Flow took a large team of 10 to this year’s Tourism INDABA in Durban to cover all the social media bases for South African Tourism’s premier annual event.
INDABA, where thousands of travel buyers and operators meet over a four-day period in May each year, is the biggest travel trade show in Africa.
Flow published content throughout the event on South African Tourism’s Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Google+ and YouTube trade-focused accounts (we are also responsible for running the consumer-facing accounts such as the popular Love South Africa Facebook page and the @GoToSouthAfrica Twitter handle, which has almost 40 000 followers and for the development and maintenance of South African Tourism’s web properties, including the country’s main destination marketing site, www.southafrica.net).
Some high-level successes included:
- #INDABA2013 trended on Twitter nationally almost continuously throughout the INDABA, for about five days.
- According to TweetReach, #INDABA2013 reached 1,086,024 unique accounts and had an exposure of 6,273,903 impressions (the number of times the tag was delivered on people’s twitter timelines) between 05 and 12 May 2013 (the busiest 7-day period on Twitter for the hashtag #INDABA2013).
- The @SATravelTrade Twitter account grew substantially over the INDABA2013 period, and increased from 2022 to 2492 (a total of 470 new followers) between 15 April and 15 May 2013, an increase of 23%, according to Twitter Counter.
- The consumer-facing @GoToSouthAfrica account also grew considerably between 15 April and 15 May 2013, from 32787 to 34979 followers (a total of 2192 new followers), an increase of over 13%.
- On Facebook, the trade-focused SA Travel Trade account grew from 218 fans on December 31 2012 to 1707 on 14 May 2013 (a total of 1489 new fans, or an increase of 783%).
We posted hundreds of pictures and snippets from visitors on the social media platforms, helping to build on the great vibe of the event. We also ran four Google Hangouts for those who weren’t there, including one of the Opening Ceremony.
Said William Price, global e-marketing manager, after INDABA 2013: “Thank you so much to you and each of your team members who made Indaba such a massive success for us using social as a key channel. Well done and congratulations! I’m very pleased, and very proud.”
It was a great honour to cover INDABA 2013 on behalf of South African Tourism, and we had loads of fun doing it. Apart from the four official days of INDABA, we also managed to visit the Moses Mabhida Stadium and ride up in the skycaR to the top, and the uShaka Seaworld aquarium, both of whom we are proud to say are also Flow clients.
And, in true double-Flow-seven style, we took James Bond-style pictures wherever we went…
Take a look at some of the videos we produced during the event:
Day 1
2013 ETEYA finalist announcement
Indaba: Travel Bloggers’ Event Session 1
Day 2
Snapshots from #INDABA2013 (Saturday morning)
Indaba: Travel Bloggers’ Session 2
A quick catch-up with Thulani Nzima on Day Two of INDABA
Thula Sindi showcases dress inspired by uKhahlamba rock art
Day 3
TGCSA/TripAdvisor Master Class at Indaba 2013
Highlights from KwaMashu township tour at #INDABA2013
INDABA 2013 – Speed Marketing: Heritage and Culture in South Africa Part 2
Nkhensani Manganyi showcases ‘heritage dresses’ at #INDABA2013
Day 4
Christine Marot, who runs Flow’s Durban office, remarked, “INDABA 2013 was Flow’s best yet. Having a team of 10 committed Flowstars on hand to provide client support across all social media platforms was magic in action. Everyone did what they do best which translated into service provision par excellence. #Indaba2013 #flowrocks!”
Stuart Buchanan, who is part of the Flow Cape Town team, focused on producing video for INDABA. “This was my first INDABA, and I was impressed by how much there was to see and do there,” said Stuart. “It was also one of the most technically innovative conferences I’ve attended. The Indaba Connect tags worked wonders (and saved many trees’ worth of business cards being printed), and the Google Hangouts that were offered were quite pioneering. I could see that people were there to do business, and as a networking platform, INDABA seems like an important highlight of the year. Of course, there was time for fun too, and the beach carnival was lots of fun, and the media field trip to KwaMashu was an amazing experience. Being part of the media fraternity, I felt that we were very well looked after, with tea and coffee and lunch provided every day, and a decent workspace with all the mod cons required to get the job done. Here’s hoping I can be part of INDABA 2014!”
Said Thabs Royds, who focused on taking photos and video at INDABA, “I enjoyed INDABA besides the fact that I had to left hook or elbow a few photographers to make sure they made space for me to take a picture too. It was so wonderful being a part of such a fun and hardworking team. It’s great to know that SAT enjoy working with us and we saw this each time we saw them: they were always happy to see us and happy to help us when we asked. Thatha Team Flow, thatha!
Said Kevin Collins, Flow’s chief strategist and the uber-project manager on the South African Tourism account: “On the sports field the interaction of a team focused on its collective success – that is not only winning but enjoying playing the game – is often only tested when the team is playing in a competitive match. At INDABA 2013, we have seen team play at its best. The encouragement and support, the willingness and ‘can-do’ attitude of the whole Flow team was evidenced every day. In the wet of the first morning right through to the late night engagements with the client it was a joy to watch. Like the well practised machine that is Man United at its best, I think we won on the INDABA pitch.”
Gianluca Tucci, who is a project manager on the South African Tourism account for Flow, added, “This was my first visit to Durban, and #INDABA2013 meant it was one of special interactions (with our team of Flowstars, our awesome client and many others), key learnings, and wonderful memories. The power of social media and technology became more evident than ever. Being able to identify and share content from the variety of experiential moments, such as the opening ceremony and the insightful bloggers’ sessions and from exhibitors was extremely enriching. It’s a wonderful thought to realise that apart from the thousands at INDABA who were fortunate to experience the occasion, the happenings transcended the boundaries of the event. What better way to showcase our beautiful country and the unique treasures that make it shine the way it does. Another majestic #MeetSouthAfrica moment!”
Mel Feris, who is the head of Flow’s social media team for South African Tourism and lead Flow’s INDABA team, said, “We had an awesome team at INDABA 2013. Long days, hard work but great fun because of the great team spirit. What also worked well was that every team member was responsible for a specific platform. We pushed our own boundaries, doing things never before attempted, like the Google Hangouts, and that was a great learning experience. Now we are pros at this.
“Next year will be even better.”
Zintle Mtyeku, who works closely with Mel on SAT’s social media account, also loved this year’s INDABA. “It was really awesome being part of the Flow INDABA team,” she said. “The team worked incredibly well together and I knew we could all rely on each other to get the job done well. Everybody made a huge contribution and the proof is in the client’s praises and support throughout the event.
“I also loved being a contributor to all the efforts of showcasing South Africa as a top tourism destinations. There’s loads to be proud of as South Africans.”
Gail Cameron recently joined Flow, also as a project manager who has specialised in working on Google+, and this was her first INDABA, too. “INDABA was a far bigger event than I’d ever imagined and so well organised,” she said. “Every element seemed to fit together so seamlessly, including us, Flow, plugging in as the social media voice of the event. I was so proud to be involved in the first Live Google Hangout for South African Tourism and Flow and am looking forward to using Live Hangouts for more events with SAT and other clients.”
Roy Barford, manager of Flow’s Cape Town office, said, “I left INDABA 2013 feeling very positive about the travel industry in South Africa, despite the many challenges it is facing. There weren’t as many delegates this year as there were in 2012, but this appeared to allow for much better engagement.
“It seems the market with the biggest potential for growth in the next year is China – with Air China announcing two weekly flights to South Africa, in addition to the three weekly flights that South African Airways already operate. I was also interested to hear that nearly 40% of Chinese travellers in a particular survey listed golf as their favourite activity. Golf is an offering that many destination marketing organisations around the country are looking to market far more aggressively.
“I was pleased to see more exhibitors defining a unique selling point and promoting this instead of trying to tick too many generic boxes. This makes it a lot easier for companies like Flow Communications to assist with the marketing of their products and services.”
“It was such a pleasure working with South African Tourism to cover INDABA via social media and I think Flow Communications provided excellent service. A lot of people from the travel trade industry couldn’t make this year’s event for various reasons, but the feedback we received suggests that many of these people still received a large amount of information and insight through our live Twitter coverage of events, live videos and short Facebook interviews.”