Overview

The Tourism Social Media Co-op promotes destinations across Colorado to residents and visitors through owned social media channels. A representative from the Colorado Tourism Office will support you through the process of content creation and tailoring messaging to the needs of target audiences.

We offer different options:

Facebook program with a fund match opportunity
Instagram program

Program benefits include:

measurement strategies and tools
affordable custom opportunities
existing Colorado Tourism Office brand affinity
customized report of your results, with ongoing optimizations
access to agency creative services
traffic driven directly to your website
evolved opportunities to reach targeted audience segments and further drive impact and efficiencies
Colorado Tourism Office matching funds

Custom reports will be delivered following each co-op including:

campaign summary (dates, targeting, etc.)
top-line results (reach, likes, clicks to site, etc.)
details on the effects of paid support
successes and suggestions for future optimizations based on performance insights

Webinar Recording

The CTO recently hosted an informational webinar on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024. View the Webinar here.

Overview

Type: Marketing promotion

For: Tourism partners

Application period: February 28 - March 12, 2024

OEDIT division: Colorado Tourism Office

Applications for the Summer Co-Op are open February 28 - March 12, 2024. Apply for the co-ops by clicking here.

The next application period will be around October for the winter co-op.

To be eligible, you will need to identify as a destination management/marketing organization (DMO) or tourism-related business/organization.

*Please note, the Instagram social video co-op is only open to DMOs as it focuses on destination videography

*Please note that State agencies outside of OEDIT are not eligible to participate in the CTO co-op program

Other eligibility requirements:

Follow Colorado Tourism Office brand standards and photography guidelines.
Inform flighting, messaging, and imagery considerations.
Review and approve all creative before launch.
Have creative that links directly to your website.

Please note: This program is meant to drive awareness and site traffic to Colorado destinations. Should there be more applicants than available spots, Domestic Marketing Organizations (DMOs) will be given priority.

The Colorado Tourism Office promotes an industry partner’s content through the Visit Colorado Facebook. Partner content is added once a week and promoted on the page for up to three days. The minimum investment is $1,000, and there is no maximum investment. The CTO will match your investment 1:1 up to $2,500.

There is no management fee, and 100% of investment goes to your media purchase.

Eligible content

Content can be anything you want to feature that will draw attention to your destination. You should know your brand, your target audience, and what type of information about your destination will resonate with them. The content should not resemble an advertisement, and should be more like an advertorial.

Video

Video can be expensive and time consuming to create but is great for engagement. We recommend sharing a short 30-second to 2-minute short feature. Content must be relevant and tailored for social media, not commercials. Please share original video files and not links to videos that live on other platforms (i.e. YouTube), as sharing links to video platforms outside of Facebook can diminish reach. Video ideas include:

how-to videos
tour of your area or business
inspirational content

Blog Post and Web Content

Blog posts are the most common type of content we promote. We recommend that you host the post on your website. Content ideas include:

a list or article about upcoming events
must-experience activities around your destination
top 10 things to do in your area
a timely article about an upcoming event or limited-time experience/exhibit

Other

If you have other content that you think will work, the Colorado Tourism Office is open to discussing it. We will need to approve your content. We recommend that you contact the program manager below before creating content specifically for this program.

Ineligible content

Ineligible content includes content:

not related to tourism
for promotions, deals, business listings, and sales
that applies to a very small subset of an audience – to use dollars efficiently, content must apply to a larger audience (over 500,000)

Co-op partners have the opportunity to create content to live on the Visit Colorado Instagram account. There are two tier options for partner Instagram content:

TIER 1: Instagram In-Feed Post - Partners will have the opportunity for their content to be featured on the @visitcolorado Instagram account.

Partners will provide the content (photos, videos) they want to feature on Instagram.
One in-feed post will be created and published on the Visit Colorado Instagram account.
Investment: $300

TIER 2: Social Video Shoot - Partners may apply to have a social video shoot take place in their destination.

Footage will be captured, and the CTO will publish an Instagram Reel on the Visit Colorado Instagram account.
A minimum of 50 social-friendly b-roll clips will be provided to the partner to use in their social channels.
Investment: $1,500