The Power of Letting Others Tell Your Story - #SPARK15

THE POWER OF LETTING OTHERS TELL

YOUR STORY

HELLO!

Alicia Lee@missalees

#Spark15

AmtrakSenior Communications SpecialistSocial Media

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Have you used one of

these sites?

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81% shoppers

research online before buying.

-Retailing Today, 2014

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84% check business

websites

-2014 State of B2B Procurement Study

It’s great if you say you’re great.

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But who cares.

Reviews are useful.

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Stories are impactful.

When getting others to share your story strive for it to be:

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AuthenticRelatableHonest

Benefits

▸Broadens Your Audience

▸Highlights Your Transparency

▸Humanizes Your Brand

▸Gives Your Customers an Assist

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3 WAYS AMTRAK USED STORYTELLING

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Partnerships City Profiles Amtrak Residency

Passtion Passport

Wanderlust travlers with ‘itchy feet’

Storytellers using various mediums

Large audience on all channels

Amtrak

All ages but skews older

Wants to grow audience

Wants to highlight uniqueness of train

travel

Partnerships

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TIPS

▸Test it out on a smaller scale before doing a larger partnership

▸Determine your ROI metric

▸Make sure your goal ties back to a larger company goal

▸Have a contract

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Results

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“Hands down the most beautiful train ride I’ve ever taken up to this point in my life. As our @Amtrak wound through Montana, we pressed our phones, cameras and faces against the glass in wonder as the sun set over the Rockies on our way into @GlacierNPS.”-

Mat Rick, @matrickphoto

32% Instagram7% Google+

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3.2% Twitter3% Facebook

Percentage Increase in

Audience by Channel

(June – Sept) 2015

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Orange: Instagram June –Sept. 2015Green: Instagram June – Sept. 2014

Why It Worked

▸Broadened Our Audience

▸Increased Engagement

▸Shared the Amtrak story through someone else’s lens

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See where the train can

take you.

Twitter

Google+

Facebook

Why It Worked

▸Broadened Our Audience

▸Increased EngagementIn April 2015, our city profiles content received double the amount of interactions than non-story sharing content

▸Gave Our Customers and Assist

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▸ From a tweet to a train ride

▸ Over 16,000 applied

▸ Judges from the literary community

▸ Narrowed down to 24 writers

▸ Experience the uniqueness of train travel, unplug and write

▸ Offered unfiltered space on the Amtrak Blog to share the journey

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“I’ve had very deep and friendly encounters with people

who pretty clearly don’t share some of my cultural and

political perspectives, but as we listen rather than debate

we find we have much in common. There’s something

about the train that seems to create an expansive space for

intimacy amid the physical confines.” – Farai Chideya

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Why It Worked

▸Broadened our audience

▸Highlighted our transparency

▸Increase in engagement

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Led to Earned Media

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TIPS for

STORYTELLING

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TIPS

▸Determine the story that you want to share

▸Be strategic, look for partnerships with influencers or groups that help tell that story

▸Set a goal that ties back to the larger company goal (Critical for the C Suite)

▸If possible, start on social then broaden it to in person

▸Have a contract

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THANKS!

Questions?Alicia Lee@missanlees#[email protected]