Digital Media Update
Social Media
Ahead of the summer and festive season, we have taken a more aggressive approach to marketing the KZN South Coast and creating more operator brand awareness campaigns. As the platforms are shared between tourism and investment, there has been a substantial increase in content production of 424 posts, resulting in a 110.9% increase from the previous period. This shows a strong commitment to consistently sharing information, updates, or engaging content with our audience. We have seen 118 333 impressions (up 22% from the previous period), 4 941 engagements (up 16.9%), 146 post-link clicks (up 151.7%), and a 4.2% engagement rate (per impression). Additionally, specific multimedia video clips were created and promoted across all the platforms exploring various topics.
Website
We have placed a strong emphasis on enhancing our online content, resulting in 83 website updates, which is set to increase by 12 December 2023. These updates include improvements in website navigation, design, and functionality. We have also enhanced the visual appeal of the ‘Specials’ page (now ‘Specials & More’) adding more than 24 updates to the page. This gives access to unique opportunities, discounts, and incentives, tailored to individual needs. This has provided additional marketing content for establishments.
Event Guide Update
In preparation for the busy festive season, we’ve curated 44 event updates and, through 9 press releases we have successfully communicated vital news to the public. Our online Events guide outlines the many year-end activities taking place on the KZN South Coast including the ‘Let’s GO Summer Beach Festival’ which will run from 14 December to 14 January. There were 9 updates to the VIC Portal – a dedicated platform to provide clients with personalised travel insights – and published 7 tourism blogs offering guidance about offerings on the KZN South Coast.
Push Notifications
Establishments received helpful push notifications as marketing tools highlighting ‘Unlimited Opportunities for Investment’ as well as announcing the new Board Members. They were also directed to the ‘Events’ page with exciting items under ‘Specials and More’, inspiring establishments to share these updates with their own database of visitors.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Our SEO services have proven highly effective in boosting website traffic and generating increased interest in our online platforms. Through continuous SEO optimisation strategies, including the creation of engaging and relevant articles, we have witnessed a substantial progression in our digital footprint. Articles such as ‘Exploring Property Investment Options: Pros and Cons’ are carefully crafted to align with search engine algorithms and user intent, improving organic search rankings and increasing website traffic.
Explore the KZN South Coast app
Our app undergoes daily updates through a single Content Management System (CMS) to ensure continuous growth, including the 88 changes from the website. This has revolutionised the visitor experience by engaging with new offerings on the KZN South Coast. It has a user-friendly interface that facilitates easy navigation, and provides up-to-date, information on popular attractions, accommodation, dining options, and local events. It also incorporates interactive maps and other innovative features such as interactive contact details which operate from almost all devices.
Seasonal Campaign Research
One of our quarterly tasks is collecting data which exposes current tourism trends. The quarterly Spring holiday research focuses on the occupancy rates and overall success of the holiday period in terms of visitor numbers. The seasonal summer holiday occupancy rates for the KZN South Coast will be sourced from the Tourism KZN (TKZN) research and stats report for the 2023 festive season. This is processed and disseminated to better inform marketing strategies going forward. The research will be available under ‘Media’ with its drop-down menu to ‘Research’.
