Back in 2017, Bryan Kroten, then Vice President of Marketing at Maverick Aviation, wrote an interesting article in the Las Vegas Sun about how social media had changed. It was no longer just a way to keep friends and family informed — it had become a key asset for marketing a brand, especially in a competitive city like Las Vegas.

Platforms like Facebook, TripAdvisor and Instagram carry an audience far too large to ignore, and he made the case that not engaging visitors there is an opportunity missed. He cited an average of around five and a half social accounts per internet user at the time, and traffic to his own business doubling over the previous five years off the back of social outreach.

The aviation industry Bryan works in tends to attract customers who research before they buy, and engaging on social often gives them the answers they are looking for. That improves brand visibility as a side effect.

Embrace The Social Media Opportunities

Running a travel business inside a huge travel destination such as Las Vegas compounds the need for visibility, particularly with audiences outside the USA.

His advice is to embrace the opportunity and use it to share your brand’s voice — something any good agency delivering digital marketing in Las Vegas would do as a matter of course.

Use the signals these platforms hand you: shares, follows, likes and, most usefully, comments. They are invaluable for understanding how consumers actually read your brand, and you can build on that.

The Harvard Business Review has shown how traditional marketing such as TV has changed over the decades. Viewers skip adverts, or watch on catch-up and miss the branded message entirely. Crowdculture binds people together digitally instead, and shrinks the geographical distance between them.

Understanding how many YouTube views or Instagram followers you have helps shape the brand and take it to the next level.

The brands you see down the Vegas strip include national names that spend heavily on social every year — Red Bull, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola — not to mention the singers and bands in residence there. Their entire marketing world is built around engaging followers, rather than one message in a local newspaper.

Communicate With Disappointed Customers

Using social media to talk to disappointed customers during a disruption can be the difference between success and failure once it is over. It shows empathy, it shows you are missing your customers, and it shows the business will be ready when they come back.

It also tells the world that Las Vegas is still open for business when a lot of places are not. Keeping interested parties engaged is a winning strategy for anyone planning ahead, and knowing who follows your brand helps you spot trends and come back stronger.

None of this advice is Vegas-specific. It applies across the leisure sector — it is up to you.

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