Visitor Bureau Touts New Website Design, Social Media

They may be a little late to arrive, but the Door County Visitor Bureau hopes its new website makes it the life of the party when visitors search vacation destinations.

Visitor Bureau President and CEO Jack Moneypenny touted the incorporation of social media features into the organization’s new website as a powerful new tool in telling the Door County story.

“Much of the new website is tied back to social media,” he said.

Moneypenny is particularly excited about the scrapbook-your-visit feature and the interactive mapping tool on the site. The bureau’s Facebook page, Door County Scrapbook, is also a hit, he said.

“We’ll post a question, like ‘what’s your biggest fish story in Door County?’ and get 30-40 responses right away,” he explained. “It really evokes emotion, and the love that people have for Door County comes through.”

Moneypenny is also banking on the social media effort to connect with younger visitors.

“We’re playing to a younger generation’s connectivity,” he said. “We need to rebuild the visitor base, and we’re using social media to tell people that there’s a lot for the younger visitor to do up here. We want to engage them in their early-to-mid 20s and build a younger demographic that includes families.”

The visitor bureau celebrated National Tourism Week with a breakfast May 13. With three years of room tax collections now in the marketing field, Moneypenny admits that there’s pressure from the community to see big returns.

“I think people want to see dollars in action and want to see results,” he said. “I think we saw our first strong results last year. To maintain the room tax at flat in a disastrous economy was proof that our promotion is working. Had those marketing dollars not been available last year we would have seen huge repercussions this year.”

Nathan Nichols, owner of the furniture store Nathan Nichols and Company, said he thinks promotion of the county is improving. Nichols said he saw an increase in customers from new markets last year, such as Ohio, which he credits in part to the visitor bureau’s expanded reach. This year has started strong.

“We’re up 100 percent so far this year over last,” Nichols said.

The focus of the visitor bureau since Moneypenny was hired two and a half years ago has been on rebuilding brand recognition, Moneypenny said. Now the bureau is delving more heavily into niche marketing.

“Take Silent Sports,” Moneypenny said. “We now know that this is a huge, huge area for us and we need to start building it and some of these other strong niches into our larger message.”

The Visitor Center on Highway 42 in Sturgeon Bay is getting a facelift too. The renovated lobby will open May 20. The changes have Moneypenny cautiously optimistic that a strong season awaits.

“Website traffic is up 38 percent so far this year,” he said. “I’m hearing from lodging people that advance bookings are up. Nobody wants to jinx it, but indications are good.”