GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS AND CORPORATE COMMUNICATION AMTRAK SOCIAL MEDIA

GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS AND CORPORATE COMMUNICATION AMTRAK SOCIAL MEDIA

MEET AMTRAK’S SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM

Julia Quinn, Director Public Relations Six Years with Amtrak Alex Kogan, Amtrak Social Media Two Years with Amtrak 3 Confidential. For internal use only. Ashley Lusk, Amtrak Social Media One Month with Amtrak

AMTRAK SOCIAL MEDIA LANDSCAPE 4 Confidential. For internal use only.

SOCIAL CHANNEL OVERVIEW Amtrak Facebook: • 504, 300 Likes • past 28 days • 225, 139 3, 4 M Reach Engagement past 28 days Amtrak Twitter: • 112, 000 Followers • 2. 83 M Impressions in last 28 days • 8, 400 @ messages past 28 days • 910 Retweets past 28 days Amtrak Instagram: • 44, 000 Likes • 306, 400 Photos tagged #Amtrak • 35, 000 Post engagement past 28 days Amtrak Google+ : • 88, 000 Followers • 104, 000 Views past 28 days • 130 Post engagements past 30 days Amtrak You. Tube: • 11, 498 Channel subscribers • 552, 906 Views past 28 days • 1, 088, 109 Minutes watched past 28 days

CHANGES TO SOCIAL MEDIA ALGORITHMS 6 • Over the last two years, social media platforms have adopted a strong pay-to-play environment for brands. This change has dramatically decreased a brand’s ability to reach an audience organically • Despite a challenging environment we have been able to maintain the second highest engagement rate when compared with airlines Confidential. For internal use only.

CHANGES TO SOCIAL MEDIA ALGORITHMS What’s at stake if we don’t optimize the content we are creating and sharing? We risk dilution and lower engagement rates: 7 Confidential. For internal use only.

OUR OWNED MEDIA: THE AMTRAK BLOG 8 Confidential. For internal use only.

OUR OWNED MEDIA: THE AMTRAK BLOG Stats: • 118, 000 Average Unique Users past 12 months • 130, 000 Average sessions past 12 months • 00: 01: 00 Average session duration Purpose: • Lead Generation: Bring qualified traffic to Amtrak. com • Information Resource: Mobile-friendly, Amtrak 101 information • Highlight Amtrak as “Simply a smarter Way to Travel” • Comfort, Freedom, Value, Service Types of Content and Stories: • Total Message Control with Option for Multimedia • Quick turnaround • Vehicle for Larger Stories that are too Detailed for Social Channels Editorial Calendar Themes: • Wednesday – Amtrak News • Friday – Reasons to Ride/Listicle (Awareness) • Saturday – Amtrak 101 (Consideration) or Amtrak Stories (Loyalty) • Sunday – City Profile based off revenue targets (Consideration/Conversion) 9 Confidential. For internal use only.

BLOG TO SOCIAL CHANNEL DISTRIBUTION 10 Confidential. For internal use only.

AMTRAK SOCIAL MEDIA TARGET AUDIENCE AND CONTENT FILTERS 11 Confidential. For internal use only.

SOCIAL MEDIA TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC: CUSTOMER Primary: Millennials Secondary: Families with young children: • Cross country, NER, State Supported Business Travelers • Acela and NER Empty Nesters: • Cross Country, NER, State Supported 12 Confidential. For internal use only.

OUR PRIMARY CONTENT FILTERS: THE PATH TO PURCHASE Awareness/Familiarity: Here is what Amtrak is and where it can take you. This encompasses the majority of our content or roughly 50% of content produced Consideration: Why Amtrak? 30% of content produced Conversion: Buy a ticket now! 20% of content produced Loyalty: 10% 13 Confidential. For internal use only.

AWARENESS/FAMILIARITY 14 Confidential. For internal use only.

CONSIDERATION 15 Confidential. For internal use only.

CONVERSION 16 Confidential. For internal use only.

LOYALTY AND INFLUENCER ENGAGEMENT • Influencer programs take time and can be cumbersome to facilitate. With our established program we can easily weave in local or national influencers to help share the message about your route • Through national partnerships with likeminded brands, we can offer the influencers an entire experience, not just train travel (i. e. hotels, restaurants, entertainment) 17 Confidential. For internal use only.

STATE PARTNER SUPPORT 18 Confidential. For internal use only.

HOW WE WORK TOGETHER • Amtrak Corporate Social Media team is made up of three full-time employees. • We rely on our field marketing teams and a marketing channel support request process to alert us of opportunities to support state partners. • Coordination with Northwest, Midwest, Southeast, NEC, and California field marketing reps has resulted in targeted content creation and promotional support designed to drive awareness and increase revenue for state partner initiatives 19 Confidential. For internal use only.

CONTENT CONSIDERATIONS/INTEGRATION • Geo-specific content is challenging since the relevant audience is narrow, especially without paid support • In order to combat this challenge we try to bundle regional specific content and share it nationally • This allows us to share relevant content with a large audience while also highlighting state partner initiatives 20 Confidential. For internal use only.

CONTENT CONSIDERATIONS/INTEGRATION • Promotion of State Partners’ content on social channels amplifies initiatives across our larger platforms • We’ve created City Profiles and #500 Destinations editorial themes to enable us to highlight your destinations. • Content is created based on State Partners’ media markets’ importance as identified by Marketing 21 Confidential. For internal use only.

NATIONAL CONTENT WITH LOCAL RELEVANCE Major initiatives that highlight the Comfort, Service, Value and Freedom only offered by Amtrak are a big piece of our editorial calendar and impact all routes and services Recent initiatives include: • Amtrak Guest Rewards Double Days • Student Discount • Bikes on Trains • Pets on Trains 22 Confidential. For internal use only.

CUSTOMER SERVICE • Amtrak corporate social media channels are actively monitored by the social media team and trained customer service representative • All State Supported Service customers seeking customer service support through state run social media channels should always be directed to Amtrak social, we have the bandwidth to support 24/7, 365 • We can provide appropriate responses to push customers from your social media channels to the proper Amtrak customer service channel if helpful 23 Confidential. For internal use only.

FY 17 PROMOTION OPPORTUNITIES 24 Confidential. For internal use only.

UPCOMING PROMOTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES October: #Amtrak. Perks/Customer Service Enhancements: • Continued Expansion on Pets on Trains Program • Expansion of Bikes on Trains Program • Fall Break: Student Discount • Fall destinations November: Thanksgiving/Holiday Travel: • Book your holiday travel early • Additional service • Perks available only on Amtrak: • Bikes • Pets • Generous Baggage Policy • Student discount • Amtrak Travel 101: Tips & Tricks • Opportunity to share information that would be helpful for first-time riders/Amtrak 101 • Holiday destinations 25 Confidential. For internal use only.

PAID MEDIA CONSIDERATIONS: SOCIAL MEDIA HAS CHANGED – OUR BUDGETS HAVEN’T 26 Confidential. For internal use only.

THE CONSUMER JOURNEY • Travel plans are rarely spontaneous, which make direct-to-sale appeals less effective than lifestyle, relationship building content. • We want our audiences to think of Amtrak and our state services the next time they make travel plans, and not necessarily click through to purchase via social media in that moment. AWARENESS CONSIDERATION ACTION VALIDATION LOYALTY Above shows the cadence levels of social channels (in dark blue), paid amplification (in light blue), and owned online and in person experience (in orange) and how valuable and prevalent they are in each stage of the consumer’s journey.

STRATEGIC PAID MEDIA CONSIDERATIONS • As social media matures, the lines between public relations, marketing and advertising blur. 28 Confidential. For internal use only. ne Ow d rne Earned media Media coverage Organic conversations Influencers d Paid Ea • To be truly effective, brands must consider leveraging owned content, organic conversations and digital advertising to ensure messages reach target audiences wherever they are in their journey Paid Media Paid social Paid search Paid display Owned media Amtrak social channels Amtrak websites

POTENTIAL APPROACH TO DISTRIBUTION Paid Media Used to heighten engagement, message and promote owned content. Includes any 3 rd party channel where Amtrak may publish for a fee, i. e. ad networks, traditional media, social networks and digital media. ne d Foundation of outreach. These delivery channels are amplified by earned and paid media. Includes Amtrak. com or your website, social networks, or others where you may publish without fee or permission of 3 rd party. Ow d Ow ne d rne Confidential. For internal use only. Ea 29 d rne Almost always the result of active owned and paid strategies. The content must be published and available before the earned benefit may be realized. Includes any channel which a 3 rd party publishes or comments on content created by or driven by Amtrak/State Partner. Paid Media Owned Ea Earned Media Paid

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PAID SOCIAL MEDIA Brands and publishers are at the constant mercy of the algorithms and programs that drive social media platforms. As a result, brands must incorporate a detailed paid media plan into all content activations for social media to ensure reach, engagement and fan Paidgrowth. ne Ea d This is critical across the audience journey: awareness, shifting perception, generating interest and driving to sales. 30 Confidential. For internal use only. d ne Ow Ow d rne Ea d rne Benefits of Paid Media for Awareness and Shifting Perception: • Growing an audience – promoting tailored content for new audiences will grow the Amtrak social media base • Reaching more people – ensuring content is reaching target audiences to both raise awareness and consideration • Increasing engagement – driving engagement on social channels to sustain relationships with both existing and new riders

QUESTIONS? Confidential. For internal use only. 31