Risley Ranch

Social media and Attractions

I had the pleasure of speaking to the Greater Kansas City Attractions Association last week at one of KC's oldest and most popular attractions, Worlds of Fun.  (presentation link below).  It was a great turn out and an engaged crowd.  Social Media seems perfect for attraction marketing, and it will be interesting to see if anyone implements some of the ideas we brainstormed.  Thanks again to Callen Zind at Powell Gardens for the invitation!

Download social_media_kc_attractions_92607.ppt

technorati tags: KansasCity, Attractions, PowellGardens, WorldsofFun

Brand accessorizing

In the October issue of Fast Company, Elizabeth Spiers (founding editor of Gawker.com) has a great column about Steve Jobs and why people love him and Apple so much, even though the products may not always be up to snuff.  A couple of lines jumped right out at me:

"We do this because outward appearances are important to us, and the products are a reflection of how we think of ourselves.  Apple products are stylish and innovative.  (We're stylish and innovative!)  We love Steve for the same reason."

It's a little but of a "duh," but it's also so true.  I guess it struck me because I rarely think about my stuff that way, but much of it is.  Buying products and services that reflect how we feel about ourselves has become the norm.  We accessorize ourselves with brands to make a statement about who we are.  And I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

We've come a long way...

I was the first employee at Barkley to have a blog.  That was 2004.  We've made a concerted effort to develop our social media expertise over the past couple of years.  And as time has gone on, I've noticed more and more of our partners starting their own blogs.  For a recent blog training I did, someone noted all the partners that have active blogs.  It's a solid list with a varied range of topics:

Citizen Brand by Mike Swenson 

Stampkit by Paul Corrigan 

Lazy Eye Theatre by Pat Piper 

The Martini Shaker by Jeremy Fuksa 

Average Jane by Celeste Lindell 

Twisted Jim by Jim Dayton 

KC Dog Blog by Brent Toellner 

Toellner Tells It by Brent Toellner 

Shake Gently by Dustin Jacobsen 

bemomobi by Mark Logan

And I bet there's more out there I'm not aware of.  Especially when you take into account MySpace and Facebook profiles.

technorati tags: blogs, Barkley