LVCVA: Big events require big social media promotion

Steve Hill, CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal).
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority will profit from the popularity of social media and huge special occasions to bring in visitors to Las Vegas in the months ahead.

The LVCVA's marketing committee met last week with the its in-house group and marketing firms R&R Partners and New York-based Grey Global Advertising to strategize on how to convert millions of social networks users into Las Vegas visitors.

Social network postings long earlier changed conventional advertising as the best - - and least pricey - - suggests to draw in visitors to Las Vegas. The city's online marketers normally post pictures and videos of regional events online or enlist social networks influencers to develop their own content on behalf of the city.

LVCVA Chief Marketing Officer Kate Wik showed the six-member marketing committee examples of past campaigns and how they could be modified to reach millions more planning a journey to Las Vegas.

" It's an opportunity to provide to the marketing committee what our strategies are for the next to get input and get a sense for what the plan is," LVCVA President and CEO Steve Hill described. "The marketing team provided what we've been doing as an example of what over the next year we'll apply to those practices for events turning up.".

The LVCVA later this month will consider a budget plan for the 2023-24 and, as typical, it's anticipated to take a high percentage of its funding toward marketing and advertising.

Huge occasions ahead.

Las Vegas is currently expecting among the very best years on record, even as it recovers from the sticking around results of pandemic-fueled shutdowns.

The city will be home to the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix in November, the very first of what supporters expect to become an annual occasion. And one of the biggest unique occasions will be hosting Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in February 2024.

Those events will currently have their own fan bases coming to the city to delight in the environment that comes with hosting a significant event, similar to the method thousands of people crowd Las Vegas during the National Finals Rodeo without ever participating in a rodeo session.

Wik and the R&R and Grey groups are working on ways to reach other crowds to visit the city for those and other events.

The social networks trick sauce is easy and clear - - reach online fans with the tried-and-true formula of credibility and relevance. That comes in the kind of offering photo and video content revealing the city's culinary scene, culture, marquee tourist attractions and behind-the-scenes appearances.

Wik and the marketing groups presented examples of brief videos that showed discussions with star chef Gordon Ramsey at one of his Las Vegas dining establishments and celebrity DJs pumping up a crowd.

Reaching millions.

The committee was informed the formula works since there are 4.9 billion active social media users worldwide; the typical user has 6.6 various media accounts; that 90 percent of the U.S. population are active social networks users; and 78 percent of users rely on social networks posts to make purchase decisions.

In the previous 12 months, there have actually been 1.5 billion impressions of Las Vegas on posts, 458 million video views involving Las Vegas and 18.9 million engagements because time frame.

Social network likewise ends up being an online forum for some of Las Vegas' paid marketing jobs.

The acclaimed "What Happens Here, Stays Here" campaign still stays part of the national culture, and the most recent advertising campaign still use the very same sense of humor without revealing a Las Vegas property or casino.

A 2022 project was focused on moms and dads who needed a getaway to Las Vegas however didn't show pictures of Nevada.

" Storytime" featured a parent informing his child that Las Vegas is full of broccoli and dentists - - which results in the child not wanting to go to Las Vegas.

" Grounded" featured parents disciplining their teenager child by leaving her at home with a grandparent. The advertisement's text stated, "You can bring your family to Vegas, but why would you?".

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.