Social Media and Hyak River Rafting a Case Study
ByAs a member of YVR Bloggers I was invited to go white water rafting with Hyak River Rafting. The “payment” was to help Hyak River Rafting boost their online presence. For those of us who are interested in adventures it was a no brainer! I put my hand up immediately.
My second thought was “boy are they ever smart!” and off I went to check out their online presence. I am always happy to see companies using social media in a way that really benefits their business. Hyak River Rafting definitely fits the profile.
Not only are they running contests from their Facebook Page they are using Twitter to drive traffic to their contests.
The rafting business, along with many other business that involve travel has dropped dramatically since 911. The rafting business is down from 10,000 to 3-5,000 per season. Who could handle a 50% decrease in business and still survive? Social media done right can definitely help you survive and thrive.
Some of you may be thinking, “wow 16 YVR bloggers all for free? That’s going to cost a TON of money!” When you think of your marketing budget it may not be very big, you figure, I can’t do that… but wait till you hear these numbers. The YVR Blogging community is very active, in fact so many people were willing to write up a blog post about their adventure that Hyak River Rafting added a second boat, bringing the total to 16 rafters instead of the original 8. The combined reach of those 16 people is something every business owner would love to have…
Total # of monthly views for all 16 bloggers – 405,787
Total social media reach for all 16 bloggers – 295,762
Think of what you would have to pay for the potential reach over 700,000 people!!
Not only had this group of 16 bloggers promised to write a blog post about the trip, everyone also promised to “talk” about the trip, before and after on their personal and business social media profiles. With a potential reach of almost 300,000 on social media that is extremely powerful.
Now you may not have access to a community of bloggers (go look for one anyway!) but you can consistently ask your clients and customers to talk about their experience with your product or service. Share their stories, take pictures and or participate in contests. The social proof it will bring to your business go will go a VERY long way.
Take a look at this great picture on the Hyak River Rafting Pinterest account, if you were in that boat would you be sharing this picture.
Always make it as easy as possible for your clients and customers to interact with you. In our case the crew from Hyak River Rafting took pictures, as well as all of us, and shared them on their Facebook page. We then shared those pictures out to our personal profiles and business pages. Wouldn’t you love your clients and customers to do that for you? Find the platforms your customers and potential customers are using and make sure you have an active presence there. AND I do mean active, a post, tweet or picture once per week ain’t gonna cut it! The strategy Hyak River Rafting is using with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and their website ensures they reach as many of their potential clients as possible. If you can generate a lot of pictures in your business then this combination may be just right for you too!
Now along with this great opportunity for their business to be spread far and wide, the staff from Hyak River Rafting did a fantastic job! They actually picked us up in Burnaby and drove us out to their location in Chilliwack. The only white water rafting business in the Metro Vancouver area to be licensed to offer that service.
White water rafting is an amazing experience, one that I am only too happy to share everywhere. If adventure is on your bucket list this is definitely an experience for you!
Now it’s your chance to win a White Water Rafting Trip, enter below, do it quick! AND when you win be sure to tag me in all the great pictures you take. That way I can add you to this blog post too!
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