Lippert hosted its first livestream event, dubbed the Virtual Insider, on Jan. 12-14 to connect with consumers seeking an inside scoop on topics related to RVs, camping and outdoor recreation.
The virtual event took place on the “Lippert Scouts: The Community” Facebook page, a public online group started last November that stemmed from the company’s closed community, Lippert Scouts.
“We are creating more relationships and learning more about our products, as well,” said Nicole Sult, Lippert’s senior director of customer experience. “[The community] is helping set a direction within the company and putting a strategy around serving groups of consumers with education, information and support from Lippert.”
Consumers were seeking information about RV and camping maintenance, installation and product details, she added.
“For us, the event was such a celebration of showing and saying ‘Hey, we hear you and here’s what we have to offer back to you,’” Sult said.
Lippert is typically at the Florida RV SuperShow in Tampa, Florida, around this time, Sult said. However, circumstances surrounding Covid kept the company at bay.
“But we did not want to miss the opportunity,” she said in regard to Lippert’s ability to network. “We put months of work into doing the Insider to do things like show live demonstrations. We wanted to make sure we were serving that need, so we decided to pivot to virtual and invite people.”
The virtual event had a great turnout, Sult said, with more than 3,000 views and several thousand comments/interactions from those who joined the online community. The page has 10,000 impressions after a week. Lippert Scouts, a program that began in July 2020, is a closed group with 1,000 members the company uses to run product testing, collect feedback and establish customer relationships. Short said the community allows Lippert to learn about customers’ camping and RV lifestyles.
“A couple months down the road [after the program started], we realized we had so much great information exchange and created such good relationships that we needed an opportunity to expand our outreach,” Sult said.
Lippert Scouts: The Community was created shortly thereafter as a separate group open to the public. The company’s Virtual Insider event was meant to draw attention to the Lippert Scouts program, Sult said.
“Our goal is that we connect with consumers and get feedback for products,” Sult said. “But it is more than a feedback loop. We have spent so much time and made great relationships with folks, and some have become life family.”
The company did not originally plan to host the event again, Sult said. However, Lippert asked its Scouts what they thought.
“It gives us feedback more often and in shorter doses,” Sult said. “Our Scouts give us direction. … The Virtual Insider is a culmination of everything we learned in 2020. We worked with a lot of Scouts and influencers in the industry to try and understand what is out there and create some awareness. There are a lot of conversations going on, and campers helping campers.”
Those interested can join the online group here.
