During 2019/20, we continued to use our social media platforms to highlight incredible stories and world-class experiences across Australia’s tourism industry, achieving unpaid reach of more than one billion people.

As with much of Tourism Australia’s marketing activity in 2019/20, our social media approach shifted in response to external factors – first the bushfires, and then COVID-19. Despite these pivots, we were able to maintain strong, positive engagement across all channels, and significant growth in followers, further strengthening our position as social media’s most followed destination in the world.

In addition to generating awareness and stimulating conversations about Australia, our social media channels were host to a series of larger-scale campaigns, including:

• Philausophy – A content series that kicked off in October 2019, inviting the world to experience Australia’s unique way of life. The series focused on the personalities behind some of Australia’s top tourism experiences, with operators highlighting how they incorporate Philausophy into their businesses.
• Matesong – Social channels supported the Christmas Day 2019 launch of the UK-focused campaign, including publishing the campaign video and behind-the-scenes content.
• Holiday Here This Year – As part of the national bushfire recovery effort, Tourism Australia’s social channels encouraged Australians to see their own backyard with a hero video filmed by operators who were directly and indirectly impacted by the 2019/20 bushfires. Social content encouraged fans to spread the word and get involved via the hashtag #HolidayHereThisYear, as well as joining a Facebook event to encourage domestic travel.
• With love from Aus – With the announcement that Australian borders would be closing to help contain the spread of COVID-19, the social media team quickly adjusted its content approach, reducing frequency and focusing on a new content series that featured calming scenery and heartfelt wildlife moments published with a message of empathy and love to the rest of the world.

In addition to growing our Weibo and WeChat activity in China, we also launched activity on RED (a trendy user generated content-focused platform) taking advantage of growing popularity of this channel in China.

Throughout the year, the social media team also worked closely with industry, regularly presenting at industry events (while travel permitted) and meeting with operators to share the latest insights and trends.