How Khoros Strategic Services Drives Positive Sentiment and Builds Advocates Through Brand Love

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"The Khoros Strategic Services team has been an amazing partner for us. The team has become an extension of our team, they’ve been dedicated, and they’ve provided really creative ideas. They’ve jumped in to support us where we need. They’re helping us to evolve as a brand."

— Director of Social Media and

Digital Engagement at SeaWorld

Executive summary

SeaWorld is an American theme-park staple, marine zoological park, and a fixture of many childhood memories, but that doesn’t mean they are immune to controversy. Through continued evolution efforts related to their parks and policies, SeaWorld sought to enhance their public perception and increase the amount of positive interactions guests had with their brand on social media.

The challenge: SeaWorld approached Khoros looking to solve three core business objectives: increase the positive sentiment associated with brand mentions, build brand loyalty among new audiences and SeaWorld enthusiasts, and increase brand awareness through the creation of a brand love pilot program.

Our work: Khoros Strategic Services dove right in, developing a brand love pilot program from the ground up. The program included creating a brand love tone and voice unique to SeaWorld, custom response grids based on a wide range of engagement scenarios, and optimizing the platform workflows to support an efficient, on-brand experience.

To drive positive social engagement, Khoros developed a content strategy focused on tapping into trend-forward and culture-centric moments. This focus on cultural relevance helped drive a significant increase in fan growth, positive mentions, and engagement on Twitter.

To stay ahead of crises and find social-first trends, Khoros conducts proactive and reactive social listening. Khoros developed a four-step trend tracking process that entails identifying opportunities and seamlessly executing in order to best connect SeaWorld into these moments and increase relevance for the consumer.

Results

As SeaWorld’s brand voice pivoted to Khoros’ recommendations, they saw an overall engagement rate improvement of 40%. They also saw a noticeable shift in sentiment; 72% of community members who started negative conversations with SeaWorld’s master brand channels converted to positive sentiment.

Khoros’ culturally relevant content strategy and trend spotting program drove a 167% increase in Twitter engagement, with trendy 1:1 content performing at 180-195% higher engagement than average.

40%

INCREASE in average engagement rate

72% 

of community members who started NEGATIVE conversations with SeaWorld’s master brand channels converted to POSITIVE sentiment

180%

HIGHER THAN AVERAGE engagement rate on top-performing trendy 1:1 content