From beaches and boating to dining and shopping, there’s no shortage of things to do in St. Lucie County – which is precisely why the St. Lucie Tourism Office is pushing residents to “share” St. Lucie with friends and family.
Launched in June and running through October is the office’s inaugural “Share Your St. Lucie” campaign. It encourages residents to make use of their social media channels by posting photos online with specific hashtags. Posts are later voted on and winners are chosen weekly to receive various prizes.
Such prizes include surf and golfing lessons, kayak tours, gift certificates to area eateries and businesses, and more.
“It is going very well,” Charlotte Bireley, director of tourism and marketing, told St. Lucie Voice. “We’re very pleased so far.”
The office has been tracking the hashtags – #LoveThePort and #LoveTheFort – as well as click-thrus on digital ads placed on social media platforms, and even visits to the office’s website. “It’s a lot to track,” Bireley said. She hopes to have all the data compiled and presented in a report sometime in November.
It’s too early yet to know if the campaign has increased the number of hotel stays, she said – something they are also tracking.
So far, many of the social media posts using the requisite hashtags have been water, beach and sunrise/sunset themed. People snorkeling or fishing. The sky ablaze in countless hues. All depict a little slice of St. Lucie’s paradise.
Bireley said the Tourism Office had a hunch that the bulk of visitors to the county were people coming to reconnect with family and friends, given that the county has a large population of retirees and several industries that relocated their employees.
In 2017, the office conducted its first visitor study, which confirmed the hunch.
“We wanted to take this data and create an innovative, creative and cost-effective campaign to capitalize on this information, so the Tourism Office launched the ‘Share Your St. Lucie’ campaign,” Bireley said in a press release regarding the campaign’s launch.
County Commissioner and Tourist Development Council Chair Chris Dzadovsky said in the same press release that the purpose of the campaign is to “decrease the gap between our seasonal highs and lows for visitation. By launching this campaign in June and running it through October, we hope to achieve this since these months are considered our low season and when our tourism-related businesses need the most assistance and exposure.”
Bireley told St. Lucie Voice that the office and council support local businesses year-round, and residents should, too. Residents should capitalize on the summertime, inviting their long-distance friends and families to come visit. “You don’t have to lift a finger,” she said, explaining that there are plenty of hotel packages and so many entertainment offerings to keep visitors happy.
To participate in the campaign and be eligible for weekly prizes, visit www.ShareYourStLucie.com.
For more details visit www.visitstlucie.com and www.facebook.com/VisitStLucieFla and follow on Twitter @VisitStLucie and on Instagram @VisitStLucie.
