Online/Offline Media

Back in the spring of 2007, Sea World San Antonio launched a social media campaign to build awareness of their Journey to Atlantis coaster ride.  Other campaign objectives were to build relationships with the coaster community and assist in driving visitation to the park.

Both online and offline media was used.  A targeted list of coaster enthusiast blogs and forums were identified.  Coaster bloggers were treated as VIP's and content was created to suit their needs.  A content rich site was created for content and information.  It was to allow for future site expansion.  The plan was to take the site down for result evaluation after the ride opened and to re-launch after modifying.  Nonetheless, the site is no longer up.

Sea World created eleven videos and a 45-photo portfolio in-house that highlighted groundbreaking up to opening day.  They utilized Youtube, Flickr, and Veoh and allowed others to embed the media into their personal blogs.  A media launch day was held and bloggers and coaster enthusiasts were invited to attend and be among the first to ride Journey to Atlantis.  

To evaluate results, the campaign looked at links from coaster sites, attendees at the media day, and ongoing contact.  Of the initial 22 sites identified, 12 chose to cover the ride.  The American Coaster Enthusiasts group brought 30 of its members to ride the coaster on media day.  The riders later left positive comments on Youtube.  This is an ongoing relationship.  

In order to evaluate the cost of the program, a survey was utilized.  The budget for the campaign was $44,000.  The survey asked riders how they heard about the ride and if they came to Sea World especially to ride Journey to Atlantis.  The cost per impression for the social media campaign was $0.22 versus $1.00 for television.  It was also determined that the online group represented more than $2.6 million in revenue.  For all of the statisticians out there, the survey was conducted over two weekends in June of 2007 during normal operating hours.  A total of 402 questionnaires were completed and returned.  At a 95% level of confidence it is accurate within plus or minus 4.9 percent.  

Sea World also utilized television commercials, word of mouth, park brochures, print news stories, radio commercials, newspaper ads, passmember communication, Pepsi can promotion, and billboards.  All in all internet outperformed all of the others except television commercials which was just under 40 percent of all visitors.

Overall, the campaign was effective both online and offline.  However, the online social media interactions provided the most bang for the buck.  For upcoming campaigns, I would suggest that Sea World San Antonio also utilize twitter and facebook to create more of a buzz.  Other social media campaigns can also benefit from utilizing both online and offline methods.

Sustainability Uses For Wikis

The wiki that I chose is the Whitman College Sustainability Wiki.  This particular wiki contains information about sustainability efforts at the college.  I believe that it is successful because it allows visitors that may or may not be familiar with the campus an opportunity to see what is being done on campus to conserve.  Other colleges that are similar in size to Whitman may also pattern their program along Whitman's.  One issue that I recognized is that the page has not been updated since what appears to be 2011.  Also, many of the links require you to have Whitman College credentials.  However, they do offer a link to the campus sustainability coordinator that allows you to contact them and request a username and password to access the information.  The wiki also offers external links to other Whitman College related websites.  Overall I feel that this wiki is successful because it allows faculty and students to add and modify it. 

Twitterers To Follow

I am currently taking a Social Networking Strategies Class and one of our assignments required us to create a twitter account.  You can find me here @tcbiodieselcoop.  The assignment also required us to send a tweet and follow sustainability related mini-bloggers.  I chose @thompulliam, @green_updates, and @GreenEnergyNews.

 I picked Thom Pulliam because he is a brand strategist.  I have always been somewhat interested in the purchasing habits of consumers.  Thom seems to have a pretty good lead on what consumers want and helps companies to leverage their brand.  Green Updates is out of Dallas, Texas and has a blog titled Science, Space, & Robots.  I enjoy science and they also give updates on green products and industry trends.  Green Energy News was suggested in the lesson description.  They are located in California and have a website with up to date information on renewable energy.  A few of their popular categories are solar, wind, energy funds, biomass, and hydro power.  I enjoy their website because biomass and alternative energy are my main research interests.

All of this social media is new to me and a bit overwhelming.  However, I am going to keep an open mind and try to learn all that I can.

The Value of a Linkedin Profile

Although I do not currently have a LinkedIn profile, many have spoken of the effectiveness of creating a profile.  I realize that LinkedIn is a valuable resource for both job seekers as well as those that wish to network with other professionals in their career field.  However, I do not see myself creating a profile in the near future.  The primary reason is the time that is required to maintain a profile and respond to others in a timely manner.  Also I do not foresee leaving the career that I am currently in.  I would rather correspond with others face to face, via telephone, or email.  If I was to use a professional networking site I would probably use Young Entrepreneur.  It is forum based and allows you to share information with others.  Docstoc is another useful site that allows you to upload and share important business forms and documents.

Mult-Generation Assignment

I recently had the opportunity to have an informal interview with one of my co-workers.  Barrett is considered a Millennial (Generation Y) and I am considered Generation X.  We spoke after dinner for nearly 30 minutes about his views on social media.

Barrett is an avid television viewer, unlike myself.  I asked him how he feels about being bombarded with commercials suggesting that he like (insert company here) on facebook.  He quickly named off a couple of companies that annoyed him.  Specifically, Stark Air and Milestone Electric.  He said that he would never do business with those type of companies because every few minutes their commercial was being played and what difference did it make if you like them on facebook or not.

I then asked him if he maintained an online profile.  He quickly laughed, rolled his eyes, and told me no.  However, he told me that when he was in high school he had a myspace page.  Mostly all that he used it for was music.  He has a facebook page but says that he hasn't updated it in ages and has no plans of doing so.

Next I asked about social media as a whole and what he thinks about everyone uploading videos of themselves and telling everybody about their personal business.  He feels that the internet gives people a sense of hope that people care about what they are doing at all times of the day.  When in reality nobody really cares that much.

We then briefly spoke about the time management and productivity issue when it comes to updating and maintaining a profile.  Barrett's wife is a nursing student at TCU and is heavily involved in campus activities and social events.  She maintains a facebook page and at times it baffles him with the amount of time that she spends on it. 

Barrett told me that when it comes to researching a company to do business with, he would much rather go to their traditional website than their social media page.  He also told me that the facebook of today will soon be the myspace of yesterday.  For instance, his mother who is in her early 60's uses facebook to find old high school friends.  Barrett seemed to think that older populations are beginning to adapt to social media more out of curiosity than necessity.  An example that he gave is a widow or widower that has lost their spouse and may have had a high school sweetheart that they are curious to find out about.

He also told me that he views social media as a tool for companies and that it should not replace their day to day methods of doing business.  He gave an example that a company can have the latest and greatest social media campaign and keep it updated all that they want.  But in the end if a customer calls or walks in and can't get the help or answers that they need, what good is it?

Overall the interview was a bit surprising to me.  Although many of my questions were somewhat loaded I did that on purpose to try and get Barrett to persuade me the other way and prolong the interview.  For the most part we agree upon how social media impacts us today.  I feel that I am of the minority when it comes to my views on social media.  I am a bit old school when it comes to how and why I choose to do business with particular companies.  To me a simple phone call or walk-in to the company can tell me more about a company than their social media campaign can.  Social media for the most part only highlights their positive side.  However, I am aware that a company's reputation can be ruined by others using social media to let others know of their experiences.

As far as developing a social media campaign that reaches all of the generations one must be versatile.  Because you are going to have the traditionalists that don't want anything to do with social media.  You are also going to have those that only want to correspond and deal with you via social media.  Since every generation uses social media differently, you must approach each generation differently when you are trying to get your message across.  For instance this summer the City of Fort Worth put outside watering restrictions into place.  Baby boomers were reached through physical signage, television commercials, and through the city website.  Generation X was reached through direct mail and online through the city website as well as websites such as The Lawn Whisperer.  Millennials were reached through the internet with social media sites like facebook, blogs, and digital newspaper.  Generation Z was reached through mobile media such as apps and mobile video.

All in all the interview went well.  Many thanks to Barrett for taking time out of his busy schedule to accommodate my request.

Video Statement

Through the effective use of social media, companies can engage stakeholders and allow them to learn about products in a casual manner. 

I believe that this is a true statement because many consumers like to gain additional information about products before they purchase them.  For example, Mercedes Motoring is a small operation out of California that restores classic Mercedes automobiles.  They have a couple of artsy videos posted on Vimeo that detail the time and energy put into restoring classics.  They also have a Facebook page full of photos that show the finished product.  Their customer testimonials are filled with praise from purchasers all over the country.  The majority of customers purchase these cars without seeing them in person.  All that they have to go by is what is seen on Mercedes Motoring's personal site and social media sites.  Although Mercedes Motoring does not have many competitors, a portion of their success is due to social media.  Through social media they are able to capture a worldwide audience.  As long as Mercedes Motoring continues to put the same time and effort into restoring cars, I do not see this statement changing.

Print Support Links: 

The Importance of Social Media

Why Social Media is Important 

Social Media for Small Business 

Video Support Links:

Social Media in Plain English

Social Marketing

Wintermester 2012 Texas Study Tour Conclusion

Overall the trip was a great success.  We had a few mix-ups along the way, but that is to be expected when meeting with the number of people and covering the amount of locations in the timeframe that we did.  I would like to thank all of the individuals that took time out of their busy schedules and welcomed us into their organizations.  I would also like to thank Adam and Kyle for putting in the time and effort to research and network with the organizations that we visited with.  Last, but definitely not least, special thanks to Dr. Freg Forgey for accompanying us and helping everything come together as smoothly as possible.  All of us are very appreciative of your hospitality.