be given to our tourism industry leaders who we value for their talents and achievements through their outstanding accomplishments. We are happy to have the opportunity to honor the winners of these awards as we truly appreciate their dedication not only to our organization but to the entire tourism industry, the state’s fourth largest industry,” said Kelli Davis, 2020-2021 president of MTA.
“It is a great honor to be awarded such an accolade amongst an array of hard-working tourism entities across the State of Mississippi,” said Milton Segarra, CEO of Coastal Mississippi. “By promoting our destination through inspirational visuals and storytelling, social media plays a vital role in many aspects of tourism, particularly in the planning of safe, informed travel, information search, and the decision-making process. I am extremely proud of the team at Coastal Mississippi and am excited for the future of the tourism industry on The Secret Coast.”
For more information on the Mississippi Tourism Association, visit: www.mstourism.com.
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About Coastal Mississippi
Coastal Mississippi is an organization charged with promoting South Mississippi as a tourism and convention destination worldwide. Its mission centers on attracting ever-increasing numbers of leisure, convention, sports and business visitors to the area. It is dedicated to maximizing the travel and tourism industry for South Mississippi.
Visit CoastalMississippi.com to learn more.
