We love our fans, we count our followers.

We check our engagement rate, then check it again, and again…and again. Maybe one more look at Instagram likes on that snowmaking photo I posted.

But for all our checking and worrying, there’s one I rarely (if ever) see given equal the treatment it deserves.

How do I know?
I’m not sitting in on your marketing meetings, so it’s hard for me to say definitively that you don’t truly care about this number, but there are other ways to measure the way a brand prioritizes their communications.

And that’s, as you guessed it, what they actually communicate.

Think about it this way. Resorts have tweeted some variation of “like us on Facebook” over 100 times in the last year or so.

Remember to follow us on Instagram and like us on Facebook! #BearMountain

— Bear Mountain (@Bear_Mountain) March 18, 2015

They’ve tweeted some form of “follow us on Instagram” over 200 times.

See more of Kicking Horse – Follow us on @Instagram http://t.co/EGJ00g1Y0o

— Kicking Horse Resort (@KickingHorseMtn) August 6, 2013

Even Pinterest followers have been requested nearly 50 times.

Share your Sunlight Photos! Follow us on Pinterest! http://t.co/9O47UD7k48

— Sunlight Mountain (@skisunlight) August 20, 2013

But only 9 times in 12 months has a resort even mentioned subscribing to their YouTube channel.

Keep improving that game, subscribe to Big Sky Resort Golf on YouTube: http://t.co/7RQXweK9ge

— Big Sky Resort (@bigskyresort) June 20, 2014

Which is a shame, because in a world of feeds and checking and algorithms and reach, the only “like” that puts an email in my inbox when new content drops is when I subscribe to a YouTube channel.

A Correlation
Let’s look at this another way by comparing the top five resorts by total YouTube views:

To the top five resorts by total YouTube subscribers:

Those top three look similar? Top five even? Remember the name “Park City” because we’ll come back to that in a second.

But first I want to address something you’re thinking. That this is a “chicken and the egg” scenario. And it absolutely is. The more views you get, the more likely you are to get subscribers. The more subscribers you get, the more views you’re likely to get on new videos.

Swap “views” + “subscribers” for “followers/fans’ + “likes” and the same holds true across the board.

What about PC?
I told you remember Park City because on all accounts – views, video uploads, influence of other networks, etc. – they shouldn’t be anywhere near the top 5 in YouTube subscribers.

But they are.

And why are they there? Because of videos like this (it should autoplay at the 2:30 mark, scrub forward if it doesn’t):

Or this.

When Mike Thomas started doing this back in at the tail end of 2012, this is what happened to Park City’s middle-of-the-pack YouTube channel in terms of subscribers.

And, whadya know, views followed suit.

Value of One
This highlights one, simple thing: the value of a YouTube subscriber.

And this value exists, in part, because of the value YoUTube places on a subscriber. They are so important that even a single video upload is worth a dedicated email to that user.

Very few resorts take subscriber growth seriously. Very few brands in general take it seriously. Those that do give every video they upload a massive head start in an uphill content battle.

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.