Vic Nolting, Coney Island (Cincinnati), USA (pictured): Our current social media strategy involves Twitter, YouTube and primarily Facebook. Communicating with our patrons through these channels allows us to be more conversational and less focused on a hard sell, as is the case with traditional media advertising.
We will be running several Facebook promotions this summer. We are planning to use “like” campaigns in an effort to increase our fan base and attract new users, and run promotions geared towards our loyal fans like photo and quote submission contests. Social media sites are also helpful in keeping tabs on what fans are saying about the park, which allows us to be proactive if any problems arise.
Roca Pujol, PortAventura, Spain: We are on Facebook in Spain and also internationally in France, the UK and Russia. We display information about the park and just try to establish a conversation with out potential guests, because before social media it was not a two-way conversation. We just started on Twitter a few weeks ago and now, I don’t know the latest numbers, but it has become very popular because of the opening of Shambhala, our new rollercoaster.
Chris Robbins, Tweetsie Railroad, USA: I’m no social media expert, but our marketing staff works constantly to keep Tweetsie Railroad current on Facebook and Twitter. This is in addition to our email contact list, to whom we send news at least once a month. We have over 21,000 Facebook friends, and they’re very loyal to Tweetsie. As a small park with a long history, our followers feel a close connection. Our goal is to make a Facebook post just about every day of the year, even during the months when the park is closed.
Anna Periquet, Enchanted Kingdom, The Philippines: Our social media strategy is to engage more individuals in each of our target groups in order to expand our market reach. We aim to do this by improving and expanding the presence of the official Enchanted Kingdom website and the Facebook pages and blog sites of Eldar, our park mascot. Our Facebook postings include marketing, news and information, details of in-park entertainment and special events, promotional packages, merchandise and our EK Wizards Club, as well as press announcements. We are also engaging in viral advertising via YouTube, with videos and links including our world-class shows, television commercials, marketing promo and guest testimonials.
