Online/Offline Media

SeaWorld San Antonio implemented a social media campaign to build relationships with the coaster community, build awareness around its new ride Journey to Atlantis, and ultimately drive more visits to the park. The social media campaign included both offline and online activities to engage customers.

Offline Activities

SeaWorld San Antonio used  television commercials, word of mouth, park brochure or map, saw while in the park, TV or print news story, radio commercial, newspaper ad, passmember communication, Pepsi can promotion, and billboards to engage customers offline. They also invited coaster bloggers and the American Coaster Enthusiast group to attend a media launch day and to ride the new ride Journey to Atlantis. The American Coaster Enthusiast group brought 30 members to media day to check out the ride.

Online Activities

SeaWorld San Antonio set out to engage coaster bloggers as a VIP audience. They created a content rich Web site containing 11 videos and a 45-photo portfolio. The content was deployed using YouTube, Flickr, and Veoh. Riders from the American Coaster Enthusiast group posted positive comments on enthusiast sites and YouTube videos. Also, of the 22 enthusiast sites originally identified 12 blogged about the ride.

SeaWorld San Antonio's social media campaign  was successful in building relationships with the coaster community, building awareness around its new ride Journey to Atlantis, and ultimately driving more visits to the park. However, they could’ve utilized additional social media channels such as Twitter or created a Facebook Fan Page to engage more customers and provide more relevant information. The social media campaign was successful because the cost per impression was cheaper for its online strategy, at $.22 per impression, compared to its offline line strategy at $1.00 per impression. Also, by assigning a per capita value per customer they determined the online group represented $2.6 million in revenue.