CASE OVERVIEW
The Lodge at Gulf State Park is a Hilton Hotel located right on the white sands of Alabama’s Gulf Coast. This unique property “where nature is at your doorstep” resides inside Gulf State Park where guests can explore, play, dine, and relax.
Its size and commitment to preserving the surrounding ecosystem set this resort apart. The Lodge puts a huge focus on Sustainable Tourism and has incorporated sustainability into the resort from the hotel infrastructure down to the smallest detail. They help guests have a “Good-Natured Getaway”—a getaway that guests can feel good about! While they enjoy everything that makes a vacation great, they can feel good about doing their part to help endangered species, recycling, learning, caring, and supporting local businesses.
The guestrooms offer picturesque views of the Gulf or the Park and have all of the convenient Hilton amenities that guests expect. There are several different styles of rooms to fit any kind of vacation—family vacations, romantic affairs, group celebrations & events, and impromptu getaways.
The Lodge has several dining options to choose from. Perch Bar and Terrace features expertly crafted shared plates and hand-crafted cocktails, all with Gulf Coast sunset as a backdrop. Foodcraft offers fun, family-oriented dining with extraordinary cuisine, alfresco style or indoors. Just a short way down the road from the property, you’ll find Woodside Bar & Grill tucked away in the heart of Gulf State Park. This is the place to go for casual dining with live music and fun backyard games. And what would a tropical resort be without a poolside bar? The Dragonfly Pool Bar + Grill offers delicious food and refreshing beverages, perfect for enjoying poolside. Finally, stop by Roasted Oak day or night. During the day, it’s a coffee shop, and by night it transforms into a wine bar that also serves light bites and shared plates.
With so much to do at the property and within the park, it is truly an all-inclusive experience in an ideal location.
OUR APPROACH
We were hired in June of 2019 to manage The Lodge’s social media and two of their on-site restaurants, Foodcraft and Perch. In 2020, The Lodge hired us to manage another on-site restaurant called Woodside, and in 2021 they also asked us to manage social for The Learning Campus. The Learning Campus is a sustainably designed and operated venue that includes indoor and outdoor classrooms, a laboratory, meeting space, and overnight bunkhouse accommodations. It’s the perfect place for retreat groups, students, and nature enthusiasts to learn about the natural and cultural heritage of Gulf State Park through immersive programs and hands-on experiences.
We speak with Kurt, the Marketing Manager, at least once a month to discuss new post ideas, exciting events on property, and new strategies to reach their goals. He’s one of our favorite clients because he such a dedicated team member. He is always happy to assist us with our strategic goals and helps us be as knowledgeable about the hotel so we can cater to all fan questions.
The majority of our client’s social media strategy is built on User-Generated Content. This is a key element to The Lodge’s online success! We have been able to build a lot of trust and favor with the fanbase because they know that they are seeing authentic, genuine content. They know that their stay will be consistent with what they see online.
The Lodge and its restaurants receive a lot of comments, messages, and reviews every week, and we are happy to help the resort answer all of these with our Reputation Monitoring Services. Their fanbase and new guests express love for the property weekly and share user-generated content frequently to let the hotel know that their stay was perfect. When we do receive negative reviews, we work with Kurt to get a clear picture of exactly what happened with the guest and formulate a professional reply that addresses concerns, defuses the situation, and brings the conversation offline.
Important Topics:
- Weddings, Corporate Events, and Retreats
- User-Generated Content
- Eco-Friendly Efforts & Sustainable Tourism
- Gulf State Park Activities
- Gulf or Park View Rooms
- Staff Content
- Holiday Posts
- Relevant Hashtags such as #WildlifeWednesday
- Dining Options
- Slogan – “Good Natured Getaway” – “While you’re enjoying everything that makes a vacation great—you will feel good about doing your part to help endangered species become…not endangered. You can feel good about recycling, learning, caring, and supporting local. You will feel good, long after you’ve checked out.”
CHANNELS & OUR SERVICES
Social Media Channels
- Facebook
- Lodge at Gulf State Park
- Foodcraft
- Perch
- Woodside Restaurant
- The Learning Campus
- Instagram
- Lodge at Gulf State Park
- Foodcraft
- Perch
- Woodside Restaurant
- The Learning Campus
Facebook & Instagram Advertising
- Page Promotion Ads – Follow Ads
- Traffic Ads – Website Click Ads
- Brand Awareness Ads
- Page Engagement Ads – Boosted Posts
- Event Promotion Ads
- Now Hiring Job Ads
RESULTS AT A GLANCE: 2020 STATISTICS
The Lodge at Gulf State Park Facebook stats for June 2019 – June 2020
- Total Reach – 2.8m
- Organic Reach – 2,245,067
- Paid Reach – 578,003
- Viral Reach – 1,949,598
- Engaged – 180,614
- New Likes – 12,184
EXAMPLES OF OUR WORK
User-Generated Content
The majority of the images we share on social come straight from fans. This kind of authentic content is what fans love to see!
Sustainable Tourism Posts:
The Lodge has done an incredible job incorporating Sustainable Tourism into every aspect of their hotel. We like to share this with fans by talking about their sustainability efforts and additional supporting topics like #WildlifeWednesday content to name one example.
Hotel Views
Every guest gets to experience incredible views because of The Lodge’s location inside the Gulf State Park.
Event Posts
The Lodge takes beach weddings to the next level! Their location right on the Gulf Coast is already a huge draw but there is also so much to offer wedding guests at the property that goes beyond that. We post about weddings & events often so guests know that the Lodge is not only a great place for a getaway, but is also the perfect place for their next event.
Award Posts:
The Lodge receives several awards for its sustainability efforts, uniqueness, and even recognition for being a great place to work.
Staff Posts:
We frequently share Staff Highlights to brag about The Lodge’s friendly team. These posts never fail to receive positive comments because the staff members always leave a great impression on guests.
Employment Posts:
The Lodge is a great place to stay but it is also a great place to work! We like to help them find more team members by assisting with job listings and communicating with potential new employees online.
Gulf State Park Posts:
When guests are not relaxing on the beach, they are exploring the rest of Gulf State Park. The Lodge’s location inside of the park allows guests to enjoy hiking, biking, fishing, parasailing, and more.
Dining Posts: Foodcraft & Perch
When the Lodge hired us on to manage their hotel social media, they also wanted us to create separate channels for their restaurants to make a bigger impact. In a 12-month period, Perch had a Facebook Reach of over 881.9k and we added over 2k in new fans. Foodcraft had a Facebook Reach of over 682.0k and we added over 1.2k new fans.
FINAL NOTES:
We love working with this unique property! If you are interested in growing your fanbase for your resort, hotel, restaurant, or event center, we would love to help. Contact us so we can set up a meeting to chat about your property’s marketing needs. To see more work from the Pipeline team, check out another case study: Pipeline Social Media Case Studies
Pipeline Social Media is a Digital Marketing Agency that offers three approaches to help you increase your social media presence: we can fully manage your social media accounts, we can teach your team how to do it in-house, or we can monitor/coach your team along the way and report back to you. Ask us about our Google AdWords management, web design, and SEO website packages. Contact: 678-814-4601 | 280 Country Club Drive, Suite 101, Stockbridge, GA 30281
