Let's Talk Utah
The Utah Office of Tourism (UOT) was proud to produce and launch a new 11-part series titled "Let’s Talk Utah" on @VisitUtah’s IGTV and Facebook in Fall and Winter 2020. The primary goal of this social-first series has been to promote dialogue and shared enthusiasm among a wide community of those who love living in and traveling to Utah. Through the creative process of editing and illustrating our footage into compelling stories, we hoped Let's Talk Utah would create a forum for social community engagement.
In season 1, we covered a large spectrum of themes aligning with our office's key objectives to attract quality visitors who stay longer, spend more, and engage more deeply with Utah's local communities. Additionally, this series had the incredible challenge to creatively highlight more sustainable and responsible visitation behavior – a significant and timely priority for UOT and the tourism industry as a whole. Each episode was hosted by a variety of Utah locals accompanied by a special guest for an expert perspective on the topic.
Note: We began production for the series in February 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we halted production in March 2020 after filming 4 episodes (The Greatest Snow on Earth®, A Winter's Desert Perspective, Metro to Mountain and HERitage Walking Tour). We resumed production in August 2020 while ensuring our film crew and talent followed all CDC safety guidelines. We also intentionally featured face masks and social distancing in order to reinforce the importance of these travel guidelines at the time of distributing the episodes.
The Episodes
Click on the following links to preview Season 1's episodes available on IGTV. Three of the episodes shared on Facebook are added to this page below.
1: "The Milky Way Up Close" hosted by Prajit Ravindran (@irockutah)
2: "America's Film Set" hosted by Dawn Borchardt (@fauxreel222)
3: "Town to Single Track" hosted by Evan Thayer (@wasatchsnowforecast)
4: "HERitage Walking Tour" hosted by Naomi Watkins (@drnaomz)
5: "Representation in the Outdoors" hosted by Nailah Blades & family (@wecoloroutside)
6: "Communication of the Ancients" hosted by Stacie Denetsosie-Mitchell (@navajodarling)
7: "#SupportLocal" hosted by Olivia & Will Gochnour (@utahgrubs)
8: "Protecting our Living Landscapes" hosted by Jennifer Killian & family (@andshesdopetoo)
8: "Protecting our Living Landscapes" hosted by Jennifer Killian & family (@andshesdopetoo)
9: "The Greatest Snow on Earth®" hosted by Evan Thayer (@wasatchsnowforecast)
10: "A Winter's Desert Perspective" hosted by Prajit Ravindran (@irockutah)
11: "Metro to Mountain" hosted by Jennifer Killian (@andshesdopetoo)
The Goals
Encourage conversation about Utah as a well-rounded travel destination with the highest level of authenticity and credibility.
Inspire a responsible travel mindset by supplying viewers with the necessary tools, information and confidence to apply to their everyday travels throughout Utah.
Grow our social-first content presence by designing long-form video content optimized for Instagram and Facebook in lieu of repurposing videos designed for mass media.
Reach a minimum of 500,000 viewers and generate a minimum of 15,000 engagements.
+ Collaborate with Utah-based content creators as episode hosts and experts as special guests
+ Leverage episode hosts' and UOT industry partners' social media channels to promote the series
+ Film in a vertical-first orientation
+ Utilize Adobe software for post-production (i.e. Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, etc.)
+ Utilize Adobe software for post-production (i.e. Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects, etc.)
+ Premiere episodes on IGTV with short teasers on Instagram Stories
+ Reshare highest-performing episodes on Facebook
+ Amplify episodes through targeted paid social support
+ Amplify episodes through targeted paid social support
The Outcomes
+ Reached over 762,000 viewers
+ Generated over 20,000 engagements (reactions, comments, saves, and shares)
+ Received over 500 comments
+ Received over 500 comments
+ Grew Instagram followers by 14,400 during the series' release, a 90% increase from the
same period in 2019
+ Engaged priority markets from coast to coast including Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Dallas, Denver, and New York City
+ Surpassed KPI benchmarks while remaining under budget for our pilot season
+ Expanded library of evergreen footage to repurpose for future content needs
The above image shows a small sample of the 523 comments across the 11 episodes. This commentary proved how our social media content can create a sense of community and positivity about Utah.
The Team
Strategy + Producers: Melissa Kinney and Sandra Salvas (Utah Office of Tourism)
Filming + Editing: Colby Bryson and Alec Lyons (Blank Space)
Distribution: Melissa Kinney (Utah Office of Tourism); Pandemic Labs; Sparkloft Media
