Hashtag Dominica (#Dominica) Social Media Campaign

One of the many things I enjoy about Marketing is conceptualizing campaigns. In all of the campaigns that I have embarked on, I’ve never gotten the opportunity to bring together an entire country. Moreover, I had never gotten the opportunity to let the world know about the most beautiful gem called Dominica, a small island in the Caribbean where I was born. On May 16th, 2017, myself and a small team of professionals (Kerry Severin, Monelle Alexis, Yuri Jones, Clint Henderson, and Garvin Richards) got that chance. My love for marketing campaigns and my love for Dominica gave me the perfect avenue to create the dynamic social media campaign called, Hashtag Dominica.

The concept of the Hashtag Dominica social media campaign stemmed from a conversation with a few colleagues where I discussed the possibilities of #Dominica becoming a trending topic on social media for a day. That is, trending number one on social media. Although we had many uncertainties about the outcome of the campaign, we were greatly astonished by the reception from the public.

Leading up to May 16th, the team published various posts on social media to sensitize the public of the upcoming #Dominica campaign. Press releases went out to online newspapers and local radio stations. We also got the opportunity to conduct a few television interviews. We produced videos, advertisements, and fliers which generated excitement within the public.

Surprisingly, May 16th was dubbed by the public as ‘Hashtag Dominica Day.’

On the day of the campaign, Dominicans flooded social media with everything Dominica. Everyone in and out of Dominica, including the Prime Minister of Dominica and Ministers of Government, were all posting photos about Dominica. The excitement led to some employees in Dominica stating that their only focus was to post and share photos on social media to let the world know all about their beautiful island. Numerous individuals went ‘live’ on Facebook to get reactions to the campaign from Dominicans on the street and at work. The excitement could be heard through their voices and seen on their faces.

The enthusiasm was not only felt in Dominica. There were also many Dominicans living overseas who were also excited about the campaign. Some of my Facebook friends who knew little about my island also shared photos and videos that I posted with the caption ‘Next Holiday Destination.’ The feeling was remarkable!

At 10:00 am, #Dominica began to trend #1 on Twitter. The news of the trending created a surge of excitement forcing participants to post and share even more about Dominica. At 11:00 pm, #Dominica was still trending #1 on Twitter. From the looks of it, #Dominica remained a trending topic for the entire day. Goal Achieved!

Before everyone retired to bed that evening, many people congratulated the organizers on the outstanding job and success of the campaign. The day after the campaign, we received numerous requests to continue with the campaign for the entire week.

Here are a few comments we received after the campaign:
‘Loved it had fun making videos. Went to the river its been months!’
‘Great Initiative, I Loved It!!We Dominicans Did A Great Job In Marketing Our Country On Social Media!!’
‘I’ve heard about Dominica. Will visit someday. Looking forward to seeing you soon.’

The HashTag Dominica (#Dominica) social media campaign was a great success, and we enjoyed every moment of it. Below are a few photos that we posted leading up to May 16, 2017. Also, see a link to the website, the the Facebook page and two promo video. One done by Norris Francois

Website: http://hashtagdominica.com/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/hashtagdominica/