The World Stops for a Giraffe

I will be the first to admit. I love giraffes. Since I was a young child I have loved these tall, majestic creatures who certainly reached more heights than my short stature (5-foot tall as an adult) will ever reach. But for Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, New York, the interest of a baby giraffe yet to be born is capturing hearts internationally. Animal Adventure Park has spent more than a week cultivating this interest with a live feed tracking the movements of their pregnant giraffe, April, who lives there with her mate, Oliver. 

This is a genius method for using their social media. Not only are they growing their audience, but people are tuning in for lengthy periods of time, posting comments on the feed and becoming invested in the daily activities of April and her unborn baby.

Though Animal Adventure Park is not to first to post such a feed, (you may remember the eagle hatch watch in January) it is a great example of using your social media to attract attention to your business. A key element of both of these instances is creating an interest that gets people INVESTED in your social media so that your traffic continues to grow.

Both organizations continue to grow their followers by cultivating this interest.

You can still log on and look at the Eagle Family though the Eagle Cam (as of this posting). When I checked in a few minutes ago there were more than 13,000 people logged on and watching the Eagle Cam feed. The cameras were set up in October of 2012, watching Harriet and Ozzie and their new eaglets each nesting season (October through May). Despite the most recent group of eggs hatching in December 2016, there are more than 13,000 people still watching 3 months later.

While the world awaits the birth of April the Giraffe's baby, Animal Adventure Park posts regular updates as well as video of other animals at their facility. Effectively, April in bringing the visitors in and the other animals and updates are keeping their interest while we wait. (As with any pregnancy, waiting is the hardest part!)

Finding unique and creative ways to draw people to your social media and learn more about your business and invest their time and energy into it is an important part of social media marketing. The methods are ever evolving and you are only limited by your creativity. Making yourself stand out in a sea of others is what makes businesses successful, you just have to find what makes you special.