49 Vol. 83, No. 1 | Proceedings 2024 Sober Skipper campaign, she knew she wanted to include a male influencer with first-rate fishing resume. Mike Iaconelli, a professional bass angler, podcaster, and television host, was a perfect fit. “For the Sober Skipper message, we wanted it to appeal to the men who are the biggest audience,” Kulp said. Iaconelli met Kulp on a winter’s day in Philadelphia, and when he somehow pulled a massive bass from the cold water his celebration was pure dude-speak: “That is a Delaware River stud!” he hollered, and the comment section lit up. National Safe Boating Council As boating safety advocates, we must always remember we’re selling medicine, and whether the patient is a 5-year-old with a cold—grape cough syrup—or a diabetic cat—liver paté—medicine always goes down easier when mixed with something more appealing. For boating audiences that means embedding safety messaging in content that reminds people why they love to spend time on the water, said Peg Phillips, Executive Director of the National Safe Boating Council. “Our content promotes the boating lifestyle. It’s fun, it’s energizing. It’s creative,” she said. “We don’t want fear-based marketing, because it doesn’t work.” The Education Headwind As part of her master’s thesis in communications, Coast Guard Public Affairs Specialist Corinne Zilnicki ana- lyzed 1,072 posts on the Coast Guard Heartland District’s Facebook page from 2019 to 2021. Zilnicki monitored the posts for reach and engagement based on a suite of factors including format—video, photo, graphic—text length, hashtags, tagging of other Facebook pages, and subject. The analysis determined that educational content per- formed poorly in comparison to every other genre. The study provides data-based support for a phenom- enon recreational boating safety advocates have wrestled with since the dawn of the social media era 20 years ago. Audiences want action, humor, scandal, and eye-candy. They don’t want safety education, and they actively resist being lectured. “Our average Facebook audience Newsworthy topics, like the salvage of liftboat Seacor Power, receive strong social media engagement. Coast Guard photo by Nicolle Groll
