Sky Zone: ‘Trampoling’ to social media marketing success

As one filters through the literature on social media marketing, it becomes glaringly obvious that the rift between digital and traditional marketing has undergone some reverse tectonic movement. No one in any respectable marketing position will make the faux pas of comparing Facebook ads with print ads (unless they intend to elicit judgmental stares). Digital marketing in all its strategic glory is here to stay for the overnight cross continental long-haul.

The following list from Forbes magazine details some of the ways in which social media marketing can help a business achieve their objectives:

1. Increased brand recognition
2. Improved brand loyalty
3. More opportunities to convert
4. Higher conversion rates
5. Higher brand authority
6. Increased inbound traffic
7. Decreased marketing costs
8. Better search engine rankings
9. Richer customer experiences
10. Improved customer insights

Traditional marketing has its own distinct advantages and continues to prove its value in the form of revenue generation. In comparison, social media marketing has advantages through lower cost, availability of evaluation metrics, reach (helps marketers access a very targeted audience), direct customer engagement and ease of implementation. Traditional media is not recommended for all firms due to higher associated costs while social media is a solution that can be employed by all companies on account of its efficiency and simplicity.

Case study: Sky Zone

Sky Zone is the creator of the world’s first all-trampoline walled playing court. The company offers a healthy, fun experience that is enjoyed by all ages, shapes and sizes. There are 160 indoor trampoline parks throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia and Saudi Arabia.

I had the pleasure of discussing the benefits of social media marketing with Liz Jukovsky, Digital Marketing Coordinator at Sky Zone, ‎Sky Zone Franchise Group. When asked to share her tips for social media marketing success, she responded with the following:

“Measure, Observe, and Plan. Use measurement tools like Google Analytics, Facebook page insights, and Twitter insights to see how often people interact with your brand, share content, and click through the website. Observe trends over time with these or other metrics as this will describe a story about your brand’s audience. Perhaps people tend to like or comment more on video than text, or maybe the bounce rate is extremely high on a certain page that you’re running ads for. In either example, you have the foundations for a plan. In the first case, the observations you’ve made about the higher rate of engagement on videos would help you plan to make more video campaigns. In the second case, the high bounce rate on your website for a particular landing page might make you re-think the design of your ad. Since viewers are leaving right after clicking an ad, its design or placement might not make clear what they’re clicking.”

She also describes the challenges of being on the front line as the voice of the brand. Despite these challenges, Liz describes her role as an empowering way to shape how the brand is perceived. Sky Zone is very adept at maintaining a high degree responsiveness to customer feedback. They are always on the lookout for reviews and customer correspondences to improve operations. Sky Zone gets a high degree of conversion from online videos and contests, particularly if offering a discount on a popular program.

Lessons for Others

Companies must find the right mix of traditional and social media marketing and then combine these tactics with search engine optimization to attract the intended traffic and in turn increase revenue. With a clear business objective in mind, a firm can determine the strategy that will help them meet their goal. While traditional media is out of each for some firms on account of budgetary limits, all firms can benefit from the use of social media marketing due to its lower cost, reach specificity, metrics, direct engagement and ease of implementation.

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site, please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Program Director, Social Media for Business Performance.

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