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Indianapolis Tourism Leaders Launch Expanded Online Marketing July 1, 2008

Posted by ICVA Communications in ICVA Business.
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Indianapolis Tourism Leaders Launch Expanded Online Marketing
Updated Web 2.0 Site and Social Media Efforts, Lead Nation in Destination Promotion

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – The Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association (ICVA) has launched a redesigned Web site at www.indy.org, offering new, engaging interactive features and incorporating user-generated content. The look of the new site reflects the citywide brand and reinforces the ICVA’s established brand slogan “so easy to do so much.”  Already averaging 130,000 monthly user sessions and 1.2 million monthly page views, the new features and functionalities on the site include:

  • internally and externally generated blog content; 
  • expanded photo and video offerings, including submission opportunities through FlickR and YouTube;
  • hotel, restaurant and destination user/customer reviews;
  • user-friendly partner and event listings; 
  • online version of our award-winning visitor guide; 
  • meeting planner’s toolkit, the first of its kind developed by any CVB in the country.

Additionally, the ICVA is among the first CVBs in the nation to have a staff person dedicated to destination promotion through the use of social media.  Karissa Rittmeyer, manager of communications and social media for the ICVA, is responsible for identifying, creating and maximizing social media communications strategies to expand the awareness of Indianapolis’ tourism assets via online resources.  Specifically, Rittmeyer will manage the ICVA’s corporate blogs, synthesize external blogs onto the ICVA Website, penetrate social networking sites on behalf of Indianapolis tourism and utilize social bookmarking and latest technologies to maximize search engine optimization.  

ICVA had already stepped out on the new media forefront of CVBs with the debut of “Doing Indy,” ICVA’s video podcast.  This week marks the 100th episode of the popular podcast since it launched in March, 2006.  Viewership has steadily increased to the current 25,000 monthly iTunes subscribers.  “Doing Indy” also has its own presence on such social networking/sharing sites as YouTube, MySpace and Facebook. 

The mission of the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association is to advance Indianapolis tourism and economic growth.  The ICVA seeks to increase the number of visitors and their financial impact, expand positive perception of Indianapolis and positively influence the visitor experience.  According to a Global Insight report, in partnership with D.K. Shiffllet & Associates, 21.9 million visitors annually provide $3.56 billion in total annual economic impact of tourism on the Indianapolis economy resulting in 66,621 full-time equivalent employment positions in the hospitality industry.

Contact: Bob Schultz, APR, 317-639-4772, bschultz@indianapolis.org