Marketing & Social Media: the one-two punch of 21st Century success

So far it’s been a summer full of high activity on the Colorado River. The Parker Strip has seen an increase in water traffic, including the Parker Tube Float which yet again set a new record for registrations. That weekend alone shows that summer 2014 in Parker, Arizona, is the place to be for those seeking “on the water, fun in sun.”

Despite the increase of this year’s visitor numbers it’s important to continually market the area to those who will hopefully choose and continue to choose Parker as their vacation destination. The 21^st Century has brought about many amazing technologies which have changed the way we do things. In the year 2014, we are viewing entertainment differently, we are communicating differently, and we are socializing differently than we were just ten years ago. The advent of the Smartphone and social networks has completely changed things, not only in consumers’ lives, but in marketing as well.

Gone are the days of traditional hard copy advertising. Farewell fifty-pound boxes of flyers that sit on the backroom shelf waiting to be mass-mailed to countless unsuspecting mailboxes across the country! Take a Hike “I wonder if anyone is actually seeing my ad?” thoughts that suffocate your mind as you fail to hear the chime of your business door. Social Media has given marketing a much needed shot in the arm and Parker Area Tourism is administrating the vaccine daily.

An area like Parker gives ample opportunity to promote and bring attention to its many attractions during summer. Social Media advertising campaigns have been implemented very heavily since April and the results have been eye-opening. For example, Parker Area Tourism created a short one minute and thirteen second video promo designed to promote the arrival of the Parker Tube Float. Funds were dedicated to this task and thanks to Facebook’s tracking abilities we were able to see that we reached close to 65,000 people. That’s nearly 65,000 people that viewed the ad in their newsfeeds and saw the information. These were thousands upon thousands of southern California, Las Vegas, Phoenix metropolitan, and River region Facebook users between the ages of 18-65.

“Wow, that’s very specific!”
Why yes…yes it is.

Social media marketing allows the individual to customize his consumer market specifically to the region(s), gender(s), and age of those he wishes to reach. There are additional demographic specific categories that add even more control of who will see your products and information. The ability to fine tune your business advertising and in the process, cut the cost of your marketing efforts makes Social Media one of the mightiest tools at your disposal.

Seek to educate yourself regarding Social Media marketing. Many businesses have limited budgets when it comes to advertising and may be tempted to survive solely on “Word of Mouth”. Social networks like Facebook make it fairly inexpensive to reach a large number of potential customers. Give it a shot and maybe, just maybe, your business door will chime more frequently.

Josh Savino
Tourism Coordinator
Parker Area Tourism

Follow @@parkeraz