Business Profile:
The Zap Zone is the premier spot for entertainment for people of all ages. Kids will love the awesome activities like laser tag and playing vintage and new arcade games while parents will enjoy the food and cool environment. Need a spot to throw a birthday party? No problem, the Zap Zone provides a room for your selected party members along with food and drinks among other surprises. There are two locations across Windsor and one location in Michigan and hopefully more will open across Canada and America in the near future.
Press Release:
Press Release
Zap Zone
1665 Lauzon Road
Windsor, ON N9C 3R3
Contact: (519) 974-5768
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
XS Fun at the Zap Zone
Windsor (April 25, 2013) – The Zap Zone is the number one source of entertainment for young children and their families. With many exciting activities such as laser tag, bumper cars, or go-karting you will be laughing and smiling for hours on end. There is an abundance of arcade games that kids will enjoy and will send parents into a nostalgic trip down memory lane and there’s even glo-golf you can take part of.
“We provide a safe, relaxing environment where parents can take their kids to enjoy the afternoon or evening. The kids love laser tag and that remains our most participated activity, by far.” employee Dan Phillips said.
“The Zap Zone also caters to families as rooms are available to rent for parties or large gatherings. With great food and drinks on top of the entertainment you’ll feel like a kid again.” Phillips added.
There is an XS amount of fun at the Zap Zone and the public is encouraged to visit and check out the action. With two locations across Windsor, Lauzon Road and Ambassador Drive, there is never a shortage of excitement!
###
Twitter: @XSFamilyFun
Types of people to follow for input: Mainly younger audience as they are the most frequent customers. Follow locals, with such a diverse population there shouldn’t be any limit on who to follow as you never know who might like what you’re offering.
Types of people to follow in hopes they follow back: Again, local residents to raise awarness. Media outlets like CBC Windsor, CTV, and The Windsor Star to get our messages across. Local sports teams, letting them know this is a fun place to relax and have a good time.
How to use Twitter as a research tool: Evaluate the type of feedback you get. Get involved with the public by asking them what they would like to see or if they’re satisfied with the way things are currently being handled. Twitter can be a great way to communicate quickly where you can easily keep track of your responses.
Facebook:
How to use Facebook page: Basically the same as Twitter but more in-depth. Without character limitations you can get your message across without having to sacrifice any wording. Facebook is also an excellent communication tool where feedback can be evaluated clearly. Be involved and try to ask questions which the customers can help answer. How can you better the business? Does anything need to be done at all? With detailed feedback you can effectively determine where to go next.
I will use all current contacts to help promote the business. The more people talking about the business the better and the messages need to be spread to as many people as possible.
Grand Opening Event Promo:
The event is a re-launch of XS Family Fun Center a.k.a. Zap Zone.
How to use Twitter: Start promoting 2 weeks in advance but don’t say what is happening so the public can speculate what is coming. 1 week before the event announce that the company will be re-launching with new management behind it taking them in a new direction, invite the public (and media) to come down to the location to witness the event. Don’t over-promote, you don’t want to annoy people. Remind people every few days that it’s coming and on the launch date you go “all-out”.
Tweet: “Make sure you join us for our official re-launch party this Friday! Lots of music, food, and drinks will be on hand to celebrate this event!” https://twitter.com/XSFamilyFun/status/324297632157691904
Facebook event: On the same day of the official re-launch announcement we launch Facebook event inviting all contacts to the actual event. To get people to join the page say that a random person will be picked to win something and it will encourage more people to join the page. I will invite the contacts using the cheat I learnt in class this semester by selecting all friends at once, saving lots of time.
Facebook ad: 2 weeks before the launch, same day as Tweet saying something special is coming, launch new Facebook page but with parts of it covered “Under Construction”. This will peak the interest in others. This is targeted towards the younger audience, high school students mainly, as they are the ones who are most active on the social web.
Event press release:
Press Release
Zap Zone
1665 Lauzon Road
Windsor, ON N9C 3R3
Contact: (519) 974-5768
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Zap Into the Zone
Windsor (April 5, 2013) – The Zap Zone has undergone new management change and we would love for the public to join us at our Lauzon Road location to celebrate our official re-launch. The Zap Zone, formally known as XS Fun, is the place to go for a fun time with the family. With many activities that will bring you down memory lane you are sure to have a blast and create new memories to last a lifetime.
“We’re very excited about the re-launch and hope that the public loves the new atmosphere as much as we do.” employee Dan Phillips said.
There is an XS amount of fun at the Zap Zone and the public is encouraged to visit and check out the action.
###
Promotion on blog leading up to event and after: Before the event you keep reminding them the event will be taking place and that it would be an excellent choice in joining. After the event you can ask what the public thought of it. Ask if they are excited or not about the re-launch or what they’d like to see that wasn’t mentioned.
Soundcloud audio clip:
How to Instagram: Post unique pictures from around the business showing people all the fun activities they can take part of. Post pictures of the food/drinks available (cliché but this is a business that actually sells food so it’s good to show what’s being offered). Post pictures of packed nights that will help draw in even more people looking for a fun night.
Terrestrial Media Approach:
Local contacts such as The Windsor Star, Tecumseh Tribune, AM800, 89X, and The Rotary Club will help get our message across to the public. With each company carrying a large audience with multiple demographics the message will find its place with the people. These companies can all be recipients of news releases of all kinds as they can be very beneficial partners.
Blog:
Standard operating procedure is to update the blog at least once a week, at the most 3 times. In order to stay relative you must maintain your online presence however it is imperative that you don’t bombard the public with unimportant messages. Let the public know what’s going on at the workplace through weekly updates and inform them on deals, etc. The blog will basically be used as an online press release, getting the information out to our target audiences. To get traffic to the site there will be links to the blog on every social media page that is affiliated with XSFamilyFun or the Zap Zone. Links will be featured on local sites such as The Windsor Star and Windsor Social. The content will only drive people to other content provided by XSFamilyFun, such as the official website, Twitter, and Facebook pages.
YouTube:
Promoting on YouTube will be very beneficial to this company as kids will beg their parents to take them there after seeing all the fun activities taking place through online videos. Post clips of the laser tag rounds, kids enjoying a round of glo-golf or rocking the arcade systems. Once you show how much fun the establishment can be more kids will want to show up. Post an introduction video first detailing all the fun activities available at XS then after that post a video for each activity talking about it in-depth. Following that you can upload more videos that are fun that showcase all the action that is happening.
The target audience for these videos would be kids and their parents. Getting the kids excited will turn into money if done correctly. Parents will become aware that XSFamilyFun caters to parties and that is something that is important. This is an establishment that people of all ages can enjoy so we want the family experience to continue here. Getting the videos to the audience may be tricky but promoting through and with local businesses will help get the message out faster. Partnering up with McDonalds or Burger King in Windsor can lead to massive revenue with all the outlets they have to reach people.
Instagram:
By posting kids taking part in fun activities it will get other kids excited when they see the pictures and will want to take part themselves. Don’t over-post, you don’t want to seem over-bearing, but maintain presence by updating at least once a week. Pictures featured could include anything from people playing the arcades to the food that’s being served to the latest round of laser tag. Hashtags that will be used include “#lasertag” “#fun” “#glogolf” “#zapzone” “#familyfun” “#kidfun” and “#xs”. By using hashtages that evoke positive images and by saying you’re family friendly more people will feel inclined to check the place out.
Crisis Management:
Crisis – A kid trips and falls while playing laser tag and they blame the company.
To divert attention from the major issue XSFamilyFun will announce that it is implementing changes to the laser tag activity that will ensure kids are following the rules and not running or horseplaying. The video will be posted on all websites and on news segments owned by local media outlets such as The Windsor Star and CTV to get maximum local coverage.
Apology tweet with link to video – https://twitter.com/XSFamilyFun/status/327092268563578880
XSFamilyFun (Zap Zone) will definitely be taking advantage of the social media tools at our disposal. By keeping track of all the social media sites through Hootsuite the company can find some extra time to put their focus elsewhere. LinkedIn is absolutely necessary as well so XSFamilyFun can find new business partners that are interested in this line of work. Using IFTTT XSFamilyFun can find out what the public is saying about them through social media which is very beneficial to the company as they can properly determine what needs to be done next, if anything.
My Spot 