Welcome to The Tourism Power List for September! This is my list of the Power accounts on Twitter for the tourism industry. The Power List will be updated once a month.
Sponsorship options are now available for The Tourism Power List! If you want to sponsor this month’s list, click here for prices and info on sponsorship levels.
There’s two main reasons why I decided to do The Power List:
1 – I wanted to help give exposure to people who are doing a good job of using Twitter in a corporate environment. It’s damn hard to build a following and even any semblance of traction on social media for an account while also doing your core job functions. I wanted to build out The Power List as a platform to help give more exposure to others, and make it just a little easier for them to build a following and engagement around their content.
2 – I wanted to highlight the best use of Twitter, and use that as a way to show others how to improve their own use of Twitter. The Power List will become a way to showcase the best of the best, and also show all of us how to learn from the best of the best and improve our own efforts.
If you want to be eligible for The Power List, do this:
1 – Follow me on Twitter. Make sure you have your position and the technology company you work for listed in your profile.
2 – If you want to nominate someone else to be on the Power List, tweet me their username on Twitter and I will be happy to check them out.
Here’s where you can find all the candidates for The Tourism Power List. If you’re on that list, you are eligible for the Power List.
The Power List will rank the Top 10 Power users on Twitter. That number may expand past a Top 10 as the candidate pool becomes larger. In fact I hope it does.
How is the Power List ranked? How do I get to be #1?
I’ve been working with corporate teams to help them leverage Twitter as a communications tool for about 15 years now. So a lot of the Power List rankings is simply based on my experience working with people in a corporate setting and understanding what works and what doesn’t.
In short, there are two main consideration buckets I have when I rank the Power List:
1 – Posting frequency. I need to see enough content on your Twitter feed to see that you are making an effort to use Twitter to communicate with others. You don’t have to tweet every day, but if your last tweet is from December of 2022, you won’t be on the Power List.
2 – Original content. What I mean by that is I want to see content that’s written in your own unique voice. I get that working in a corporate environment comes with certain ‘challenges’ in regards to the tone and voice of your content. But that doesn’t mean that you should simply use your Twitter feed to repost your company’s press releases. Go behind the scenes, give us a sense of what your daily work day is like. One of the thoughts I should have when reading your Twitter feed is ‘Wow, that looks like a cool job, I wouldn’t mind working there!’
Before I get to the first Power List for the Tourism/Hospitality sector, I wanted to share some general takeaways on what I learned from spending a LOT of time the past few weeks looking at Twitter profiles in the space.
1 – This is the Power List I was most looking forward to. I have such fondness for the tourism space, I love how passionate the people in this space are for the work they do. I also have always loved how travel allows us all to create lifetime memories. Travel and experiences is the ONE thing you actually CAN spend money on, that buys you happiness. As proven by science.
2 – The list of candidates for The Tourism Power List is easily the strongest of any industry I’ve looked at so far. As a result, you’re going to see higher scores for this group, and deservedly so. This group is outstanding.
3 – With a few noticeable exceptions, this group is just as active on Twitter as it is on LinkedIn. I’ve spoken at many tourism and Governor’s conferences over the years, and I did see a few of my tourism contacts were no longer active on Twitter. But many of them still are.
The Tourism Power List for September:
1 – Kathryn Shea Duncan, Sr Director of Social Media, Lake Charles CVB, Power List Score – 94. So Kathryn started her current position via promotion last month. To say that she has hit the ground running is an understatement. I think she’s left more tweets in the last week than I have this year. And what’s amazing is, it’s all good content! Kathryn has an insane mix of content that she shares: Podcast episodes, articles, videos, images, her own personal accounts of events. All related to the Lake Charles area of Louisiana. She does an amazing job of leveraging Twitter as a channel to promote the Lake Charles area. Which is exactly what she should be doing. Just an amazing job, Kathryn. Her score of 94 gives her the highest score of any Power List member, and I’m grading her too low if anything. Kathryn has shared an insane amount of content over the last week or so, I will be curious to see if she can keep up this pace. If she can continue to share content at her current rate and continue share GOOD content at her current rate, her score will soon top 95, and may even flirt with 100.
2 – Leisha Elliott, Executive Director, Marion Co, WV CVB, Power List Score – 93. Leisha’s account is amazing. I honestly had to go back and forth between ranking Leisha first or second. Her volume of content isn’t as off the charts as Kathryn’s is, but Leisha has been tweeting every day or two consistently for the entire year. And it’s wonderful content, she makes you want to visit Marion County, WV immediately. A job very well, done, Leisha!
3 – Jim Hagen, Sec of Tourism for South Dakota, Power List Score – 91. Jim has another solid Twitter account. Excellent frequency, excellent diversity of content, all positioned to make you want to visit South Dakota. And Jim, I love the updates on the Crazy Horse Memorial! I would like to see a few more updates with your own personal take or advice on the news and information you are sharing about the Mount Rushmore state. But that’s a minor quibble.
4 – Kyle Edmiston, President/CEO of Lake Charles CVB, Power List Score – 89. Kyle’s account sees a noticeable drop in frequency versus the Top 3 spots. But Kyle still tweets on a very regular basis. However, Kyle does one thing with his tweets that I really don’t see anyone else on this list doing as well: He is sharing his own personal opinions on the tourism content he is sharing AND he is sharing content about his team at the Lake Charles CVB, which I love. And he’s Kathryn’s boss, so that speaks to her performance as Director of SM for the Lake Charles CVB as well! Nice job Kyle!
5 – Diana Plazas,CSMO Caribbean & Latin America at Marriott International, Power List Score – 83. The frequency for Diana is lower than the Top 4, but she still consistently posts content on Twitter. It’s a bit different because Diana is posting content associated with Marriott, it’s properties and events and destinations that the hotel partners with. I enjoy Diana’s content, I do think she will need to post a bit more often to stay competitive with this group. That’s not really a knock on her, it’s more a compliment to how well this group is doing.
6 – Kim Sabow, President and CEO, Arizona Lodging and Tourism Assoc, Power List Score – 81. So I struggled a bit with where to rank Kim’s profile. Her content is focused on what’s happening in the state of Arizona, but mostly at the governmental level. She has some very unique content in that she covers events that she’s participating in as an attendee and speaker, as well as interviews and interactions she and her assoc has with key politicians in her state. Her Twitter feed is a bit heavy on PR content at times, but it’s unique enough to stand out, even from this group.
7 – Adriana Cruz, Executive Director, Texas Economic Development & Tourism, Office of Gov Greg Abbott, Power List Score – 80. Adriana has another profile that I struggled a bit with how to rank it. She has solid frequency and decent content that is almost completely focused on economic development news in Texas, as well as coverage of what Texas Gov Greg Abbott is up to. I would like to see a little more content devoted to actual tourism in Texas.
8 – Becky Nave, Director of Destination Development at Virginia Tourism Corp, Power List Score – 74. A big drop in frequency in the last 3 spots. If Becky could up her content output and make that content be focused on travel in the Bristol, VA area and surrounding, it would greatly help her score.
9 – Robin Bloom, Director of Content, Philadelphia CVB, Power List Score – 73. Robin has decent content, I would just like to see a lot more. She has posted a bit more over the last month, so hopefully this is the start of a positive trend.
10 – Edie Emery, Sr Director of Publicity, Nashville CVB, Power List Score – 71. Edie shares good content, just not very often. If she could post at least weekly about events happening in and around Nashville, her score would likely jump 10 points or more.
So there’s the first Tourism Power List, and I must say, it’s a damn fine group. Next week I’ll debut the Restaurant Power List, but so far, my tourism and travel pros are in a class by themselves.
Please follow the people that made this list, you can click on their name and it will take you to their Twitter profile so you can follow them. If you would like to nominate yourself or a peer for inclusion in The Toursm Power List, please follow me on Twitter, and make sure you have your position and the company you work for clearly listed in your Twitter profile. That’s it! All candidates for the Power List are on this list.
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