Ocean County takes advantage of technology to boost summer tourism

Ocean County is trying to get on the radar of potential visitors this summer by utilizing technology to the fullest to boost tourism.

Dana Lancellotti, Director of Ocean County Business Development and Tourism, said the department is using digital advertising on various media platforms as well as advertising with out-of-state media organizations to enhance visibility through mobile devices, tablets and online websites.

"We do banner links. We also do full page takeovers that they have on different websites where literally when people click into the site, the whole page is actually us with images of Ocean County Tourism," said Lancellotti.

Targeting is another advantage technology provides for the county, according to Lancellotti.

"We're able to target people by their behaviors, we're able to target them by their interests, their geography, their age groups, etc.," Lancellotti said.

The County can gauge the results using Google Analytics to determine the most effective marketing.

"We see what works well and what doesn't, and where we have the greatest success we obviously put more of our dollars," said Lancellotti.

Social media also plays a big role in spreading the word about events through the County Tourism Department's Facebook page.

"We've done the best we can to market our Facebook page because it's a wonderful tool for people if they like us on Facebook, they do get the events in a daily feed, so it's really a great tool. We share that on other Facebook Group pages and it does get a lot of shares and a lot of visibility," Lancellotti said.

A new website created in-house using the County's Information Technology team includes a comprehensive calendar of events with its traditional tourism partners, and Lancellotti pointed out, it soon will be integrated with the County's Cultural and Heritage Division events.

"We're also able to link into our Ocean County Tourism Magazine, which is Explore Ocean County, and that's available online, as well as in a full color, glossy hard copy, which we have 50,000 of them that are being distributed out-of-state, as well as all throughout New Jersey through our delivery truck service. We go to all of the tourism visitors centers up and down the Parkway and Turnpike, lodging facilities, and places along the shoreline, the beachfront communities in the summer, to get our tourism information out as much as possible," Lancellotti said.

In addition to the magazine, Lancellotti said her department puts out a weekly news letter on Wednesdays through direct emails of upcoming highlighted events for that weekend and the following weekend. The newsletter also posted on the Tourism website and Facebook.

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