Hamilton Island is a picture perfect paradise on Australia’s Queensland coast. But a small Island with marketing budgets to match, a non-existent social media community, consumer-changing media habits and high Australian dollar meant we had become practically invisible to domestic and international travellers.

Tourism Australia’s research shows 24% of people are inspired by their friends travel photos, with 11% wanting to emulate the same holiday.

Our aim was to showcase and engage a social media savvy audience and generate PR off the strength of the idea. With an internal communications staff of three, we launched a global engagement and awareness-raising campaign, targeting anyone with a passion for travel and photography.

Instagram was chosen as our lead platform and integral to our campaign was our Ultimate InstaMeet competition, compelling Australian and American Instagrammers to ‘hashtag’ their most inspiring holiday images for the chance to win a tropical escape. We united the winners, well-known Australian ambassadors, popular Instagrammers and the original US ‘Pilgramers’, who caught the attention of Instagram’s CEO/Founder, Kevin Systrom, with their passionate exploration across America, for an incredible weekend with Hamilton Island’s community the centerpiece.

Stories were shared in real-time worldwide, resulting in our social community growing exponentially. Our Instagrammers sent ‘postcards’ to 8m+ friends and family on social media, and started a global conversation resulting in social and traditional media impressions that turned our AUD$25,000 investment into AUD$2.3m editorial value, and AUD$2m room revenue, proving the direct effect on people’s desire to travel.

With two months preparation and a limited budget, Hamilton Island planned the first global InstaMeet of its kind. We created an unrivalled holiday itinerary that allowed our Instagrammers to generate 640+ insta-images in a single weekend late November 2012.

To reach the broadest possible audience, the attendees were targeted and diverse, from the US ‘Pilgramers’, to high-profile Australian ambassadors from sporting, music, fashion and food backgrounds, plus popular ‘everyday’ Instagrammers with followers ranging from a few to hundreds of thousands.

The group stayed in varying accommodation to showcase the Island’s offering, and shared their experiences, from seaplane flights over the Great Barrier Reef to mountain peak climbs, across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ and Tumblr. By doing so, they invited a global community of varying ages and backgrounds to be excited and get engaged. And they did, with unanticipated enthusiasm; a reflection of the shifting attitudes of current media consumers.

This has been our most successful campaign ever. Executed entirely below-the-line, the story of our Ultimate Instameet received mainstream national and international coverage in traditional, broadcast and online media, generating a total PR value of AUD$2.3m and 65m earned media impressions.

Through the strength of this campaign, we witnessed AUD$2m room revenue growth during the campaign period, compared to the same time last year and a 9% increase in room bookings.

Two YouTube documentaries were created attracting thousands of views, and our social community climbed astronomically, with Instagram growing by 3,500%. 54 images made it to Instagram’s Popular Page, appearing on the active feeds of all 100m users.

Our Ultimate InstaMeet photos received 850,000+ likes, 17,500+ comments and 4,280+ shares via Facebook, engaging multiple target audiences and exposing the Island to more than eight million people across all social networks.