Creative Collective was in the room on January 28, 2026, when the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism relaunched its Tourism U educational series. We were there to support our members Marnely Murray and Angela Prout of Shored Up Digital—and to bring back everything we learned about social media for tourism businesses for those of you who couldn’t make it.
This is what we do. We show up for our members, and we make sure the whole ecosystem benefits.
About the Session
Tourism U: Social Media with Purpose – Building Community, Visibility, and Trust in Tourism
The Mass Office of Travel and Tourism tapped Shored Up Digital to lead this statewide training for tourism and hospitality professionals. The session focused on reframing social media as a connection tool rather than a promotional one—and it was packed with practical, immediately usable advice.
About Shored Up Digital
Copyright: Arletta Charter @Arletta_Weddings
Marnely Murray and Angela Prout founded Shored Up Digital in 2018. Based on Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod, they’ve spent nearly eight years helping tourism organizations, destination marketing organizations, regional tourism councils, and hospitality businesses across Massachusetts grow their brands online.
Their services include social media management, email marketing, website design, product photography, video production, copywriting, and influencer marketing.
As Marnely put it during the session: “We lead with purpose. We spend a lot of time in online conversations on behalf of brands, building relationships, building trust, building community.”
Connect with Shored Up Digital:
- Website: shoredupdigital.com
- Email: shoredupdigital@gmail.com
- Instagram: @shoredupdigital
- Phone: (774) 310-1575
Marnely and Angela offered complimentary one-on-one Zoom consultations for anyone who wants to dig deeper into their social media strategy.
What Makes Social Media Actually Work for Tourism Businesses?
Here’s what Shored Up Digital shared that every business owner in our ecosystem should know:
Social Media Is SOCIAL First
“People focus on the media piece—what content am I creating? What photos am I taking? But you need to reel back and remember it is social. Tourists, travelers, and visitors are all people too. And people inherently crave personal connection.”
The takeaway: Stop thinking about posts as promotional content. Start thinking about them as conversations.
Authenticity Beats Polish Every Time
“Users can see through salesy posts. They can see through AI posts. Humans don’t want to be sold to. We’re trying to figure out how you tell a story and sell your experience without sounding super salesy.”
The most engaging content often isn’t the polished, professionally produced video—it’s the behind-the-scenes moment, the staff spotlight, the genuine human connection.
Video Isn’t a Bonus Anymore—It’s Baseline
Marnely was refreshingly honest about the learning curve: “I don’t know how to drive a car. People say it’s easy. It’s not for me. But making social media content is easy for me now because I do it every day.”
The point? Practice makes progress. Your first videos won’t be great. That’s okay. The more you do it, the easier it gets. You need to get comfortable posting content that isn’t perfect—because waiting for perfect means you’ll never post.
The Five-Minute Daily Habit That Changes Everything
Here’s the assignment Shored Up gave everyone:
Spend five minutes a day on your accounts—not posting, but engaging.
Reply to comments. Like other community members’ content. Start conversations in DMs. It’s a two-way street, and the algorithm notices.
“If you want your videos to have a lot of likes and comments, you have to have those karmic points. You have to be doing on other people’s accounts what you want to see on your own.”
They also emphasized that DM conversations matter more than people realize. Instagram tracks how many direct message conversations you’re having—the more active your DMs, the higher the algorithm ranks your account.
Put Together a Loose Content Calendar
Not a rigid schedule—a loose framework. Know what holidays matter to your business. Know when media outlets will be looking for content (hint: it’s weeks or months before the actual event).
“You can’t be posting about Mother’s Day a week in advance because the lead time for publications is much further away.”
Start with holidays and annual events that matter to your business. That’s your foundation. Then fill in with purpose-driven content and storytelling.
Repurpose Everything
That blog post you wrote last year? Break it into social media captions. That event you hosted in October? Use those photos again next October. AI is great for summarizing and repurposing content you’ve already created.
“Future me should be very proud of past me taking those photos and videos.”
Content you capture today doesn’t have to be posted today. Build a library. Repurpose strategically. Nothing you post is seen by everyone, so reusing good content isn’t lazy—it’s smart.
Use Facebook Events
If you’re hosting an event, create a Facebook event. Invite your followers. They’ll get regular notifications leading up to it. It’s time-consuming but worth it.
Collaborative Posts Are Your Friend
On Instagram, you can add up to five collaborators to a post. Everyone tagged gets the post in their feed. One piece of content, multiple audiences. This is an easy lift that everyone should be doing.
Community Is Your Competitive Advantage
The session emphasized bringing your offline relationships online. Partner with local businesses. Highlight regional voices. Support each other publicly.
As Angela put it: “In the engagement process, you also have opportunities to create offline relationships with other businesses and organizations that you might not already have.”
Which Massachusetts Tourism Businesses Are Doing Social Media Right?
@peabodyessex
Shored Up Digital shared several examples of Massachusetts businesses excelling at social media:
Peabody Essex Museum (Salem) — A fellow Creative Collective member doing exceptional work. Their staff spotlights and intern introduction videos consistently outperform their exhibition content. People want to see people.
Beauport Hotel (Gloucester) — Consistent branding across all graphics. You could remove their logo and still know it’s their content. They also create Facebook events for everything and bring locals in for restaurant events, fire pits, and holiday programming—smart strategy for hotels with public-facing amenities.
Addison Choate (Rockport) — The innkeepers do funny behind-the-scenes content that resonates far better than photos of their beds or breakfast. Relatable and approachable.
Hastings House (Lexington) — Great work showcasing not just the property owner but also staff members like their executive chef.
MetroWest Visitors Bureau — Running a 250-day campaign connecting local history to Mass 250, posting a story a day. A great example of harnessing big moments (like the state’s anniversary) and grounding them in local identity.
Love Live Local (Cape Cod) — An organization supporting local artists and creators that started with community first and built everything else from there. They now have a loyalty card program where you pay a small fee and get discounts at participating stores.
Colleen of Travel Like a Local — A content creator who does excellent work showcasing Massachusetts destinations. Her January “12 places in Massachusetts to visit in 2026” reel was repurposed content from three years of travel—proof that capturing content now pays off later.
Marnely and Angela are part of our community. When they succeed, we all succeed. And when they share their expertise with the entire state, we make sure you benefit too.
This is Real Business Support. Real Community Building.
Watch the Recording
The full Tourism U session is available now. We highly recommend watching the whole thing.
Watch here: Tourism U: Social Media with Purpose
Need Social Media Help?
Shored Up Digital offers complimentary consultations. Reach out to them directly:
- Website: shoredupdigital.com
- Email: shoredupdigital@gmail.com
- Instagram: @shoredupdigital
And remember—our ecosystem of 300+ members includes marketing professionals, content creators, and digital strategists who share what’s actually working. That’s the power of peer learning.
This story comes from the Creative Collective community – Essex County businesses who believe when we thrive together, our whole region becomes more vibrant. We’re entrepreneurs, creators, and service providers across all industries, collaborating to build the community we want to be part of. If you see your business as more than just commerce – as a way to contribute to our regional ecosystem – you belong here. Discover how to join our community →
Author: John Andrews is Content Director at Creative Collective
