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Arantxa Hernández ColoradoHead of Greenways and Railway TourismSpanish Railways Foundation (FFE)
III Eurovelo, Greenways and Cycle Tourism Conference
CYCLING FOR ALL:
Developing successful cycle tourism products for everyone
Vienna, 14 October 2016
Greenways: top ten tips to reach end users
Social networks – Vías Verdes experience
Spanish Railways Foundation, a public entity since 1985
Patronage: its President is RENFE’s President (Public
Railway Company), and its Vice-President is ADIF’s
President (Railways Infrastructures Manager). Other
members: Regional railway companies, subways, ….
Objectives: research, maintenance of railways’ cultural
heritage, and the coordination and promotion of the
Spanish Vías Verdes / Greenways Programme since 1993
Vías Verdes in Spain are the result of converting disused railways lines into car
free routes suitable for non-motorised transport that are as accessible, safe
and easy-to-use for walkers and cyclists.
2016:
120 Greenways = 2.500 km
More than 100 stations –touristic use : hotels, restaurants, bike-hire points, museums...
1993 :
6.700 km disused railway lines
The Spanish Greenways Programme has a common logo and a name
unique to converted disused railway lines. A great marketing aid!
The Spanish Railways Foundation is responsible for the promotion and communication of the Spanish Greenways Programme at a national level.
QUALITY BRAND
Over 500,000 unique visitors in 2015
Over 4.8 million pages seen in 2015
Website:
More actions by the FFE promoting Greenways
• General Greenways brochure. 5 languages. Downloadable in PDF• YouTube video channel. Over 650,000 downloads• Monthly news bulletin. 11,000 subscribers (over 1,000 from the
media)• Television series “Vive la Vía”. 18 thirty minute chapters• Media contact, press, radio interviews, magazine articles• Presence at tourism, cycling and environmental fairs• Travel guides, road maps, etc.• Citizen initiatives. “Greenways Day” “European Mobility Week”
Since February 14, 2011
We manage 4 social Network pages+ YouTube
Facebook• Vías Verdes (Spanish
Greenways): Over 34,800followers
+ 300 new followers a month• Andalusian Greenways: Over
3,200 followers• Greenways Product (in English):
481 followersFollow us!!
• Over 4,000 followers at @viasverdes_ffe #viasverdes
Social Networks
+ 34.800 followers
+ 3.200 followers
What do we post?
Facebook• 50 % is our own original
content
• 40 % of the content is shared news and press articles
• 10 % are posts shared on other Facebook pages
Twitter• 60 % are own tweets • 40% are Retweets
Social Networks
What works. “Likes”
• 1. The regular sections. They help manage
content on the networks and ensure the
orderly dissemination of project content. For
example, Thursday: #SilverCyclists day
Sections (some examples):
• Stations (heritage/history and new uses)
• “Before and after” (history, value
enhancement) … with good pictures!
• Friday: “Are you riding this weekend?.
Tell us where!” Encourage people to take
part and share. That way users provide a
lot of photos.
Social Networks
What works. “Likes”
• 2. “Photo contests” or “Pics of the week”.
• For months we have been challenging and
inviting users to guess what route we are
talking about. Encourage users to join in and
interact.
• Competitions with small prizes (Greenway
product packs, DVDs, merchandising)
• 3. Answering comments. Even the negative ones.
• Facebook says: “This page replies in fewer
than 11 days”. We need to improve on that !.
• Comment reply rate: 75%
Social Networks
What works. “Likes”
• 4. A classic: Not much text + A good photo and/or videos
• 5. Maps are cool !
• 6. Compiled content. E.g. Every so often the Spanish Greenways map is our trending topic.
• 7. “Translate” technical and institutional information into easy to understand content/language. Engage the interest of our followers as users: cyclists & hikers
• Apolitical information
Social Networks
What works. “Likes”
• 8. Information about our new routes (extensions, inaugurations and enhancements)
• 9. Presentation of a specific route and its tourism resources. “The …. Greenway passes through …. and you can discover …”
• 10. Users / followers love to put faces to our names and “see how we work”. E.g. ” Today we’re doing field work at…” “We’re on the radio show…”
Social Networks
What does NOT go down so well…
Highly institutional and formal information
(Signature of agreements, action plans… )
Conference panels and opening ceremonies…
Boring, boring pictures!
Links to documents of a technical nature (reports,
memoranda, publications, etc.) … however much
they may interest us. That’s our “customer”!
Better to use specific content from these
works. Release them as “information bites”.
E.g. “Every year the impact of cycle tourism
produces…” + Photo of cyclists enjoying
themselves (this message will reach your
audience better than a link to the
document)
Social Networks
International information:
• Through shared posts from other
Facebook pages (e.g. EGWA)
• Although 95% of the info is about
Spanish Greenways.
Social Networks
International information:
• In English via the Greenways
Product page. We are
“reusing“ this project
facebook page to post
something in English from
time to time.
• Only 480 followers
Social Networks
Some basic recommendations
(from our experience):
• Always tag to maximize
viralization
• Use of hashtags. # It’s also
useful for reports and to make
press clippings!
• Use of links to our website. Not
all SocNet followers read web
pages. Sometime they are not
aware of them.
• Use of videos, photo collages,
photomontages, posters, etc:
very visual posts!
Social Networks
Social NetworksComparison / Pages to watch
Arantxa Hernández Colorado
#Greenways4ALL
@viasverdes_ffe
A good product for Communication & Sharing on social networks
& Greenways
Thanks for your Atention !
