The Kidman Way
April 2022 - August 2023
Full organic social media management including establishing a new social media account on Instagram, community management, content creation and posting, as well as hashtag research and engagement.
The Kidman Way is a travel route in the west of New South Wales. It starts in the Riverina town of Jerilderie in the south and then makes a path 643 kilometres north to the town of Bourke. Named for the inspiring vision of Sidney Kidman to open inland Australia, the Kidman Way is an alternative touring route to the much busier (and truck-filled) Newell Highway to the east.
The Kidman Way covers 5 council areas that come together to market their LGAs as a collective tourism destination. They work together to bring awareness of the route, provide cohesive experiences to those travelling the route and inspire more visitors to head inland and experience this incredible part of New South Wales.
Signage along the Kidman Way.
Let’s talk numbers
Over 17 months, the strategy yielded impressive results across both platforms. A focus on nurturing the audience into a community of fans, as well as targeted outreach into groups, saw Facebook reach and follower growth accelerate.
Additionally, adding Instagram as a platform allowed travellers exploring the Kidman Way to be front and centre as part of the strategy, showcasing their experiences. This created a steady stream of user-generated content to showcase the destination authentically and increased connection and engagement with the account.
Followers: From 666 to 2,326
Impressions: 2,855,060
Engagements: 115,541
Average engagement rate: 4.4%
Followers: 0 to 713
Impressions: 87,535
Engagements: 8,380
Average engagement rate: 9.8%
About
As an inland route, The Kidman Way is a lesser-known touring route within New South Wales. Covering a diverse range of landscapes, the route is the perfect way to experience the Australian outback without the need for a 4WD or specialist gear.
Larger towns on the route, such as Griffith, Cobar and Bourke are destinations in their own right. The Kidman Way route seeks to connect these larger towns with the rich, unique, and wonderful experiences on offer around and in between these larger landmarks. It calls on people to explore a different side of New South Wales and to have experiences they may not have previously imagined were available outside of Central Australia.
The Kidman Way Promotional Committee is made up of 5 councils. These are:
Murrumbidgee Council
Griffith City Council
Carrathool Shire Council
Cobar Shire Council
Bourke Shire Council
Bringing 5 unique local government areas together to create a marketable tourist destination can have its challenges. Each LGA has its own unique attractions to share and outcomes that it wants to achieve from the partnership. To be successful, a united approach is required so potential visitors see the region as a destination rather than a series of disjointed attractions.
The team at The Kidman Way Promotional Committee needed help building awareness and interest in the route through organic social media. They knew that tourists were visiting and taking photos as they travelled, but without an Instagram account, there was a lost opportunity for the Kidman Way to harness this organic content. Additionally, their Facebook account was underutilised with no specific strategy in place to build engagement or following, and ad-hoc posting by council representatives which failed to communicate about the route as a whole.
Assembld was tasked with the job of launching The Kidman Way social media account on Instagram in April 2022 and creating a social media strategy across Instagram and Facebook that would establish the route as a ‘must see’ destination. The strategy included content creation and curation, posting and engagement to build their social media following, post reach and awareness of their region across both platforms.
It was important that the strategy didn’t favour a particular council area or attraction. To be successful the idea of exploring a route, rather than specific towns or attractions needed to be conveyed.
Assembld’s work created a mindset shift away from their local area to the greater collective — something that’s much easier with an impartial contractor in the mix. Such mindset shifts can take time as it can feel counterintuitive to put your efforts into promoting an area that is potentially hundreds of kilometres from your own, but the benefits of being part of a larger destination are undeniable. Assembld utilised their experience working with other tourism collectives to ensure each council was on board with the strategy, and messaging and was happy with how their region was being represented as part of The Kidman Way.
Assembld started by implementing a regular posting schedule. They also promoted the use of the #TheKidmanWay hashtag to encourage travellers to share their content and create user-generated content for their accounts. In addition, community management encouraged people to engage with the account and consider the route as a future travel destination.
Post project and ongoing work
With both social media platforms established and running well, The Kidman Way Promotional Committee have taken ownership of running of their own Facebook and Instagram accounts. Assembld continues to support the committee with content creation for the socials through their Assembld in a Day offering.
Keen on having an events marketing expert on your team? Let’s get the convo started.
