Social media provides amusement parks with a unique opportunity to engage and entice visitors with two-way dialogue and targeted messaging, while also leveraging social as a platform to communicate important park information. However, not all amusement parks “get it” just yet – and many parks aren’t fully taking advantage of the tremendous benefits social media has to offer.
Here are three amusement parks leading the way with social media.
Disney Parks – Leverage User Generated Content
In 2011, Disney Parks took to social media to ask their community to submit their own memories online using YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, and DisneyParks.com/Memories, in a campaign called, “Let The Memories Begin”.
Disney Parks incorporated these family memories right into its theme parks by projecting the user-generated photos against backdrops at night at Disney World in Orlando and Disneyland in Anaheim.
User-generated content presents authentic, real-life experiences that tugs on people’s heartstrings and excites and entices people to visit the parks and resorts. It takes them on a stroll down memory lane, or it provides a glimpse into a real and magical experience that they could enjoy themselves.
Cedar Point – Manage Visitor’s Expectations
In a recent Social Pro’s podcast, Tony Clark, Digital Communications Manager for Cedar Point Amusement Park, discussed the strategy behind Cedar Point’s strong social media presence.
Cedar Point’s social media team uses digital communication to manage expectations for visitors of the park. “A family in Cleveland might see rain in the forecast for their city and choose not to go to Cedar Point that day when actually the weather up at Cedar Point is great! In those cases, they try to keep the potential guests informed, especially because those days tend to be the best in terms of lines (since everyone else assumes it’s raining, too).”
SeaWorld – Share Timely, Relevant Content
SeaWorld is one of the most engaging theme parks on social media, and this is hugely reflected in their content marketing strategy.
During Shark Week, SeaWorld took the opportunity to ask their community and fans what they would like to know about sharks – and all week long, their in-house “shark expert” answered their fans’ questions through YouTube videos.
This proved to be an excellent way to engage with their community and provide their fans with timely, relevant content. SeaWorld has over 50K followers and counting on Twitter.
Chime in! Have you been to an amusement park this summer? What cool or helpful ways have you seen amusement parks leveraging social media?
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