When Amtrak opened up its content platform to let travelers share their own stories, it took a risk, but reaped a reward. This session will look at how you can win by letting others tell your story, based on Amtrak’s experience. The presentation will highlight external partnerships, user generated blog content and the Amtrak Residency. What you’ll learn:
--How sharing the message with a new audience elevates the story.
--Why user generated blog content helps highlight our destinations.
--How certain blog tactics extended the shelf-life of their existing content.
9. 3 WAYS AMTRAK
USED STORYTELLING
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Partnerships City Profiles Amtrak Residency
10. 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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11. 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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13. 13
“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
20. Why It
Worked
▸Broadened Our Audience
▸Increased Engagement
In 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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21. ▸ 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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22. “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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26. 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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