(view my video application)

It’s the greatest social media/internet marketing campaign yet, and probably one of the most successful. At least one of the most fun.

You may have heard of the “Best Job in the World” - a worldwide contest where people submitted 60-second video applications to vie for literally the best job imaginable. One lucky person will get a six-month $150,000CDN contract to be Island Caretaker of the Great Barrier Reefs in Australia. They’ll clean the pool, live by the ocean… and ultimately serve as a global tourism ambassador: reporting back to the world on why the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef are awesome (info on the job itself: www.islandreefjob.com).

The “Island Caretaker” will promote the islands well when they start work in June… but the tourism folks already scored a touchdown in their marketing. Hands down, this is the greatest social marketing campaign ever. After the global media attention announcing the job offer, 34,000 people submitted videos. Each of these people told their friends and family to vote for them. And every mom an dad told their friends… and on and on it went. Talk about using the power of social marketing!

*****

I heard about this contest and thought “well that’d be neat.” I tried my own little bit of social marketing, and changed my Facebook status to looking for a videographer. Soon enough, a friend of a friend contacted me and I put together a video application. I also made a blog site to share my biography and track my application. Within 36 hours, more than 100 people had voted for my video, and I got to bask in a little self-promotion.

Ultimately my application wasn’t a finalist (if you want to see the ultimate case of “yeah, I couldn’t top that, check out Michell from Ontario with his musical application). I had a lot of fun making the video, and being a part of an amazing social marketing campaign.

Kudos to Tourism Queensland, and thanks to my videographer Megan Oquais.