Social Media is starting to govern how consumers view businesses and their practices. Networks like Facebook and Flickr are “word of mouth” but mainstreamed to a much wider and more aware audience. Facebook has tools to let businesses know just how many people they can reach with a given post, it gives updates on how many people visit their site or may receive messages from them at any given time, and allows businesses real time communication with their customers. Flickr lets businesses upload pictures to communicate a more personal account of what they do and allows for comments.
Airboat Adventures of New Orleans is a swamp tour empire that allows its customers to get an up close and personal view of a more rugged New Orleans. Featuring tours of 20,000 acres of tidewater cypress swamp, having tools that relate the experience in more than words is helpful. On their Facebook Page they have gleaming testimonials about different tours and the different people that have been on them.
This isn’t just the company telling the consumer how wonderful their tours are, this is real people giving their real accounts of what they experienced while on a swamp tour. Facebook also allows them to post fun topics for customers that follow them like “What’s your favorite gator recipe?” making a poll for customers to discuss and draw them in.
Probably the coolest thing about this network is that it even allows them to offer coupons and special rates that can be redeemable through Facebook, which increases traffic to the main website, and Facebook keeps customers always coming back for more, seeking more deals! Flickr is less complicated and is all about pictures. These pictures are of the wildlife you’ll get to experience on a swamp tour. Outside of reading you’ll get to see an alligator, this is an explicit visualization of some of the gators living on the swamp.
These tools are a wonderful support base for businesses to sit upon. Establishing a direct line to their consumers is a vital way to not only grow but sustain their services. And at Airboat Adventures they have so much to offer in their pictures and testimonials that they do a really good job of drawing potential customers in and being able to make a sale on just how they can make those gators pop off the screen!
