RiverLink

RiverLink is the toll system in Louisville, Kentucky, and Southern Indiana, which was inaugurated in December 2016. Tolling is in place on the Abraham Lincoln Bridge (I­-65 North), the John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge (I-65 South) and the Lewis and Clark Bridge (SR 265/KY 841) that connects Prospect, Kentucky and Utica, Indiana.

in.Mode Marketing was chosen to work with River Link on its website design and content; customer service strategies; social media launch; and support for its overall public relations efforts. As charging a fee to cross the bridges in metropolitan Louisville – something tens of thousands area residents do on a daily basis – was a completely new concept for those who reside and work in Kentucky and Southern Indiana, it was met with a great deal of public resistance and skepticism. Thus it was imperative for us to create engaging and enthusiastic content as the overriding messaging and themes to ‘turn the tide’ of public opinion and convert them to accept the concept, particularly as it related to social media.

Given the ambitious education and awareness building goals associated with the communications program for the new tolling system, we developed a robust social media initiative, which was an important complement to River Link’s traditional media efforts. Our social media program relied heavily upon the primary channels of Facebook and Twitter, with YouTube and Instagram as supporting channels, all of which provided opportunities for multi-purposing content created for other areas of the program. Collectively, these channels featured all-important aspects of the new tolling system, which included news, historical facts and fun new content to engage.

The overall social media campaign, instituted in the months prior to the actual December 2016 tolling began, included, but were not limited to, the following tasks in collaboration with the River Link team:

• Developed social media goals and reporting methodology
• Developed and posted relevant articles and information, including photos and video, with 7-14 posts per week across the social media channels
• Developed social media promotions that aligned with overall branding strategy
• Responded to social media inquiries from the public
• Engaged with and followed relevant influences including business partners, media, and tolling experts
• Ensured marketing materials and online communications channels included the social media channel information
• Instituted monthly social media reporting
• Coordinated bloggers/social media journalist outreach and communication