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The use of Facebook by Alton Towers

Its a pity Alton haven't installed webcams around the resort streaming live feeds so we could at least still get a bit of a fix!
 
I assume, unlike parks abroad, Alton just put everyone on furlough and rendered any ability to create content to zero.
Hit the nail on the head here. There is such a skeleton crew left working at the parks that really there just isn't the capacity or ability to do anything like this.
 
From what I heard all budgets have just gone to zero, such as marketing, and all those involved in it will be now at home and not getting paid by Merlin. Which I guess is why we’ve seen no marketing or anything.

It’s the same with Thorpe, however they do post a lot more on their fb than Alton, but they always have done. Alton have always felt a little to corporate and less fun than the other Merlin parks.
 
Alton used to be a really good laugh on twitter from 2013-2018. I used to have great banter on twitter with them, sometimes hour long conversations! I'm not saying that some of their responses haven't been humorous since, but seems less energy on the twitter side of things. I can imagine this was due to budget cuts or maybe merging of roles.

I think Towers are really missing a trick with social media during lock down. They could be doing recipe videos allowing us lots to recreate some food served at the resort, at the moment Bella Italia are getting their chefs to write recipes at home and put them online. Maybe even gardening videos on how to tend to plants considering garden centres have reopened. Quite of few companies are utilising lock down to gain and maintain customers, for example, the free National Theatre filmed theatre shows that have introduced many to theatre that may have not gone before hand.
 
I think I speak for everyone here when I say there is no dish on the menu at the Resort that I would be eager to "recreate at home".

Nonetheless, social media presence could certainly be better during lockdown. Some brands have used this time really well to promote themselves over social media without the usual advertising costs.
 
The only videos we've had are on-ride POVs which aren't particularly original. Some videos walking around the park, perhaps showing the rides, areas and gardens and talking a bit about them would make it a bit more interesting and unique. Technical behind the scenes videos would also be interesting and help to show how safe the rides are (I doubt the public are aware of just what is involved every closed season), but perhaps a bit niche and maybe wouldn't appeal to the wider public.

The problem with videos like Europa-Park produce is they tour the park looking at how pristine it is, showcase all the small improvements and things they've been working on. It would be a bit embarassing to tour Alton Towers and show it in the same state as when it shut last season, which (let's be honest) is exactly what it would be.

As for the silly videos that Walibi Holland produced, can you imagine Merlin agreeing to any of those on safety grounds?
 
The problem with videos like Europa-Park produce is they tour the park looking at how pristine it is, showcase all the small improvements and things they've been working on. It would be a bit embarassing to tour Alton Towers and show it in the same state as when it shut last season, which (let's be honest) is exactly what it would be.
It wouldn't be the same state though; it'd be much worse. The park's now been abandoned for close to two months, with an absolute skeleton crew left on site - much less so than over winter, or especially during season. Whilst it's not going to be like those videos you see of parks abandoned years ago, it's not going to be a million miles off - plants grow, debris blows in and around... the park is going to be in a state :-/
 
i'd pretty much echo a few peoples thought, After seeing some of the things parks are putting up on Facebook or their websites I ventured over to Altontowers.com just to be greeted by the usual book tickets home screen. I think the effort MOST parks have gone to has been excellent. Portaventura (while not everyone's cup of tea on here) has stood out for me with it's 'indoor pass' section where theres recipes, crafts, modelling alongside the videos we've come to expect from parks.

I think it comes down to the usual, if it's not giving them an immediate return on investment then they just wont bother doing it.
 
I think Walibi Holland’s social media team have been a fantastic laugh throughout this whole period, personally, as @Rob identified in the Walibi Holland thread:
I had not realised that these had not been posted here yet. If you've not already seen, Walibi Holland have been carrying out some very essential works whilst the park has been closed...:







Utterly bonkers, but quite brilliant!

Meanwhile the park is set to re-open on Monday.

As for what Towers are doing, I think they are making an effort. They have done the Alton Towers Together campaign, and they have done a few competitions and shared some people’s Towers-related creations.
 
I’m guessing the responsibility of social media has been consolidated across all social media platforms? Rather than having a designated person accountable for Twitter, another for Facebook, etc.

A shame as I think splitting the different platforms amongst different people is ideal as long as communication is consistent between each person regarding complaints, statements, info etc. That way you’re getting more creativity and each person accountable for their platform would understand the ins and outs and what works/doesn’t across each networking site. Like I said, Twitter is used by people for very different reasons over Facebook, as is Instagram from both.

I will always remember when they tried Snapchat and eventually gave up/didn’t put any effort in to consistently post; I’m guessing because the limited team couldn’t keep up with posting across every available platform. But they’re missing a huge gap in remaining relevant and active online by not using some social media platforms, especially current stuff like TikTok etc. People love to see big corporations and businesses having fun online; it’s always an instant win.
 
Its still in that tunnel underground by all accounts

He sits and waits in his abandoned tunnel. Bless him.

FiWfUtj.jpg
 
I think the issue is with their social media is het they have a team who’d Earl with complaints and questions across all forms, including fb, Twitter, trip advisor, touch screens, emails and online forms. And that’s all they do, where as fb posts and tweets are done by marketing (or hardly done by marketing).

And I guess at the moment both of these teams are down to minimum people, so therefore they won’t be posting any marketing. Also with no budget I imagine they don’t want to do anything, even though social media marketing costs next to nothing, just look at all these other parks.

It shows though when the likes of EP and Walibi have their own social media person/team who do engaging posts all the time, and will be seen on park doing videos, etc. Marketing at towers just doesn’t seem to work that way. However I could see it working at Thorpe for example.
 
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