Amtrak and Writers

Who knew that an entire new opportunity for writers and the Amtrak company alike, would begin with a tiny little seed that is one singular Tweet?

Amtrak, a declining train company, has lost some of its steam in a time of quicker modes of transportation. Because of the power of social media and a quick 140 character message, Amtrak maybe back on the map with a new target audience: writers.

An article from The Wire discussed the brief Twitter conversation that sparked a new program and new target audience for Amtrak. A few writers got the idea from an interview with Alexander Chee in which he talked about how he loved to write on trains. They Tweeted at Amtrak simply bringing up the idea of having a writer's residency on trains, and low and behold, the social media manager for Amtrak happened to see the Tweet and took them up on the offer. 

Photos via The Wire

Writers are notorious for having special little places they gather inspiration and get their writing done. Apparently, one of those places is a train. So Amtrak gave this “writer residency” idea a test run with writer Jessica Gross. She took a trip to Chicago and back to New York City, and after wrote about her experience. Talk about some pretty cheap advertising for Amtrak; public relations at its finest.

Other writers heard about the program and asked Amtrak if it could become an actual thing? Could there be writer’s residencies? Could it be free? What kind of writers could do it? 

In a fast paced world, people are more likely to take an airline to reach their destination rather than taking a train cross-country. For that reason, Amtrak’s popularity has been declining, which I’m sure results in a loss of profits. 

But with a program like this, Amtrak could totally rebrand itself and put itself back in the forefronts of people’s minds as an option for travel. It could go from offering a service to offering an experience. An experience that not only gets passengers from point A to point B, but provides the ultimate environment for productivity. While this Writer’s Residency program mostly appeals to writers, the development and promotion of this new, innovative program would promote the company and its services. 

Considering this program was born because of a small social media interaction, it would be appropriate to have a huge social media push for this program and appeal to a new audience. 

Congratulations Amtrak for being on top of social media and taking advantage of a perfect public relations opportunity. 

Until next time, 

Nikki Darling