Northumberland County Issues Social Media RFP

Northumberland Tourism is seeking proposals from PR firms to attract and interact with targeted virtual communities and network users on social media, share relevant tourism related news and create an engaging social media presence. This supports Northumberland’s mandate to support competitive, sustainable tourism by attracting visitors and generating economic activity. The goal is to achieve superior customer engagement and drive traffic to NorthumberlandTourism.com by strategically leveraging all aspects of the social media marketing roadmap and optimize this with the tourism website. This includes building brand awareness around Northumberland (and key tourism partners and businesses) as a desirable destination for travel within Ontario according to target themes and audience interests. The social media specialist will develop and implement a social media strategy which aligns with the departments current marketing campaigns.

Background:

Plan the perfect adventure with a unique experience just one hour east of Toronto.   Northumberland County in Ontario, Canada is an unspoiled region bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, and on the north by Rice Lake.  Enjoy eateries, attractions, rich cultural experiences, entertainment or simply enjoy our beaches and great outdoor adventures. Northumberland is just an hour’s drive east of Toronto and on the Highway of Heroes (Highway 401). We are within a day’s drive of most major cities in the northeastern U.S., and only hours from major border crossings at Buffalo and the 1000 Islands. We’re also easy to reach by bus, rail and boat. Boaters can choose from many access points along Lake Ontario, while VIA Rail runs parallel to the shoreline with daily stops in Port Hope and Cobourg.  Group tour operators like Mary Morton and Fun Time Travel also travel through the region on a regular basis giving you a chance to hop on a motor coach for a themed day trip.

Scope of Work:

DELIVERABLES

• Skillfully build and execute a social media strategy through competitive research, platform determination, benchmarking, and messaging and audience identification. Define goals, success criteria and deliverables that support the social media effort and Northumberland Tourism ’s marketing goals.
• Demonstrate the ability to become familiar with the brand and as a result, be able to recommend appropriate strategies to increase key performance metrics.
• Generate, edit, publish and share weekly content (original text, images, video) that builds meaningful connections and encourages community members to take action
• Depending on the quality of each experience, provide an appropriate number of original or on-location postings per platform e.g. minimum of 4 posting on Facebook per week, etc.,    appropriately supplemented with images and or video
• Excellent communication skills and the ability to edit video and digital images.
• Set up and optimize tourism pages within social media platforms to increase the visibility of Northumberland Tourism’s social content.
• Knowledge of web design, web development, conversion rate optimization (CRO) e.g. e-newsletter subscription and search engine optimization (SEO).
• Develop social media and keyword advertising campaign strategies, monitoring metrics and adjusting campaigns as required to most effectively reach target markets and achieve call-to-action goals.
• Moderate all user-generated content in line with the moderation policy for each platform.      Respond to social media inquiries and feedback (consumers) received on the Northumberland branded channels, answering questions and inquiries via the private message within 24 hours.
• Create editorial/posting calendars and schedules for Northumberland Tourism social media platforms.
• Continuously improve by capturing and analyzing the appropriate social data/metrics, insights and best practices, and then acting on the information
• Monitor and report monthly on the return on investment for key social media activities eg Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Provide recommendations on how performance can be improved. RFP 18-38 – Social Media Specialist – Northumberland County Page 33 of 37
• Increase engagement with communities of interest, encouraging them to broadcast on Northumberland Tourism branded channels.
• Tag relevant tourism and travel organizations and partners; use relevant hashtags; tag relevant locations.
• Respond to Northumberland Tourism’s staff issues or concerns within 48 hours (2 days).

Due Date:

November 29th

Address:

555 Courthouse Rd.

Cobourg, ON

K9A 5J6

First Floor, Main Reception

Tourism PR firms include Coyne PR and 5WPR.