Social Marketing

Social searching has become the norm.

For the past ten years this web search has been completely dominated by Google, which was helped us find anything from travel advice to widgets. 2010 will see the current ‘hot topic’ of social search become a social norm for all web users. Many people already ask for recommendations on Twitter before searching on Google – particularly if it involves making a purchase – and the recent and ongoing changes to Facebook make ‘crowdsourcing’ a recommendation or solution to your issue much easier. Google.com will always bring more results (and accurate ones) but recommendations bring with them so much more trust and peace-of-mind.

The Leisure Connection managed National Sports Centres (Bisham Abbey, Lilleshall and Stoke Mandeville Stadium) have all been utilising social networking sites including both Facebook and Twitter since July 2009 and the impact has been a positive result from the work that has gone into this medium of marketing.

Social networking has offered us the opportunity to target and reach a large audience, whether they are local, regional audience, national and even global. This medium is great at getting our health and fitness message to a large number of people quickly and effectively, whether it is to members and customers within the local community, national organisations and even the press.

Using social media as another communication medium has also allowed Leisure Connection and our centres the opportunity to give up-to-date news, offers and promotions daily. For example, Stoke Mandeville Stadium say it’s great if they get a cancellation for a badminton court. They have the opportunity to reach out to our followers and inform them immediately.

Social media is a great tool for this fast paced, ever changing business environment and it allows us as an organisation to react to business demands as and when they happen.

The centres are also using social media to interact more with users and non-users alike. Customer feedback, suggestions and ideas are being received daily via different social networking sites and mediums.

In terms of marketing via social media, it’s about developing followers/friends and making sure you have something interesting to say. As previously mentioned recommendations from friends/family/colleagues are one of the biggest drivers of web traffic and Leisure Connection will be ensuring regular linking to our websites. In October, Facebook was our fifth largest referrer to our website and Twitter was tenth.

For those not too familiar with Twitter this video we hope will explain it very simply.

Regular content is vital. Without this people will stop going to your page if there is nothing new to see or read or the same info is posted.

The centres aim to change the status a minimum of three times per day. They often use promotions like 20% off hotel rooms, or to build awareness of events or facilities. It’s very important though ensure you’re status updates are more ‘human’; this encourages people to comment and take interest in what is happening at the site and helps to develop relationships.

Statements like ‘we are welcoming the team from Bucks Sports to SMS today’ (for Stoke Mandeville Stadium) help breakdown barriers and people are more likely to comment and be interested in what is happening at the centre.

It’s not just us here at Leisure Connection that thinks what we are doing social media wise is working. After our recent Quest Assessment at Stoke Mandeville Stadium, the team were complimented for their marketing, with the assessor saying that he had not seen another leisure centre using social marketing so effectively – this is the way the world is going, and social marketing will be the major marketing medium in the years to come.

Adam Singer, leading advisor on media, marketing and PR states, “The social web and search results support each other and are inexorably linked. It goes beyond a mere passive connection, the two create an active, virtuous cycle growing more powerful daily.”
 

This clearly shows that if we develop our message then it will quickly grow into a constant supply of new users, this with minimal outlay. This media will be the major form of marketing in the years to come and we as a company should lead the Leisure Industry into this new era.

For more information regarding social marketing please contact either Tori Branch – victoria.branch@leisureconnection.co.uk or Ian Seabrook – bdmstokemandeville@harpersfitness.co.uk .