Wild
Waves Theme Park in Federal Way, Washington has a very active Twitter page.
They Tweet almost every day and have recently been posting a few times each day
as their opening day for the season draws near. Most posts suggest followers
buy season passes or tickets for Wild Waves, especially near holidays – even
Valentine’s Day! Other posts mostly have to do with promotions and news about
the park. Some of their posts are responses to people Tweeting at or about Wild
Waves. I think overall Wild Waves Theme Park has a good Twitter presence, but
they could improve in some areas.
Wild
Waves has built a peppy persona with their presence in social media including
Facebook and Twitter. They are always positive and seem excited about
everything happening at the theme park. They respond excitedly to compliments
about the park, which Dave Toliver says in his article “7 Ways to Create a
Memorable Customer Experience with Social Media” that responding to compliments
is great. Their getting excited seems to work well in getting potential
customers excited to visit the park.
Though
they respond to positive feedback on Twitter and Facebook, Wild Waves does not
respond to negative feedback at all. In fact, they don’t seem to respond to
fans who are not asking positive questions that do not have to do with visiting
the park or buying tickets. For example, one man posted on the Wild Waves
Facebook wall saying, “You know
Squirt Soda? That's what the wave pool water looks like at Wild Waves xD but, I
still love the place :D” Though the comment wasn’t necessarily a positive one,
they could have responded explaining that the pools are all clean and
chlorinated or something along those lines so the comment doesn’t sit there,
unanswered for everyone to see. As Toliver says in his article, “Neglecting your social media properties when they’re full
of customer complaints is suicide for your brand. It’s like publishing a
customer service hotline phone number that no one ever answers.” This is just
one example of a question left unanswered on the Wild Waves pages; they
actually do it quite often. As someone who was a frequent visitor of Wild Waves
then a long-time employee, I think they could really get good use out of
responding to these sorts of comments. The biggest problem with Wild Waves’
social media is that they do not respond to negative or even neutral comments
from users.
The
imagined audience for Wild Waves seems to be local fans and potential guests of
the park. I think this is the case because they promote buying a season pass often,
which are useful for people who are somewhat near the Federal Way area. They do
not advertise individual ticket sales often, which is more realistic for people
who live far away or someone who has a busy work schedule. I would imagine
their imagined audience is people who live all around Washington but by
Tweeting about season passes so often they may be turning away audience members
that do not live near the park.
Something
I find interesting about their Twitter is that they have about three hundred
followers, which seems like a small amount considering Wild Waves is the only
theme park in Washington state and is the largest water park. Even more
interesting is that while they only have three hundred followers on Twitter,
they have over twenty two thousand fans on Facebook. I know they have had a
Facebook page longer than a Twitter, but the difference in numbers is
appalling. They don’t seem to have had their Twitter very long and they’ve had
Facebook since 2009. They have far more fans on Facebook, but seem to post on
Twitter more often. Wild Waves does not have a link to their Twitter from the
Facebook page, if they did they main gain a lot more followers.
Wild
Waves creates a sense of community with their Tweets by involving other Western
Washington organizations in them. For example, Wild Waves re-Tweeted something
posted by a local news station, Komo4, about the weather. Another post says “Best in Tourist Attractions and Kids Activity.
Thank you Fed Way and everyone that voted!” By doing this they are acknowledging their local community
though they are known throughout the state of Washington.
On
Wild Waves’ Facebook page it seems that previous customers are more active than
on Twitter. Several people post their pictures on the Wild Waves Facebook page
in excitement of their visit. Other fans see their pictures and often reminisce
about days they’ve had at the park. It seems to get more people excited about
visiting the park, so it may be a wise technique for Wild Waves to post old
pictures of days at the park to encourage people to go to Wild Waves. In this
way, Wild Waves could use people’s good memories to get them to come visit the
park.
Wild
Waves uses some crowd sourcing on their Twitter in some of their posts.
Recently, they’ve been Tweeting and asking followers to vote for them as the
best theme park and best water park in the Northwest. Again, this shows that
their perceived audience is people who love Wild Waves, and this time people
who have been there. They also crowd source by asking for feedback about their
website, which is smart since they are asking the people who view their website
for information what they like and dislike about it so they can improve it.
Recently,
Wild Waves has Tweeted that they will be announcing two new rides – not at a
ceremony or on a newsletter or on their website – on Facebook. By doing this
they are taking social media marketing to a whole new level. To find out what
the new attractions will be fans of Wild Waves will have to be on Facebook and
join an event created by Wild Waves. Someone who does this will likely become a
fan of the park on Facebook and will see posts and have constant reminders of
Wild Waves. This is a huge way they can get more followers and fans, and
potentially far more visitors when they open.
I
worked at Wild Waves in the past, and I recall a Facebook promotion that went
on, where users posted the name of someone who referred them to Wild Waves page
and whoever’s name showed up was given a free iPad. That was a great way to get
new people to the Facebook page and to draw attention to it. As Toliver wrote,
“Find the social media influencers for
your audience and give them extras.” The influencers on the Wild Waves page
could get them a lot of new guests, and for such a large company an iPad is a
small cost to really get their name out there. Plus, it rewarded users for
their advertising (at least one VERY lucky user).
Overall,
Wild Waves Theme Park uses social media well to promote the park. They reward
positive fans and followers with something as small as an acknowledgement and
someone got a “thank you” in the form of an iPad. However, something Wild Waves
can and should improve on is responding to feedback that is negative or even
neutral. Their connection with their community and drawing on good memories
really give Wild Waves a good persona on the web. I do think over the years the
development of social media accounts for the park has helped their company,
though I think they could improve upon things even more by responding to everyone
who talks to them on their sites.
Butler, Devin. “You know Squirt Soda? That's what the wave pool water looks
like at
Wild
Waves xD but, I still love the place :D”. Facebook.com.
15 Mar. 2012, 10:25 p.m. Facebook Comment.
Toliver, Dave. "7 Ways to Create a
Memorable Customer Experience with Social
Media."
Mashable Business. N.p., 03 11 2011. Web. 20 Mar 2012.
<http://mashable.com/2011/11/03/social-customer-experience/>.
Wild Waves Theme Park (WildWavesGOWILD).
“Best in Tourist
Attractions and Kids
Activity. Thank you Fed Way and everyone that voted!”. Twitter.com. 15 Mar. 2012, 3:58 p.m.
Tweet.
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