Social media strategy of promoting Afton in Ohio may be odd but they say it works

AFTON — If you live in Ohio, you may get served a video on social media that says, “If you’re ever in Ohio, we recommend seeing Afton, Wyoming, which is only 1,629 miles away.” Although it may seem quirky, tourism officials in Afton say it’s working very well.

The video, created by Paige Alise for VisitAfton, shows footage of someone driving in Wyoming with the text, “If you’re ever in Ohio, we recommend seeing Afton, Wyoming, which is only 1,629 miles away,” followed by the subtext, “Not exactly close, but definitely worth the drive.” Alise picked up on the idea when she noticed several TikToks leaning into Ohio as rather dull and suggesting it would be worth a drive to almost anywhere else. “It’s a good one because it’s funny,” she said. “Obviously, Ohio is nowhere near Wyoming.”

The approach is also an algorithmic win, since mentioning both Ohio and Wyoming prompts the algorithm to feed it to people from both states. So far, her Ohio-Wyoming reel has gained 83,000 views with 150 comments and more than 2,000 likes. Alise, originally from Florida, has been in Afton for 10 years. Her goal is to get Afton’s charm out to the world. “I just want to get the word out about how amazing Afton is, because we rely a lot on tourism for our economy,” she said. “We’re kind of the gateway to the national parks, and we want people to stop and plan on staying a few days with us before they head up north.”