#LoveMotueka campaign off to a roaring start

September 18th, 2014
[by David Armstrong]

A Facebook page has been launched to engage Motueka residents and visiting tourists in the best that our town has to offer, as part of a beefed-up public relations campaign by Our Town Motueka (OTM).

The #LoveMotueka page has got off to a roaring start with over 1,300 'likes' in less than two weeks.

Created by local internet consultant Johny O'Donnell, its aim is to "engage our town in a campaign to start a conversation about what we love about Motueka and showcase our slice of paradise to the world", Johny told Motueka Online. "Above all else, Love Motueka is an experiment in what it looks like to foster positive conversation about Motueka rather than the usual moans and groans," he said on the Facebook page itself.

"We hope it will grow into a resource for locals and visitors, shamelessly promoting our town and its talented people and amazing businesses."

The idea was expressed at an informal meeting following the Motueka Economic Summit held three weeks ago. OTM co-ordinator Julie Jacobson met with Johny, local website designer Andre Ismael and the writer of this article to plan better ways for OTM to communicate with its members, tourists and the community as a whole.

Facebook users can view and 'like' the by typing the term into the Facebook search box, or even into a Google search. They will find heaps of posts - mainly photos - posted by people saying what Motueka means to them.

"People seem to get exactly what we're trying to achieve and they're sharing their photos, memories and ideas with us which is fantastic!" Johny said.

For those not all that familiar with the features of Facebook, Johny explained the hashtag phenomenon.

"Both Facebook and Twitter utilise a feature called 'hashtags' which allow people to type a # symbol in front of any word during their post. When this is done that particular word becomes clickable to viewers and they are taken through to a live stream of posts from people all over the world using the same hashtag.

"Until now there has been no central place where visitors and locals alike can share their experiences of Motueka. Encouraging people to use the hashtag #LoveMotueka when engaging in social media gives us the opportunity to build a collection of experiences and photos from people who are passionate about the town.

"It gives us real time feedback from visitors, showcases Motueka to the world and builds a brand around the town which people have talked about for some time now."

As an example, he said someone looking for inspiration may search the hashtag #inspiration, and assuming those posting inspirational content have used that hashtag, the searcher will pull posts from all over the world. Parallels can be drawn with a search engine like Google, just using hashtags to identify the keywords.

"If we can create a compelling story about the beauty of Motueka and showcase it to the world via social media, we will attract more visitors to the town.

"It's totally free promotion and gives us an opportunity to engage in what we love about the town, rather than the usual moans and groans. It's as much about promoting the town as it is drumming up some local pride and being grateful for what we have."

Julie Jacobson told Motueka Online that #LoveMotueka has already lifted Motueka's on-line presence and at the same time lifted the spirits of its family photo fans and budding young photographers.

"Anyone can share their pride in their home town with the world - and the next step will be to engage schools and community groups in expanding the reach of this great campaign with photos of events and day to day pictorial observations.

"Thanks to new OTM Committee member Johny O'Donnell for launching the initiative and to everyone who has shared #LoveMotueka."

Johny said he would be happy to hear about any opportunities and suggestions for the project, by emailing him on .

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