Jamie Biesiada
If you follow AmaWaterways on Instagram, chances are you've seen Vanessa McGovern's takeover of the cruise line's account.
McGovern, co-founder and CEO of the Gifted Travel Network (GTN), is currently onboard the AmaMagna, posting away to AmaWaterways' Instagram account.
For McGovern, the Instagram takeover -- in which she controls the account, posting her own content for AmaWaterways -- marks a chance to showcase not only the ship, but its crew.
The social media partnership between AmaWaterways and McGovern happened organically.
One of Vanessa McGovern’s posts on AmaWaterways’ Instagram story last week, featuring herself and the AmaMagna’s captain, Jan de Bruijn.
She attends a number of seminars focused on digital marketing, and she kept hearing about the trend of account takeovers.
"In today's digital landscape, people are craving the one-to-one personal recommendations versus the overly curated," McGovern said.
So, GTN has been experimenting with takeovers itself. McGovern said that when the network's advisors go on a GTN trip or a fam trip the host agency helped arrange, they often take over its Instagram account, sharing their experiences with fellow GTN advisors and even prospects.
McGovern did a "practice run" before the AmaWaterways account, taking over GTN's account when she went on a spring break sailing with Royal Caribbean. The feedback she got was positive, and advisors particularly enjoyed what was essentially a real-time review.
When she knew she would be sailing on the AmaMagna, she presented the idea of a takeover to the cruise line, and it immediately agreed.
McGovern has been highlighting both the crew and the ship itself since she boarded on June 16. That was her plan going in for two reasons: first, the wide AmaMagna is a first in river cruising, and second, the crew is what truly makes a cruise.
"I believe that you could have every innovation known to man, but if you don't have a happy crew, no good is going to come from the sailing," she said.
Considering AmaWaterways' consistently high guest satisfaction levels, McGovern added, she believed the crew would be able to tell the story of the AmaMagna better than she could.
The takeover also gives McGovern the chance to highlight another important thing: the benefits of working with a travel advisor.
"I just think that it's important to keep that message at the forefront," she said.