As a medium matures it tends to find a vibe that works so well for that situation that it tends to become the norm (think newscaster voice).

Like a lot of styles, this happened with YouTube. This style includes rapid cuts, looking off camera, sitting down at a desk/table, zoom jump cuts, handheld cameras, etc. And while the tone YouTuber’s use is more natural, it’s also something that’s fairly consistent across personalities. It’s polished, but keep enough raw stuff to not feel overly so.

But this style has caught on because, like the evening news wants to deliver content in an unbiased voice, it works to deliver content in a friendly, engaging way that keeps folks’ attention.

Buck Hill

And you know who wouldn’t mind delivering content in a friendly, engaging way that keeps folks’ attention? Ski resorts…like Buck Hill.

So Buck Hill’s Matt Guf brings that YouTube flavor to their updates. For example, notice the simple “studio” type setup and voice Matt uses. It’s simple, but familiar if you’ve watched many personalities on YouTube and, combined with quick edits and a little background music, creates a tidy, engaging package.

And one that they edit to align with what’s working on each platform.

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A post shared by Buck Hill (@buckhill)

It’ve heard that the key to a successful sitcom is:

• Repeating settings
• Repeating characeters

Because that recurrance builds familiarity and a relationship with their stories. And that’s what Matt does as well. He switches up his background, but he’s always at Buck Hill. And as you watch more and more of these, you start to feel that familiarity with Matt and the theme develop.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Buck Hill (@buckhill)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Buck Hill (@buckhill)

Weave in some captions for better accessibility and engagement when audio is defaulted to off, some resort-relevant news from various parts of the community, and Matt’s updates do a really fantastic job of effectively engaging their audience and getting the message across.

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A post shared by Buck Hill (@buckhill)

Study

One of the most successful YouTubers of all time is Mr Beast. And one of the most interesting lessons from his success is how he didn’t just stumble onto a content style that happened to work, he meticulously studied what worked on YouTube for years and years and years.

If you want to make great content, yes, it takes creating something original. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t find what’s already worked (or working) and weave your ideas into that framework.

Nice work, Matt and Buck Hill. Great stuff.

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.