“The image above says ‘2011’ like I’ve done this for years, but in reality, this is the first edition of such prestigious awards. Unlike other awards, you didn’t have to apply for these, just a judging panel of one (me) made a list of the best and eliminated them one by one until a winner was selected.”

Choosing the best Twitter promotion is like sifting through all your guests to find the best skier on your mountain during any given day. In other words, the possibilities are aplenty and I’m sure there are a couple I’ve forgotten about. Why didn’t I include all of social media? I think the power of Twitter to generate buzz can be easily forgotten about, so I wanted to recognize someone that gave it a shot a hit a home run. Along these lines, I keep coming back to one that was not only clever and innovative, but also had some nice viral elements to it.

So, the winner is (click play first):

WINNER – BEST SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTION: Sunshine Village “Win Ski Passes Before Opening Day”

To enter the contest, followers had to do two things: change their Twitter profile background to one of 4, contest-approved images and Tweet using the hashtag #WinSkiPassesB4OpeningDay. The winners got to enjoy a private ski experience the day before the resort opened. My first response to this promotion was initially excitement to see a unique award presented in a social, viral sphere. I felt it was lacking a few key elements, but when I realized that everything – the idea, approval, contest, and award – all went down in the space of two weeks (actually less, see comments for details), I was very, very impressed. Twitter is full of white-noise promotions. Sunshine Village is trying things, being creative, and breaking through the clutter.

A few reasons why I felt this promotion deserved this award:

• The award was incredibly unique
• It was viral in nature, requiring sharing (this contest was trending in Calgary)
• Ambitious implementation and upbeat voice running the show
• Short time frame, new guy on the job, no fear to go for it

The results were impressive, nearly 500 entries, a 7% increase in both Twitter followers and Facebook fans in the space of a week, and lots of pre-season buzz. Their social media guy, Shawn Alain, has mentioned they may take the lessons of this season and apply them to next. Stay tuned.

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.