Philadelphia’s tourism website, VisitPhilly.com doesn’t just dabble with social media, they seem to take it by the horns and ride off into the sunset.
Take their use of the photo sharing app for foodies, FoodSpotting. Foodspotting allows users to take photos of restaurant and bar fare that they love. Users can also tag, rate and share their finds with their social networks (not just Foodspotting users,) creating a visual collection of what’s really good nearby. The app lets users create “guides” and collect “tips” (kind of like the badges for location apps like Foursquare) for finding foods raved about by others.
Instant decision making = happy visitors
The Guides aspect is what VisitPhilly has blown out to engage visitors who are looking for the best of what Philly has to offer on the local culinary scene. Assuming every location is a member, you can see how this effort can really increase member benefits for mobile (i.e. just about everyone) visitors, convention attendees, and locals. Each location is added to a Google Map, and is 100% mobile, allowing instant decision making on the go.
Can you see where a Visitor Center can use this app? Making the Center and its staff look like rock stars.
Reaching out to mobile visitors
VisitPhilly has created no less than 13 guides for everything from beer to vegetarian fare to milkshakes, etc. Its a great example of how to reach mobile users with a social app, all while providing good information curated by actual patrons and fans. Makes it easy and really fun to be a foodie + visitor in Philly.
Looking forward to my next visit to Philly, Foodspotting app in hand.
How to create a guide on Foodspotting
VisitPhilly on Foodspotting
Thanks for really digging into that app. Hoping other destinations take a cue from what VisitPhilly has done with it. Fun and good information.