Chances are, you have at least one active social media account, using it regularly to tweet or post or send pictures to your friends and family. Personal social media activity is not the only kind of communication taking place on platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Businesses are also using social media to increase engagement with existing and potential customers.
The Mansfield Convention & Visitor’s Bureau and Snow Trails are two Richland County organizations that have used social media activity to engage consumers.
President of Mansfield Convention & Visitors Bureau Lee Tasseff says the decision to use social media was easy.
“We are a marketing entity when it comes to tourism, so we figured it made perfect sense for us to transition and expand how we market into social media,” Tasseff said.”We’ve been into Facebook a great deal, creating Shawshank Trail, Mansfield Bureau and Haunted Mansfield profiles.”
Before launching a social media strategy, Tasseff sought out expert advice through educational seminars and marketing sessions.
“The advice we got was to tackle what you can strategize for and be able to manage,” Tasseff said. “So Facebook was our starting point. Twitter came later.”
Tasseff plans to launch a Twitter campaign to go along with the twentieth anniversary of Shawshank thisyear.
“As we go, we will add more pieces and parts to the strategy,” Tasseff said. “We also have built into our website a way to push our blogs to Facebook.”
The intent of the social media strategy is to engage with fans, and the Mansfield Convention and Visitor’s Bureau has seen engagement increase dramatically.
“We just recently asked fans to create a small video or snippet of why they are excited to come back [to the Shawshank Trail next year],” Tasseff said. “Within a few days, we had already received a couple of videos.”
Tasseff reports that social media has changed how the tourism organization relates to consumers.
“With social media, we get to see [fans] more. We don’t often know who’s following the Bureau’s activities,” Tasseff said. “We did get to meet some fans at the event every year, but it’s nice to see them on Facebook. It’s a very active platform.”
Combined, the Bureau’s three Facebook profiles have 7,182 “likes” or followers, with the Shawshank Trail scoring the largest number of followers at 4,303.
Snow Trails Ski Resort has seen similar successful results, with a social media strategy that includes Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Marketing Manager Nate Wolleson says that its six total social media profiles have helped Snow Trails target different audiences and niches. Starting the “Snow Trails” and “Hero Challenge Ohio” accounts—the latter is a 5K obstacle event Snow Trails holds partnership with Fit One CrossFit—from scratch, the accounts now have 22,280 and 1,346 followers, respectively. The savvy recreational organization also strategically uses social media accounts to target different audience segments.
“On Instagram, we have 2,433 followers, and it’s a younger demographic,” Wolleson said. “There is a mix but it’s definitely skewed younger. On Facebook, we can target the 24 to 54 year old demographic, so that’s a good space for that audience. Instagram skews younger, but it’s good to get feedback with the younger group.”
The strategy has paid off for Snow Trails.
“We are not using it to see an ROI necessarily,” Wolleson said. “It’s more for brand awareness. It’s difficult to track ROI [on social media]. We use it as a place to communicate, and I haven’t worried too much about [ROI.]”
The marketing manager is able to see a direct correlation between the social media strategy and ROI in terms of website traffic.
“We generate everything on our website first,” Wolleson said. “And then we push it out to each platform so it draws people back to our website. We don’t track revenue numbers, but just site traffic in general. Traffic has increased about 25 percent. That’s a substantial growth for us.’
Businesses should also know how to engage their audience on social media before beginning.
“It’s not a typical product we’re selling online,” Wolleson said. “It’s not a pizza shop. It’s more of an active audience that wants to comment on [ski] conditions, for example. We are showing an experience for some people who have never been to Snow Trails before. We’re pretty media heavy, and social media is great for these types of things where people want to see photos and videos.
“We generate everything on our website first,” Nate Wolleson said. “And then we push it out to each platform so it draws people back to our website.
