Today I want to pose a fairly simple question. Nothing game-changing but it does get the wheels turning a bit. I saw this idea tossed around recently in another industry amid talk of social media ROI, value of “fans”, and businesses wondering if their Facebook pages are making them any money. For a ski resort, it becomes even more a question. The question is this, when you hold a small contest on Facebook or Twitter with a simple reward like a beanie, t-shirt, etc., should the contest winner be required to pick up their “major award” on-site?

The idea is simply that it connects your fans to reality. Rather than just a digital friend, this reminds them that you are an actual place. An actual business with real people, real lifts, and real snow. Seems lots of fans are just that, fans, but not customers, and to them, you are nothing more than a profile picture. They are more than happy to like your page, snag some free swag since they spend all day online rather than at a job earning an income they can then spend at your resort. Here are two basic sides of the debate as I see them relating to the ski industry:

Pros

• Gets skiers and riders to your resort. This, to me, is the big one. If they want to pick it up, they’ll need to make the trip. If they want to make the trip, they might just get some skiing in too.
• Prevents random freeloaders who participate in social media contest only to win and have little or no interest in your resort.
• I really think it connects skiers to reality. You aren’t just a digital “friend” you are an actual place.
• Reminds skiers that a fan page is made up of fans, skiers that would like really ski that mountain. If they really are skiers, they should have no problem picking it up. If they aren’t, maybe they should become one.

Cons

• A big one is that it eliminates the motivation for destination skiers to participate. If they live in the UK and ski your mountain once a year on holiday, that’s a long wait for a new set of goggs.
• Reduces the participation. Even if I live locally, it may be enough of a hurdle that I simply don’t participate.
• It’s a hassle for the winner to have to pick it up, especially

It’s a simple idea. Nothing groundbreaking or game changing, but when it comes to connecting the reality (making money) to your Facebook page, it’s an interesting idea to at least consider. Would you ever consider doing so? Why or why not?

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.