The Official Magazine of IAAPA
If a family entertainment center, amusement park, zoo, aquarium or museum has relied on organic social media marketing in recent years, many now face increased challenges with reaching target audiences.
In 2025, Facebook’s organic reach dropped to 1.37%, a decline from 16% in 2012, according to internet marketing and analytics firm Sandyriev. Instagram fell to a 4% organic reach, representing a year-over-year decline as high as 18%.
In a blog post, Sandyriev attributed the decline in organic traffic across social platforms to algorithm changes and content saturation—not paid social. Researchers for the firm discovered that reach is down across the board, regardless of ad spend. The algorithms for paid and organic reach operate independently of each other.
Meanwhile, TikTok continues to battle problems with user privacy and, at press time, the deal that would make U.S. investors, including Oracle, majority owners of the platform still had not been finalized as of press time in late Dec. 2025.
Paid Social and Diminishing Returns
For many brands, paid social seems to be an obvious solution to address diminishing organic reach. However, this tactic also comes with drawbacks.
“Social media advertising … has gotten pickier and less predictable,” says Amandine Servain, vice president of marketing at the AI-supported marketing platform Wunderkind. “Algorithms shift, tracking gets throttled, and you often end up paying to reach the same guest multiple times with limited clarity on ROI. For attractions, that can mean big budgets with diminishing returns, while platforms keep most of the data and control.”
The Shift to First-Party Data and Owned Channels
Servain emphasizes the importance of relying on first-party data—information guests have willingly shared—to reach a target customer base.
“Attraction brands are increasingly shifting toward owned and direct channels that build long-term guest relationships,” Servain says. “Email, SMS, and on-site personalization are leading the charge.”
For instance, Wunderkind implemented its agentic AI technology for United Parks & Resorts’ SeaWorld Orlando to capture website visitor data and trigger one-to-one messages relevant to the audience at that exact moment.
“Before partnering with Wunderkind,” Servain says, “SeaWorld relied heavily on generic email and digital campaigns that weren’t personalized enough to drive action. They had plenty of site traffic, but most of those visitors left before purchasing—meaning before SeaWorld had any way of identifying them.”
Campaigns included personalized email remarketing, browser abandonment follow-ups, and cart recovery messages aligned with visitor behavior and the park’s offers.
After seeing fast results, the parent company implemented the technology across all its parks, which include Sesame Place, SeaWorld San Antonio, SeaWorld San Diego, Busch Gardens Williamsburg, Busch Gardens Tampa, and Aquatica. Bookings increased by five times, according to a case study published by Wunderkind.
“Each park benefits from the same underlying identity and personalization engine, but with localized campaigns tailored to its audience and brand tone,” Servain tells Funworld.
Similar strategies can work for smaller parks and attractions, as well. “Instead of generic blasts, a local park can automatically remind someone who viewed birthday party packages, but didn’t book or nudge frequent visitors toward a season pass renewal at just the right moment,” she says.
Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Of course, to capture first-party data, it’s important to drive new traffic to a company’s website, app, or other owned channels. Local SEO is a good place to start, since Google still dominates search traffic.
Ethan Collins, senior marketing and tech manager at Houston-based IT and marketing firm Esclatech, emphasizes the importance of making sure a business’ branding is consistent across directories and review sites.
“AI agents pull from Google data,” he says. “They look at reviews, local citations, and mentions. They look at the schema markup on your website, the structured data, and if your brand has consistent name, address, and phone number information. If you have good reviews and consistent information, you’ll be the first link people will find.”
SEO and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)
Google may dominate search, but its power is shrinking. In 2025, Google’s market share dropped under 90% for the first time since 2015, according to a blog post at ContentGrip.com.
More people are using AI, either directly through generative AI platforms or indirectly through AI-powered search, to find the information they need.
“Right now, in terms of visibility, AI engines are No. 1,” Collins says.
Additionally, an Adobe Express survey reported by ContentGrip.com found that 77% of people are using ChatGPT as a search engine. AEO and SEO can—and should—work together as a multi-layered marketing approach.
“AEO is the next generation and evolution of SEO, designed to make your content more discoverable for AI [platforms, such as] ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity,” Collins says. “In traditional SEO, the user clicks the link to read more. AI actually provides a direct answer. In terms of user behavior, it’s easier for them to access something through an AEO.”
As we enter the age of “no-click” search, where users are finding the information they need without going directly to a company website, AEO can’t be ignored.
Revisiting the Case for Paid Social
Despite the other channels available today, paid social, done properly, can complement other marketing tactics. But it’s crucial to pinpoint lookalike audiences accurately without duplicating current customers.
Lookalike audiences are people who exhibit similar characteristics and behaviors as current clients. But overlap leads to wasted spending and reduced ROI.
Noting that marketers need paid social that “works smarter, not harder,” Servain shares that Wunderkind’s Audiences for Meta, a service of their platform, suppresses guests already in an email or SMS database and refreshes daily for the most up-to-date information.
“Ads target the same precise audiences that perform in email and SMS directly and repeatedly, without paying to retarget the same guest over and over again,” she explains.
A Powerful Story
Marketers have more channels than ever before to reach clients, but the brand’s message and story must remain at the core of every campaign.
Whether refining SEO strategy to include AEO or retargeting audiences using first-party data, the most effective campaigns come back to storytelling and the guest experience. “Automated messaging still needs the creativity and empathy of a real marketer to ensure it feels authentic and on-brand,” Servain concludes.
