I’ll be the first to admit that working in social media is a sweet gig. However one of the oddities about the industry is that you find yourself getting excited about some strange things. Two such instances happened in the past week and both involved the Carnival Cruise Lines Facebook page.

Now, I’ve never been on a cruise. It’s something Beth and I were likely going to do for our 10th wedding anniversary this coming January, but Micah’s pending arrival in December put a halt to those plans. Maybe for that all important 11th wedding anniversary in January of 2014.

Anyway, the point is that I know nothing about cruise lines, and there are more than a few to choose from. However, because of what Carnival is doing in social media, I’m leaning toward them. Why? Because if the company is this original and attentive online, I suspect their onboard culture is quite similar. Southwest Airlines would be another perfect example of this. But how has Carnival shown creativity online? Let’s refer back to their Facebook page and this picture.

Now, this is unassuming, but it’s genius. You don’t know what you’re going to win, and you don’t know when it ends. BUT you know you want to win. So what do you do? You comment. And you comment again when you see it’s still up a day later. There were more than 17K comments in the first hour. As I type this, there are 42K comments after it had been online for two days. This is a great way to engage fans and even those who aren’t fans.

Then today, they posted some pics of one of their ships. You may think that’s not a big deal, but it was because of HOW they did it.

These three photos were uploaded in a way that they formed one image. They knew how Facebook would post them and used that system to post a larger picture than if they had only posted one. Another great example of playing the cards that are dealt to you by Facebook.

I encourage you to browse through their historical timeline as well. They even poke fun at the interior design of some of the early ships. It’s good stuff.

All in all, well done, Carnival. I hope to be cruising with you in the future.