The city of Las Vegas has chosen eight influencers from a variety of international markets ? including Mexico, Britain and Brazil ? to create relevant content showcasing their favorite Las Vegas experiences and reach highly engaged mobile users.

Las Vegas has teamed up with independent travel media company Matador Network to roll out the global influencer campaign, which includes a dedicated microsite as well as a hashtag, #NonstopVegas. The effort shows how Las Vegas is leveraging the power of social influencers to inspire more vacation visits by demonstrating the allure of Sin City and highlighting the accessibility of reaching the revelry destination via non-stop flights from international locations.

?For Las Vegas, it is essential to communicate with potential visitors through social media, especially in international markets and to millennials,? said Nick Mattera, senior director of digital engagement at Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. ?Authenticity is a key element of social content success, reaching millennial consumers on their preferred platforms such as Instagram or YouTube, and in many instances, Snapchat. 

?These channels provide deeper first-hand messaging for international visitors where they normally don?t hear about Las Vegas. Another element that was essential was to showcase Las Vegas through the eyes of a trusted travel or lifestyle content creator.?

Tapping savvy creators
Las Vegas, a destination that sees 42.3 million travelers per year, leveraged the social reach of eight tastemakers from Mexico, Britain, South Korea, Canada, Brazil and Denmark to power the campaign across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat, as well as Matador Network?s channels.

Matador handpicked the influencers to roll out organic social media content showcasing the plethora of available activities in Las Vegas. For example, Nordic influencer Bobby Anwar documented his journey taking a Norwegian Air flight from Denmark to Sin City with pictures on Instagram.

Meanwhile, British creator Rich McCor hopped on a British Airways flight to Las Vegas to add his renowned paper cutouts to the city?s landmarks, an activity that he captured on his Instagram account in late June.

The chosen influencers have shown followers some of their favorite Las Vegas experiences ? including attending Cirque du Soleil shows, taking a helicopter to the Grand Canyon, viewing the Strip from the High Roller and racing luxury vehicles at SpeedVegas ? via a multi-platform storytelling approach, which has tapped the power of mobile video as well as stationary posts.

Consumers can view these posts by browsing the #NonstopVegas hashtag on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, as well as by visiting Matador Network's dedicated campaign page.

Digital influencer marketing has been found to be critical for connecting with the right target audience, which consists largely of mobile-savvy millennials in Las Vegas?s case.

Accessible travel plans
The #NonstopVegas campaign also aims to highlight the ease of finding non-stop flights to Las Vegas from international locales. The city sees more than 200 weekly flights arrive from 19 cities around the world.

This is the premier campaign in which a destination marketing company has joined forces with international airlines to ramp up awareness of routes, carriers and available flight packages through digital content rollouts.

?Each influencer journey is inclusive of an experience with our partner airlines ? they created content on planes, in airport lounges or in their origin destination, communicating the direct service to Las Vegas from London or Vancouver or Seoul as an example,? Mr. Mattera said.

?Additionally, on the #NonstopVegas site, the airlines are included in the longer-form narratives and there are links back to the airline sites so consumers can further their research of the destination and learn more about the availability of flights.?

Matador Network?s #NonstopVegas microsite also aggregates each social influencer?s posts in one spot, enabling visitors to toggle between the tastemakers from international markets and view content stemming from all mobile storytelling mediums.

An increasing number of tourism organizations are leveraging the significant reach of mobile to inspire individuals to visit their destinations during their next vacation.

Last year, the city of Palm Springs, CA, brought augmented reality to the oasis in the form of a mobile application boasting interactive maps, geospatial search and information regarding must-see tourist spots (see story).

Social influencer-led campaigns have also proven to yield high engagement levels. The #NonstopVegas campaign has so far seen more than 1.5 million YouTube views and over 23,000 engagements on Instagram.

?So far, the consumer response and engagement has been strong, providing engagement throughout multiple social platforms,? Mr. Mattera said.