Celebrity to introduce Social Media Ambassadors

[C 2 C]

I just received this post from one of my "friends" on an unmentionable site:

 

just to give you a heads up that starting now i'm gonna be posting random events, happenings or anything that has something to do with our Company (well, mostly on twitter and instagram). so don't get annoyed if I'm posting every now and then. As one of the chosen social media ambassadors, it is my responsibility from now on to keep everybody updated and informed all about our Company, Celebrity Cruises specifically the ship that I'm on, Celebrity Solstice. Thanks for your understanding in advance.

[ghstudio]

it's celebrity's equivalent of "reputations plus" where they get folks to flood the social media/internet with positive statements so that any negative is quickly overwhelmed by positive comments and disappears to page 10 of the comments and page 3 of google.

 

It's becoming a common strategy on yelp and it's brethren for restaurants (although trip advisor (CC's parent company) seems to do a good job of trying to keep it under control. At least Celebrity is enlisting folks who cruise on celebrity to post the postive comments....not using shills who have never seen a ship.

 

BTW...it works...

[tangerinebunny]

So are 'Social Media Ambassadors' frequent passengers who are asked to post out of brand loyalty or are they given incentives to post on social media?

 

I'm part of the Amazon Vine program; free products are provided in exchange for reviews. But each review is tagged with a notice stating goods were exchanged for services. And the value of the proucts is reported to IRS as income.

[WestLakeGirl]

I, for one, won't pay much attention to anyone who writes poorly, i.e. "Gonna" and the like.

[Ma Bell]

It's obvious from the OP's post that they are people who work on the ships. This particular one is a member of the Solstice staff.

[hcat]

thanks Arno for posting this heads up

 

Wonder if this Ambassador posts on Cruisecritic, will they ID themseves as a Media Social Ambassador posting on behalf of what they described as "our company"..Sounds like an employee and not an unbiased, regular cruiser or even a Celebrity fan. As long as source is noted, no harm in posting company PR on other sites, if permitted

 

IMHO, recently there's way too much focus on PR, Ads etc and too little on re-introduction of shipboard enhancements that have been cut,

Edited October 1, 2015 by hcat

[Wine-O]

This is precisely why I don't have a facebook, instagram, or twitter account. I don't want to get spammed on a daily basis. Too much useless information.

[wwcruisers]

It's obvious from the OP's post that they are people who work on the ships. This particular one is a member of the Solstice staff.

 

Yes, that's the impression I got, as well. If that's true, I'm wondering how exactly this is going to work. My impression is that the crew and staff (from the Captain on down) have enough work to do, just taking care of their paying passengers. Where are they going to get the time (or bandwidth) to give their company free advertising on social media? :rolleyes:

 

PS ( and sorry to go OT here) -- Glad that I got to meet you (briefly), on our recent Infinity cruise. Hope that we end up on the same ship, sometime in the future. :)

[BEAV]

This is precisely why I don't have a facebook, instagram, or twitter account. I don't want to get spammed on a daily basis. Too much useless information.

 

I'm right there with you. The company I've worked for 36 years is going in the same direction with way too much focus and attention (IMO) on social media that they're not concentrating on their core product like they used to.

[ABoatNerd]

Thank you to the OP for posting.

 

Precisely in line with western big corporate's desire to avoid anything negative by "piling on" anything and anyone that is negative to the corporation.

 

The old principle of "consider the source" is more relevant than ever.

 

Since my cruising on Celebrity is now only on Cruise Critic due to their new pricing structure, I will watch with amusement as Celebrity scrambles to minimize criticism.

 

Agree with previous posters - Celebrity should focus on a high quality product like they used to, they will have less to comment on.

 

ABoatNerd

[Orator]

I believe that the most cost effective way to boost profits and market share is to offer a great product at a reasonable price. There is lots of research on advertising that would indicate that ads might get people to try a product once, but if the product doesn't meet expectations they won't buy again.

[neverbeenhere]

Twitter (?) and Instagram are clear targeting of a younger demographic. Not for the old fogies.;)

[ghstudio]

Twitter (?) and Instagram are clear targeting of a younger demographic. Not for the old fogies.;)

 

Uh Oh....I better cancel my accounts

[floridatravelersforlife]

Thank you to the OP for posting.

 

Precisely in line with western big corporate's desire to avoid anything negative by "piling on" anything and anyone that is negative to the corporation.

 

The old principle of "consider the source" is more relevant than ever.

 

 

ABoatNerd

 

Anonymity = Non accountability Any media poster hidden behind the curtain is suspect. In my book, material /financial reward for waxing superlatives to the naïve is wrong, but that is business today. "Buyer Beware" is ever so more relevant today

[BEAV]

Is it possible the shift to social media is what lead to a thread like the one linked below posted a few weeks ago?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2262425

[CruisingChick]

I believe that the most cost effective way to boost profits and market share is to offer a great product at a reasonable price. There is lots of research on advertising that would indicate that ads might get people to try a product once, but if the product doesn't meet expectations they won't buy again.

 

Exactly what I have been saying. To add to that they need to also be consistent in offering that great product to all passengers not just the ones in suites.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

This is precisely why I don't have a facebook, instagram, or twitter account. I don't want to get spammed on a daily basis. Too much useless information.

 

It depends on how your account is set up, I do not much spam on Facebook

[kitty9]

So are 'Social Media Ambassadors' frequent passengers who are asked to post out of brand loyalty or are they given incentives to post on social media?

 

I'm part of the Amazon Vine program; free products are provided in exchange for reviews. But each review is tagged with a notice stating goods were exchanged for services. And the value of the proucts is reported to IRS as income.

 

If this is the same program I was invited to apply for, it's not Celebrity employees but people who, after going through a process of applying, will be these Social Media people. There was a rather interesting process where you had to answer questions about Celebrity, do a typing, grammar and spelling test. I started the process, but didn't finish up. It is a paid program and you're expected to put in so much time a week answering questions from Celebrity customers or potential customers.

[Ma Bell]

Yes, that's the impression I got, as well. If that's true, I'm wondering how exactly this is going to work. My impression is that the crew and staff (from the Captain on down) have enough work to do, just taking care of their paying passengers. Where are they going to get the time (or bandwidth) to give their company free advertising on social media? :rolleyes:

 

PS ( and sorry to go OT here) -- Glad that I got to meet you (briefly), on our recent Infinity cruise. Hope that we end up on the same ship, sometime in the future. :)

 

Maybe next time we can spend more time together. I'd like that!

[Wine-O]

It depends on how your account is set up, I do not much spam on Facebook

 

You mean all your friends don't send you pictures of their food? :D

[ladylemondrop]

I would love that job! I would post photos of food every day for you all to enjoy!! (And wine photos for you wine-o) :D

[Andy]

If this is the same program I was invited to apply for, it's not Celebrity employees but people who, after going through a process of applying, will be these Social Media people. There was a rather interesting process where you had to answer questions about Celebrity, do a typing, grammar and spelling test. I started the process, but didn't finish up. It is a paid program and you're expected to put in so much time a week answering questions from Celebrity customers or potential customers.

 

I'm not entirely certain, but I think you are correct Darcie. This is probably the same group that's Ambassadors on Celebrity's website. Perhaps they are now reaching out to other sites, such as FB. While researching a future cruise on X's site yesterday, I received a pop-up, asking if I'd like to chat with a Celebrity expert. I suspect this is the project being discussed.

Edited October 1, 2015 by Host Andy

[C 2 C]

I'm not entirely certain, but I think you are correct Darcie. This is probably the same group that's Ambassadors on Celebrity's website. Perhaps they are now reaching out to other sites, such as FB. While researching a future cruise on X's site yesterday, I received a pop-up, asking if I'd like to chat with a Celebrity expert. I suspect this is the project being discussed.

 

Hi Andy.

I don't think that this is the same program. The quote was from an active employee who has other duties on board.

 

As an aside, I spoke to a captain's club head office director who had not heard of the needle project for which people applied. The left hand does not communicate with the right hand.

[richsea]

While I do have a Facebook account, but by choice, I do not have a Twitter (who the heck is going to follow me.!) or Instagram account. But reading some of these responses reminds me of a great scene in " The Shawshank Redemption" when Tm Robbins tells Morgan Freeman to "get busy living, or get busy dying." Social media is the way of the world, like it or not.

[cle-guy]

If this is the same program I was invited to apply for, it's not Celebrity employees but people who, after going through a process of applying, will be these Social Media people. There was a rather interesting process where you had to answer questions about Celebrity, do a typing, grammar and spelling test. I started the process, but didn't finish up. It is a paid program and you're expected to put in so much time a week answering questions from Celebrity customers or potential customers.

 

This is definitely not the same as the Advocate Needler's.

 

This Ambassador program isn't related.

 

Currently the Advocate/Needle program is only on the X site on pages relative to bookings, so chat banners pop up there only, not all over, so the Advocates are really there to assist with helping find a cruise, answer questions that come about as part of the process and help them make their own bookings. Really, to assist "newbies" thru the booking process. We do answer any other questions that may come up, but our current focus is on guiding people thru the reservation process.

Edited October 1, 2015 by cle-guy