Twitter, love it or hate it, the often-lagging micro blogging site is a powerful force in the social media world. Using Twitter to the fullest, however, can be problematic. Here are a few ideas and tips inspired by fellow ski industry tweeple about how to take full advantage of our little, blue-feathered friend.

1) Mini-Contests
“Another round of guess the ski resort in my profile background. The previous one was @TheCanyons. Hint: This one is NOT also in Utah.” @skiingexaminer (Eric Wagnon)
Come up with simple contests and things that get people talking to you. Once they break the ice with the first @reply, they will be much more likely to pay closer attention to your tweets.

2) Be the First
“First snow of the 2010-2011 season! http://twitpic.com/2jpvwz” @mtbachelor (Mt Bachelor)
The snow was falling all over the west earlier this week but Mt Bachlor got their tweet up first. The result? One picture that has been viewed over 900 times and retweeted by over 40 ski enthusiasts.

3) Ask a Question
“3 things holding back your Facebook marketing – agree or disagree? http://ht.ly/2xhTK” @srufo (Samantha Rufo)
Questions drive discussion, even if it is asking if someone agrees or disagrees. I agreed, so I said so and Samantha retweeted my reply. Do the same with your followers.

4) Answer Questions
“@loganfiedler Check out our hours through Oct. here: http://bit.ly/a5Z28D Fall and Winter Hours will be updated in the coming weeks.” @northstartahoe (Northstar at Tahoe)
Logan just asked what their fall hours were and questions like that are asked all the time. Surprise your followers by actually answering them. They probably aren’t expecting it, which makes it 10x more valuable than the answer itself.

5) RT Your Followers’ Tweets
“RT @thinksnow20: finally, someone actually got heated seats for chairlifts! gotta head over to @thecanyons this winter: http://bit.ly/9WmRYa” @thecanyons (Canyons Resort)
Let’s be honest, who doesn’t find a little quiet joy in having our tweets retweeted? Imagine how cool your followers will feel if their favorite resort shares their tweet with the world. Of course, you’ll have to be paying attention to your feed to do so ;)

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.