Social Media Doesn’t Create Destinations
There is a tremendous amount of pressure on destinations today to produce content.
Post more often.
Make more Reels.
Get on TikTok.
Use better photography.
Work with influencers.
Follow the trends.
Increase engagement.
And to be clear, I believe social media is an incredibly valuable destination marketing tool. Used well, it can introduce thousands—or even millions—of people to a place they may never have considered visiting.
But social media has a limitation we don't talk about enough.
Social media doesn't create destinations.
It amplifies what already exists.
And if the experience on the ground isn't compelling, no amount of content is going to fix it.
Marketing and Destination Development Are Not the Same Thing
This distinction matters because destination marketing and destination development are often treated as though they are interchangeable.
They're not.
Destination marketing creates awareness and demand.
Destination development creates and improves the experience people are being asked to visit.
Marketing can show someone a beautiful downtown.
Development helps make the downtown worth exploring.
Marketing can promote an outdoor recreation destination.
Development makes sure visitors can find the trailhead, understand where to park, navigate the trail and discover what else there is to do afterward.
Marketing can promote a festival.
Development asks whether that festival actually creates economic activity for the surrounding community.
Marketing can tell people to come.
Development answers the question:
What happens when they get here?
A successful destination needs both.
A Great Reel Can't Fix a Bad Experience
Imagine seeing a beautifully produced video of a small downtown.
The streets look charming.
The mountains are in the background.
People are walking around.
The restaurants look inviting.
You save the video.
A few weeks later, you decide to visit.
Then reality takes over.
You can't figure out where to park.
You don't know where the downtown district actually begins.
Several storefronts are empty.
The business you wanted to visit is unexpectedly closed.
You can't easily figure out what else there is to do nearby.
There is nowhere obvious to sit.
The public restrooms are difficult to find.
You finish lunch, walk around for fifteen minutes and leave.
Was the marketing successful?
Technically, yes.
It got you there.
But was the destination successful?
That's a very different question.
The Goal Isn't the Visit
One of the easiest mistakes in destination marketing is measuring success at the point of arrival.
Website traffic increased.
The video received 100,000 views.
Social engagement went up.
Hotel searches increased.
More people came to the event.
Those are useful metrics.
But they're not the final objective.
The real questions come afterward.
How long did visitors stay?
How much did they spend?
How many businesses did they visit?
Did they explore beyond the attraction that originally brought them?
Did they stay overnight?
Would they recommend the destination?
Will they return?
A million views on Instagram have very little economic value if the people who eventually visit spend twenty minutes in town and leave.
The destination has to convert attention into experience.
And experience into economic activity.
Social Media Is an Amplifier
I think the easiest way to understand social media's role in tourism is to think of it as an amplifier.
If you have something remarkable, social media can make it remarkably visible.
A beautiful overlook.
An incredible restaurant.
A unique downtown.
A fantastic trail.
A quirky attraction.
A memorable event.
A local business people can't find anywhere else.
A story worth telling.
Social media can take those experiences and expose them to an enormous audience.
But an amplifier doesn't create the signal.
It makes the existing signal louder.
That distinction is important.
Because when a destination isn't seeing the results it wants, the instinct is often to turn up the marketing.
Maybe we need more content.
Maybe we need another campaign.
Maybe we need a different agency.
Maybe we need influencers.
Maybe we need to spend more on digital advertising.
Sometimes that's true.
But sometimes the marketing isn't the problem.
Sometimes we need a better product to market.
Destinations Are Products
That may sound strange.
We don't normally think about communities as products.
But from the visitor's perspective, that's essentially what a destination is.
A visitor is making a purchasing decision.
They have limited time and limited money.
They can spend their weekend almost anywhere.
Why should they spend it with you?
And once they choose you, what are you offering them?
The answer isn't one attraction.
It's the entire experience.
The website they used to plan the trip.
The road they drove in on.
The sign that welcomed them.
The parking experience.
The condition of the streetscape.
The businesses that were open.
The interaction with the person behind the counter.
The meal they ate.
The trail they hiked.
The hotel room they slept in.
The ease with which they discovered what to do next.
All of it becomes the destination product.
Social media can influence the decision to buy that product.
It can't determine whether the product delivers.
This Is Why Digital Wayfinding Matters
I've written before about digital wayfinding because the visitor experience increasingly begins before someone physically arrives.
People are constantly searching:
"Things to do near me."
"Best restaurants nearby."
"Where to park."
"Things to do this weekend."
"Coffee near me."
"What to do after Shenandoah National Park."
The answers visitors receive shape where they go and what they spend.
If the destination has fantastic businesses and experiences but visitors can't discover them, that's a development problem just as much as a marketing problem.
The same applies once they arrive.
Can someone easily understand the community?
Can they move from one experience to another?
Can they discover something they didn't already know existed?
Every point of friction reduces the likelihood that visitors will stay longer and spend more.
Sometimes the Best Marketing Investment Isn't Marketing
This is where destination organizations have to be willing to ask uncomfortable questions.
If you have another $25,000 to invest, is the best use of that money another advertising campaign?
Maybe.
But maybe it's better signage.
Maybe it's improving a public space.
Maybe it's helping create a new visitor experience.
Maybe it's building better trail connections.
Maybe it's professional photography for local businesses.
Maybe it's improving digital information.
Maybe it's developing an event during a slow season.
Maybe it's gathering better visitor data.
Maybe it's helping businesses understand how to capture the visitors already coming through town.
Those investments aren't as visible as a marketing campaign.
But they may ultimately produce a better return.
Because improving the destination gives future marketing something stronger to amplify.
Visitors Are the Ultimate Content Creators
There is another reason destination development matters more than ever.
Your tourism organization isn't the only one marketing your destination.
Your visitors are.
Every visitor with a phone is a potential photographer, reviewer, videographer and travel writer.
They post photographs.
They make TikToks.
They leave Google reviews.
They tell friends.
They share recommendations.
They answer questions in Facebook groups.
They create Reddit posts.
They send text messages saying, "You have to come here."
Or they tell people the opposite.
That means the experience itself has become a marketing channel.
Create something remarkable and visitors will help market it for you.
Create something disappointing and they'll do that too.
You can control the photographs you put in an advertisement.
You can't control the photograph your visitor posts when they arrive.
Build Something Worth Sharing
None of this means destinations should stop investing in social media.
Quite the opposite.
Destinations should become very good at it.
Great photography matters.
Great storytelling matters.
Video matters.
Social media matters.
Digital advertising matters.
Influencers can matter.
But those things work best when they're pointing toward something genuinely worth experiencing.
The strongest destinations don't begin by asking:
What should we post today?
They begin with a much bigger question:
What can someone experience here that they'll want to tell somebody else about tomorrow?
Answer that question first.
Build the experience.
Remove the friction.
Help visitors discover more.
Give them reasons to stay longer.
Give them reasons to spend.
Give them reasons to return.
Give them something worth photographing.
Then pull out the camera.
Because social media can introduce the world to your destination.
But first, you have to create a destination worth introducing.
More from Scott Turnmeyer
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