Can the use of social media increase rounds of golf played? How can powerful yet seemingly "fun" apps like Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare help bring more people from talking about golf on their computers and smart phones to playing the game?Golf is already considered a "social" sport for many, so it should come as no surprise that fans are using the internet to find great deals, to have fun with an interest to, well, be social! Large companies such as TaylorMade Golf and Golf Channel have social media gurus who create strategies for engagement and to build brand awareness. Believe it or not, you don't have to be a big brand in order to reap the benefits of social media but you do have to make the effort.
Even small scale communication with your current and future clients will yield positive results, you just have to create a basic strategy for your golf course growth and then decide how social media can best work for you.
Here are just a few ideas to get the golf ball rolling, so to speak, and to get more golfers onto your golf course! Share yours here!
If you don't have a blog, create one on your website now! Post at least once per week with descriptive pictures. Don't fill your space with too many words, two hundred fifty will do but do be sure to include information about what's happening on your golf course. Make sure that, if you don't have a subscriber list, create one now. If I would have known that there were special events at my local golf courses like wine and dines, women's get-togethers, local championships etc, I most certainly would have attended! Be creative! The Cadillac Championship held a social media "happy hour" ...sounds like a great idea!
Everyone loves a good deal. Offering incentives at your golf course like two-for-one golf on Facebook and Twitter and on sites like Groupon will get people onto the fairways. Also create print-out coupons on your website and feature on your blog so that golf fans will head over to your site to read your blog and download your offers.
Do you use Foursquare? Geocaching? Ever heard of them? If not, you should.
Foursquare, a GPS, social networking app, allows members to note their locations with a mobile phone and can find out where their friends are or have been. To be the "Mayor" of your golf course could yield special benefits like a free round of golf!
Geocaching is also GPS based but is an outdoor treasure-hunting game. Basically, a golf course can post "clues" to find "hidden treasure" somewhere within the course and, when someone finds the ""item, they get the treasure. It could range from a sleeve of Callaway golf balls to a Titleist Vokey Spin Milled Wedge. In the last thirty days, almost eight million new logs were submitted to further confirm that this might be an interesting concept to include in your social media strategy.
All of your great incentives and happenings should also be posted on Twitter and Facebook. Make sure to add "events" on Facebook. Where events can also be promoted on Twitter, it would be more fun to, perhaps, have a "retweeting" contest. Even if you aren't Ian Poulter who uses Twitter to gain followers with giveaways, you will surely get feedback.
In order to have social media work for your golf course, it is important to think "outside the box". These few ideas will get you kickstarted and, using a bit of creativity, your golf course could increase its bottom line, that is, more players on the fairways, in the pro shop and in the pubs!
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photo credit: rockbottomgolf.com
Posted via email from stacysolomon's posterous
