CREIGHTON – What can Knox County and its communities do to promote themselves better to tourists?
The county’s Economic Development department recently held a series of community meetings in various towns across the county to try and help answer that question.
Seventeen residents from the Wausa and Creighton areas attended a community meeting on March 28 at the Creighton Community Center and Inn.
Dr. Kristin Malek, an event management specialist with Nebraska Extension, handled the presentation of information to attendees.
She said a variety of marketing, food and beverage, tourism, event planning and community development experts visited each community across the county to identify each town’s existing strengths, opportunities for improvement and possible future initiatives regarding tourism.
Ahead of their unannounced visits, these “secret shoppers” checked out community and business websites and social media, and then came to shop in local stores, eat at local restaurants, stay overnight in area hotels, connect with locals and take in other area sites and destinations.
Malek shared overviews of these visits – made by members of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s First Impressions Program team during the past 12 months from April 2023 to March of this year – during the community meetings.
These community visits and meetings were funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development grant.
Each of Malek’s presentations on these community visits included pre-visit research findings, on-site impressions, post-visit reflections and suggestions for how each town could better promote itself, especially online.
Starting with the pre-visit research findings for Wausa, the top websites in online search results were: Wikipedia/ the Wausa community website; the Wausa community website/Wikipedia; and Mapquest/Visit Nebraska – Wausa.
“There was a lot of mixup,” Malek said. “Some visitors who looked up Wausa found Wikipedia first and some saw Wausa, Nebraska, first. And then for second, some of the visitors saw Wausa, Nebraska; some of them saw Wikipedia, so it flip-flopped. And then third on their search, some was Mapquest and some was Visit Nebraska – Wausa.”
She explained what this means and why the community of Wausa should care.
“If you’re trying to control the image of the community to outsiders or tourists, it’s nice to know what their exposure is and in what order,” Malek said. “You start with general awareness and then you bring it down to the community level or a specific event. Then you bring it down to individual businesses.”
She noted the “secret shoppers” found that Wikipedia did a better job of expressing the Swedish culture in Wausa than the village’s own community website.
“If people are seeing Wikipedia as their first entrance to your community, they’re going to have a different perspective depending on what’s on Wikipedia than they have of Wausa, Nebraska’s website,” Malek said.
Speaking of the village’s community website, a couple of suggestions on improvements were shared, including adding a visitors tab with shops, restaurants and things to do, and providing a more user-friendly layout for mobile devices.
The calendar of events on Wausa’s community website received praise.
“It was very well-done,” Malek said. “It was highlighted by multiple visitors. It looks like you have a lot going on, which is awesome.”
She recommended the community taking ownership of the Visit Nebraska – Wausa website and having it linked to Wausa’s community website.
“It’s probably one of the weakest ones that we’ve seen because there’s no pictures added,” Malek said of the website powered by the Nebraska Tourism Commission. “You can send Visit Nebraska pictures to put next to (the Wausa entries).
“The only pictures on your page are the ads that other communities have paid for,” she said. “These other events – or communities – they’re technically attracting more attention on the Visit Nebraska page than the Wausa community because they’re visual.”
Malek noted when people looked up Wausa on Google News, most headlines were for obituaries. Others, depending on when people looked online, had headlines for stories on the July 2023 storms that hit the community.
She shared a quote from one “secret shopper” who looked up Wausa news on Google: “The town is falling apart and everyone’s dying.”
“You don’t want that image on the Internet,” Malek said, noting Wausa needs to promote itself as a “thriving community.”
As far as social media, she asked why does Wausa have three different community Facebook pages.
“You have two very distinct Wausa pages,” Malek said. “Both of them look like they were intentional.”
She explained the presence of the third Facebook page regarding Wausa.
“What Facebook does is, if your community doesn’t have a Facebook (page) and someone checks in there … Facebook creates a page for your city,” Malek said. “It’s called unofficial.”
She recommended that the person who runs the main Wausa community Facebook page should contact Meta, Facebook’s parent company, to shut down the old page and link the unofficial page to the main page.
Malek also shared comments from the “secret shoppers” who researched the community ahead of time on Facebook, such as, “They care a lot about their school and they are very into farmers’ markets.”
Another comment included, “Just a sweet little (Nebraska) community. Nothing about the Huskers, which is refreshing. Just their mascots (Vikings), school, library, volleyball and the Hog Roast.”
In regard to Wausa’s community Instagram page, “secret shopper” comments included, “This community is very school-focused,” as well as “Even if someone doesn’t have kids, it seems like they’re invested in school happenings” and “Small active community.”
Wausa’s community X – formerly Twitter – page received similar comments to the ones it received for its Facebook and Instagram pages, such as, “The school is the most important thing in their town.”
Malek noted the community of Wausa’s online video presence seems to be targeted toward potential residents and not tourism.
As far as on-site anticipations, she shared that based on online web searches, evaluators rated the following: - Evaluators’ expected experience on-site was an average 3.7 out of 10.
- Evaluators visualized the community to be boring with not much happening.
Malek then transitioned into onsite impressions for Wausa and noted all “secret shoppers” did the following in the community: - They took a 10-minute drive through the entire town for first impressions.
- They created an itinerary prior to arriving based on their web search and then chose how to spend their day based on personal interests.
- They talked to small business owners and any local residents to ask them about Wausa and things to do.
The themes for this section of the presentation were “First Impressions,” “Signage,” “Downtown” and “Other Points of Interest.”
Based on first impressions, when asked whether they would feel compelled to stop if they were randomly passing by, the “secret shoppers” averaged a 1.6 out of 5, with 1 being “strongly disagree” and 5 being “strongly agree.”
“A 1.6 out of 5 – that is not good,” Malek said. “That’s too low.”
Comments from these first impressions included, “Large welcome sign,” “One building has cardboard signs in window,” “Nice school,” “Some places have no signage,” “Good campground,” “Downtown has no scenery” and “Lots of lights off in downtown buildings.”
The signage that was covered in the presentation included welcome signage, downtown signage and other signage.
Malek noted there were comments on how the welcome signage was the best thing about Wausa and “the signage made it seem like there was a lot going on (in the community), but there isn’t.”
As far as downtown signage, comments included that aside from the giant Wausa schools sign, the signage seemed a little bland and not updated, a lot of signs downtown were hard to read or nonexistent and some signs had parts of words missing.
As far as how downtown Wausa was scored by the “secret shoppers,” with ratings of 4 or above, comments were positive overall about the parking – such as it being centrally located and free – and sidewalks – being available, well-maintained and handicap-accessible.
Comments included, “I was greeted warmly when I walked into businesses,” and “I felt welcomed here.”
The signage on the lamp posts – including horses, ships and vikings – was also positively received and the grocery store – formerly Main Street Grocery and now The Market – received an honorable mention.
Several Wausa sites were visited, including the grocery store, Smokin’ Chip’s Cafe & BBQ (which is now The Cafe – Wausa), Broadway Mercantile, Wausa Lockers, Gladstone Park, the Lied Lincoln Township Library and Rolling Hills Country Club west of town.
As for negative scores for downtown Wausa, with ratings of 2.5 or below, the lack of water fountains, public restrooms and waste and recycling receptacles was noted, as were the lack of bike lanes/biker- friendly signs and diversity in ethnic groups.
In addition, downtown businesses were encouraged to have more inviting signs displayed on their exterior and to improve their curb appeal.
Comments on the negative side for downtown Wausa included, “Nothing was open,” “Lots of empty stores – some even used as storage” and “Some buildings need new signage.”
Recommendations for the downtown area included more greenery, better curb appeal and more benches, water fountains, recycling receptacles and public restrooms.
“We see that a lot – more greenery downtown,” Malek said. “It makes it more walkable. If you add trees and greenery, people will stay out longer, they’ll spend more money, they’ll go to other shops.”
As far as other points of interest for Wausa, the “secret shoppers” had several positive things to say about talking with the locals, such as: - Some visitors felt people there were nice and helpful.
- An employee at the antique store was “super sweet” and talked to the visitors a lot.
- There were friendly employees at the country club.
- An employee at the library was “so sweet.”
One negative comment was that some visitors felt judged while they were in town.
For residential motivation scores from the “secret shoppers,” with ratings ranging from 1 for “strongly disagree” to 5 for “strongly agree” for the following statements about Wausa: - There is a mix of housing options, which received a 3.
- Neighborhoods feel safe and inviting, which received a 3.3.
- Homes have charm or curb appeal, which received a 2.6.
- Streets and sidewalks are clean and well-kept, which received a 3.
The residential motivation comments included, “There were lots of times I saw a well-kept house directly next to another house with peeling paint and broken wood.”
Malek noted several “secret shoppers” expected Wausa to be very kid-friendly based on all of the social media posts “that were family-focused” and some even brought their children on their trip.
However, many visitors were disappointed when they discovered the actual amenities were all adult-focused and assumed all of the things for kids must happen through the school.
“This is the blessing and the curse,” Malek said. “What’s the purpose of your (social media pages) and what are you posting? We post things that we like instead of thinking the role-playing mind of stepping out and posting things that our visitors like if we’re focused on tourism, because it’s a different demographic.”
Comments associated with Wausa’s amenities included, “This is a community not desiring tourism,” “Lacking in any type of tourism information” and “Good community, but not much for tourism.”
In the post-visit reflections part of her presentation, Malek noted the motives of visitors to communities like Wausa include being in transit to somewhere else, experiencing the small-town environment, getting away from people and engaging in sports activities, especially ones for youth.
“We want something above it,” Malek said of “In transit to somewhere else” as the No. 1 visitor motive for Wausa. “It doesn’t matter what it is. We just want something else above it … you can be known for.”
Trip reflections for the “secret shoppers” who visited Wausa covered strengths and challenges for the community.
Strengths included Wausa being home to “kind humans,” having a Lewis and Clark historical monument and having good food.
Challenges for the community covered the lack of attractions, inconsistent online information, closed businesses and empty storefronts.
For post-trip satisfaction, evaluators’ expected experience on-site was an average 2.9 out of 10 and they visualized the community to be boring with everything closed.
Malek recalled the on-site anticipations: - Evaluators’ expected experience on-site was an average 3.7 out of 10.
- Evaluators visualized the community to be boring with not much happening.
“Your post-trip satisfaction was lower than your anticipation,” Malek said. “We want to undersell and overdeliver, but not undersell too much that they don’t come at all. It’s a fine line there.”
She concluded her presentation with suggestions for how the community of Wausa could better promote itself, especially online.
Explicitly stated suggestions included: - Using Vrbo or Airbnb to promote the Wausa Hotel & Apartments.
- Marketing more of the culture, as Wausa is known for its Swedish heritage.
- Using Tripadvisor and Yelp to help promote the community.
- Adding a visitors tab to the community website.
- Adding more greenery on the sidewalks to make a more walkable downtown.
Other suggestions for better online community promotion included: - Advertising local restaurants and more.
- Incorporating more tourist attractions instead of only focusing on potential residents.
- Posting more community events on social media.
- Posting more information on the community website and social media.
- Listing what activities people do in town.
- Posting more Swedish and Vikings content.
USDA GRANT: In November 2022, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Nebraska Extension received $247,938 – in the form of a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development grant – to create an actionable placemaking plan for the Knox County area.
The proposed project was going to create an actionable placemaking plan through asset and infrastructure mapping, strategic planning and capacity building.
This community and economic development effort has been focusing on tourism, recreation and planning technical assistance for Knox County area communities, assisting in COVID-19 economic recovery and capitalizing upon recent regional investments in recreation and broadband infrastructure.
The population will be served by this project through the development of a place-based plan that will define the tourism strategy for the region and county, analyze tourism assets and supporting infrastructure and create a detailed narrative about opportunities in the region.
Communities will be trained for placemaking implementation, and communities will have identified USDA grants to target identified projects.
Matching funds are being provided by UNL in the amount of $42,191 and Knox County Economic Development will provide $5,000 for seed grant support.
