Moving Forward

Right now, the most cost-effective way to communicate with your players is online. Sure, you have a website, but your website isn’t reaching out and updating your players on the latest jackpot or sending them special incentives to visit. Your website is passive, your customers have to find you. Email campaigns, text offers and social networking sites are active and connect directly with your players. With the increasing use of mobile platforms, you have the ability to offer your players an incentive to visit with a text message sent directly to their phone. And one of the biggest myths out there is that your players are not using these new media tools and technologies.

In September Facebook hit 300 million users, and that’s only 60 days after reaching 250 million. Females 45-65 are the fastest growing user group on Facebook. 84% of adults 45-65 have a mobile phone and 30% of those adults are text messaging. Even on Twitter, adults 45-54 are posting the most tweets. With tech-savy Generation X-ers starting to turn 45 next year, no casino marketer can ignore the internet to develop players. However, marketers need to understand that interactive communications and social networking are part of the overall marketing strategy. A plan has to be developed, implemented, tracked and analyzed for optimal performance, just as you would for your offline marketing.

Interactive campaigns and social media sites are different than offline messaging; it’s more personal and hard to control. To work best, it also takes almost daily commitment to keep content updated, respond to your fans, as well as detractors, and send targeted offers to your most loyal players. If combined correctly, your casino’s offline and online efforts will connect with more consumers to generate top-of mind awareness, enhance your image, and develop stronger player loyalty.