New Director of Communications - Chad Showalter

[IndyGuy4KI]

Kings Island has hired a new Director of Communications, Chad Showalter. I have been in contact with Chad to get to know more about him and introduce him to KIC. Below is what Chad had to say about his new role at Kings Island.

Don Helbig is still at Kings Island with the position of Area Manager, Digital Marketing. Don states, "My position has evolved into two distinctive different jobs between PR and social media. The majority of my time had become on the digital side since 2014, so it has made for a very easy transition for me."

 

 

1. Can you tell us a little about yourself? 

I grew up in the Cincinnati area, and as a boy my family would visit Kings Island about once a year.  My parents weren’t roller coaster riders, so my first major roller coaster was the Magnum XL 200 at Cedar Point when I was 11 years old, which I rode on a trip with friends. From that point on my theme park visits focused on thrill rides. In high school I worked at Rivertown Pizza for multiple seasons doing everything from working the line to grating cheese. During college I was the supervisor of the seasonal Human Resources team and managed the Group Volunteer Program.  I have had a Kings Island season pass for nearly 20 years.  These days I spend a lot of my time in Planet Snoopy with my family, but still find time to take in the coasters and other attractions. 

 

2. How long have you been in Public Relations?

I’ve worked in public relations, communications and marketing for nearly 20 years, from agencies to small and medium-sized businesses.  Most recently I served as the Senior Marketing and Communications manager for Newport Aquarium, just across the river from downtown Cincinnati.

 

3. What drew you to apply for the director of communications position at Kings Island? 

The Kings Island marketing team has a reputation for being one of the best in the industry, and the chance to possibly join that team was a once-in-a-career opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

 

4. What are you most excited about in your new position at Kings Island?

 I’m most excited to help tell the stories of the people who experience this incredible park and what’s happening here.

 

5. How does it feel to go to work at Kings Island with coasters and rides outside your office?

It’s incredible.  Knowing that less than a hundred feet away from my office there are kids, families and thrill seekers entering the park for the first time, and others walking down International Street who have been coming to Kings Island for years, reminds me of how important our job is- to help them create memories together and make Kings Island a place they want to return for years to come. 

My office looks out at one of the employee behind-the-scenes paths, and on Fridays during Halloween Haunt I’ve enjoyed watching a parade of hundreds of scare-actors passing by my window on their way to work. 

 

6. Are there certain types of rides you don't like? 

No. I always ride trying to understand the intention of the ride.  Is it for Thrills? Family moments? Nostalgia? There are some rides I love because my kids like them and I love watching their reactions and sharing that experience with them.  Other rides I love because I grew up riding them, and, of course, some because of the speed and thrills.  If there’s one ride I don’t care to ride at Kings Island, it would be Boo Blasters- but only because my wife gets a higher score than me every single time.

 

7. What is your favorite ride at Kings Island?

The Beast, but Mystic Timbers is a close second.  Like so many others in this area, Flight of Fear was my first LIM launched coaster, so it’s also near the top of my list.

 

8. Before taking this position, did you visit or have an account on KICentral?

Yes.

 

KICentral welcomes Chad to Kings Island and we look forward to working with you in the future!

[Creed Bratton]

Welcome Chad! Looking forward to seeing your work! 

[westcoaster]

Welcome, and working at a historic park with legendary fans and devoted fans. 

[MDMC01]

Welcome indeed! Thanks for providing us with the interview, @IndyGuy4KI!

[Imperial79]

Welcome and congratulations for getting the dream job many of us would love to have! 

[Magenta Lizard]

It makes me really happy that in addition to being imminently qualified for the job, he is enthusiastic about Kings Island in particular on top of that! Looking forward to seeing his work in the future!

[Rivertown Rider]

Welcome and congrats on the job!

[BlondyRidesOn]

Welcome Chad! You seem to have a love and interest in the park, which is great for your position!

[IndyGuy4KI]

I am excited he knew about and visited KIC when he was just a guest like us.

[RollerColt]

Just too cool! I love hearing stories like this about people achieving their dreams. It gives me hope for the future. Congrats Chad!

[BoddaH1994]

Winterfest in US News & World Report Winterfest article, featuring Mr Showalter.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/ohio/articles/2017-11-19/kings-islands-winterfest-making-return-after-12-years

[Orion-XL200]

This turned out well....seems his love for the park/excitement to tell the stories was either short lived or fake. 

What's the latest story he's told? Was it that KI was fully staffed?

[disco2000]

22 minutes ago, Orion-XL200 said:

This turned out well....seems his love for the park/excitement to tell the stories was either short lived or fake. 

What's the latest story he's told? Was it that KI was fully staffed?

Can't wait to see what you do with the job when hired 

[Orion-XL200]

1 hour ago, disco2000 said:

Can't wait to see what you do with the job when hired 

Haha, no thanks. I enjoy my life!

Legit question, has he fulfilled this:

Quote

4. What are you most excited about in your new position at Kings Island?

 I’m most excited to help tell the stories of the people who experience this incredible park and what’s happening here.

 

[disco2000]

2 hours ago, Orion-XL200 said:

Haha, no thanks. I enjoy my life!

Legit question, has he fulfilled this:

 

It is easy to be an armchair quarterback LOL....

If you can do it better, then prove it.

Look, I am not friends with Don or Chad and haven't got a selfie with either one LOL, so I don't really care who the PR person is here or anywhere else I visit.  I don't let that define what parks I visit or let it interfere with my enjoyment of a park.  I visit a park for other reasons.

Apparently you do.  Don is a friend of yours.  I get that and you are defending him.  Good for you.  But the constant bashing of who is in the role now is wearing thin and probably to your detriment...

I try to look at things objectively.  Here is my observation.  

We have no idea what performance metrics or restraints are put on Chad, or were put on Don.  Don wasn't exactly ripping out blogs frequently when it was his role either - once, maybe twice per month.  But look how much and frequently he blogs now on his other endeavors.  Maybe CF handcuffed him in his role.  Don is a storyteller at heart, and I think he would have made it a priority if he were allowed to at KI.

Look around the chain in terms of PR and digital media communication.  Rarely does any CF park do more frequent blogs than once per month.  It wasn't even more frequent when Don was responsible for it.  Let's take a look at the most recent blogs from the top CF parks:

• KIs last blog was 9/20.
• KDs last blog was 9/27.  
• CPs last blog was 10/8, but the last one prior was 9/19 with a TT2 update. 
• Knotts last blog was 9/18.
• Carowinds last blog was 9/26.
• Wonderlands last blog was 9/20.

We are about right in the middle of posting about the Haunt event.

Further, all Twitter and FB posting frequency seems to be about the same for the other CF parks.  Blogs across the chain are rarely at a frequency more than one, maybe two per month.

Let's look more at the flagship Cedar Point.  Their Haunt event started 9/14 and they didn't blog about it until 10/8.  Real timely - almost a month after it started. 

Meanwhile KI Haunt started 9/22 and KI blogged about it two days prior on 9/20.  That seems timely and relevant. All the other CF parks had blogs around the time their Haunt event started.  Are you knocking CP comms on the Pointbuzz forum?  What about Knotts comms?  Wonderland or Carowinds comms?  

Look at one of the most anticipated industry announcements in recent years and was what to become of TTD - and the communication and PR about that was lacking and most would say a dud...

In regards to Chad's response to that question, people are always excited about their new job and have ideas they want to explore and do, but sometimes other facets of the job conflict with that.  I never put much stock in these Q&A of people in new positions.  They don't know the role yet and can have much higher expectations and ideas than their employer will allow.  I have seen that too many times.

Brad has made it clear as a site we are moving forward from this.

 

[Orion-XL200]

4 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

It is easy to be an armchair quarterback LOL....

If you can do it better, then prove it.

Look, I am not friends with Don or Chad and haven't got a selfie with either one LOL, so I don't really care who the PR person is here or anywhere else I visit.  I don't let that define what parks I visit or let it interfere with my enjoyment of a park.  I visit a park for other reasons.

Apparently you do.  Don is a friend of yours.  I get that and you are defending him.  Good for you.  But the constant bashing of who is in the role now is wearing thin and probably to your detriment...

I try to look at things objectively.  Here is my observation.  

We have no idea what performance metrics or restraints are put on Chad, or were put on Don.  Don wasn't exactly ripping out blogs frequently when it was his role either - once, maybe twice per month.  But look how much and frequently he blogs now on his other endeavors.  Maybe CF handcuffed him in his role.  Don is a storyteller at heart, and I think he would have made it a priority if he were allowed to at KI.

Look around the chain in terms of PR and digital media communication.  Rarely does any CF park do more frequent blogs than once per month.  It wasn't even more frequent when Don was responsible for it.  Let's take a look at the most recent blogs from the top CF parks:

• KIs last blog was 9/20.
• KDs last blog was 9/27.  
• CPs last blog was 10/8, but the last one prior was 9/19 with a TT2 update. 
• Knotts last blog was 9/18.
• Carowinds last blog was 9/26.
• Wonderlands last blog was 9/20.

We are about right in the middle of posting about the Haunt event.

Further, all Twitter and FB posting frequency seems to be about the same for the other CF parks.  Blogs across the chain are rarely at a frequency more than one, maybe two per month.

Let's look more at the flagship Cedar Point.  Their Haunt event started 9/14 and they didn't blog about it until 10/8.  Real timely - almost a month after it started. 

Meanwhile KI Haunt started 9/22 and KI blogged about it two days prior on 9/20.  That seems timely and relevant. All the other CF parks had blogs around the time their Haunt event started.  Are you knocking CP comms on the Pointbuzz forum?  What about Knotts comms?  Wonderland or Carowinds comms?  Yeah I didn't think so because you take Don leaving personal and apparently have made it YOUR mission to badmouth who is left as you defend your friend.

Look at one of the most anticipated industry announcements in recent years and was what to become of TTD - and the communication and PR about that was lacking and most would say a dud...

In regards to Chad's response to that question, people are always excited about their new job and have ideas they want to explore and do, but sometimes other facets of the job conflict with that.  I never put much stock in these Q&A of people in new positions.  They don't know the role yet and can have much higher expectations and ideas than their employer will allow.  I have seen that too many times.

Go badmouth Chad on your passholder page and leave KIC out of your vendetta   Brad has made it clear as a site we are moving forward from this.

 

I'm actually genuinely curious....however, I definitely do no lose sleep over it. I don't post in Pointbuzz, but I do find CP comms more reputable than what we've got. I've never been a huge fan of Mr. Clark, however, he does a great job at communicating. CP tweets, folks ask questions and they reply....maybe not all of them, but they're actually active. The other parks, I'm not connected to, so I truly don't care. I mean why not throw in the Six Flags parks? How about SFOG? Oh yeah, I'm not connected to that park, so I don't care. 

Do I take Don leaving personally? Nope....did I and do I cheer him on? Yeah. It's not my mission to "badmouth," as I'm genuinely curious about how the comms team has changed in operations and I see the potential that is there. As someone who has invested a good chunk of change into Cedar Fair both for park spending and shares, I would hope that I can be critical of what I spend my $ on. 

TT2 with the lawsuit and the like, one has to look at it with reasonable thought...of course they had to be "lacking." The build up this year with the change of the site to the wall and then the announcement was on par of what would be expected. 

No vendetta here...just wishing better. I would welcome an actual conversation with Chad, if he actually intended to hear what I had to say...but he has made it clear that he has no intention of hearing what I (or others) have to say.

 

For purposes of KIC, I will refrain from talk of Chad. 

[disco2000]

1 hour ago, Orion-XL200 said:

I'm actually genuinely curious....however, I definitely do no lose sleep over it. I don't post in Pointbuzz, but I do find CP comms more reputable than what we've got. I've never been a huge fan of Mr. Clark, however, he does a great job at communicating. CP tweets, folks ask questions and they reply....maybe not all of them, but they're actually active. The other parks, I'm not connected to, so I truly don't care. I mean why not throw in the Six Flags parks? How about SFOG? Oh yeah, I'm not connected to that park, so I don't care. 

Do I take Don leaving personally? Nope....did I and do I cheer him on? Yeah. It's not my mission to "badmouth," as I'm genuinely curious about how the comms team has changed in operations and I see the potential that is there. As someone who has invested a good chunk of change into Cedar Fair both for park spending and shares, I would hope that I can be critical of what I spend my $ on. 

TT2 with the lawsuit and the like, one has to look at it with reasonable thought...of course they had to be "lacking." The build up this year with the change of the site to the wall and then the announcement was on par of what would be expected. 

No vendetta here...just wishing better. I would welcome an actual conversation with Chad, if he actually intended to hear what I had to say...but he has made it clear that he has no intention of hearing what I (or others) have to say.

 

For purposes of KIC, I will refrain from talk of Chad. 

 

I am genuinely curious as well, so let's go there!  I think the whole PR/digital media landscape within CF is changing. 

It is just when I see similarities across the chain in that space, it does make me wonder if it is more corporate driven than park personnel driven.  Sure Tony Clark may be a little more active, but I think that is more to do with their setup compared to ours.

In fact, I have always questioned if having a separate PR person and digital media person was causing internal "turf wars" or conflicts and finger pointing and should they be one in the same person as it was prior?  Sadly I have seen that happen when a role is split in two.  It takes a couple people removed from the original setup before it smooths out.

I mean as of today, Don still shows on the website as being employed and the write-up says: "Don Helbig serves as Kings Island's area manager, digital marketing. An experienced storyteller, Don manages the content for the park's website, mobile app, blog, and social media."

So when Don and Chad were both there - who really was responsible for answering questions on social media and writing the blog?  Based on that write-up I think most would think that would have fallen under Don and not Chad?

Look at the KI blogs.  I just went back to beginning of 2022 and Don did the overwhelming majority of them.  Kyle and Chad did 7 of them, John Keeter did 5 of them, and then a few one-offs by some others, but Don did the majority.  Aren't the blogs where storytelling is done? Who knows who does them now.  Credit is simply given to Kings Island and not by a person's name.

And then you look at the job posting for Don's old job and look at several of the responsibilities, if I were interviewing for the position, I would ask how is this not a conflict with the director of communications role.  Some of the manager, digital marketing roles include:

• Coordinates crisis communication efforts.... including the development of consumer responses/statements, posting on social media outlets, and answering guest questions/comments on social platforms where appropriate.
• Assists PR team with media and guest inquiries.
• Assists as directed by the Director of Communications for programs such as, but not limited to: media and public relations support and commercial/advertising production projects.

So I read this and wonder who's job is it really to be interacting to questions posted on social media and interacting with the guests.  It sure reads like it is this person rather than the PR person. 

It just seems like there isn't a clearly defined line separating the two roles and issues will inevitably happen.  Now would have been the time to clean the job duties up and make clear delineation on what each role was, but it doesn't appear they did.

But we also don't know the official job duties of the position when Don had it - maybe when he left they changed the description to what it is now, so....  Maybe the Director of Communications role isn't to deal with us guests LOL  

It would be interesting to see the job responsibilities for the Director of Communications and compare and see how many conflicts there are with the two positions.  Maybe it would be better if they were one combined and one person?  Especially if the line between the two positions are as intertwined as they are.

Reading that job description for Don's old job, it looks like the manager, digital marketing does all the work now and the director of communications is simply to be the face of the park to the media?  Taking selfies with guests is just a bonus 

[Orion-XL200]

11 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

 

Maybe the Director of Communications role isn't to deal with us guests LOL 

Reading that job description for Don's old job, it looks like the manager, digital marketing does all the work and the director of communications is simply to be the face of the park to the media?  Taking selfies with guests is just a bonus 

Okay, this made me laugh! 

Great analysis by the way! 

It's been a few days since I looked at the website, is the building that was demolished for Camp Snoopy still showing as a place to visit? 

[disco2000]

1 minute ago, Orion-XL200 said:

Okay, this made me laugh! 

Great analysis by the way! 

It's been a few days since I looked at the website, is the building that was demolished for Camp Snoopy still showing as a place to visit? 

Thanks!  And I am glad it made you laugh.

And you know the answer to that LOL....it is still showing on the website LOL

[Orion-XL200]

1 minute ago, disco2000 said:

Thanks!  And I am glad it made you laugh.

And you know the answer to that LOL....it is still showing on the website LOL

Nothing but the best! 

Have a great rest of your evening sir! 

[BeeastFarmer]

Since the other thread was locked, it might be a good idea to lock this one too.

People have established their camp. We can read what we read and infer what we infer.

As my ninth grade English teacher would say: " people, people...love one another and use your study skills!"

[disco2000]

6 minutes ago, Orion-XL200 said:

Nothing but the best! 

Have a great rest of your evening sir! 

You as well!  I know we both agree that Don left some huge shoes to fill and looking at that job description, that will be tough to fill at that pay as well.  I feel for the person getting that job!

[Orion-XL200]

For sure! 
 

I’m sure that the day will come that Don will share why he left and I’m guessing it will be a chapter in a book he may release in the future. 

[disco2000]

That book would be a best seller!

Everyone has an opinion or heard a rumor why and people are interested to hear the real story and see which rumor was the closest lol.

Although it would be better if it were a live stream with Q&A to ask the curiosity thoughts we discussed tonight.  Or maybe that would be another chapter in the book on how that job and role has changed since he first started.

[DispatchMaster]

10 hours ago, disco2000 said:

Let's look more at the flagship Cedar Point.  Their Haunt event started 9/14 and they didn't blog about it until 10/8.  Real timely - almost a month after it started. 

Yes, and as a result no one has shown up to the park this fall! What an embarrassing blunder by the PR team! Wait, what's this? Hold on, I'm being handed a report that CP has had people parking on the grass on the Causeway more than once this fall. Man, I guess the PR folks got lucky that their failure to "blog" about HW didn't come back to bite them, but if this keeps up... 

Seriously though, what year is it that anyone would use blogging frequency as a measure of PR activity? Should CF parks be posting on MySpace too? Firing up ICQ? Spreading the word in AOL chat rooms? Sending telegrams? Hiring town criers? Obviously not. The PR teams should be going where the people are, and that's Twitter, FB, Instagram, etc.

A quick glance at CP's Twitter shows they have posted there more than once a day on average over the last week. Same for KI. At FB the story is the same, more than once a day for each park. Over on "the Insta" each park is posting around once a day.

10 hours ago, disco2000 said:

Look at one of the most anticipated industry announcements in recent years and was what to become of TTD - and the communication and PR about that was lacking and most would say a dud...

By what measure or metrics was the TT2 announcement "a dud"? And what impact will that have on TT2's popularity?

[disco2000]

12 minutes ago, DispatchMaster said:

Yes, and as a result no one has shown up to the park this fall! What an embarrassing blunder by the PR team! Wait, what's this? Hold on, I'm being handed a report that CP has had people parking on the grass on the Causeway more than once this fall. Man, I guess the PR folks got lucky that their failure to "blog" about HW didn't come back to bite them, but if this keeps up... 

Seriously though, what year is it that anyone would use blogging frequency as a measure of PR activity? Should CF parks be posting on MySpace too? Firing up ICQ? Spreading the word in AOL chat rooms? Sending telegrams? Hiring town criers? Obviously not. The PR teams should be going where the people are, and that's Twitter, FB, Instagram, etc.

A quick glance at CP's Twitter shows they have posted there more than once a day on average over the last week. Same for KI. At FB the story is the same, more than once a day for each park. Over on "the Insta" each park is posting around once a day.

By what measure or metrics was the TT2 announcement "a dud"? And what impact will that have on TT2's popularity?

You are saying exactly what I have been saying in other threads LOL.

People come to the parks whether the parks are marketing or not.  

You missed the point entirely if blog frequency was all you got out of that wall of text regarding job performance LOL.  But that doesn't surprise me either LOL.  It is one tool in the marketing tool box. 

But as you said, looking at the stuff where people are going...the fact that the frequency of posts to Twitter, FB, Instagram are roughly the same for each park is probably more an indication of the corp policy rather then the personnel in those roles.  I am sure many in those roles would like to be more frequent and maybe be more active in interacting with guests but can't because of corp policy.  And apparently to many, the frequency with which KI posts to those media is not sufficient enough....

There you go with metrics again LOL.  Marketing doesn't always have defined metrics that can be assigned to it, but let's not go down that rabbit hole again.

Regardless, the fact of the matter is whether CP did a huge marketing blitz about TT2 or not, people will go to CP next year to see what they did.

CP could have done zero posts on social media and zero marketing about TT2 and simply word of mouth and all the "influencers" posting about it would drive attendance.

Why spend on marketing when dozens, if not hundreds, of sites talk up your park for free and doesn't cost you a dime....

[DispatchMaster]

16 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

You missed the point entirely if blog frequency was all you got out of that wall of text regarding job performance LOL.  But that doesn't surprise me either LOL.

Yes, definitely the reader's fault for not getting the convoluted point you're trying to make. I mentioned "blogs" in my response because you mentioned "blog" 18 times over two posts. Yes, definitely my mistake. 

Also, how can it be true that marketing is irrelevant and that the marketing for TT2 was "a dud"? Something being "a dud" means it was a failure, so how can the marketing for TT2 be a failure if "people will go to CP next year" regardless?

[disco2000]

I mentioned blog because people keep bringing up Chad hasn't done stories and stories are best suited for blogs, along with pointing out that KI posting  frequency there and other social media platforms is roughly the same as other CF parks (I did mention that too LOL) so maybe it is a CF thing and not a personnel thing...it was simply one of many areas people are knocking that department on that I was pointing out KI is comparable in posting frequency...

Again, the point was whether CP went all out and invited every enthusiast and their family to the announcement (which they didn't lol so many think it was a dud as there wasn't all the hype about it - just simply a random statement that the next morning plans will be revealed long before park opening without guests being invited) or they did absolutely nothing, people are going to visit the park regardless.

The only ones not visiting due to how the announcement was made will only be the completely irrational enthusiasts that got butthurt they were not invited to an announcement so they boycott the park LOL.

[KI FANATIC 37]

[disco2000]

On 10/18/2023 at 9:59 PM, Orion-XL200 said:

I'm actually genuinely curious....

Speaking of curiosity (and ironically I had been doodling this as random thoughts prior to you being on TowerTopics LOL so the timing is good to post this), just like social media has changed the landscape of the traditional news outlet, where in the past the TV news and newspapers needed two separate sources to confirm news before they would publish it, I think it has changed the direction parks need to go. Now it’s often as simple as re-tweeting somebody else. The immediacy of X, Facebook, TikTok, and Google searches in this new 24/7 world of news has created this rush to be first, albeit now with typos, inaccuracies, and whatever else.

And we know a few here are quick to point out the typo that the KI social media team put out….But we see the same issues even with the “mainstream” media as the Big 3 networks have had to adapt to the changing environment and they routinely put out stuff quickly that clearly an editor didn’t review and maybe not even a spell check LOL.
Has this same immediacy phenomenon resulted in differing skillsets and has the need for the traditional top notch “marketing professionals” in amusement parks been diminished over the years as a result of social media, bloggers, influencers, etc.

Let's face it - all the free publicity and answers to questions KIC provided over the years, and all of the questions fielded on your season passholder page is basically doing the job of paid employees for free!

How many less positions are needed to be staffed in the call center now that many of these answers are provided by people on social media sites answering the questions for free?

Would the park had been better off when you were still employed there to let you do what you did with the FB season passholder page on KI’s FB page?

It is clear, as you know, people would rather go to Facebook and ask random strangers the hours of the park rather than opening a browser and finding the official park website and pulling up the hours LOL.  And you are very well aware many will respond with the wrong answers as well, yet that seems to be where people are going for their information.

Jim is putting out more frequent information and marketing on the FB season pass page than KI does.  As such his stuff has higher visibility.

Is it possible that things like the FB season passholder page and influencer channels are a better marketing tool than the official KI social media channels?  Way more traffic on the passholder page or even KIC than the official KI FB and twitter pages.

And then let’s not forget about the countless bloggers, influencers, channels, etc. that all have a larger audience than the official park social media sites.

And many of these influencer channels do a great job of “marketing” a park and their new attraction that reaches a far broader audience that the park isn’t paying for!

At what point do you let that type of marketing/Q&A be handled for “free” by overzealous employees and park fans on social media sites and eliminate a PR role and some staff in guest services and roll “marketing” up under the GM umbrella for those rare occasions something happens that a spokesperson needs to be provided to the media?  Or simply hire a PR firm for the couple times a year marketing blitz on new attractions and special events or when something goes south and an incident requires damage control?

Don’t get me wrong, I think there will always be a need for a guest services call center and park marketing staff as not everybody is on social media LOL, but has social media influenced the amount of money a park needs to spend on marketing and the type of professionals needed in those roles, or maybe a redirect on how that money is allocated?  Maybe the park should be paying you and your admin staff for your FB page!

Or put another way, should parks make an investment in being more active on their social media channels?  Is the old marketing way of not over-saturating the public with constant material to the point that it becomes background noise and no longer paid attention to relevant anymore in the social media age?

Just using CF as an example, it appears to me that the amount of posting and interacting by park staff is somewhat driven by CF policies.  The parks generally post about the same frequency and while some of the parks interact with guests on social media, it certainly isn’t constant, and far more posts are not responded to than responded to.

From a social media perspective, would a park be better off to adopt some of the social media methods that influencer sites have?  Look at Don as an example – he is way more active on social media now and providing content more frequently than when he was at KI – was that CF driven or did he have so many other duties that social media was a backburner?

For example, while it may hurt the FB season passholder page LOL, would KI be better off posting to their social media channels and responding to comments at the frequency Jim (and your admin crew) does on the pass holder page?  And maybe that role isn’t a PR person but a guest services type person?

Or would KI posting at that high level of frequency cause people to tone out and not pay attention to the official social media sites?

Would daily posts by KI on park hours, if there are fireworks etc., be a good thing or should they stick to the infrequent posting and as such end up getting buried and lost amongst all the other influencer channels?

I do think that even if they took a more active role and “copied” your format to some extent, there would still be a need for the passholder page to do some of the additional sharing and other things you mentioned in Tower Topics.
 

Just a bunch of random curiosity thoughts LOL.