LITTLE ROCK — State parks employees are using social media to help garner attention for parks - and possibly thousands of dollars in grants.
Coca-Cola launched a campaign this week in which people vote online for their favorite state or national park. The winning park will receive a $100,000 grant.
As soon as the website launched, the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism’s marketing and revenue manager, Joe Jacobs, sent out an e-mail to news media and employees, then posted about the contest on the park system’s blog and Facebook page.
“Everybody can get out there and vote for their favorite park,” Jacobs said.
The state park system’s aggressive use of social-media sites such as Facebook and Twitter has already earned it some grant money, Jacobs said.
Coca-Cola posted the contest website a few weeks early to test for kinks in the system but didn’t publicize it. Jacobs said he got the word out on Facebook, and people started voting.
By the time the test-run was over, Crater of Diamonds State Park was in the Top 10 with a couple of thousand votes. Coca-Cola gave grants to the Top 10 winners, so Crater of Diamonds will receive $5,000, Jacobs said.
“We just found out about it yesterday, so we haven’t decided what to do with it,” he explained Thursday. “It’s nice to see private-sector support in the parks like that.”
Those seeking to vote for a favorite state or national park can do so at www.livepositively.com.
Arkansas, Pages 14 on 07/31/2010