Scoop: What Explore Minnesota paid — and got — to send an influencer to the State Fair

Catch up fast: Influencer Sierra Nicole Reece racked up millions in views last spring with a video plea for a paid trip to the fair.

• "Forget Coachella. I'm trying to go to the Minnesota State Fair," Reece, who lives in Atlanta and New Jersey, told her tens of thousands of followers. "They got brand deals for that?"

Local tourism officials took note, as MPR News reported, and decided to make her dream a reality.

Follow the money: The state tourism office paid Reece $5,000 to produce at least four Instagram videos, plus three to six Instagram Stories per day, during her trip, a contract obtained by Axios via a public records request shows.

• Visit Saint Paul kicked in another $1,000 for lodging. The fair helped with logistics.
• As part of the deal, Reece had to tag featured businesses and keep a highlight reel of her trip content pinned to Instagram profile for a month.

What they got: Content — and a lot of it. Reece, along with two local influencers who were paid $500 apiece to collaborate, published roughly 60 posts and stories, analytics data provided to Axios shows.

• Those social posts landed in feeds and racked up likes far beyond Minnesota — including in expensive media markets like Los Angeles and New York City.
• One video cross-posted to the @ExploreMinnesota account got over 180,000 views.

What they're saying: Explore Minnesota executive director Lauren Bennett McGinty tells Axios that the stats showed a "really great return."

• "If we were to go to Atlanta, where she's from, and try to market there, it would be tens of thousands, if not $100,000-plus, to make any kind of impact," she tells Axios.

The fine print: The agency says it paid to boost just one of those posts: A video previewing her trip.

Between the lines: While state tourism officials green-light just a handful of such deals a year, Bennett McGinty argues that the right fit can help the agency reach a built-in fanbase with more authenticity than a sponsored post from its own account.

• "We're not saying you have to say 'Pronto Pups' are incredible," Bennett McGinty says. "We're just sending her there to enjoy her time… [and] show off the sort of excitement and surprise and enthusiasm."

The big picture: Brands and tourism agencies across the country are increasingly turning to content creators like Reece to help drive visitors to their IRL destinations.

• The reason: "Social media is Generation Z's primary trip planner," Greg Swan, a Twin Cities-based marketing consultant who specializes in social media, tells Axios.

Reality check: The fair isn't exactly struggling to attract crowds: Attendance was just shy of 2 million again this year.

Yes, but: Beyond future fairgoers, such partnerships can help put the Twin Cities on travelers' radars more broadly, officials argue.

• Reece's posts went beyond the fair, as required by her contract, spotlighting attractions like Hmongtown Marketplace and the Mall of America.

Zoom out: The State Fair engaged in dozens of influencer partnerships of its own this year, social media manager Maria Hayden tells Axios.

• Those deals ranged from paying creators to make content for ads to providing tickets or planning support to local influencers.

One difference: The fair's big goal, Hayden says, is not necessarily to boost ticket sales, but to work with creators to showcase the myriad experiences that go beyond a "bucket of cookies going on rides" for both new visitors and regulars.

What we're watching: Whether even more influencers flock to the fair next year given the national attention this year's visits got.

• Hayden said her "inbox was flooded" with pitches after Reece's spring post went viral.

Reece, for her part, tells Axios she hopes to return — with or without a sponsorship.

• "It was a really amazing experience and a really unique aspect of American culture that should be celebrated," she wrote in an email. "And I look forward to coming back as often as I can (on my own dime of course)."