The series of events "Travel with Love, Pray at Guanyin Mountain," jointly organized by Guangdong Guanyin Mountain National Forest Park and ZhiKu Network, has successfully held three editions, each achieving great success. As a national forest park and a 4A-level tourist attraction, Dongguan Guanyin Mountain has seen rapid development and outstanding achievements in Guangdong's tourism sector in recent years. By inviting travel influencers and individuals with social influence to participate in experiential tourism activities, and spreading the word through self-media platforms such as WeChat and Weibo, the events have also generated massive exposure and positive word-of-mouth for the Dongguan Guanyin Mountain scenic area.
Every tourist attraction is surely pondering one question: how can a scenic area market its products and services to travelers?
Taking Dongguan Guanyin Mountain as an example, first, you cannot rely on the idea that "if you build it, they will come"—ignoring tourism marketing is not an option; second, you must have your own selling points, hot topics, and unique features; third and most importantly, marketing concepts must keep up with the times, using effective marketing methods to maintain continuous attention from travelers and stimulate repeat visits.
Posting content and receiving likes in WeChat Moments
The First of the Three Steps of Mobile Marketing: Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Word-of-mouth marketing is reflected in the selection of participants. The participants in these three events were not only media reporters but also key figures in the travel and photography circles. Their WeChat contacts and their own social circles are closely intertwined. Dongguan Guanyin Mountain Scenic Area leveraged their WeChat Moments to directly deliver precise WeChat-based content, creating a viral effect through word-of-mouth, thereby expanding the visibility and reputation of "Guanyin Mountain" within media and travel communities.
Edition One"WeChat Popularity Champion" @Laoxu Commentary won first place with two WeChat posts and a total of 1,464 likes and comments (including likes and comments from top domestic media figures and well-known social personalities). In the second edition, travel photographer Li Qiang @Saoxue-FilmImage won first place with 17 WeChat posts and a total of 3,509 likes and comments. In the third edition, travel influencer @MoXiaohe won first place with 17 WeChat posts and a total of 2,848 likes and comments. Through the act of "liking" in WeChat Moments, the topic #TravelWithLovePrayAtGuanyinMountain continued to gain traction, deepening the impression of "Guanyin Mountain" among friends’ circles and stimulating their desire to visit.
Just by earning "likes," these outstanding participants played a strong guiding role in marketing "Guanyin Mountain," significantly boosting the scenic area’s WeChat marketing and innovative marketing efforts with impressive results.
The Second of the Three Steps of Mobile Marketing: Content Is King
The promotional content for the "Travel with Love, Pray at Guanyin Mountain" series was built around several stages of the event. From crowdfunding travel expenses to eventually ranking, each of the five participants in every edition shared their firsthand experiences and visuals in their WeChat Moments as soon as possible.
For example, after crowdfunding, the posted content included:
#TravelWithLovePrayAtGuanyinMountain# Thank you so much, everyone, for helping me raise my travel expenses—I’ve received the funds. On the 23rd of this month, I’ll be traveling to Guangdong’s Dongguan Guanyin Mountain National Forest Park to attend a prayer ceremony. In front of the world’s largest basalt Guanyin statue, I’ll send my sincerest blessings to all of you.
The WeChat content was inspired by the participants’ genuine feelings, but each participant included the hashtag #TravelWithLovePrayAtGuanyinMountain in their posts. This high-quality, standardized format proved successful. Just like the simple phrase “This year, no gifts, just Brain Gold,” repeated over and over, eventually made it memorable to 1.3 billion people.
Another achievement of the "Travel with Love, Pray at Guanyin Mountain" event was the travelogues written by participants. In these, they shared what they saw, thought, and learned—content that had excellent promotional impact during dissemination.
The travelogue by @Saoxue-FilmImage was featured on the homepage of "On the Road (117go)."
The Third of the Three Steps of Mobile Marketing: Event Value Addition
The content, format, quality, and speed of dissemination are key factors in a scenic area’s mobile marketing strategy. The "Travel with Love, Pray at Guanyin Mountain" series was not limited to WeChat promotion. From its inception to execution, related information about the event was published online—from initial release to the cumulative total today, the ten characters "Travel with Love, Pray at Guanyin Mountain" have garnered 3,600 search results on Baidu, 179 image search results, and 77 results on Sina Weibo. These include news releases about the event, travelogues posted by participants (blogs, SNS), especially those published on travel websites such as Sohu, Letour, Ctrip, and Mafengwo, which achieved high read and click rates. Some travelogues were even featured prominently on the homepages of these websites.
Most importantly, WeChat and Weibo are the main battlegrounds of micro-marketing, and major websites added value to the event. The "Travel with Love, Pray at Guanyin Mountain" series by Guanyin Mountain Scenic Area transformed participants into promoters, allowing traditional web and mobile platforms to complement each other. By integrating various media resources for diversified marketing, the scenic area achieved excellent results in mobile marketing promotion.