Despite budget cuts, the Madison-Morgan Convention and Visitors Bureau has been able to keep the city highly visible in the tourism market, according to CVB Executive Director Jennifer Rosa Leon, who addressed the Madison City Council meeting held Aug. 29.
A major factor in maintaining that visibility has been the emergence of Georgia Safari Conservation Park.
According to Leon, social media posts about the park attracted more than 590,000 views on Madison’s social media outlets, although overall goals for social media growth fell short.
Leon said the park has opened a new tourist demographic on Facebook, as it tends to attract more visitors with children than in the past.
Although budget cuts forced the CVB to cut back on paid advertising on social media, followers to Madison pages were up 22 percent on Facebook and 12 percent on Instagram, Leon said.
“We have also been focusing a lot more on digital advertising in particular,” Leon said. “We did a big overhaul of our website to make it mobile-first a few years back, and we’ve been really investing in search engine optimization and also paid methods to grow the website.”
Leon said the city invested in paid Google ads that garnered more than 3 million impressions, 83,000 clicks, and 9,000 tracked active users.
Public relations efforts have also yielded solid results, Leon said.
Earned media, which is publicity originating from third-party sources such as news outlets, social media, customer reviews, and other outlets that cover tourism and related issues, has resulted in Madison receiving more than 1.66 billion impressions over the past year, indicating strong interest in the city and its tourism potential.
According to Leon, earned media resulted in the equivalent of $1 million in free publicity for Madison.
Country Living magazine named Madison one of its best small towns for 2025, which was a big win for the city, Leon added.
Madison’s CVB staff also met with representatives of the Southeast Tourism Society Media Marketplace, who connected them with editors and freelance writers who contribute to national and regional media outlets, including the editor of Magnolia and Moonshine on a press visit.
According to Leon, Madison’s website went from 70,000 visits per year in 2019 to almost 170,000 in 2024.
“We’re really proud of that to show that this is a great resource for people,” Rosa Leon said.
However, visits to Madison’s welcome center did not increase in this fiscal year, with 9,327 people visiting the center, about the same as the previous year.
Leon said the CVB has seen a 21 percent increase in subscribers to its newsletter, though.
At the conclusion of the Aug. 29 meeting, the council made appointments to the city’s volunteer boards, including the Corridor Commission, Downtown Development Authority, and Housing Opportunity Commission. Appointments will be confirmed at the next regular city council meeting.
The Corridor Commission consists of seven members who ideally have demonstrated special interest, experience, or education in history, architecture, and/ or the preservation of small-town resources.
The city chose to select architect Tripp Alsbrooks to serve on the commission for a two-year term. Alsbrooks served on the commission in the past.
Six candidates applied to be posted to the Downtown Development Authority, but one was removed because he did not meet eligibility requirements.
Council selected Chantel Carter-White to serve an unexpired term with three years remaining.
A post on the Housing Opportunity Commission will be filled by Kenneth Juarez if approved at the meeting.