Lāna‘i Visitors Bureau Turns to Social Networking in New Campaign

By Wendy Osher

The Lāna‘i Visitors Bureau (LVB) today announced the launch of a new online marketing campaign called the “New Media Artist-in-Residence” Program. For the next six months, a team of seven high profile bloggers, also known as new media artists, will post information, video and photographs sharing their authentic travel experience of the island.

Pa'u Princess Julie Mitchell represents the island of Lana'i, accompanied by Lydia perry as her Attendant, and Outriders Greg Brown and Kalani Kapu. File Photo by Wendy Osher from the 2010 Kamehameha Parade in Lahaina, Maui.

The individuals are based throughout the U.S. and were selected mainly because of their ability to reach diverse audiences. They will be creating content including text entries, Twitter messages, Flickr photos, Facebook conversations, and YouTube videos.

“A new media artist brings enormous credibility, said LVB board president, Larry Endrina. “This can address one of the most common concerns travelers have dealing with secluded locations such as Lāna‘i. What is it really like? What did you do? Show me,” said Endrina.

The New Media Artists (in order of visits) are Shannon Hurst Lane of Traveling Mamas (travelingmamas.com), Chris Gray Faust of Chris Around the World (caroundtheworld.com), Matt Long of Landylopers (landlopers.com), Gary Arndt with Everything Everywhere (everything-everywhere.com), Sheila Beal of Go Visit Hawaii (govisithawaii.com), Kara Williams of The Vacation Gals (thevacationgals.com), and Melanie Waldman of Travels with Two (travelswithtwo.com).

In exchange for the hospitality extended to the team, each blogger/artist has agreed to post a negotiated amount of content to be delivered across multiple social web platforms.

“This collaboration creates a much longer and stronger impact, measurable by links and tags, across the six-month time frame. It also allows us to reach deeply into several existing travel-centric online communities,” said Terryl Vencl, executive director of the Maui Visitors Bureau, the organization that oversees LVB. “Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and the like, are beginning to vitally impact travel decisions, and this will only increase in the future. With this effort, Lāna‘i has the opportunity to drive their own conversation as well as target the well-heeled travelers it desires,” said Vencl.

Läna‘i one of the four islands that make up Maui County, was once home of a former pineapple plantation. Today, the island features more than 89,000 acres of countryside and is home to both the Manele Bay Hotel and the Lodge at Koele. Outdoor activities include golf, archery, fishing and hiking. For more information, the Läna‘i Visitors Bureau is host to the website visitlanai.net.