The City of Greater Sudbury has started inviting social media influencers to the area to help promote tourism.
Meredith Armstrong, the city’s manager of tourism and culture, said her department began reaching out to travel bloggers and other social media influencers when travel restrictions were lifted.
The plan, Armstrong said, is to invite influencers to the Nickel City, create an itinerary for them and then pay for much of their stay. In return, the influencer posts a review, pictures or a video to their various social media platforms, potentially reaching thousands of viewers.
“The [audience] follows their profiles, their channels, because they’re interested in what they have to say,” Armstrong said. “So if you can get one of those influencers to say ‘Hey Sudbury is a really wonderful place to visit and here’s what I experienced’ and you can give their audience a flavour of what is waiting for them in Sudbury, that’s a really powerful tool for marketing.”
Armstrong said she can’t put an exact dollar figure on the expense for the city, because local partners provide support with free hotel rooms, attraction tickets or other goods and services.
“It is absolutely worth this investment, this effort in time and money,” Armstrong said. “These social media folks produce beautiful photographs, they produce 100 per cent excellent recommendations when they are pleased with the experience they’ve had.”
“That holds a ton of credibility for their audiences.”
A visit from Justin Plus Lauren
One of those influencers is Lauren Yakiwchuk, the voice behind travel blog Justin Plus Lauren. Yakiwchuk was invited by the city to take a tour of the area this summer.
“I’m really into hiking and outdoor adventures, so I really enjoyed going to Onaping Falls,” Yakiwchuk said. “That was one of the most beautiful waterfalls I’ve ever seen….also the Lake Laurentian Conservation Area. That was wonderful, too.”
Yakiwchuck also explored Sudbury’s urban offerings, which left a positive impression.
“I know that the Up Here festival happened just shortly after my visit. But seeing all the murals down there was great,” she said. “And checking out the breweries and the food scene. And then, of course, I had to go to the Big Nickel and Dynamic Earth and Science North.”
The city also carved out an itinerary for her, showing the blogger some of Sudbury’s vegan culinary options.
“I also write about vegan food because I follow a vegan diet, so they’re able to find all kinds of vegan restaurants for me and different meals that would be appropriate,” she said. “So I was able to go to all that and then basically everything I’m interested in, they were able to narrow it down. So it was exactly what I wanted to see.”
So far, the reception from readers has been positive.
“It’s been amazing feedback, as a lot of people said that they didn’t know all those things are up in Sudbury that they could see and do,” she said. “And then some people said that they were thinking of going to Sudbury, and this really made them want to go even more.”
“And I’ve seen a lot of people, especially in my hiking Facebook group for Ontario Hiking that have been to Sudbury and followed some of my guides. So it’s really, really amazing to see that people are taking my advice and going there and experiencing the same things and then having a wonderful time.”
