Jane's Blog: Topic 3 - Interactivity

DGTL 12002 Assignment Task 3

18 July 2012

Identifying types of Interaction and their uses in social media

Week 3 question
Write a review analysing the types of interactivity that the campaign engaged.

The marketing campaign for the 'best job in the world' was created by a very clever marketing team. What made it successful was the usage of already established communications avenues and the brilliant idea of landing a 'dream job' in a beautiful place. The hype around the world was huge and people were interacting with various social media wanting to know more. Queensland's tourism industry was strengthened while advertising went world wide. People from all over the world were encouraged to apply for the position.

Tourism Queensland started their global job campaign in newspapers, online job recruitment agencies and posters. There were TV ads, news coverage and brochures from all over the world promoting it. A short time later the advertising was put online and onto the social networking sites. It then went viral.

Through 'User to User interaction' (Mc Millan's Traditions of Interactivity) and visitations to various websites such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Youtube and 'Bens Blog- The Caretakers Blog' (viewed 20 July 2012), I was able to understand the important role social media has in advertising and communication. I agree with Hepburn, 'Best Job in the World Campaign Study' (viewed 21 July 2012) that it was a huge success. The marketing team cleverly linked all ads back to their webpage 'islandreefjob.com' to keep the interest running. It was also stated it was the first campaign to ever win top awards.

To this date, the ourawardentry.com webpage states that 34,684, one minute video job applications from 197 countries had entered and over 475,000 votes for Wild Card applicants.

Web stats also showed of 8,465,280 unique visits, 55,002,415 page views with an 8.25 minutes average time spent, Best Job, 'YouTube' (viewed 21 July 2012).

figure 1: Online Recruitment Ad, YouTube, (viewed 20 July 2012)

Interaction proved successful in the marketing. The popularity of YouTube was a key strength in spreading the campaign. The video tempted people into visiting Hamilton Island and Queensland through the use of images of Island life such as snorkelling, fish feeding, island hopping and other relaxing activities. The interest was there and people were posting in their 60 second videos at an astonishing rate. Numerous people applying for the job or not were enticed into watching others application videos, resulting in an interactive 'frenzy'.

Matthijs Roumen adds on his blog site 'Best Job in the World Viral Success', (viewed 20 July 2012) "The fact that the video is highly entertaining and the underlaying thought of actually applying for the job makes it go viral. People simply love to spread things that are This statement really drew me into the world of 'viral videos'.

Lexi Klain also states 'The Best Job in the World:social media and destination marketing' (viewed 20 July 2012), "In order to apply for this dream job, the candidates had to create and submit a 60-second video of themselves!"

Social Networking sites such as Facebook also received many his.

figure 2: Facebook page, (viewed 20 July 2012)

Facebook was a great tool to promote the job. Pictures speak a thousand words and many people across the globe being members access this. It was a great way to get people talking. It suggested interests into other linked sites that were also good for Tourism Queensland.

figure 3: Twitter, (viewed 20 July 2012)

Twitter was also effective in spreading the hype. The tweets promoted the job, holiday packages, competitions and up-to-date information on the whole campaign.

The 'User to Document Interaction' in this instance was only for the shortlist of applicants who made it through to the next stage. Those that got through were then required to upload a short video about the islands or watch the cd, 'Get the Best Job in the World' (viewed 20 July 2012).

The competition was won by Britain's Ben Southall. He continues to promote the area through Tourism Queensland and has a regular blog at blog.queensland.com. I also discovered another of Ben's sites at www.bestjobben.com.

figure 4: Bens Twitter page
(visited 20 July 2012)

Ben is still keeping us informed with his daily adventures. His exciting life will keep people tuned in for a while to come. He has turned into a celebrity. It's hard not to feel a little envious of his endeavours.

figure 5: Best job in the world, (viewed 20 July 2012)

References

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bens's Blog (viewed 20 July 2012)

www.islandreefjob.com

Ben Southall on Twitter (viewed 20 July 2012)
http://twitter.com/Bensouthall/

Best Job in the World, YouTube (viewed 21 July 2012).
http://www.ourawardentry.com.au/bestjob/results.html

Best Job in the World Campaign Study (viewed 21 July 2012)
http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/best-job-in-the-world-case-study/

Best Job in the World Viral Success (viewed 20 July 2012)

http://www.viralblog.com/social-media/best-job-in-the-world-australias-viral-success/