Island Spa & Sauna, Social Media Strategy

MY ROLE

I oversaw the Social Media Coordinator in developing and strategizing Island Spa & Sauna’s social media presence across all platforms - website, Instagram, Facebook, e-mail/MailChimp and Twitter. We worked together to maintain our brand voice and be responsive to customer inquiries and curate our content using Sprout Social so that our feeds were visually appealing and informative. As a team, we made sure that our messaging was timely and relevant with current promotions and campaigns, and worked on immediate crisis management in the event of customer or audience dissatisfaction. I approved imagery, caption copy, and publishing to ensure that the Island Spa brand was maintained whether the post was an announcement, advertisement, influencer partnership, giveaway, user-generated content or daily engagement.

Additionally, we presented weekly analytics reports from Squarespace, Sprout Social, Google Analytics, Facebook Business Insights, Instagram Insights, our SEO partner, etc. to upper management and shareholders to assure that our goals were being met and translating into sales.

Results (OCT. 2019 - NOV. 2020)

+ 5.8K Instagram Followers
+ 1.6M Instagram Impressions
+ 21.2K Instagram Engagements
+ 17.2K Instagram Likes
+ 2.5K Instagram Comments

IN-HOUSE SEASONAL POP-UPS

While we typically decorate the spa for each season or major holiday to create a more ambient guest experience and encourage user-generated content (UGC), I decided to take it a step further and design interactive activations available for a whole season. We set aside a budget to create themed activations for the 2019 holiday season and for Valentine’s Day 2020, which are typically times of high foot traffic due to our gift card promotions and couple’s spa packages during these times. To add onto the appeal of visiting the spa, we utilized the miscellaneous room of the spa to make a self-service photo area with additional activities throughout the seasons. We also put up new decorations throughout the spa to increase the opportunities for user-generated content.

Holiday 2019

For the Holiday 2019 season, I was inspired to create a Winter Wonderland experience throughout the spa. I made a mood board on Pinterest to gather my ideas, sketched out a plan, then got to work on purchasing materials and designing marketing graphics. Once the materials arrived, I put together the photo backdrop by myself with minimal help over the course of 4 days. We added decor of the same scheme to our #WannaSauna neon sign in the main lobby, and added frosted garlands to the juice bar and restaurant areas to maintain the wintery feel. The limited-time photo booth addition encouraged guests to post more using our #WannaSauna hashtag. To encourage retail sales, we created a pop-up gift shop in the photo booth room for guests to DIY their own self-care gift bags of sheet masks, scrub towels, and more for a discounted price. Additionally, to capitalize on our Christmas Family Days, we converted parts of the photo booth room into a space for kids to make their own holiday decorations and for families to take holiday photos. To top the season off, I put together a coat drive in collaboration with One Warm Coat, where we were able to collect and donate over 50 coats to our local homeless shelter in Edison!

Valentine’s Day 2020

For Valentine’s Day, we wanted to do something similar to the Holiday activation. Again I put together a mood board, and using the same setup I was able to produce another self-service photo booth in Island’s miscellaneous room. We wanted to make an innocently romantic environment for couples looking to get away and spend a spa day together and celebrate love in all of its forms. In collaboration with the sales team, we also put together a tie-in promotion with our Valentine’s Day couple’s specials and a complimentary spa day gift bag.

Content Highlights

#JessSaidYes #WannaMarryMe - Timmy and jess’s ultimate spa-posal

One of my favorite projects during my time at Island was telling the story of two former employees who met while working and ended up getting engaged at the spa (and are now married)! I was given the responsibility of working with the couple and their families to share their story and edit the video using clips taken from different angles. This “campaign” covered all of our social media platforms and earned coverage as part of New Jersey Bride’s ‘Real Engagements’ and became one of our most popular organic posts across the board.

#WannaStayHome

In light of COVID-19, Island Spa & Sauna, like all non-essential businesses in New Jersey and across the US, was forced to close indefinitely. We paused our usual social media operations for two weeks as our staff attempted to find their footing in what everyone has touted as the “New Normal.” With everything closed, our #WannaSauna hashtag no longer had relevance, so my team and I came up with a pivot strategy - #WannaStayHome. This would be intended to help promote social distancing while offering virtual self-care opportunities available for free through our Instagram stories and on Instagram Live. With the uncertainty of the world, we decided it would be best to take the attention off what guests could do for our business, and what we kind of positive output we could provide. Our communication strategy with our audience has always been one of honesty, so we started the campaign out with a heartfelt message from our general manager and owner. A couple days later, we began the first week of #WannaStayHome with help from our Brand Ambassadors and yoga partner. In the two months following, I enlisted more influencers that we’ve worked with, and new ones from around the country as well, to put together sessions on parenthood, mental health, spirituality, cooking, skin and haircare, fitness, and more! Additionally, to show our appreciation for healthcare and essential workers, I put together a giveaway that would provide 20 (originally 10) healthcare and essential workers with complimentary spa days upon reopening.