One of the things I love about the SeaWorld San Antonio blog is that, for the most part, it is not written by the public relations staff. Even when PR does write a post, we try to make sure that it is written from a different perspective than just a simple announcement.
For instance, I wrote this post about the best bathrooms in the park for babies or toddlers after I brought my own 7 month-old and two-year-old kids to the park, or this recent post and video by one of our newer communication staff Ivette Ortiz about her experience taking the Seafari Tour, one of of our tours that operates even when the park is closed. Instead of just writing about the tour, we sent someone on it for the first time so we could see it through her eyes.
Our most popular posts are those written by our ultra-talented and committed park team. Our trainers and line staff write about what they do and their passions. Some of our most popular have been ones about the behind-the-scenes work of our people, including this article by one of our trainers, Leslie Popiel, Want to Be a Whale and Dolphin Trainer at SeaWorld? and this other on by TrainerChuck Cureau, Little Known Facts About Animal Training, and these are just a few examples.
When we started planning for this blog in 2009, we had a number of meetings to train the blog team about how to write for a blog, but also allowing them to create what this blog would be, They came up with a mission and a set of guiding principles that we continue to use as our baseline today:
Mission
A lively and thought-provoking forum in which readers get an inside look at SeaWorld San Antonio: its values, its culture and the personality of its team members. This includes covering the wider community in which SeaWorld San Antonio exists; including San Antonio, its corporate parent and the wider travel and entertainment industry.
Guiding Principles
We…
- Are approachable
- Inspire more than sell
- Give little-known insider deals and information
- Act as a friendly concierge and guide
- Are personal and personable
- Are fun, humorous and entertaining
Last week, I had another of our regular training sessions with our Social Media Team from across the park, and they continue to hold up these values and call us when it doesn’t seem we are meeting them.
I know that I speak for all of them when I say we really want to know what interests our readers and we want a conversation. We also realize that most of the conversations around these posts are happening on the SeaWorld San Antonio Facebook page, where we are nearly 20,000 strong. So no matter if you talk with use here or there, we love to interact and hear what you want to see next. So tell us, what would you like to see us cover? What do you really want to know about the park? What kinds of deals would you like to see? Tell us, we really are listening, all the way across the park and all the way up to our General Manager.
Here is our amazing Blog Team (hyperlinks take you to their individual profiles):
